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In the last chapter, you were reminded that the way people inside the firm treat each other greatly impacts how the employees of the organization treat clients. Both internal and external service initiative must be coordinated.

Implementation of client service opportunities must begin with the partners. Norman Vincent Peale once remarked, “Nothing is more confusing than people who give good advice but set bad examples.”

It’s important for partners to lead with verbal guidance, but it isn’t enough. They also must lead with their actions.

Ron Zemke, in his book Service America, says “There must be a client-oriented culture in the organization, and it is the leader of the enterprise who must build and maintain this culture.”

The way employees are treated by partners greatly impacts how the employees of the organization treat clients.

Internal Service
As covered in the last strategy, external service starts with internal service and respectful treatment. Sometimes reinforcing the right norms takes forceful intervention.

A partner with a large international firm told me that when he was a manager, he called a partner in Chicago.

The partner did not return the phone call. The manager called again the next day. Still, no return call was forthcoming.

The manager reported to his own partner in Atlanta that the client matter was being delayed awaiting a response from the Chicago partner.

The Atlanta partner called the unresponsive Chicago partner, got him out of a meeting, and reminded him of the policy of respect for each other. And that respect included responding to any employee anywhere in the firm.

Role Modeling External Service
In law and accounting firms all across America where service is excellent, the partners do a lot more than tell employees what they want.

They act as role models and show genuine concern for clients by taking time to listen and help them.

And they back up their commitment to client service by looking for, measuring, recognizing, and rewarding performance that results in good service at all levels and in all jobs.

We don’t want to support the old proverb that familiarity breeds contempt. Rather than breeding contempt, we really want to look for the good in others and use that good to provide great service to our clients.

Recognition and praise are two of the most powerful motivators of all, yet you’d think that paying someone a compliment costs $1,000.

Wrapping up
If you see any other employee without a smile, give her one of yours, and maybe she will pass it on to one of your clients.

If you see any opportunity for improvements in this area of your firm, perhaps your training programs should emphasize internal client service this year as the basis for great external service.

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Service consistency is a goal most midsized professional firms strive toward. It provides control over your customer service. It is also a great reason to contact your clients.

The journey to firm-wide consistency is difficult because of the lack of communication with existing clients about the quality of the current service being delivered.

None of us wants to hear bad news, but talking with client is crucial. The difference between a satisfied client and a highly satisfied client can be night and day.

For example, Xerox found that customers who rated them a 5 on a 5-point satisfaction scale were six times more likely to purchase further products than customers who rated them a 4!

Accountants seem content to send out useless client surveys in the mail, but hesitate to go see the clients personally.

Standards of Service
The only way to establish service consistency is for the owners of a firm to set down the service laws:

• Promptness in dealing with client concerns
• Maintaining client comfort in difficult circumstances
• Ensuring regular communications during engagements
• No training of junior staff on client’s nickel

Develop Consistency
For every significant engagement, the managing partner or marketing professional should visit the client and ask the two key questions: How did we do? How can we get better for you?

The service consistency equation becomes more difficult when a firm is focused on growing inexperienced staff members.

Will each one of them be able to deliver fine service consistently, or must an owner always be present?

McDonald’s delivers a consistent product with minimum-wage employees because they have clear service standards and train the team members to deliver your food the same way, every time.

Wrapping up
Before advertising your service excellence, make sure that you can deliver services consistently and that your whole team is on board.

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Clients are more loyal to professionals who are proactive about providing service than ones who just react.

Our five-star client service training is patterned after the service you receive at a five-star resort.

The five-star client service system helps your firm reduce staff turnover, improve internal communication, raise the level of trust inside your firm, and ultimately achieve more loyalty from you clients.

In order to deliver five-star service, professionals focus on steps like the ones listed below.

Taking the Order
Waiters who take your order in fine restaurants have a big responsibility. Incorrect orders result in enormous cost increases from the rework of the food and customer dissatisfaction.

In a professional firm, when the order is not taken correctly, review notes and reworks abound.

If you track your cost overruns and delivery delays, most of them would relate to not taking the order exactly.

Many times a partner takes the order from the client and then plays “pass-it-on” to an associate.

At each level of “pass-it-on” the message becomes garbled. The person lower on the totem pole does not want to press the issue of slight misunderstanding.

He or she want to move forward with the work and will do so without a clear picture of the order.

In order to take the order exactly correct, the partner must commit to a few more minutes with the client.

It is necessary to listen carefully, take notes, and repeat the order back to the client. The associate must do the same, even though the partner may seem anxious and you may feel rushed.

Connecting
How would you feel if, after you have placed your order in a fine restaurant, the waiter did not check back with you?

