Thursday, December 11, 2014

Gratitude is a Gift You Give Yourself

The holidays are upon us and it’s a time when everyone takes actions to show their gratitude. But why confine it to only one or two months out of twelve? Whether you have existing clients or someone nibbling on the postcard hook, or you are out there stone cold calling, take some donuts, or some candy, or a nice basket with cookies.  I do this quite often with my existing clients; yes, existing.  This simple gesture does two things;  it builds customer loyalty, and it lets anyone else in that law firm who isn’t a client want to be your client so they can be the recipient of those goodies.  When following up with those who are not yet a client, but who have shown some interest by responding to some of your other marketing, follow up on the call by making a visit with a sweet offering. 

Most of the people you are going to be dealing with on a day-to-day basis are legal assistants; secretaries, paralegals and legal assistants who are predominantly female.  What wonderful lady doesn’t like chocolate?  Or scented candles?  Or cookies?   Bubble bath soap?  If they weren’t a client yet, by the time you leave the law firm, they will be if not for the simple reason that you made them feel special with your nice gift.  Holidays are the perfect time to focus on gift giving, Halloween, Christmas or even Valentine’s Day, but so is any other day of the year.

Here’s a perfect example of how it can work.  A particular legal assistant at a law firm where I did not have clients had contacted me about obtaining a copy of a court document. She knew I had retrieved a copy of this document for a client of mine who happened to be on the other side of the lawsuit her law firm was working on.  She just wanted to get a copy of the document and knew I could provide it as I had a copy already.  Her firm was going to (naturally) pay for the copy, but that didn’t mean at this point she was going to start using me to obtain court documents or serve legal process or conduct investigations for her on a regular basis.  I saw this one contact as an opportunity and used it to my advantage.

I provided what she needed and sent it to her along with my invoice.  A month went by and the invoice came up in my accounting system as having not been paid.  I wasn’t worried that I wouldn’t get paid.  Someone else might have, but I was familiar with the type of law firm she worked at and had a good feeling that it was merely an oversight by accounting department folks (which it was).  I contacted her, and gently reminded her that the invoice had come up past due.  I also made some small-talk with her, and was generally friendly in tone, then hung up and went about my day.  A week later the invoice was paid.  But that isn’t the end of the story. 

Since I had had some interaction with this legal assistant, I put her on my list for a goody basket for Christmas.  I went to the firm in person and delivered a basket filled with the candy and cookies.  Instead of being confronted by the receptionist as just another solicitor (with a scowl), I was instead welcomed (with a glowing smile).  I introduced myself, said I had a basket for the legal assistant, and asked if she could come and get it so I could meet her. 

As it turned out, the legal assistant wasn’t in that day, but that was fine.  I left the basket for her with her name on it and my business cards in it.  Then six weeks later, Valentine’s Day came up.  I did the same thing.  I delivered a nicely boxed Valentine chocolate from a very high-end chocolatier.  The legal assistant was out to lunch, so again I couldn’t meet her (honestly, my timing was simply off with this one).

On St. Patrick’s Day, I went with a bag of goodies to help celebrate that holiday.  This time, I figured, I haven’t received any work from her, or a thank you, or a phone call, and had not been able to meet with her, so I just left the bag of goodies, and figured this would probably be the last shot at it. 

A week went by and I received a handwritten note from her on the law firm’s stationery.  She told me how sorry she was for not having written sooner, or having called to say thank you, but she was so happy for the goodies she had received over the last few months.  In fact, she was most appreciative of the Valentine’s Day gift as she was single and had been feeling gloomy on Valentine’s Day until my gift showed up.  I still have the letter to this day even though it was written years ago. 

Subsequently, she called me to serve a subpoena for her attorney.  Then another assignment came in -- and then another and another.  Then another legal assistant in her law firm contacted me.  She said she had been referred by the first and needed a citation served, and then she called again a few weeks later, and then called again, and again, etc.  This went on throughout that law firm, which was a sizable office with a couple dozen attorneys.

 To this day, I still receive a substantial number of assignments from various legal assistants and attorneys in that law firm, and some of them have become good friends beyond being merely just clients.  From that one opportunity and a little persistence combined with sweet bribery of the chocolate type, I was able to obtain a repeat client and a large stream of continuous income.  That first legal assistant eventually left that law firm and went to another.  She recommended me around the office of her new law firm.  Then she moved on to another law firm and did the same thing there.  I didn’t even need to sell to these other law firms.  She did the selling for me and all because I made her day … one day …Valentine’s Day.

But, you might ask, why do this for existing clients?  I already have their business. Why would I want to spend the time and the money?  Two reasons: loyalty, and because I personally enjoy giving.  It feels good to give.

Look, your clients are, and will always be, the only reason you are in business.  Without them, you have no business.  You have no income. You have no house, car, computer, phone, vacation money, groceries, or electricity.  Take care of each one of them as if their assignments were the only ones you have in your hand.  If you show them appreciation (i.e., a little love, a little friendship), along with a competent service, they will be a customer for life.  What’s more, you will have such a good feeling in your heart when you see the look in their eyes once they get a nice gift for the holidays.  You’re giving back, you’re saying thank you for the business they have given you which has allowed you to feed your family or make your mortgage payment.  Show a little love and be grateful.

I am so thankful for the opportunity my friends (clients) have provided me by being of service to them. If they hadn’t let me serve their papers, or retrieve their court documents, or investigate the matters involved in their lawsuits, I would be homeless … or worse yet, working in a dead-end job for somebody else.  They have given me everything and I rejoice in that. 

Even if it is just a basket of cookies, it is the very least I can do to bring them a little something to show my appreciation that they do business with me.  And you should do the same with your existing clients.  It is an expression of gratitude which can nurture the continuance of a relationship with your customer. And, being nice is a gift you give yourself.

As a final thought, if you know of someone who is just starting out their process server business, consider gifting them with a copy of my book The Business End of Process Service, Running a Process Service Company from the Ground Up or CounterSpy, The Industrial Counter-Surveillance Manual, both available on Amazon.com

3 comments:

  1. Great article Bob! I always have difficulty staying in a reasonable budget with gifts. What percent of your marketing budget do you allocate for gifts?

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    1. Great question Clark6500. Gifts to clients are actually so much less expensive than most other advertising you would do with the exception of social media, which tends to free for the most part. I do not actually measure it in terms of percentage of the overall marketing budget, though. Instead, when it comes to gifts, I look at who are my newest clients, who are my biggest clients, and who are my clients that have other potential clients (i.e., other attorneys or other legal assistants) within their firm that are not currently using our services. Since the cost for most gift giving is minimal (meaning way under $25 per gift), I typically can target close to 50 clients during the Christmas season, and the same on other major holidays like Independence Day. If I make the gifts myself, I can usually do this for around $500 per holiday. If you compare that cost to the other advertising and marketing costs you incur over the course of the year, you can see that this is actually quite inexpensive, but gets considerable bang for the buck, especially when you target firms where you have a client and there are other potential clients in that same firm. Hope this helps. Thanks for reading.

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