Is Working With Clients Like A Stage Performance?

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Scott Benton: Hey everyone, this is Scott Benton. I am the host of the Classroom2Courtroom podcast. How are you? On this podcast, we help you easily transition from law school into your professional career as an actual attorney and where we make the practice of law fun.

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Scott Benton: Today, we’re going to be asking the question and answering the question of, Is Working with Clients Like a Stage Performance?

So, that’s what we’re gonna be taking a look at. And in many ways, yes, working with clients is like being in a stage performance, but no more so than all customer services. If it’s done correctly, it’s a little bit performing in a stage production. Especially, where you as the attorney, are meeting with different people over and over again. And you’re saying the same things, and you’re doing the same actions and motions, it begins to feel a little bit [00:01:00] scripted. But that’s not necessarily to say that that’s a bad thing, that’s actually a good thing, you get to really hone that performance.

Now, good customer service is predictable by the customer or by the client in this case, because we’re a law firm. And you could say that good customer service, it’s really expected. Who wants bad customer service? Now, remember, the client, they are hiring you to work on their case for them as their representative. In that regard, the relationship between you and a client is essentially like, you are their employee and it’s essentially like, they are your boss or, so to speak. So, I know it’s a little different because, they’re coming to you and they’re buying your expertise and your ability to represent them in court.

But the client is the one who’s paying for those services and the client is the one who can stop paying for those services. So that’s the reason that customer service or the client experience or sometimes [00:02:00] you’ll hear us talk about on this podcast, the Client Journey. All of that definitely has to be inside of that experience for the client. There needs to be some aspect of performance to it. There also has to be some kind of choreography.

Sometimes there are certain forms that need to be filled or beverages that are brought to the client, that sort of thing. So, there are actions that are plotted and planned out that need to be consistent every time a new client comes in or a potential client, or if it’s the same client over and over again, there’s certain of choreography that will take place, let’s call it. And oftentimes, in a law firm, there’s gonna be multiple performers that are gonna play a part in the overall Client Journey.

So, it’s gonna be much like a stage play. A stage play has lots of actors on stage. A stage play has, by the way, lots of people backstage that are controlling all of the elements that an audience is going to see. And a law firm really in a lot of ways is no different. There are a lot of performers that the client or potential client’s going to [00:03:00] see. There’s a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes like paralegals and other employees that a potential client or client really isn’t going to interact with or see for themselves.

But overall, there’s essentially a big performance that’s being conducted or going on. And you want to make sure that everybody in the company, that they know their own individual part of that performance, so that it can be done as a whole. If you go, ever go to a play, or even really in a movie, it’s the whole thing. Because every individual actor, every individual person on that production has fulfilled their part of that performance. And when it all comes together, it looks like one thing and a law firm’s no different.

All those little performances, for the potential client or the client, it needs to culminate in the sense that it looks like one thing. That it’s all everybody knows what they’re doing is coordinated that the boat is being rode in the direction that it needs to go. So, let’s say [00:04:00] that potential client is showing up for their initial consultation. The chances are, that they’ve already had several interactions already with one or more people from the firm that eventually gets them to walk through that door.

So, that by the time you, the attorney, sit down with a client and you’re together in a conference room, there’s probably already been several relationships that have been built between that potential client and let’s say, the Intake Team. That the people that they first talk to when they call in or, when they come to the office, there’s a receptionist that they’re going to talk to and the receptionist is going to bring them into the conference room.

So, they’ve already had multiple touch points with your firm and with people in your firm before they have already stepped through the doors. In fact, they’ve probably gone to the website, they’ve read several pages on the website. They may have looked up the bios and the pictures of the people that they’re going to meet with.

So, there are multiple touch points. And whether it’s online or in person, they are building relationships with the people in the [00:05:00] firm. So, understand that all of those interactions have been carefully choreographed performances where hopefully, the potential client has already experienced the very best Client Journey that they can up to this point. So now, they’re coming to you already in a frame of mind where they have a high degree of trust and confidence in what the firm is going to be doing for them. That’s why they’ve shown up. They want to meet with you as the attorney to see if this is going to be the correct firm for them to engage services of.

So, if everything was done correctly, every step they’ve taken up to that point. The firm has been warm and hospitable and everything has been easy, they’ve understood everything clearly, and they’ve been comfortable at every step of the way. They’re now sitting in a conference room waiting to meet you, the attorney. And so, you want to sit down with him and keep in mind, that our goal all the way through this Client’s Journey of working with your firm [00:06:00] should contain that same degree of high quality.

Anyone who interacts with the client is part of that same performance and they understand that in an ideal world, how all the different people that the client interacts with, how it all fits together and that it’s one positive experience. So, by the time you sit down and you begin working with your client, you need to understand your individual part in the bigger picture and the bigger performance as well.

Like a stage performance. You need to know what your part is. You need to know your lines, you need to know your marks, you need to know your blocking. You need to know all the beats that you need to hit as an actor in this bigger performance. You need to know what your smaller performance is and how that connects to the overall Client Journey. And you need to know that it’s important for that to maintain that overall five star experience that they’ve likely had all the way up to this point and why they’ve walked through the door and why they’re now sitting in front of you in a conference room.

