Legal
Building relationships
How to develop strong connections with your clients
By Carolyn LaWell
Smart Business Akron/Canton | April 2009
Page 1 of 2
John Krajewski, managing partner, Stark & Knoll Co. LPA
If you don’t have satisfied customers, you don’t have a business, says John Krajewski.
At the heart of any company’s growth is its ability to meet the needs of its customers. But it’s more than just answering your clients’ phone calls; it’s also knowing your clients and their business operations, says Krajewski, managing partner of the 35-employee law firm Stark & Knoll Co. LPA.
“Get to know them better as people and get to know the issues they’re dealing with,” he says.
Smart Business spoke with Krajewski about how to develop client relationships to guarantee customer satisfaction.
Q. What are the keys to developing trusting relationships with clients?
With our customers, we provide legal services, and in providing those services, our clients are buying our knowledge and expertise. But in reality, they can’t fully evaluate if we draft a good estate plan or write a good legal action.
What they are making their decisions on is the little things like phone calls being returned. Are they feeling valued — that their opinions and their business is valued?
Be responsive to their needs. If we don’t know the answer immediately, we’ll research it. If we can’t get to it that day, we will tell them we need to get back to them, and we will be prompt in getting back.
The most important thing is to be straightforward and honest with them. They simply don’t call us to generally chat. They call for our legal opinion and advice on how to get something done, and we try to give a clear path on how to achieve their goals.
Be clear with them. Lay the groundwork ahead of time for what they’re looking for. Sometimes they’re looking for a quick answer and they don’t want a treatise or a big paper written. They want just a short, simple answer. You have to know your client; you have to learn their business.
