legal sanity

My 6-year-old son is a baseball fanatic. He knows everything about his beloved New York Mets, down to the daily action on the farm. Since we live nearby, he’s eagerly tracking the construction progress at Citi Field, the Mets’ new ballpark that’s slated to open in 2009.

To give him a taste of what the new stadium might be like, on a recent family trip, I arranged for us to attend a Cleveland Indians game at Jacobs Field. From unobstructed views of the beautifully groomed turf to easily accessible concessions and luxury box seats, the stadium is designed to optimize the visitor’s experience.

While I’m a fan of my hometown Shea Stadium for sentimental reasons, it’s clear that it was not built with the customer’s concerns, perceptions and feelings in mind. By contrast, as conceived, Shea’s successor follows a new trend in baseball to cater to the attendee’s desire to have – and pay a premium for - a more intimate ballpark experience.

I’ve previously written about this trend toward customer experience management (CEM). Like other new business concepts, CEM puts a right-brain spin on service delivery. It considers how businesses can map, improve and deliver experiences that their customers or clients value on both a functional and an emotional level.

Given the widespread reports of impaired client relationships, law firms may want to take a closer look at the client experiences that they routinely offer. A firm’s CEM audit could include an appraisal of its:

• physical plant

• lawyers’ business relationship skills

• approach to business development

• client-centric marketing programs

• client satisfaction survey results

• client attrition statistics

This kind of honest appraisal will provide a solid platform for launching effective law firm CEM initiatives.