Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Do You Really Know What Executives Think About Your Firm?

Today I had a most revealing conversation with a incredibly bright and successful CEO of a multi-million dollar manufacturer. She uses the services of one of my law firm clients.

In the conversation she volunteered a brief description of what she perceives will happen when she asks a traditional law firm for help. "I send a one page document to a lawyer for comments and advise. He clocks some time on the document, then sends it to another lawyer at the firm who clocks some more time. Then it is sent to another lawyer and maybe even one more." She continued, "It is just ONE PAGE! I think they are just piling on to get some billings."

Remember, this executive is a very bright and capable leader of a large corporation. She fully understands that lawyers have specialties and getting the right opinion makes all the difference in receiving sound counsel.

But, if she feels she received no value from having multiple lawyers weigh in on her issue what does that say about the firm serving her. Her experience is very similar to what I have heard from a lot of company leaders. When considering whether to get a lawyer involved their first thought is about the expense, not the value of service.

Being a good marketer means that you both promote your firm through traditional marketing methodologies and, you are an evangelist of quality client experiences. If you do not know what that means for your clients be fearless and get out there and ask.

It is amazing to me how many firms do not know their client service practices are broken. Is yours?

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