Where to start? – there are just so many violations of effective client management.  That said, am I shocked?  Can’t say that I am entirely.  We all know that Narcissus’ attitude of “it’s MY client” is rife throughout Law Land.  In fairness, it’s also found in many other industries, as well. Many service professionals don’t want to “share” their clients with others at their firm.  So where does this attitude come from?  Frankly, it doesn’t matter; it simply needs to be stopped in its tracks.

Especially in this case where we’re talking about:

  1. the Chair of the firm
  2. advancing the firm’s exposure at the client  to the new CEO and GC for
  3. on-going and highly-remunerative work.

This is cross-selling Nirvana.

Boatloads of research confirm that the (unsurprising) fundamentals of successfully nurturing current clients are:

  1. Increase the touchpoints at the client.
  2. Get more partners at the firm meaningfully involved with the client.
  3. Get more practice areas servicing the client.

(On second thought, they must be surprising and unfamiliar to some.)

Below are two charts from Redwood’s Think Tank showing the sharp decline in client attrition when more partners and practice areas serve a client (attrition rate of clients on the vertical axis).

PartnerCount

 

PracticeAreas

The other thing that struck me is that Narcissus felt entirely comfortable, nay entitled to voice umbrage.   This requires severe attitude adjustment.  Perhaps being sent to a re-education “camp.”

Seriously, this has to be addressed frontally and fast.  Perhaps with an element of public shaming, the purpose of which is not (really) punitive  but rather to make it crystal clear to the partners and the firm that this attitude and behavior are completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.   Even if some continue to think this way (and some will), this action will give them pause next time a similar situation arises.

That’s called institutional learning.  And more of this will better serve your clients, your lawyers and staff and, ultimately,  your firm.

Now, back to Bruce….


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