Have you hugged your dog (I mean client) today?

Everything I know about business I learned from my dog Star

A “Friday lite” look at law firm marketing and business development

The weather has been getting warmer, so Star has taken to sleeping by herself on the bed in the guest room. But every morning around 5 a.m. she jumps on our bed, crawls between my husband and I and leans in on one of us. I call it our morning hug.

Law Firm Marketing

Star

I was reminded of these hugs while doing some research this week for a presentation I did to the San Diego County Bar on building client-centric law firm business plans. I came across an old article I had saved called “Have you hugged your clients today?” (Terri Pepper Gavulic, originally published in New York Law Journal Magazine, October 2004).

The article talks about how law firms tend to focus their efforts on attracting new clients but often do so at the expense of existing ones. As a result, clients consistently state that their law firms don’t seem to understand them, fail to offer practical advice that fits their real world experience and seem to make little effort to expand their relationships.

Although nearly six years old, the theme of this article continues to hold true today. And, like Star’s morning hugs, it should serve as a reminder to law firms that the investment in strengthening and expanding existing client relationships is equal to, if not more important than, bringing in new clients.

If you are interested in learning more about building a formal client development program, check out my new article, “Lessons from the trenches: Client Service Teams.” Also, watch for next week’s post when I take a closer look at the five areas covered in the article: feedback, analysis, business process, service and communication.

Posted on July 16, 2010 in It's a Dog's Life

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