June 1, 2016 – Why should lawyers care about communicating better? If you want to keep and maintain current and former clients, while attracting new ones, a little customer service know-how goes a long way, says Nancy Friedman, president and founder of Telephone Doctor, a customer service training company based in St. Louis, Missouri. She shares three common sense tips that every business can do better.

Three Common Sense Tips

1. Don’t be too busy to be nice. “We’re all busy,” says Friedman. “Busy is good. You need to learn how to handle being busy.” You don’t want to have to apologize for being rude. “You shouldn’t have been rude in the first place.”

2. Avoid emotional leakage. Don’t “get mad at Peter and then take it out on Paul,” says Friedman. “It’s not fair to take a negative thought out on someone who is not involved.” If you’re upset with a co-worker, client, or any individual, take a moment to decompress before moving on to the next conversation. “Wipe the slate clean,” says Friedman. “Take a deep breath … take 30 seconds to a minute before you engage in the next phone call.” That small moment will help prevent compounding one negative with another.

3. You get more with sugar than with vinegar. “It doesn’t cost anything to smile,” says Friedman. From the client’s perspective it shows them that your focus is on them, their problems and their needs. “If I’m in your office, that’s real important.”

Bonus tip: Never ask a client to call you back. That’s your job.

Friedman presented the opening plenary, “Golden Nuggets of Communications,” at the 2015 Wisconsin Solo & Small Firm Conference (WSSFC). The 2016 WSSFC takes place Oct. 20-22 at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells.