fallout from our failure to listen to clients
Pursuant to my latest post on the importance of lawyer listening skills, both Gerry Riskin and Patrick J. Lamb pointed out that there’s “a big difference between knowing that you should listen and knowing how to do so effectively” (to borrow Lamb’s words and emphasis). We’ve all been stuck in the should zone at one time or another (think verbal commitment to diet and exercise made time and again). For whatever reason, inability or disinclination, we can’t see our way clear from resolution to execution. When it comes to listening to our clients, lawyers pay a price for failing to take action. That cost is conveyed in this article on attorney-client assistance programs. Under these initiatives, state bars first direct complaints about lawyers to an “intake person” instead of leading with a formal complaint procedure. According to the piece, the complaints often stem from clients feeling unheard. As one quoted program director puts it: “If attorneys spent a little bit more time listening to their clients and talking to them about what’s going on in their case [ ] I suspect this program would have a lot less business." The ripple effect of our listening lapses can also be gleaned from this Knowledge @ Wharton article on the exponential power of negative word-of-mouth [tipped by Ian McKee at The Power of Influence]. Tracking a recent customer dissatisfaction study, the piece states that people (read clients) are bound to talk about their negative consumer experiences and that their “complaints have an even greater impact on [people] who were not directly involved as the story spreads and is embellished.” Researchers reported that almost half of the study’s participants said that they’ve “avoided a store in the past because of someone else's negative experience.” Since most lawyers survive and thrive on repeat business from clients and on client referrals, we simply can’t afford the fallout from our failure to listen.
