You are the only one who can facilitate or limit your chances for business success. Knowledge is power. It has always been, and will always be. How much business knowledge you learn is up to you. To master anything, one must continue to learn. This is true for you, as a businessperson, and as an attorney. For the same reasons why you must have continuing education to maintain your license, you must continue learning how you can be more effective, in order to stay in business.
To be self-taught, you must be aware of anything that can make you a better attorney and business owner. You must be willing to continuously improve, change, or modify what could be better. This is done by being observant. Observe and be aware of how your efforts affect you and your clients. Compare your efforts and strategies with other businesses, not just other lawyers. Notice the little things that leave big impressions on you as a consumer and customer. Listen to the comments or opinions others make about their experience with any business.
We are all very similar when it comes to judging an experience with an individual or business organization. Our impressions of an experience are positive or negative, strong or weak, trusting or doubtful, friendly or casual, believable or not, pleasant or cold, etc. Get the idea? These impressions decide if we continue a relationship, trust it to try again, pay more for it, or eliminate it as a choice.
Be aware and take note of your experiences. Identify what gave you that perception or feeling. Adapt your business efforts to either include or eliminate these strategies that may affect your business and client perceptions.
Sources for this type of knowledge are your own personal experiences and other people’s opinions. Other people’s opinions can easily be found in different ways. One way is to simply ask. Another way is to look for customer comments and complaints. They can be found in many online business directories, where a customer may leave comments. Study these carefully. You will notice that we all have basic expectations and expect them to be met in any business transaction. Sometimes promises are made by the business, in the form of advertising messages or images shown. Customers may comment on their satisfaction or disappointment with how their expectations were met. There is a good business saying, “under-promise and over-deliver.” What counts to a customer or client is not whether you sold them to do business with you, but whether you earned their business and can keep them coming back for more!
Remember, as a professional and business organization, one can always improve. Take this to heart or you will fade away. The market is too competitive to just stay compliant. A successful business must continue to improve.
Think of all the products or services that are now out of business. I guarantee you that it was because another service or product did the same job better, faster, and is more affordable. Here are some examples:
Video Rental Stores - replaced by mini rental boxes at convenience stores and supermarkets. These kiosks more conveniently offered the same movie for less. Online streaming or downloading have now replaced these. Better, faster, more affordable.
Cable TV and Satellite TV - expensive services are being replaced by off air digital antenna and the Internet. You can watch anything at any time, either for free or less expensive. Better, faster, more affordable.
Specialty Stores - replaced by mega department stores. And now, the mega stores are being replaced by online stores. Buy anything in one convenient place. Better, faster, more affordable.
Full Service Law Firms - currently being replaced by small boutique firms that are more specialized, and have less overhead and red tape. Better, faster, more affordable.
There are many more examples. The market conditions are changing all the time. New businesses are opening offering better, faster, and more affordable services and products. Old business models unwilling to improve, adapt, or change go out of business daily. The current economy speeds up the process by demanding better, faster, and more affordable products and services. New customers and clients will choose whom they do business with and how much they will pay, by this expectation.
Now, you have heard the following defensive statements:
Cheaper is not always better.
You get what you pay for.
You must pay more for quality.
Never repeat these to a prospective client! Why, you ask? It is because you and the client know they are false. The customer knows them to be a sales pitch to get them to pay more, especially “before” they have experienced the service or product. These statements should be realizations that your client makes “after” they have experienced your services, and not as a pre-warning that they are about to pay more.
Many businesses operate in the dark by constantly offering products and services, without researching if the customer even wants or needs them. They put the cart before the horse. These businesses do not last too long and close up eventually, when the money runs out. You can see examples of these businesses all the time. Just walk through a mall or shopping strip. They started as a hopeful idea and not as a response to what the market is calling for.
Another crazy example is a business that repeats the same mistake as a recently failed one. How many times do you see a recently closed restaurant replaced by another restaurant in the same location, sometimes even serving a similar menu? Crazy! The market is clearly and loudly saying, “No!”
To have a successful business, you must give the customer what it wants. So what does the customer want from your new law practice? It depends on many factors:
Who are your prospective clients?
Where is your office located?
What is the current economic condition?
Who is your competitor?
How do your services compare?
Are you ready, willing, and able to make your services, you guessed it, better, faster, and more affordable?