Remembering Your Existing Clients

We spend a lot of time writing about marketing to attract new clients, however, please don’t forget your current and past clients. For many reasons, the most effective way to bring in new business is to create programs designed to better your relationships with existing clients.

Consider:

keeping current clients

              80% of future revenue will come from just 20% of your existing clients–Gartner Group

            It’s 50% easier to sell to existing clients than to new clients–Marketing Metrics

You don’t have to be a marketing guru to know that the best way to get repeat business is to take exceptional care of the clients coming into your office today. Most client retention items can be placed in two categories—legal value and service value. Legal value is created by being an expert in your field, anticipating legal issues and providing timely and useful advice. Service value starts with good communication in a reasonably prompt manner, a helpful office staff and alternative billing methods.

Providing both excellent legal work and great service will keep your clients satisfied during the pending matter; maintaining contact will bring them back for more service and lead to referrals.

How do you keep in touch?

With Personal Networking and Relationship Building:

Communication

Face-to-face communication is best but does require a bit of time and effort. Meeting in person is an opportunity to build stronger and mutually beneficial relationships. Taking your client to lunch, sporting events, the theater or visiting them at their place of business are all effective marketing techniques.

Active participation in trade associations to which your clients belong is also a good way to see them on a regular basis. If you can’t always communicate in person, a phone call or an e-mail with information on a new law affecting their business is effective also. The firm can send out a quarterly newsletter and other direct mail to keep their name uppermost in clients’ minds. An annual “thanks for your business letter” to your top clients is a good communications tool.

Client Surveys

In-person surveys are the most effective. You can learn about client relationships and clients like the opportunity to tell the firm how it is doing and what it can do to improve its service. If you want candid feedback, someone other than the lawyer that worked on the matter should do the interview. Written surveys are also helpful. Sent electronically or by mail, they give the clients a chance to write their opinions and to indicate other legal services they may need.

Speeches and Client Seminars

Offering a free seminar is a valuable business development tool. It can be used in a variety of ways. To improve relationships with existing clients, you can:

·               Plan a take-out seminar for clients at their place of business. Offer them to management or employees or both. Let the clients decide the topics, which should be of the general information variety.

·              Search for conferences, forums, or seminars held by independent event organizations, associations, industry trade and professional groups, academic institutions and think tanks that relate to your clients’ interests. Often the organizers are looking for speakers to contribute to the group.

Marketing to keep existing clients or develop new ones isn’t rocket science. Using just a few of the above marketing steps can help improve your business.