Many professionals commit this error for various reasons: tight work schedules, a fear that the initial order wasn’t taken right, communication reluctance on the part of the service provider, a lack of care, or simply a lack of awareness of the importance of connecting with the client.

Connecting allows us to strengthen the relationship. We achieve this not only by simply keeping the client informed of progress and making contact, but by asking three simple questions:

1. “What are we doing so far that you like?”
2. “Is there anything that we can improve on right now?”
3. “How do you feel about things so far?”

These questions serve to uncover any hidden emotional concerns and problems before they occur.

They also serve to strengthen the bond between you because the client feels attended to. Connecting also helps to overcome price anxiety, collect the fee, and plant the seed for further services.

Wrapping up
Great service is dependable. Success in service excellence happens when you develop a system that delivers consistent, dependable responses every time.

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Outstanding client service begins with the people you work with every day – your internal clients.

An internal client is an employee of your firm. For example, when a tax preparer compiles the return, he or she is the internal client of the partner who provides insight and guidance.

And vice versa, as the partner reviews and signs the return, the partner is the internal client of anyone who may help in the processing of the return.

Delivering great service depends on keeping staff turnover low. As outlined in the book The Customer Comes Second (by Rosenbluth), reducing staff turnover and increasing staff satisfaction is the key to staff making clients happy.

Do Unto Others
Unfortunately, in both law and accounting firms, too often we witness a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” approach: the partner bends over backward for the external client, but takes internal clients for granted.

How external clients ultimately get treated is a direct reflection of how internal clients treat each other. As a business, you cannot give better service to your external clients than you do to your internal ones.

We are experiencing one of the most dynamic labor markets in history. Most law and accounting firms say their biggest need is not marketing, but finding qualified associates to do the work who have five to ten years of experience so they can hit the ground running.

Just this week, I worked with a large firm with the following characteristics: 10 partners, 50% travel, 70 staff members, average work year for all employees 2,600 hours.

Employee compensation is average for the market, yet the firm had only lost three employees in the preceding two years.

When asked about this excellent record, the employees said, “The partners treat each other with great trust and respect and they treat us the same way. Because we feel valued, this is a great place to work.”

Treat Internal Clients with Respect
How can you expect to provide great service if you treat each other with disrespect? We thank our clients, and we always should try to thank our employees for providing good internal client service. Both those thank yous are equally important.

Wrapping up
During a number of our training sessions, the professionals develop excellent client service ideas.

These ideas apply equally to our internal clients: to make our clients feel respected and recognized in a variety of meaningful ways, to be more responsive by returning client phone calls within four business hours, and to keep clients better informed as to the progress of our work. You need analogous internal service standards.

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Receiving solid referrals from delighted clients is the best way to build your business. Your closing ratio will be very high with a referral, particularly if your referral source is a trusted friend of the prospect. The next strongest marketing tool is to utilize testimonials from great clients.

A third-party endorsement is one of the most persuasive marketing techniques around. Use testimonials in your advertising, in direct mail, in proposals, and in handout marketing materials. Clients love to do it for you and prospects are impressed.

How to Collect Testimonials
There are a variety of good ways to obtain good testimonials. You could simply ask your best and happiest clients to write testimonials for you.

A better way is to send clients examples of what others have said or offer to write a testimonial for them. While written testimonials are the norm, there are more creative ways to collect and deliver them.

One firm hired a radio personality to perform live interviews of clients. The managing partner called about 10 clients and made appointments for the radio announcer.

The announcer had a series of questions he asked each client. When he visited the clients, he took his time interviewing them.

After each question, he asked the client, “Were you comfortable with your answer? Do you want to rerecord it?” Some clients recorded several answers to the same question so the firm would have a good selection. These testimonials provided excellent spontaneous material from which to build a commercial.

Using Testimonials
The managing partner identified the best comments from the interviews. They edited the tapes until they achieved a very tight 60 seconds of clients saying positive things about the firm, its partners, and services.

During meetings with decision makers they play the 60-second version of about 20 very positive comments.

Such a creative way of delivering testimonials is powerful and memorable. Many decision makers ask for a copy of the tape to play for others in the business.

Another effective way to use testimonials is to ask your client to call the prospect before your meeting.

Ask him to talk directly to the prospect or leave a detailed voice mail. The prospect will be much more receptive.

A third way you could use a strong client endorsement is to request your delighted client to be available during the time of your prospect interview.

Then at an appropriate time during the interview, say, “Bill Jones, one of our clients, has agreed to stand by to talk to you.

He is waiting for our call right now. Would you mind if we called Bill and let him tell you first hand his experiences in working with us?” When the prospect agrees to this approach, you may volunteer to leave the room after the phone call has been connected.

