How to Apply Lessons from Other Industries to Running a Law Firm

Think about how you feel when you walk into your favorite restaurant or coffee shop. Do you feel welcome? Do you feel like you’ve established a relationship with the people who work there?

Of course, you likely visit your favorite spots because of the quality of the goods or services they provide. But how much of your decision to frequent these businesses is based on the experience you have when you go there?

It’s likely that your overall experience is key to your loyalty to any given business.

Now, think about the experience your law firm provides when a client or anyone else walks through your doors. Hopefully, they feel welcome and cared for each and every time. If not, you could be losing clients. However, changing that requires incorporating only a few small, considerate gestures for those visiting your firm.

Giving Your Clients an Extraordinary Experience

One of the best examples of a business that cultivated a loyal following is Starbucks. Plenty of people like Starbucks coffee, but author Joseph Michelli argues in his book The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary, that the experience Starbucks provides is fundamental to its success.

In his book, Michelli dives into both the inner-workings and customer-facing operations at Starbucks that gives them a distinct advantage over other companies. When customers walk into any Starbucks, they’ll be greeted with the same familiar smells, casual surroundings, and an aesthetically pleasing design created specifically to put customers at ease.

Many businesses have used insights from the Starbucks business model to craft their own experience, and law firms are no exception.

Even simple changes can dramatically improve clients’ experiences of your firm.

Examples include:

• Making sure someone at the firm quickly gives every visitor a friendly greeting and offers to help them.
• Designing the interior of your office to put clients at ease.
• Offering clients something to eat, drink, or read while they wait.
• Treating your clients the same way a restaurant would treat a regular.

Look Beyond the Legal Field for Inspiration

If law firms only look at their competitors when thinking about how they serve clients, they’ll never gain a true advantage in their markets. What the Starbucks experience teaches us is that we can look anywhere for inspiration.

Is there a business you frequent that handles billing in a way you find easy and intuitive? Do you like the way your doctor’s office sends you a reminder of your upcoming appointment? Do you like the opportunity to provide a review of the service a business provides you?

Ask yourself these types of questions with every business you interact with. Don’t hesitate to experiment with these innovations at your law office. Though your client obviously wants a high standard of legal representation when they visit you, the experience they have at your firm can help give you a serious edge over your competitors.

At backdocket, We Also Care About Customer Experience

Backdocket is a practice management software designed specifically to accommodate the needs of small- to mid-size law firms. Our software is the best in the industry, but our customers also come to us because of the services we provide.

Our team regularly works with our customers to cater our software to meet their needs. If you’d like to learn more about how backdocket can improve the way your firm works, contact us today for a free demonstration.