Loyalty Important for Future Business
Just as a client is looking for many qualities in a lawyer, a lawyer is looking for many qualities in a client. A client who is forthright, who does what is needed on his end, and who pays his bills on time and in full is certainly a valuable client. Perhaps even more than that, though, a client who is loyal is particularly valuable.
I know this from personal experience—not in connection with the legal practice that I had for over twenty-five years but rather from the food industry in which I worked before I became a lawyer.
In my company, a buyer called me one day and said he'd like to see me in the office. So I went, and he said, "Ed, we've done a cutting." A cutting in the food industry is very much like wine tasting in the wine industry. The buyer continued, "The quality of your product is really great. We love it. But it's not so good that I can avoid the competitive arena. And here's what your competitors are doing and what they're offering us. Take a look at it. I don't expect you to meet it entirely, but I need you to do something. Go back to the office and think about it and get back to me."
As I was driving back to the office, I realized something. I was the last one to receive a call from the buyer. I was the last one because that buyer wanted to do business with me. That buyer was bonded with me. I did not have to meet the competition, but I did have to do something in order to make it look like he was an effective buyer and save his job. If I could do that, I had that buyer's business. And I had that buyer's business because I had that buyer's loyalty.
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