Getting clients to hire you again and again

Henry and Andrew Ewalt are father-son authors of Through the Client’s Eyes: New Approaches to Get Clients to Hire You Again and Again, Third Edition, a best-selling resource for lawyers on developing an effective client relations program.

Henry Ewalt worked with the National Labor Relations Board, practiced in small, medium and large private practice settings and served as vice president and associate general counsel for Westinghouse and CBS. He’s been recognized in a number of Who’s Who volumes for decades. His son, Andrew Ewalt, runs a solo general practice that focuses on estates and trusts, business law and administrative law. As father and son, the Ewalts offer a unique generational perspective on law practice management issues.

The Ewalts share the importance of a client relations program and offer specific tips for cultivating client relationships with YourABA.

What does good client relations mean and what can it achieve for a lawyer?

Henry: Good client relations means that the client is satisfied with your representation and “feels” the fees you charged are fair.

Excellent client relations means the client is so satisfied with the quality of service and reasonableness of the fees that the client recommends the lawyer to others. Achieving good or excellent client relations is a proven method to motivate clients to hire you again and again.

What are some of the critical elements of an effective client relations program?

Andrew: Open communications, client participation in the decisions made by the lawyer, explanations of what the lawyer is doing and why, and the client’s understanding that the fees are reasonable are some of the elements.

Henry: The most important element is establishing a relationship with the client—by being more than “just” a lawyer—that is personal and goes beyond the single dimension of a relationship based exclusively on a legal matter.

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Historically, when lawyers market their practices, they rarely incorporate client feedback. Why is this a mistake? How can lawyers obtain and use client feedback in an effective and professional way?

Andrew: Virtually every business recognizes the commercial value of asking for and acting on customer feedback. This provides businesses with an ongoing, interactive source of information to adjust services and products to consumers’ needs. Not having such information restricts lawyers to making changes on their perceptions, rather than the perceptions of those it hopes to retain and develop as clients. In the book, we suggest a number of professional ways to obtain such feedback including surveys, conversations and evaluations.

What are some of the other mistakes that lawyers make when fostering relationships with clients?

Henry: The most widespread mistake is that lawyers generally believe that if they give the client a top-shelf legal product that the client will be highly satisfied. This is not so because the client probably won’t be able to independently recognize such technical quality. We know of clients who have left lawyers who achieved terrific results on their behalf.

Clients seem to be seeking relationships with their lawyers that include responsiveness, respect, understanding and trustworthiness.

What can a lawyer do today to immediately improve his/her relationship with clients?

Henry: Lawyers can immediately communicate more frequently and take an interest in the personal and business aspects of clients’ lives.

Today’s technology offers many new ways of communicating with clients. How has technology changed client relations? What are some of the technology tools that lawyers should be using?

Andrew: Recent changes in communications have been both positive and negative for developing better client relations. We all know how efficient and quick e-mail, voicemail and other technologies have made the practice of law and for many client situations, their use is fine, if not warranted. For instance, software programs that prompt lawyers to contact clients even when they don’t have a pending matter are useful. However, complete reliance on these more technical forms of communications that tend to be more impersonal could result in misunderstandings and miscommunications. One-on-one in-person communications, though not always possible, are the best way to connect with and develop good relationships with clients.

The newest edition of your book incorporates Andrew’s experience as a young solo practitioner. How does a client relations program differ for a solo?

Andrew: In theory there are no real differences. All of our suggestions and ideas apply equally well for all sizes of practices. This is so because they must be implemented by the individual attorney, whether practicing solo or in another setting. However, as a solo, I have a limited amount of time and resources to apply to my client relationship program. I can’t get assistance on this responsibility from an associate or staff person. The sole accountability rests with me to follow my client relations program. While this can be difficult at times, it is necessary for the long-term prosperity of the practice. So, I carve out the time from billable or personal hours to continuously develop clients.

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