Get inside your client’s head.

If you’d like to improve your client service, start by understanding how your typical clients experience every interaction they have with you and your staff.

Here’s an easy exercise to get you started:

1. On a whiteboard or large easel-sized post-it note, draw the image above, and divide it into quadrants.
2. At the top of the drawing, list one part of your client experience. A good one to start with is your waiting room.
3. In each quadrant, take smaller post-it notes and ask everyone (your lawyers and staff) to answer each of the four questions as many times as they can.
4. Be sure to answer each question from your clients’ perspective, beginning each post-it response with the word “I” (I wonder …, I see …, I hear …, etc.).
5. Take each negative response (“I hear my lawyer complaining to someone about another client.” ”I wonder if she complains about me?” ”I will tell my friends not to trust her.”) and brainstorm at least 7 ways to address it.
6. Spend at least one hour each week working to fix the negative things so your clients have less to complain about.
7. Repeat monthly with a different part of your client experience like your website, your bills and even your retainer agreements.

Originally published at www.nonbillablehour.com on April 6, 2012.