Want a Happy Client? Start Tracking Their Industry For Them
It's no secret that the key to success is finding a way to keep existing clients while continuing to gain more. The trick is figuring out how to do it.
Big firms are paying companies to track industry news tailored to their clients' legal needs. Companies such as Manzama collect news on developments, laws and regulations, litigation, and social media and provide it as tips to law firms that hire them. The firms in turn pass the news to their clients who appreciate the personalized attention, reports The Washington Post.
The problem: Manzama charges $28,000 to $90,000 for their services. The solution: Do it yourself. Don't worry, it's easy.
The information clients want is the updates to laws and legal developments which might affect their industry.
That information is available online. If you have a subscription to a legal research service, such as Westlaw, you can set up a quick email alert to automatically update you when certain legal codes are updated.
If you don't have a subscription you can still track federal and most state laws online. Most state legislatures have a website where you can see what they are working on and what bills have passed during the session.
Tracking case law works in a similar way. It's generally possible to set up your legal researching tools to run an automatic search for you and send an alert if anything comes up.
Search engines also offer a quick way to create do research and set up future alerts.
On Google News the website offers you the option of setting up a category for specific search terms. Then when you return to the site, categories for those saved searches will be available in the left side bar.
Yahoo also allows you to sift through the news by setting up preferred categories to display.
Once the alerts are set up, schedule an hour or so per week to check news and legal updates. If anything does come up, you can pass it on to your clients.
Not only is this a good strategy for keeping current clients, you can also market it on your website to attract new clients.
Tracking online news takes time but the information is all available. Making the effort to show clients that you care about their work and not just their money is a reason for them to keep doing business with you and maybe also recommend you to their industry friends.
Related Resources:
- Improve Your Lawyer Bedside Manner: 5 Tips for Keeping Clients Happy (FindLaw's Strategist)
- Client Retention: How to Keep Your Clients for the Long Haul (FindLaw's Strategist)
- 5 Ways to Get Clients to Value Your Advice (FindLaw's Strategist)
