Do You and Your Clients Speak the Same Language?

On a recent trip to a conference, the film, "Flash of Genius" was playing on the plane. The movie chronicles the trials and tribulations of Robert Kearns, inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper, and his battle with the Ford Motor Company over his design.

In the film, Kearns shows a model of his invention to executives at Ford, who then tell him they don't need his invention, later unveiling an intermittent wiper on their new model vehicles. Kearns becomes locked in a legal battle with the automobile giant.

In the movie, Kearns hires a lawyer, played by Alan Alda, to reprsent him. In his initial meeting with Kearns, Alda's character talks about "justice" and ensuring that Kearns receives "justice" from Ford. Some years after taking the case and expending the firm's resources, Alda's character manages to obtain what he considers to be a generous settlement offer from Ford. He schedules a celebratory dinner with Kearns and his wife in anticipation of accepting the settlement. But Kearns isn't interested in the settlement. He doesn't care about the money, and says so in so many words. What Kearns cared about was getting an apology from Ford - an admission that they 'stole' his invention.

What happened here was a failure to properly define and manage client expectations, and a failure to recognize that attorney and client were not speaking the same language. Both were speaking of "justice," but to Kearns, justice meant that Ford had to admit the truth and acknowledge his invention. To his attorney, "justice" in the U.S. legal system meant a large cash award. Attorney and client parted ways.

This isn't an uncommon tale; attorneys regularly  run into similar traps; they assume that they understand their clients and that their clients understand the system. They assume that they are speaking the same language that their clients are speaking when, more often than not, the client has a completely different definition of their anticipated or desired outcome than the lawyer does. It can be a messy, uncomfortable and expensive mistake.

Make sure that you are speaking the same language your clients are speaking. Don't assume. Take the time to listen to the way they describe their desired outcome. Determining that a client's expectations are unrealistic, are not in line with the services you provide, or are different than you originally anticipated will help you determine how to best help the client and whether to accept representation in the first place - before you've expended resources on the client's behalf.

Comments

[Mark V Bullock]

Boy is this a big issue. Many years ago, I personally had several experiences with this "disconnect" between what my clients thought I meant when I said ".....". When I actually meant something entirely different.

As time has gone on I make it a practice to always clarify. If I have any inkling that we might be "speaking a different language" I use questions like "so what did you hear when I said?". I also feed back to them, in my words what I heard them say. This has made a world of difference for me & my clients in my past & present private practices.

Thanks Allison for highlighting such a critical skill we all need to practice - effective communication!

Mark V Bullock
www.PracticingProfessionalsBLOG.com
www.PracticeMarketingAdvisors.com