Unsatisfied Clients – nobody bats 1000
I am going to have to Google this, but I’d be willing to bet no other attorney has written a blog post on unsatisfied clients. There are probably millions of posts about particular satisfied clients but I bet there are very, very few on those that aren’t happy with that particular lawyer.
The reality is that if you are doing anything long enough, even if you are doing it exceedingly well, you will have some people who don’t like what you did or how you did it. Period. It’s just going to happen. I think most of the time that doesn’t necessarily mean you did poorly, it just means that you didn’t meet a client’s particular expectations.
Are these things we like to talk about in advertising or informational pieces? Generally, no. Attorneys, as I would imagine other professionals, like to brag about their successes to get more clients. I just thought I’d shake it up a bit and talk about failure for a second, and what that means exactly.
First, let me say what you expect me to say: I generally DON’T have unsatisfied clients. I do my utmost to take care of my clients’ cases and the vast majority has given me good marks when their cases have concluded. Simply doing my best makes it more likely than not that a client will walk away satisfied so for the most part, I don’t have to worry about unsatisfied clients.
But have I had them? You betcha. It just happens. Let’s talk about why.
Almost invariably, the root of the problem is the client’s expectations. If you can understand those from the beginning, you can probably avoid an unsatisfied client. So that’s where you start.
I handle, essentially, two types of cases: injury claims and traffic tickets. No attorney can ethically guarantee outcomes. But what I do from the outset is to explain what outcomes we can reasonably hope for for their particular issue. If their expectations are off, I can normally rein them in, and that helps to make sure they don’t walk away unsatisfied. If I can’t get their expectations within a normal range, then I typically know that I can’t help that client in the way they want to be helped, so I don’t let them hire me.
What?! You turn down business? Yes, in fact, I do. It doesn’t do me much good to take on a case where I’m not only going to be fighting my opponent, but I’ll also be fighting my client at the same time. It’s best if my client and I present a united front against the opposition, and when we have a unified goal in mind, then my clients will generally be satisfied, whether we hit the mark or not, merely because we both knew what we were going for and fought to get it.
I’m not a card player, but cards are a great analogy for cases: I tell clients that I have to play the hand you were dealt. Your case might be good, your case might be bad, and I have to do my best with it. I can’t ask for a different hand. I have to play the one you’ve been dealt, and I’ll do my best to win the hand. I can’t guarantee outcomes. I can only do the best with what I have to work with. And sometimes you just plain have a bad hand. On those cases, if the client understands that from the beginning, then win or lose, they are normally satisfied because they understood their weaknesses and had reasonable expectations.
When a client doesn’t understand their weaknesses is when they have unreasonable expectations, and unreasonable expectations are hard to meet. Every time I’ve had a client that was unsatisfied, the root of the problem was this: I failed to see that their expectations were not in line with what was likely to happen, and I should have dealt with that sooner.
The biggest slap in the face I can take, other than an actual slap in the face, is when I explain to an injury client the legal weaknesses in their case, and then they say something along the lines of, “I think you’re working for the insurance company!”
Ugh.
I can’t even stand to type it. But it has happened. It’s like telling an oncologist, “I think you work for cancer.” Do you really think we somehow benefit by making our clients lose their fight?
Seriously. It baffles me.
My job is to give advice and advocate. Clients can forget that in giving advice an attorney is often going to tell them things they do not want to hear, things that will not make them feel good about their case (and maybe themselves). But our job is not to paint pictures of sunshine and puppy dogs; it’s to tell our clients exactly what they are up against and what they can expect, good and/or bad. To do otherwise is to do our job poorly. Sadly, sometimes the truth hurts. But this is what we do.
If you want an attorney that is going to tell you everything is great and you can expect to own a significant portion of downtown San Francisco real estate by the time your case is done, then keep looking. If, on the other hand, you want an attorney who will call it like he sees it and give you a fair and honest evaluation of what you are up against, then call me.
919-929-2992.
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