I do a lot of traveling. Like many road warriors, I have found many benefits to upgrading my hotel experience.

I usually stay at Hyatt or Omni hotels when I can due to their consistently excellent service, but recently I stayed at the Ritz-Carlton® in downtown Los Angeles. Talk about reaching for the next level! As a somewhat demanding business traveler, I found they certainly went above and beyond my expectations.

Today’s consumer of legal services has more choices than ever before. They vote with their feet. Believe it or not, the majority of decisions on who to continue doing business with are not strictly or primarily financial (the Ritz was sold out all three nights I stayed with them and I’m certain there were cheaper choices available).

How you and your staff treat people and how you make them feel makes a big difference in whether they do business with you at all or will return and do business with you later. Recognize that savvy consumers do not compare you to other law firms. They compare you to the customer service they received at every other company they have recently done business with.

During my stay at the Ritz, I discovered several keys to their customer service that can be applied to your law firm in helping you fix your customer service or reach for the next level.

1. Systematize the Process. To excel at customer service you must systematize the entire process and train your staff to follow it. At the Ritz I used the valet service to park my rental. When I got out of the car, the valet asked me my name, wrote it on the ticket, and handed me a receipt. After my luggage was removed from the trunk he escorted me inside and introduced me to the Valet Manager, who immediately greeted me:

Good afternoon Mr. Fairley. Welcome to the Ritz Carlton. We are here to serve you. If you should need anything during your stay here, please let us know. There are several excellent plays in town and we would be glad to reserve some tickets for you or perhaps you would prefer a dinner reservation at one of the fine restaurants in the area. Also, we have a complimentary car service that’s available to take you anywhere within 3-4 miles of the hotel from 7-10am every day and 5-8pm each evening. We can also pick you up when you are finished. Do you have any questions, Mr. Fairley? Ok, then let me introduce you to Kay who will check you in.

He walked me over to Kay, who introduced herself and handed me an envelope with my name typed on the outside. She said that the hotel manager would also like to extend his greetings. The entire check in process was less than two minutes including upgrading me to the 25th floor.

Kay then introduced me to Kern, who said:

Good afternoon Mr. Fairley. I’m Kern and I’ll be escorting you to your room along with your luggage. Is there anything else I can assist you with before we head upstairs?

What amazed me was not how polite the staff was --I expected that – but the use of my name, because other than the valet, I never told anyone else my name. As part of the customer service system he passed it up the line so each person could greet me by name as they met me. That left a very positive impression!

2. Micromanage the Client Experience. John Bisnar is one of my long-term clients who is truly gifted at achieving excellence in customer service. He is a personal injury and auto defect attorney in southern California who, I believe, coined the term “micromanaging the client experience.” It is a philosophy that drives everything his law firm does.

Let me give you just one example: filling out forms. No one I know truly enjoys filling out forms, but almost every law firm makes a poor first impression on new prospects by handing them a wad of forms as soon as they walk in the door.

At Bisnar’s office, prospects never fill out forms. They meet with a Client Intake Specialist‖ who asks about their situation, qualifies the prospect and fills out the form for them. John and his staff have analyzed every contact a prospect or client has with the firm and has structured the experience to maximize the client experience. In a practice area as competitive as personal injury it’s difficult to stand out. You can’t really even compete on price (not that I encourage you to). Yet John’s firm has consistently grown every year since he started focusing on micromanaging the client experience.

3. Know Your Clients By Name. Psychology tells us that the sweetest sound a person can ever hear is the sound of his or her own name. During the check in process at the Ritz, I counted as each person used my name at least twice. It made the whole experience more pleasant and welcoming. I’m sure the repetition also helps them to recall many of the guest’s names. Does your receptionist greet your clients by name? Do you even know each of your clients by name?

I’ll write about the other 3 customer service strategies tomorrow so check back here.