Many years ago, I did almost all of my work for two partners in a large firm. They were good friends, but they could not have been more different to work for. But what I am today, I am in large measure because of them. Once, I was traveling with one of the partners and we were talking over cocktails. The partner told me I was the best associate that had ever worked for him. I asked how he had reached that conclusion. His answer was something that has stuck with me since: “I never wake up in the middle of night thinking about cases you’re working on.”
Another time, I was having cocktails with my other mentor, and I asked how I was doing. He said “you give me what I need to be able to do my job well.” When I told him about his partner’s comments over cocktails, he laughed and said if I did for him the things that I did for his friend, he would never sleep a wink. The key to my success, he said, was knowing what I needed to do for one was not the same as what I needed to do for the other.
The point of these two stories is not to relive my glory years as an associate, although Bruce Springsteen wrote a great song about doing so. Rather, the point is that there was no recipe that either of my mentors had for judging me. And there was no recipe I had for providing the service that either them wanted.
Years later, in his outstanding book What Clients Love, Harry Beckwith wrote:
Ask loyal clients of any company why they remain loyal, and they will give one answer more than all others combined. Do they mention excellence, quality, skill or price? Not often. They answer “comfort.”
Beckwith’s book is filled with tips that help create comfort. But as with my mentors, what creates comfort for one client will differ from that which provides comfort for another. The hard part about being a service-oriented lawyer is to learn what it takes for each client to be comfortable, and then do everything possible to provide it. Read voraciously about what it takes to provide great service, but do not succumb to the theories of any one writer or consultant. Great service is personalized service. Great service is unique service.