Client and Customer Service Training for Lawyers and Staff
In this competitive and challenging business environment, firms that focus on creating a strong service culture will gain and maintain a competitive edge. Our client and customer service training introduces and reinforces the mind-set and approaches to help lawyers and staff excel at delivering exceptional service to their internal and external clients. This results in more satisfied and loyal clients, better profitability and a better working environment. Our service training programs often are customized to incorporate firm-specific data and all include interactive exercises and group discussion. We also offer our own eLearning module for staff or we can develop one specifically for your firm to be used with new employees and attorneys as an orientation tool.
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Client Service Protocols and Satisfaction Interviews
Gauging and enhancing client satisfaction is critical to retaining, strengthening and perpetuating the most loyal client relationships possible. Many clients continue to be less than satisfied with their law firms and client defections hurt firms’ reputations and finances. Through in–person or telephone interviews, we help firms gather input from their clients to assess the firm’s current service and relationship strengths and weaknesses and identify areas for improvement and expansion. Using this information, we create follow–up plans for individual clients or key client teams, and help develop continuous improvement practices and service standards for the law firm.
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Coaching
Beyond training and knowledge, lawyers need opportunities to convert concepts into practice and have an opportunity to develop sustainable skills in areas typically not taught in law schools or firms. One-on-one coaching helps both to establish goals more quickly that capitalize on individuals skills, strengths and opportunities and to achieve a higher level of effectiveness in development endeavors. A coach will help lawyers get focused, motivated and apply some new, strategic thinking to their market, practice and marketing strategies in a personalized and confidential way.
In order to help individuals achieve positive and measurable changes in behavior, we provide one–on–one personalized and strategic coaching to senior lawyers including:
• Partners looking to grow their books of business and increase profitability
• New partners/counsel looking to originate for the first time
• Non-equity or service partners looking to become more independent and advance
• Women and other minority lawyers
• Lateral partners
• Partners with management responsibility for the firm, practice groups,
offices or client teams
• Partners in transition in their practice or in their firm
Our coaching engagements typically last for six or twelve months and are based on concrete goals we establish with the firm and individual lawyers and convert into actionable steps. Often, coaching is used as a follow–up to or in conjunction with our training programs and workshops. Coaching sessions are scheduled on a regular basis and are supplemented with interim counseling as needed on new business/sales opportunities or impediments.
We also offer small group coaching to lawyers in the same firm or to lawyers in the same practice group within a firm.
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Continuous Improvement Programs
Process improvement approaches have been formally adopted by many corporate clients, especially Fortune 500 companies. While Total Quality Management (TQM) was likely the precursor to continuous improvement programs, many types of approaches now are used including ISO, Lean Sigma and Six Sigma. The goal of them all is to improve the quality and profitability of processes and results and ultimately, strive to do things with fewer errors, more quickly and less expensively. This requires the introduction of analysis and metrics into business processes. The renewed and vigorous pressure that corporate clients are placing on firms to become more efficient and provide greater value requires law firms need to focus on their business and operational processes and policies, both to implement better, more efficient and more effective programs but also to manage these programs through continuous feedback and evaluation. We are helping firms evaluate and design disciplined approaches to process improvement.
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Diversity–Focused Marketing
Many law firms’ clients are demanding that law firms focus on improving their hiring, retention and promotion of a diverse lawyer workforce. This provides firms with both a challenge and an opportunity. We work with minority groups or individual minority attorneys to help identify opportunities for client and business development and to develop strategies to promote advancement and overcome internal and external impediments to success. Our help in this area is offered through workshops or retreats, one–on–one coaching of minority lawyers and consulting to management team members responsible for overseeing aspects of the firm’s diversity initiative.
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Individual Business Development Plans and Coaching
Even as firms gravitate toward more effective practice and management structures, including the design and execution of focused practice group, industry and key client team plans, senior lawyers are still expected to play a role in marketing, business and client development. We use a structured process to help individuals assess their unique strengths and opportunities, establish realistic goals and devise a market–focused, individually customized six or twelve month plan that is consistent with the individual’s practice group priorities.
Action plan development is often combined with a six or twelve month program of individualized coaching in–person or by telephone. Our process becomes more effective through our use of RainMinder® , an automated tool that helps capture data, build goals and a plan and send coachees weekly e–mail reminders about their upcoming tasks. This also provides a more formal and fluid way of reviewing and monitoring individual partner progress, contacts and initiatives.
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Lateral Partner Integration
Firms continue to invest heavily in hiring individual laterals and small groups in an effort to bring in new areas of expertise and/or large books of business. Many efforts result in unsuccessful marriages because firms may not have a coherent business strategy, conducted sufficient due diligence or implemented an organized program that provides structured strategies to integrate, monitor and promote laterals internally and externally.