Wrapping up
Finding creative ways to use testimonials is a powerful selling tool and a way to minimize the perceived risk of working with you.

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After you have invested time in the proposal process and have lost, it is crucial to learn why.

This gives you something in return for your efforts. If you can meet with the key decision makers to ask questions, you most likely will be able to gather a strong sense of what really occurred.

If you cannot meet, set up time to conference call the key decision makers (all of them, if possible).

In some cases, it may be better to ask a savvy marketing director, another partner or an outside consultant to make the contact. Some clients will be less reluctant to tell a third party potentially sensitive information about you or the process.

Look for Consistent Patterns
You need to look at your track record over a number of proposal processes to really obtain a clear picture of how you are doing.

Also, you must use your best judgment when evaluating comments. For example, on the same proposal, a CEO said it was too short and didn’t fully address his issues and the CFO said it was too detailed.

The real information we learned from a brief CEO interview was not about the length, but that the key issues of the CEO had not been addressed.

How to Analyze a Lost Proposal
Introduce yourself as follows: “Mr./Ms. Client, I’m ____ of. As you may recall, we recently proposed to __ for your company.

We were disappointed that we weren’t chosen, because we invested a great deal of time in the proposal.

Nevertheless, we are happy that you feel you have a good solution for your situation. After we have proposed, we like to learn from the process in order that we may get better the next time.

Would you take about 5 or 10 minutes with me to candidly answer some questions about the proposal we submitted. Your answers would be most helpful and I would be most grateful for you responding. May I ask a few questions?”

Wrapping up
If you have lost a “beauty contest” for a new client, the biggest factor is usually that the prospect perceived lower risk in selecting your competitor. It is important that you evaluate the perceptions of the prospects and the risk perceptions they used to make the final selection.

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When selling to key decision influencers, you will help the buyers to minimize risk when you can support your proposal with solid evidence for each of your claims.

Comparing Your Services
For example, when your prospect is mentally comparing his present service provider with your service, you may make a complete comparison of the two.

List the advantages and disadvantages of working with each firm. In fact, you can get the prospect to do this for you by asking the right questions and leading her through the analysis.

When making a service comparison, you want to be overly fair to your competitor so you don’t appear to be heaping negativity on the other firm in a biased way.

But, you certainly want to get your prospect to talk about and amplify the reasons for changing firms.

By getting the prospect to articulate the reasons for the change, you will be able to help him remember those reasons and perhaps remind his associates of those reasons.

The Costs of Delayed Decisions
Many people have an aversion to change and may need some help in overcoming this fear.

You could demonstrate the cost of delaying. Many businesses use professionals for many years after the business has outgrown the usefulness of the professional.

But they are reluctant to change. By reviewing the lost profits or lost satisfaction or hassle factor, you can support your proposal with solid financial reasons to make a change to you.

Nevertheless, you want to focus on nonfinancial (qualitative) as well as financial reasons for clients working with you.¨

Types of Evidence
By relating a case history or showing a testimonial letter, you offer solid evidence of a good result.

You should develop several good stories around successful client applications of your service. Better yet, ask your client to call the prospect and relay the story in his own words.

A guarantee often removes resistance by reassuring the prospect that the engagement will not result in a loss.

Guarantees must be meaningful and must provide for recourse on the part of the customer if the service does not live up to the guarantee.

Wrapping up
Buyers make decisions on emotion, then justify the decisions with logic. By providing solid evidence, your claims will stand the test of logic.

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At the moment of making a decision to hire you, many would-be clients balk. At the last minute, the decision process focuses on risk. “What are we risking to make this change,” the CEO asks. Prospects fear change.

The perceived risk of changing is often worse than staying with the known problems with their incumbent professional firm.

I have witnessed many companies go out for bids, and then keep the same firm they are unhappy with.

How can you minimize fear and close the sale? By improving on the use of a tool you already have – the service guarantee.

Give a Guarantee Now!
Most advisors essentially give a guarantee now without reaping the benefits. Will you appease a complaining client?

If your client is unhappy about his bill or your service, will you modify the bill or rework the service? If you stand behind your work, you are giving a service guarantee.

But you are giving it after the fact, not at a time when it will help you.
You’re missing a powerful marketing and practice aid when you use guarantees after the fact, rather than up front.

Many professionals balk at the idea of giving a guarantee. Ye the word guarantee is one of the 12 most powerful in the English language, according to linguist Dorothy Leeds.

When you guarantee satisfaction, you remove the risk inherent in the transaction. And you employ an attractive marketing tool at a point in the business transaction when it can get you the client.

