Fidéliser la Clientèle

Somewhere in my boxes and binders of “practice development” material is a very old, very yellowed, page from the Canadian Bar Association’s magazine of the day. But although it’s easily forty years old, it’s as true today as it was then.

Featuring a cartoon of a sports lawyer standing with his arm over the shoulder of his client, a super-jock toothless hockey player leaning on his stick, the French-language article pulled no punches, if I may resort to sports talk.

What the author wanted us to understand is that long-term professional success really comes down to one thing: loyal clients. And obtaining loyal clients really comes down to a simple formula, inherent in the Alignment Principle.

Clients are loyal for one principal reason, namely that they are deeply satisfied with what you do for them. Sure, it’s nice that they like you as a person, or go to your church, or their kids are in school with yours. But those things are superficial, useful to get the clients in the first place, but not to keep them in the long term.

So, how do you continuously provide the kind of service that deeply satisfies clients? Only if you satisfy their precise needs. And how do you continuously satisfy their precise needs?

You can only satisfy specific needs if you are skilled to do so, and have the aptitude to fully understand the needs and solve them. In other words, if your giftings are aligned with the needs.

The wonderful thing about a loyal client base is that they become your evangelists. They brag about you to their friends and their families. They are the primary source of reputation building.

Which makes me wonder why so many professionals try to be all things to all men. Specialists in everything. Dragnet fishers.

Trying to do everything for everybody is not only exhausting, but counterproductive. The likelihood of a career-destroying screwup is always present, clients who get “barely OK” service never become fans, and you live in a world of colleagues all trying to poach each other’s business. Yecchhh!

If this rings true, but you’re not sure where to start, give me a call.