Seth Godin, in a recent post, discusses the possibility that your clients may not have bad judgment. Rather, they act according to their belief systems. When looking through the lens of client relations in a consumer bankruptcy law office, the question becomes a compelling:
If your clients are unhappy, why do you think that is the case?
Many lawyers will respond that their clients have unrealistic expectations or are needlessly difficult. But if a client has unrealistic expectations that yield dissatisfaction with the services rendered, an easy fix becomes one of realigning those expectations to the way the firm operates.
The biggest complaint that clients have about their lawyers is that it is difficult to get the lawyer on the phone or to get a return call in a timely fashion.
It bugs them, and rightfully so. If a lawyer tells a client that they should call with any questions or problems, the client understandably expects to have a means of resolving those issues when they make the call. But the reality is that this is not always possible – client meetings, court appearances, and life get in the way of the lawyer being available 24/7/365.
One way to handle this is to take a few minutes with the client at intake and discuss your real policy with respect to handling phone calls. I always make it a point to let clients know that I answer the phone when I’m available but cannot physically be there all the time due to the fact that I have many clients with varying needs. You can follow this up by changing your voice mail message each morning to let the client know when you will be available on that day and when phone calls will be returned. In this way, you manage client expectations more effectively and give the client a way to know when they will be assisted by way of a response.
