A fantastic onboarding process involves far more than educating new clients about your legal expertise and services. It’s the start of a long-term relationship built on trust and support.
It’s essential to provide your clients with an effortless onboarding process. This will put them at ease and increases client retention.
So how can you enhance your law firm’s onboarding process? Here are seven simple tips to foster trust with new clients while sustaining those you already have.
Let’s get started!
1. Start the Onboarding Process As Soon As Possible
A solid onboarding process shouldn’t start after a lead becomes a bonafide client. It should begin during the initial client consultation. During your first meeting with a prospective client, thoroughly educate them about your expertise, pricing models, and any other crucial information. You can also give them some tips to build their confidence in your knowledge and experience.
2. Personalize the Process
Successful law firms are client-centric. This means that you’re happy to always go the extra mile to deliver a fantastic experience to your clients, both old and new. Learn about a prospect’s unique situation, background, and needs.
You can then use this information to develop a personalized onboarding experience for that particular client. Put together a customized client welcome kit that includes:
- Information about how your law firm can help their unique situation
- Key contacts at your firm
- Client testimonials that apply to the services they need
- Billing methods
- A hand-written thank-you note that expresses your gratitude for their business
3. Make Yourself Accessible
Throughout the entire relationship, always be accessible to your client. This is especially true during the onboarding process. While you don’t have to respond to their every inquiry 24/7, you should answer their emails and return their calls in a timely manner. Don’t keep new clients waiting for too long.
To streamline client communications, it’s important for your firm to have a process in place. This helps your team assist clients throughout the entire customer lifecycle.
4. Be Authentic
Lawyers are often portrayed as money-hungry villains in movies. While this is often not the case, a study by the American Bar Association found that 69% of respondents thought that attorneys were more interested in generating revenue than helping their clients.
You can foster trust by always being honest, transparent, and genuine. Always put the client first.
5. Show Them Their Progress
Provide your clients with consistent updates about their onboarding progress. Set and note important milestones that they can visually see. This ensures clients know you value their time and gives them the same satisfaction as crossing items off a to-do list does.
You can set up a document on Google Sheets or have a graphic-design-savvy employee create an appealing PDF to show your client their progress through their onboarding journey.
When a milestone is reached, set up a one-on-one meeting with your client. This allows you to understand the client’s desired outcome and what they’re hoping to achieve.
6. Focus On the Process
During your one-on-one meetings after each milestone, focus not just on the goals, but the process. Studies have shown that focusing on the process and not the outcome makes people feel less stressed and perform better. Encourage your client to focus on the task at hand and celebrate how far they’ve already come. You can do this by recommending that they concentrate on the guidance you’ve given them on how to prepare for litigation and not on the outcome of the case.
7. Ask for Feedback
After the onboarding process wraps up, ask your client for feedback. This can help you identify opportunities for improvement and makes the client feel like their opinion matters.
Final Thoughts
Providing a fantastic onboarding experience to your clients deepens trust, boosts customer satisfaction, and increases client retention rates.
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