Focus on client retention

By Linda Julian

Most lawyers and expert professionals recognise that new clients are hard to find, and that retaining and growing clients is critical to professional success.

If you want to improve client retention  -  and development  -  take a fresh look at the situation.

Who are our top clients ?

• list them
• size them
• analyse their pattern of service utilisation.

Who within the firm has the skill and expertise to address the particular needs of each ?

• take a critical look at the right professional skills to meet each client’s needs
• allocate team accordingly.

What is it that each professional serving this client needs to know about them when they meet so as to make the right impression ?

• recognise that credibility matters
• put in the hard yards to backgrounding teams on clients
• reap the rewards.

A good client relationship management (CRM) system will support this process.