Maintaining a professional brand is of paramount importance to professional services. Your brand extends to any contact or awareness clients or potential clients have of your firm, whether initially or as an ongoing experience. Making sure clients receive exceptional service is imperative and this means from their first contact with your firm to their final destination.
So, what is your receptionist doing? Do you do random testing on how calls are answered? Are you aware if her service is better if you are in the office compared to when you are not? Does your business phone ring for longer than three rings before being answered?
This is marketing at its most basic form and yet I can guarantee that, if I had to survey firms today, the majority would fail dismally.
What does having a bad initial experience with a firm say about them? Basically, that they just do not care enough. And isn't it amazing that, when we receive great service from an efficient receptionist, we are surprised and taken aback? Instead, it should be the norm, and we should rather be surprised when we receive bad service.
One of the first marketing lessons I learnt years ago was when I was working for a financial services company which had employed an exceptional receptionist - she was friendly but not too familiar; highly efficient; knew exactly what all areas of the firm offered; well-spoken; and worked brilliantly under pressure. She was also highly paid. What a winning combination.
Went via switchboard to speak to her
Clients enjoyed her customer service so much that many of them didn't use the direct line to their financial advisor but rather went via the switchboard to speak to her. Why? Because they knew they would receive exceptional service.
Calling a call centre is generally a dreadful experience, no matter how many times Trevor Noah shows his surprise at Cell C's efficiency, and so often it is easier not to bother rather than increase your heart rate. And yet imagine if it was regularly a pleasurable experience?
I recently had the pleasure of contacting the call centre of a well-known financial services firm and was amazed (even though I should not be) at how quickly the telephones were answered and at the service I received. Which proves it can be done.
Sadly though, this is in the minority. I have been into law firms where the receptionist can barely tear her eyes away from the magazine she is reading (or worse, is discussing what she is reading with a friend!) and yet I've been into others where the minute your foot touches their ground, you are treated with respect and interest and help really is at hand.
Outward sign of a winning firm
That is the outward sign of a winning law firm because they care enough to ensure that their clients are looked after from their first point of contact to their last.
The bottom line is that it is all about client or potential client experience and, if you are serious about growing your client base, delivering exceptional service.
I use the word "exceptional" frequently, no matter what part of marketing or branding I am discussing, as surely this is what every firm should be trying to achieve? To be exceptional.
Often it is not even difficult to do this. By having the basic steps in place, firms are already steps ahead of their competitors. Yes, this is basic marketing 101, but does that not make it even more disturbing that so many firms do not get it right?
Be exceptional: look at the way your clients are being treated by your receptionist or call centre. And then ask yourself, would you want to be a client of your firm?
