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Scott Benton: Hey everyone, Scott Benton here. I am the host of the Classroom2Courtroom podcast. How are you? We are here to help you easily transition from the law school that you’re attending into your professional career as an attorney and where we make the practice of law fun.
Scott Benton: And today, we’re going to answer the question of, What Does an Exceptional Client Journey Look Like?
What is an exceptional client journey look like Now to get a closer look at what the Client Journey should look like? We’re going to take you through a portion of that experience to help showcase the kind of customer service you want to work towards, when interacting with clients who have retained you for representation. So, In this particular fictional scenario that I’m going to describe, this is typical for the law firm that I work at, which is a Trust and Probate Administration and Litigation law firm. We’re located in Irvine, California, which is in [00:01:00] Southern California, if you’re not familiar with California. This is going to sort of highlight when a potential client comes in, or sometimes we call them a prospect.
They’ve come in, they have a case for instance that they’d like to talk to us about, maybe consider hiring us. They’re going to call our main office in this case, and they’re going to talk to one of our Intake Specialists. And the Intake Specialist is going to figure out if this is a viable case and assuming it is, they’re going to schedule an in person consultation. initial consultation with one of our attorneys.
So now, keep in mind that as far as the Client Journey goes and the client experience, we’re modeling everything that we do on Disneyland or what we call the Disneyland Experience. you know, While we’re a law firm, we’re not a theme park, and we certainly don’t have rides and attractions.
If you’ve ever been to Disneyland, or really, any of those Disney parks, then you’re probably going to remember how well you were treated while you were there. Even though, [00:02:00] there’s tens of thousands of people walking around at these parks, on the day you visited, whenever you happen to interact with any of the cast members. Now, they call them cast members, not employees, that’s just a Disney thing.
But when you interacted with any of the cast members, it probably felt like you were the most important person in that entire park on that day, because of just how well you were treated. And when it comes to customer service and when it comes to providing that high quality Client Journey for the potential clients that come in that you’re going to be meeting with, or maybe even you know, clients that have already hired you.
It The Disneyland Experience doesn’t stop once the potential client has become a client and hired you. That Disneyland Experience carries on throughout the time that you’ll be working with that potential client or a client. This is going to continue all the way until you’ve wrapped up the case and you’ve sent out that disengagement letter.
So, this is a practice that you’re going to want to [00:03:00] exercise with all of your clients, not just one or two, but with everybody and all of the time. So, we like to use some of the same techniques. same ideas that are used at Disneyland. Now we know, that Disney cast members are put through a fairly rigorous customer service training before they ever are allowed to interact with the paying guests that are inside the park.
And it’s why, whenever you interact with any of the cast members that consistently they’re so good at it. They’ve studied this, they have a lot of practice with it. And by the first time they’re in the park, they’ve already rehearsed this role over and over again.
They know what to do, they know what not to do. And this is something that you want to begin to get familiar with as well. And so, this is the reason why you also want to have as much practice as you can with your customer service skills. So, that you’re able to provide an excellent Client [00:04:00] Journey all the way through the work that you do with your clients all the way from the beginning to the end.
On the day of the potential client’s appointment when they show up. Generally, they’re going to come to our office and immediately they’re going to be greeted by our receptionist. Now, the receptionist knows to smile and to greet them. Friendly, warmly, the receptionist will greet them by name and they’re immediately going to bring them into the conference room. Now, inside the conference room, the potential client’s going to sit down. There’s a sign on the conference room table right in front of them that has their name on it.
It welcomes them to their appointment, it’s sitting right in front of them. And the receptionist is going to ask that potential client if they would like anything to drink. And there are any number of drinks, including specialty coffee drinks, lattes, all that very good lattes that we make in house and they’re handcrafted, they’re delicious. And so, whatever the client wants, they’ll tell that to the receptionist, and the receptionist will leave to go, get the drink that they’ve [00:05:00] requested and the client will be left alone momentarily. Now, keep in mind that in the conference room, that conference room has already been well thought out ahead of time.
It has comfortable seating, It’s got a pleasant room ambience, it has a nice view, there’s circulating fresh air, it’s set at a perfect temperature, the decorations all around the room, they’re calming to the senses. So everything’s really been figured out long before that potential client has even shown up, has even called us all of that is put in place. And so when they show up, it’s like the Disneyland Experience.
They’re having an exceptional time with our company and they basically have been here for two minutes and already, they’re having a very pleasant experience. Which is not unlike Disneyland, you walk through that gate, even when you get to the parking lot and you get on the tram to go to the front gate. That whole experience is very enjoyable right from the beginning.
There’s not one point in time where you’re uncomfortable or people are not friendly towards [00:06:00] you. And so, you need to think in terms of that Disneyland Experience from the moment that potential client shows up and sits in the conference room. So after the receptionist has returned with the beverage, and once the potential client, they’re comfortably settled in, that’s when the attorney shows up.