RainMaking Oasis helps its clients ensure that its lateral partner recruitment process is deliberate and strategic. We help firms review their business strategy, define their goals, develop ideal candidate profiles and devise an effective process for the search, selection and retention of lateral partners. Once a new lateral partner has decided to join a firm, we help develop a twelve–month marketing and sales plan that helps each individual capitalize quickly on internal cross–selling and marketing opportunities and outreach and promotion to clients and other contacts. We provide ongoing coaching every two to four weeks for the first year to ensure that the plan is being followed, hurdles overcome and opportunities exploited.
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Practice and Industry Group Planning and Strategy
As firms grow larger and focus on managing the effective delivery of service to clients, they are designing and realigning new practice group structures. The shift from departmental organization to more client–focused and manageable practice units has spawned the development of horizontal service groups, vertical industry groups and niche products. We provide the following services to our clients:
• Assessment of existing practice groups
• Realignment or reconfiguration of practice groups
• Identification and development of new service and industry groups
• Group member composition and leadership considerations
• Market and competitive research for service or industry groups
• Development of service, industry group and niche plans
• Intra–group cross–selling initiatives
• Practice group retreats
• Practice group protocols and leadership training
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Retreats
Our firm has facilitated retreats for entire firms, partners, associates, practice or industry groups, marketing departments and firm management. On occasion, we are invited to present a portion of a retreat, but more often, we work with firms to solidify retreat goals and format, develop agendas and content, facilitate the retreat and provide follow–up feedback or reports. Our active involvement from the outset enables us to customize each retreat and to involve important stakeholders in the process from the start so that the retreat achieves specific objectives that are identified and supported by all those who need to execute follow–up strategies and initiatives.
Some examples of retreats we have helped develop and facilitate include:
• Associate marketing and career strategies
• Branch office integration
• Business development and sales
• Client service including client feedback results and recommendations
• Cross–selling
• Minority lawyer marketing
• Partnership challenges
• Personal marketing planning
• Practice group, industry group and niche planning, development and marketing
• Strategic audits and planning
• Succession planning
• Trends in the profession and the marketplace
• Visions and values
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Training and Seminars
Effective training programs instill knowledge and develop new and sustainable skills over time. Our training programs provide many tangible benefits including:
• Building in the learning experience over the course of the program (usually four to
twelve months in duration), allowing participants to test new strategies and increasing
the likelihood that concepts will be implemented.
• Providing the foundation and practical tools that will help participants develop
personally appropriate goals and strategies.
• Generating momentum for personal commitment and implementation of new skills
and approaches.
• Facilitating a forum that encourages interaction and experiential learning through
discussion and exercises.
• Nurturing an internal peer group that can continue to share ideas, support and
motivation after the training program is complete.
• Providing materials that include tips, templates and articles for use and reference
by participants.
Our training programs usually are customized to the needs of each client in terms of content, timing and format. We have developed curricula in a number of areas including:
• Business development for mid–level/senior associates, counsel and partners
• Client and customer service for attorneys and support staff
• Practice Group leadership
• Train–the–trainer for marketing personnel
• Success strategies for new lawyers
We also offer single topic, one–time seminars for lawyers and staff in a number of areas. Examples of our training and seminar workshop topics include:
• Building Your Reputation & Credibility in the Marketplace
• Career Success for Associates
• Client Service for Lawyers
• Cross–selling
• Customer Service for Staff
• Effective Meeting Facilitation
• Internal Marketing
• Marketing Trends & Best Practices
• Minorities: Marketing & Career Development
• Networking
• Personal Business Development & Marketing Planning
• Personal Niche, Brand & Value Proposition
• Relationship Marketing with a Client Focus
• Selling, Prospects & Referral Services
• Women: Marketing, Leadership & Career Strategies
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Women’s Programs in Business Development and Leadership
While the number of women lawyers in private practice has been increasing, women are still underrepresented as leaders, managers and rainmakers in their firms.
We provide support to women and firms in several areas in an effort to help women succeed and excel, including:
• Leadership Training – A year–long program geared toward women partners,
it combines business development, leadership and communications skills as core
competencies. It includes four workshops and individual coaching.
• Workshops and Seminars for Associates, Partners or Both – These are related to
business development and career success topics. Offered as stand–alone programs or
in a series.
• One–on–One Coaching – This is usually offered to senior associates, counsel and
partners. It combines personal goal–setting, planning and strategy development and
ongoing coaching for six months to one year.
• Internal Assessment – In most cases, individuals or groups of women will only
succeed in law firms that recognize and take proactive measures to address traditional
barriers to success. We help firm management evaluate and develop policies and practices
that provide and reinforce opportunities for advancement and leadership.
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