Use Guarantees to Your Advantage
Bruce Horovitz, writing in USA Today, said, “There’s one marketing tactic that’s all but guaranteed to work every time: a guarantee.” In practice I have found that a service guarantee goes beyond mere words.

When you communicate that you have a service guarantee, you and your staff approach your work differently.

Work is done with more care when everyone knows the work is guaranteed and that the client is the sole judge of its value.

A major Chicago law firm, Coffield, Ungaretti & Harris, advertised their guarantee in the Wall Street Journal. Partners attribute much of their firm’s growth to the guarantee.

You’re Not at Big Risk
Naturally, there are some caveats to implementing a service guarantee. No one can guarantee a result.

If you have an unreasonable client or two, don’t offer it to them. You may want to implement a service guarantee over a period of three years, and you should phrase a written guarantee carefully.

Wrapping up
Advisory, accounting, and law firms are using guarantees more. The Rainmaker Academy has used one for over 10 years, guaranteeing satisfaction with everything we do.

And we have made good on the guarantee twice during that time. I hope you will consider it in your future marketing plans.

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Have you ever taken a puppy home “just for the night” to see how the kids like it? You now own it, don’t you? After your family has spent a few hours with the puppy, you are hooked. The same is true with various products and services.

The “puppy dog close” works on the principle that once a person has experienced something for a short time, he or she hates to give it up. What about your services?
What Can You “Send Home”?

Can you think of a puppy dog close that would work? With a little creativity, any professional firm can create more sales using the puppy dog close. Three possibilities might be:

• A profit-improvement assessment¨
• A tax-savings review
• A trial use of one of your associates for a week

Here are the steps you can use to make the puppy dog close work for you:

1. Sell the trial, not the service. It is much easier to sell someone a tax-savings review than it is to sell a will update.

Tell your prospect, “If you don’t receive five times the dollars of profit ideas than your fee, the project will cost you nothing.”

Or you could price the service ridiculously low, say $1,000 for a three-day project. Don’t give the service away unless there is no alternative.

2. Gain the prospect’s confidence. Make it clear that this service does not create any obligation.

During the trail period, your goal should be to get the prospect to like you and trust you.

Just like the puppy dog, blink your big brown eyes at the kids, be fun to be around, and don’t pee on the carpet!
3. Bear hug the prospect. During the “trial” period, you can turn on your winning ways to really get to know the prospect and the business.

Your goal is to get the prospect to enjoy working with you. Work very hard to exceed the prospect’s expectations.

Develop profit ideas of ten times your fee, rather than five times. Find something you can implement quickly while you’re there, especially some little job they’ve been putting off.

Use Your Findings to Close the Sale
If you have turned up any improved ways of doing business for your prospect, your prospect will be very open to hiring you.

Help your prospect find reasons for engaging you by appealing to their buying motives and use the trial results as proof of the benefits of doing business with you.

Wrapping up
Develop several ways to close the sale. The puppy dog close is one way to demonstrate what you can do for prospects.

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A written document provides the financial and qualitative information necessary to make an informed engagement decision.

While in most instances the written document is a small portion of the buying decision, it can be the deciding factor.

What Is a Winning Proposal?
A well-written proposal will first review the information the top decision influencers have shared with you about their issues and the value of changing service providers will present the financial logic to support a buying decision.

Top management is primarily concerned with profits. In many businesses, the technical aspects will be delegated to the user buying influence.

A proposal should only contain the technical support necessary to support the business reasons.

How long should the written proposal be? The proposal should be long enough to cover the relevant aspects of solving the prospect’s issues.

Seventy percent of the length should be focused on the prospect and less than thirty percent on you and how great your firm is.

You may want to ask the prospect how long the proposal might be. You may also simply put the proposal in an engagement letter format, so when the prospect signs you are in business.

How Do Buyers Choose You?
It is crucial for you to understand the buying conditions of each decision influencer and of the committee or group designated to make the decision.

You will rarely have the luxury of interviewing each person on the committee, but you must do your best to have an audience with the person who has “big YES” authority.

The committee should have established buying criteria such as reputation, number of similar clients in the industry, solid references, and good personal chemistry.

In your proposal, you might list all the buying conditions and address your capability to deliver each one.

A key element in the written proposal process is for you to present your proposal in draft format to as many people in the decision process as possible.

By presenting the written document and asking for feedback, you can hone the document and your understanding of the issues to a more precise solution.

Wrapping up
Just as canned presentations and four-color brochures do not close the big sale, the boilerplate proposal does not work either. Boilerplate proposals are usually seller-oriented and will rarely impress your prospect.
 

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