The attorney will introduce himself or herself. And they’ll sit down and they’ll begin to talk about the case that the potential client has come in with. Now, keep in mind that the attorney is not rushing the potential client. They’re keeping the conversation focused and on track. But they’re patiently and attentively listening to what’s being said.
And also, really, even more importantly, what’s not being said because there’s always a lot of information contained in what people are not saying. But the attorney, they’re not interrupting the potential client. They’re not taking over the conversation. They’re not talking over them or interrupting them at all. They’re just very patiently listening, they’re focused like a laser beam.
They are actively listening to the [00:07:00] potential client. They’re helping the conversation not wander off track because that can happen. But the attorney’s not offering legal advice. The attorney is simply listening very closely because they are going to evaluate, whether this is a case that the firm can help them with or not.
There’s a couple of screens that go on. The Intake Specialist screen them initially. They come in, they meet with an attorney, and then the attorney does that final screening to determine, yes, is this a case that we can help you with. At the end of the meeting, if they determine that the nature of the case, it’s not something really that the firm works on, just might be outside of our scope. Then the attorney’s gonna very politely explain that the type of law firm they’re looking for, it might be a family law firm, or maybe a criminal law firm, or whatever type of law firm the attorney deems would be more appropriate would then become the suggestion made to the potential client that they need to find a firm that specializes in that type of [00:08:00] law as a focus.
But, if the attorney decides that, yes, this is a good case for us, we could certainly help you as a client. And at that point, the attorney is gonna explain the parameters. There’s usually a CSA involved with client services agreement, there is a retainer that’s paid. I am talking about our firm, but other firms may be a little different.
But for us, there is a Client Services Agreement. There is a retainer generally, but the point is that the attorney is gonna go through all of those parameters to let the potential client know that, this is what’s needed if you’re going to decide to retain our firm and engage our services. Now sometimes, the potential client, they’ll retain us right away, right then and there. That client will become a case that we’re going to be working on. And other times they need to think about it. Other times it might take a week or two. Sometimes it might even take a month or months. We’ve seen that happen too.
Keep in mind that at this point, it’s up to the potential client to decide [00:09:00] whether they want to hire our firm to work on their case or not, that’s up to them. Essentially, they are the employer, we are their employee, they are hiring us, they are paying us for our services and we essentially are working for them. Now hopefully, this initial consultation has helped put the potential client or maybe the client at that point, that helps to put them at ease and you’ve been able to start to build a relationship and a level of trust with them.
Overall they get to, for the most part, like at the end of Disneyland, when you’re going back to your car, okay? You’ve just spent hours and hours having, hopefully, the most fun that you’ve had in a long time. It’s certainly that whole day was enjoyable and you’re walking away from that experience, feeling really good. And after the initial consultation, we want to make sure the potential client, maybe the client at that point, they’re also walking away feeling really good. [00:10:00] Because maybe, they haven’t worked with an attorney before and they’ve come in all stressed out about this case. And a lot of times don’t know what to do.
Now hopefully, the initial consultation meeting that the potential client has just had, is one that they really get to walk away from feeling good about. Whether they’ve hired us or not overall, that was a good experience. They’re walking out still with the legal issue in the case that they’ve come to talk to us about, that hasn’t gone away.
So, the stress of having some legal issue that you now need to deal with can be pretty significant. And they’re walking out of our office still carrying that with them.
But hopefully, they’ve had that Disneyland experience. They feel good about meeting with us. And also, we’re hoping that they’re leaving feeling like there are some options that are going to help them solve this legal problem that they’re in. And that they are feeling as if we are the correct law firm for them and that you are the correct [00:11:00] attorney. Because you’ve been able to build or establish some trust with them, build a little bit of a relationship and that they go away feeling really good about that.
And underscoring that whole experience is that same Disneyland Experience. When you go back to your car, and you drive away, and you’re back on the freeway heading home. You feel like you just had the greatest day of your life, and you really want your clients to feel that way, and why it’s important to look at the power of that Disneyland Experience.
I hope this has been helpful, zooming in a little bit about, What The Client Journey Should Look Like? And remember that as a law firm, you’re largely a customer facing organization. You’re facing the customer all the time, which is not unlike Disneyland. They’re doing nothing but facing customers, pretty much all day long unless you work behind the rides or something, making sure that the all the trains are running on time.
But it’s a lot like Disneyland that way. And it’s why you want to do your best to provide that Disneyland Experience for your potential clients and [00:12:00] your clients, whenever possible.
So I hope that’s been helpful, I’m your host Scott Benton. This is the Classroom2Courtroom podcast. Thank you for listening, if this is material that you’re enjoying and you want to receive an alert every time we put out a new episode, you can go to our website, Classroom2Courtroom.com.
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