I came upon this “Annie” comic strip somewhere decades ago and have discussed it ever since.  If even Daddy Warbucks can’t get lawyers to return his calls promptly, it must be an industry-wide problem.

Or, more accurately, if even Leonard Starr, the creator of “Annie” felt that the problem was so omnipresent that the average reader of the comic strip would find “Daddy’s” situation amusing, our industry has a real problem.

In just three panels, Starr conveys the relative value of Skills versus Service.

Here, billionaire “Daddy” has chosen a responsive but “barely competent” lawyer over his “brilliant” lawyer who didn’t return phone calls promptly.  The strip contains barely 50 words, but its powerful message should be reinforced in every law firm marketing and professional-development curriculum.

It’s this profession-wide service flaw that enabled us to develop effective client-service marketing initiatives like our Client Service Guarantees for both Ungaretti & Harris (1994) and Sandberg Phoenix (1998) and Two-Hour Response for Laner Muchin (2000), and many others since then.

As a marketing and branding strategy, client service works.

If you sincerely make the extra effort, if your firm strives to go the extra mile, clients recognize and appreciate it.

It’s not easy. But it’s effective.