Family law practitioners are plagued by burnout. Focusing on customer service and client satisfaction can be a powerful remedy for the burnout problem. Reconnecting with serving our clients (and by extension, the reason many of us chose this career) can give us renewed energy and enthusiasm for our practice. When we shift our self-concept of our practices from a legal services delivery mechanism to a customer service solution, we change our perspective and reignite the passion and reinforcement we get from serving our clients well.

In job interviews, we routinely ask, “Why did you become a lawyer?” All new lawyers, and most with some experience, generally answer in the same way. They explain that they joined the profession to “help others.” If job interviews involved more honesty than gamesmanship, they might actually say “I became a lawyer because it has been my lifelong dream to get this job,” but largely, lawyers have been motivated to enter the profession out of a sincere desire to make a difference for real people. Sadly, however, once lawyers obtain their first job representing real people, it becomes increasingly difficult to stay focused on helping others amid the deluge of phone calls, court appearances, deadlines, and stresses of everyday practice.

Over the course of the past year, our firm set out to set a new standard for law firms in our area for providing excellent customer service. We decided to benchmark our achievement by using an award for customer service from our local Chamber of Commerce. As we took the steps required to deliver excellent customer service to our clients, we focused on the things our clients truly need from us as professionals. This endeavor allowed us to reconnect with “helping people,” and we found ourselves feeling far more connected with our clients/customers and finding much greater satisfaction in our jobs. We are proud to have received the customer service award from our Chamber of Commerce this month.

Here’s how we won the award and how your firm can win a comparable award in your city. The award will make you proud of your practice, but the real winner will be your happy and satisfied clients.

These are our top ten tips for customer service excellence:

10. Return every client call in less than two hours.

If you can’t return the call, then have someone else return the call. Set up phone buddies to watch one another’s voicemail or have your voicemail system automatically forward voicemails once they have not been listened to after a set interval. Our research shows that our clients prefer to speak to a lawyer, not a paralegal or a secretary, so have the client’s lawyer or another lawyer in the firm return the call if at all possible. It’s easy to get caught in the procrastination trap of avoiding a phone call. Sadly, returning the call only gets harder with every passing minute. Take the call when it comes in or deal with it as soon as possible, and it will go as well as it ever will.

9. Copy clients on all mail, faxes, and e-mail.

Give clients 24/7 access to their file and documents in progress via an extranet. Don’t benchmark yourself against other law firms; benchmark yourself against your bank or insurance company. Clients are now used to having access to all sorts of personal information from a variety of other trusted advisers and professionals and reasonably expect the same from you. Do not allow your client to become anxious for lack of information.

8. Survey every client regularly.

Ask clients everything you can think to ask about their perception of the service you deliver. When you find a weakness, fix it. Survey clients, potential clients, former clients, clients that fire you, clients you fire, and clients that choose not to hire you. Only rarely do we encounter resistance to a survey. Our overwhelming experience is that clients love to give us their opinions, both positive and negative.

7. Develop a culture focused on and obsessed with customer service.

Talk about customer service at every firm meeting. Create a constant feedback loop using the client surveys and informal conversations so that you and your people can modify their behavior when they discover that certain approaches do not work. When clients express their satisfaction with your firm, circulate their positive feedback. Ask them to write a letter detailing what went right and distribute the letter within the firm.

6. Make yourself and your lawyers as accessible as possible.

Give clients a direct dial number so they don’t have to talk to the receptionist. Give out cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Provide clients with access to the lawyer via instant messenger. Open every door for clients to communicate, and respond quickly to their requests. Most of us are frustrated when we have trouble reaching a doctor on the phone or trying to connect with another lawyer. Don’t let your clients feel this way about you.

5. Commit to learn and practice in emerging areas of practice.

All of our lawyers have extensive training in mediation and collaborative law, as well as all of the basic and advanced training in litigation and negotiation. Offer your clients a full array of options for dispute resolution and give them choices and alternatives. Clients are tuned into the pro se movement and the availability of online divorce services and software. Be on the leading edge to provide alternatives to those services offered by others.

4. Link client satisfaction to compensation at every level, from the receptionist to the managing partner.

Provide salary bonuses for outstanding client service. We link our client survey responses to attorney compensation. We provide bonuses to staff members for delivering exceptional service to clients, and we offer incentives with significant awards for achieving high levels of satisfaction from clients.

3. Treat clients with respect from the moment they arrive at the office.

Greet clients by name, offer a beverage, and move clients or prospective clients from the lobby to a private room immediately upon their arrival. Have someone walk clients to the meeting room and stay with them until the attorney arrives. Train the greeter to introduce the lawyer. Offer clients the privacy they need at any point in the process. Treat each client with utmost respect. Don’t talk derisively about your clients within the firm.

2. Offer training on customer service to lawyers and staff members.

Use outside consultants if you lack those on staff with the expertise to deliver these services. Train your people on effective communication, manners, dealing with upset clients, etc. Assume that the training will need to be repeated regularly, and do not expect folks to absorb the message the first time. Adult education requires repetition and excellent presentations. Every dollar invested in training of this type will pay off many times over in satisfied clients and positive word-of-mouth marketing in the community.

1. Touch base with clients frequently just to make sure they are satisfied.

Consider having an employee who does nothing but check on clients with “how’s it going” phone calls. Don’t charge for such calls. Focus on listening skills, and be sure you are truly hearing the client when you are touching base.

At the awards ceremony, we received the First Citizen’s Bank Pinnacle Award for Customer Service from the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. It was a proud moment for our lawyers and staff, and the trophy looks great in our lobby. Winning the award provided our attorneys with a moment of connection with our clients that renewed our energy for helping people in crisis and working with them to improve the quality of their lives. Although we accepted the award, our clients were the true winners in this contest.

This article was originally published in Family Advocate, a publication of the American Bar Association.