We have said repeatedly that when we ask law firms if they deliver client satisfaction every lawyer gives us a resounding yes (well 98%; 2% being honest). Then we ask them how and that is where we get the deafening silence.

We were recently discussing if we could get to the same point but with a different message and we started focusing on client dissatisfaction. We put it to a test and started asking some individual lawyers what they felt they had received as dissatisfaction from a client. Ironically most candidly admitted that it was personal contact with the lawyer or lack of feeling of personal interest.

Once we saw this trend our next question was how to fix it? In other words what steps could the lawyer or firm take that would address the issue. What surprised us was that the lawyers we talked to were more motivated to fix the problem when they could identify the problem.

Our best guess is that we like to solve problems and we feel good when we do. Our marketing suggestion for this week is to have your firm keep a list (honestly) of any hints from any client of something that made them unhappy or dissatisfied. There will be no recriminations by anyone but rather an honest survey of what staff and lawyers hear. Then summarize the list and come up with five top key problems. Create an action plan to correct the problems.

Most importantly, what is your quality assurance check? Keep track of improvements. Find out if it is working. Do your QA on client complaints.

The only thing that makes law firms different is how they deliver their service. Extraordinary client service means extraordinary efforts to be better than others.