Do Something! Highlight staff members in your newsletter

If you are sending out  a firm newsletter, either by regular mail or email, you’re already well on your way to establishing ongoing relationships with clients, potential clients, strategic alliances and referral sources. (See my earlier post about sending out a firm newsletter).

I'd like to expand a bit on one of the points from my earlier post:

Include news about your firm and its members. Even if your clients are businesses, it’s people within those businesses that are hiring you. And those people have relationships with all of the people in your office - not just the lawyers. People do business with people they know, like and trust. The more you highlight the staff members with whom your clients interact, the more your clients will feel a strong bond with your firm and with the individuals that work there.

As a practical matter, many clients interact more frequently with staff than with the attorneys handling their files. They see your receptionist when they bring documents to the office or come for a meeting. Your receptionist or secretary greets the client on the telephone each time the client calls. Your secretary calls the client to confirm appointments or follow for receipt of documents and information. The billing department sends out invoices and follows up for payment. Perhaps you have a calendar department, or a paralegal who may also have relationships with your clients.

People hire people, and they're much more likely to be loyal to those they know than to those they don't know. Your staff is important to your clients. To generate even more firm loyalty, highlight non-professional staff in your newsletter, along with your professional staff.

Liked this post? You might be interested in an old post: Why Your Receptionist May be the Most Important Person in Your Office.

Comments

[Randi Busse]

Not only do people do business with those they know, like and trust, employees treat our clients the way we, in this case, the partners and managers, treat our employees. With everything we do, we model the behavior we want our employees to demonstrate with our clients.

If we make our employees feel special, that's how they will make our clients feel.

If we take our employees for granted, that's how they will make our clients feel.

When you recognize the contributions of your staff members and genuinely thank them for their hard work and dedication, they themselves will go out of their way to provide that same experience to your clients. They will appreciate your clients and go above and beyond to make them feel special.

Never forget, it's all about the experience!

Great post Allison!