There’s a continuum of high caliber [00:07:00] quality customer service that they’ve gotten, that they expect now for that level of customer service to continue. So in general, we know that you as an attorney, you’ve got a lot on your plate. You’re involved in several other cases that you’re working on. You are bringing in new businesses. There are lots of filings that need to take place. There are a lot of deadlines you have to hit. And this is why you have so much office staff support around you. Your job right now sitting in front of that client in that conference room, is to take the next 30 to 45 minutes. And remember, this is your time. This is your spotlight, your performance of the next 30 to 45 minutes.

And you simply want to sit and listen to the client as they run through their case, as they go through all of the facts and present the stories and background. You need to attentively listen to what they’re saying. Because ultimately, you need to figure out if this is a case that has value to it. If this is a case that the firm that you work at is going to handle. Sometimes, it’s not even [00:08:00] the right kind of law that you’re practicing is what they need. So, you’re going to refer them on to maybe, that attorney that practices family law or maybe, an attorney that practices criminal law.

Whatever that law specialty is that they need. If it doesn’t fit your firm, then you’re going to make that determination. You’re going to let them know that unfortunately, we’re not the firm for them. But you’re going to do that by listening to them very carefully. Listening like a laser beam is what you’re going to do for that 30 to 45 minutes. And you’re going to realize, that this is still all a part of the big performance. The performance that started with the Intake Specialist, who took the call when they phoned us. Now it’s your turn to perform, so to speak. You want to be aware of this level of customer service, this part of the interaction.

So, you want to make sure that you’re providing that high quality feedback for the client. Because ultimately, that’s really why they hire you or ultimately, that’s why they don’t hire you. You want to be careful about that. So, you [00:09:00] want to make sure, that part of their Client Journey is top notch, that it’s excellent and you’re really delivering on your performance as an attorney in their experience with your law firm.

So with that in mind, as far as the stage performance aspect of the Client Journey goes, you want to make sure that every step in the process for them has been very carefully considered. Even from the moment that the potential client shows up for their initial consultation, every step along the way needs to contain some aspect of a performance component.

And what I mean by that is, if you have a lobby, let’s say, and there’s a hallway that you have to walk down to get to the conference room, and it’s a very long hallway. You want to make sure, before the client takes that walk into your conference room, that you take that walk down into the conference room when they’re not there, so that you can evaluate everything that they’re going to see.

Because, if they walk from the lobby area to the conference room area, [00:10:00] and visibly, you can see boxes that are just lying on the floor next to garbage, and there’s disorganization everywhere, and there’s dust, and there’s old files just lying around on tables that look like maybe, they’re not secure. And it just looks the firm is a little bit of a mess, then you want to make sure that you get anything that’s going to be potentially problematic out of the way before that client shows up. So, that when they walk from the lobby area to the conference room where you’re going to be meeting them.

They’re not going to pass by, break rooms with food left out, or messes in the office anywhere. That everything needs to look buttoned up. Everything needs to look tidy. You can’t see any garbage. You can’t see anything that’s problematic in the building. And if there is anything problematic with an eye shot, then you need to make sure that’s taken care of so that it’s not observed from the lobby to the conference room.

That’s part [00:11:00] of the performance and you don’t want to break that performance. You don’t want to break character. You want to maintain that same level all the way through from the moment that potential client shows up to the moment they leave, you want to make sure that like a stage play, you’re hitting all of your beats and that you’re not missing any.

This is a performance that you do over and over again. So, it’s very important that you understand you’re inside of that performance, not to be disingenuous, but there are, a series of marks that you’re going to hit and beats and activities that need to take place, forms that need to be signed and materials that need to be distributed to these potential clients. Because ultimately, they’re the ones that decide whether or not they’re going to hire your services.

So, if they don’t like the way that your office looks, subconsciously, really even consciously, a potential client is going to equate that orderliness or that messiness with sloppiness or untrustworthiness, and that’s [00:12:00] pretty much going to lead to the client not hiring you. And that becomes a waste of your time, it becomes a lost revenue stream, so you want to

make sure that you’re on top of that performance.

Overall, it’s really important that, yes, working with clients is a stage performance, that’s something you need to remember. Several people in the firm, by the way, you need to be coordinated. They need to know their blocking. They need to know their lines. They need to put together their choreography and that all needs to come together and operate in an impressive and inspiring production.

So that, the potential client will see the teamwork that goes on, from person to person in the law firm. They’re going to develop trust and confidence in you, because this might be the first time they’ve visited you. They don’t know anything about your law firm, and so it’s one of those first impression things. It really is important that you make a strong first impression.

And treating this first impression like a stage performance or at least having that as a little bit of a framework, is a way for you to make [00:13:00] sure that every time a new person shows up, a potential client that could or could not hire you, that you have that performance down within yourself as the attorney and that everybody else has that performance down as well as the office staff.

So, I hope that’s been helpful. I’m Scott Benton, I’m the host of the Classroom2Courtroom podcast. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. And if you do like this podcast and you’d like to get notified whenever we post a new episode, you can always go to our website.

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And until next time, we hope you’ll join us in making the world a better place, one client at a time. Thank you so much and take care.

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