Lawline.com

At Lawline we are one big family- customers, faculty, company and all. Here is one new faculty member's recollection on why he first chose Lawline.com for his CLE and why he then chose to present CLE with Lawline.com as well.

You make plans for dinner at a well-known restaurant, set the reservation, show up on time, and then somehow end up waiting an extra half hour before you actually sit. Then, it takes an additional fifteen minutes before you receive your first drink. Ordering the meal takes equally as long, and don’t even think about a refill on that drink. Your only chance is to manually flag down the waiter, and that’s not something any patron should have to do.

Customer service can make or break a client's experience. Here at Lawline.com, we make our Customer Service a priority. We don’t just offer a product, but a service as well.

Here are just five of the philosophies of Customer Service we focus on every day:

1)    Create an Positive Experience

We don’t want to just sell a product and be done. We want to provide the greatest utility possible to our customers, and every interaction is an opportunity to maximize this. The relationship we establish with each customer is part of what our business offers.

2)    Listen

Who knows customer service better than the customer? We take to heart everything our customers say, positive or negative, so that we can provide a great experience. Listening allows us to create a Virtuous Learning Cycle where we can constantly improve our products and services to fit each individual customer.

3)    Be There when the Customer Needs You

We provide round the clock feedback. We understand customers have different schedules and may need our services at various hours. At Lawline.com, support e-mails are answered on average within fifteen minutes of submission on weekdays. This is something we take great pride in.

 4)    Follow-up

We always seek closure with a client or potential customer. We want to know whatever issue or concern you had was resolved, and we do not want to make any assumptions. We are here to help, and that means seeing your concerns to the end.

5)    Be Passionate

What good does it do to have all these key outlines and goals if employees are not passionate? Here at Lawline.com we have passion. We want to help, we enjoy interaction, and when our customer has a positive experience it means we did our job. This passion creates a continuous improvement cycle and facilitates the necessary environment for great customer service.

Those are some of the foundations of great Customer Service we believe in here at Lawline.com. More importantly, however, what do you think are some additional keys to providing great customer service?

      This week on the Legal Beat we’d like to talk about the value of empowering employees when serving clients and/or customers.   Some managers or supervisors give employees as little power as possible in fear that the employee may use it carelessly or potentially take advantage of it.  This fear is not unfounded, but it is sometimes worse for the company if their customers hear phrases like “I’m not authorized to do this.” 
        When an employee is restricted in making individual decisions that pertain to customers, he or she is likely to follow the rules.  The employee is doing the right thing on his or her part, but customers don’t care whether that employee is following the rules designated by his or her supervisor.  They want their questions to be answered, and problems to be solved quickly.  Having to run through many chains of command annoys customers and will often turn them away.  When employees are empowered enough to make decisions, the experience of the customer will flow more smoothly, and he or she will be likely to return for the product or service at another time.

Here are some tips on empowering your employees:

1)    Educate Employees
The more employees know, the better decisions they will make.   Make sure that they are updated with the latest information, whether it is about clients or one of your products.  Also make sure they know

2)    Common Vision
Every company or firm should have a vision.  Employees should know what this vision is.  Being familiar with it will help them make decisions that are consistent with the goals and visions of the organization.

3)    Record Common Problems
When common questions are asked or common problems keep coming up, responsibilities may have to be extended to employees.  If this is necessary, it should be done, especially if issues are reoccurring.  Maintaining a record of common problems will make it easier to designate responsibilities and to facilitate operations.

4)    Make It Clear
Make sure employees know the goals behind a particular promotion, or project.  Let them know how much room they have for either negotiating, or for making decisions.   This way they will feel more confident in their decisions and better serve clients and customers.

            Lawline.com values customer service to the fullest extent.   We take pride in our customer service and in our ambition to continuously improve the “customer experience.”  Everyone has something to learn from the concepts that comprise customer service, regardless of whether you work for a company that is directly servicing many customers every day.   In some way or form, 99% of jobs can relate to customer, or client service.  We’re all communicating, and working for each other.  Customer service concepts can be applied in many different situations, and at Lawline.com we want to facilitate the sharing of such ideas and strategies.
             For this reason, we are implementing a weekly blog series that talks about improving client relations and experience.   Every week we will provide tips for attorneys, and all others, that will help communications in any setting.   As customer Service expert John DiJulius often says, there is a growing Customer Service Revolution,  it is important that we all take part in it if we want to succeed in the business world.

               Today’s blog is on accessibility.  If you’re looking to sell a service or product, you have to be accessible to both potential buyers and previous buyers. 
                   For attorneys, when there is a potential client trying to contact you, it should be easy for him or her to get information about you and your company and to eventually speak with you.  Direct connection is important-- If you’re inaccessible in general, potential clients may assume that you will also be inaccessible throughout the course of the case.  The same holds true for other products and services, if a potential customer is trying to reach you to find out information about the product, you need to get back to that person right away.   This assures the customers that they can rely on you if they need support later on in the relationship.
                What can you do to stay accessible to customers?  Offer multiple ways to be contacted.  Phone, e-mail, website, etc.  Set a deadline for you and your team in regards to responding to both phone calls and e-mails.  In after business hours, set up a messaging service that e-mails you the messages left for the company.  If you or one of your team members has time, you can call them back, or even e-mail easily.   And if you have a Blackberry or Smartphone, you should definitely have those e-mails forwarded to you, so you can respond from anywhere with convienence.