We all know marketing doesn’t end when the retainer agreement is signed. But we often forget that enriching the client’s experience is a work in progress, and the job is never done.

I had the pleasure of a long car ride some weeks ago (as a New York City resident, I don’t own a car and so seldom get to drive anymore) and took the time to do one of my favorite things.  I called one of my coaching clients unannounced, just to chat and see how things were going.

Like me, this client is a bankruptcy lawyer.  We started working together about a year ago as he began to get serious about marketing his bankruptcy practice, and we currently speak about once a month.

So, I asked, how’s it going?

It’s good, he said, but not fabulous.  My referral rates are anemic, and I can’t figure out where I’m going wrong.

First we ran down my standard checklist to improve referral rates from prior clients.  Everything was in place, firing on all cylinders.  But then I asked him how he was creating an indelible mark on his clients.

He went silent.  I’m getting their cases filed, getting their debts discharged, and doing good work.  What else is there?

What I told him is this:

If you don’t help your clients get what they really want then you’ve lost the war for their referrals.

By that I don’t mean, “I got them a discharge in their bankruptcy case,” I mean, “I made it so pain-free and easy to work with me – and did it in an unexpected and delightful way – that my client was astounded.”

So how do you know what they want?  In a recent post at Marketing Tech Blog, Travis Smith advocates that you start off by asking your clients.  But I don’t think that’s going to yield any serious results.

Asking your client what they want will likely result in the same old, same old.  People base their desires on the state-of-the-market now, not on what will truly help them.  For example, before Gmail came out nobody would have asked for threaded email conversations.  Prior to the advent of the iPod not too many people would have asked to have a clickwheel to get through their music libraries.  The list goes one and on.

True, asking a client what they want is a first step towards improving their experience.  But in order to truly get to the heart of the matter you need to continue down that road and probe.  Why do you want this?  How would it help you?  What is the worst part of the experience of working with my office?

By asking these questions and more I was able to change the way I do business to suit the needs of my client base.  I made changes they never expected, did things they didn’t think could be done, and made their lives easier.  In the end, their experience was improved to the point where I became remarkable.  And that spurred a growth in word-of-mouth referral marketing that continues to this day.

What do you do to improve your client’s experience?

Photo courtesy of D Sharon Pruitt.

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Imagine you’re a lawyer (OK, that was easy).  Now imagine you want to bring in the best possible clients for your practice (still simple).  You learn the law, create a form bank, study procedure and map out a work flow that will make you as productive as possible.  You hire the finest people in the field to sit at your side, and you plug in your phone.

Your business and marketing model consists of the following:

1. You create a website that contains a silly picture and nothing more;
2. You pick up the phone when it rings, and do not have a voicemail system or answering machine;
3. You perform your services in advance of invoicing or accepting payment – in fact, you do not accept payment prior to performing work;
4. You accept personal checks as the sole method of payment – no credit cards;
5. You send out an invoice and simply wait for it to get paid.

Sounds like bad business, right?  I used to think so too.  That is, until I had the experience of purchasing a Greenberg Smoked Turkey.

This is a company based in the Dallas (TX) area, and all they do is smoke turkeys and ship them out to people.  When the turkey arrives there’s an invoice attached.  It invites you to send in a check and provides you with an address to mail your payment.

That’s it.  Order by phone only, no credit cards accepted.  And don’t bother to pay in advance, either.

Totally blew my mind, it did.  Who does business like that anymore?  It’s destined to failure!

Tell that to the Greenberg family.  They ship about 200,000 turkeys a year all across the United States, smoking 2,500 a day from early November through Christmas.  On the company’s busiest days they’re shipping out 25,000 turkeys a day.  This, for the past 70 or so years from their plant in Tyler, TX.

What’s their secret?  How do they do it without the Internet, no social media, no blog?  To channel John Houseman, “they did it the old-fashioned way.  They earned it.”

Seriously, folks.  They started out very small, produced an excellent product, and let word-of-mouth spread over time.  It took years, but it worked.  Now they’re shipping to families who have been making Greenberg Smoked Turkeys a table fixture for so long the grandchildren are ordered just like grandma and grandpa used to.

Maybe this isn’t the right model for you to use in marketing your law firm, but it gos to show that:

• Produce a quality product or service and create evangelists out of your clients – it will come back to you over and over;
• Word of mouth takes time;
• Even a generic product or service can be turned into something spectacular if you care about it;
• There’s a lot to be learned from a turkey.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving to you, my dear reader.  I am thankful to have your attention, your comments, and your support.

Photo courtesy of dasmart.

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