PointBlank Newsletter #3

s promised in the last issue of PointBlank, up for discussion in this issue is client retention. A serious matter in the world of law practice. S0, I'll spill it now.

What's the secret to retention?

Answer: lawyers don't do the retaining, the client does. Remember? The relationship started with a retainer. As in, the client retained the lawyer's services. Now it is up to you, the lawyer, to maintain the conditions in which the client chooses to keep the relationship.

How is this done?

First and most obvious, you skillfully solve the problem for which you were hired. But you do it in a way that tells the client he or she has an ally, someone to be trusted and relied upon, so that she feels she as a person is served.

At the time you are retained, you perform as thorough an analysis of the client's actual and potential needs as possible

You present the results of your analysis of actual and potential needs in a way that shows the client that the choice to continue the relationship is up to them. A client who feels obligated to his lawyer will unconsciously resist that by continuing to shop the market.

Your analysis will show the client all the facets of your practice, and the ways in which you can help which he had not anticipated. You do not want the client to go elsewhere because he thinks you only work in the area for which you were retained

How will your client know if the relationship is important to you if she is not told frequently?

Why do marriages end?

Quite often it is because the two stopped communicating. And so it is here. Clients will know the relationship is important because you have contacted them regularly regarding matters both social and business oriented.

In the next issue of PointBlank we will again discuss client retention,
focusing on the crucial need to understand the psychology
of the lawyer/client relationship.