The benefit of happy legal staff
Ed Poll has a great post over at LawBiz Blog on the importance of recognizing the ways your receptionist’s professionalism and attitude can help or hurt your business. His law firm-specific post was inspired by Seth Godin’s general blog post on the features that would make a great receptionist. The same can be said of your secretary. If you have a toxic secretary or a lazy/indifferent receptionist, the damage they can cause in terms of client relations is immeasurable. You may tolerate her and/or avoid confrontation (what is it about lawyers that makes them do this?!?), but ultimately your indifference or unwillingness to act is just hurting you and your firm.
On the flip side, if you hire talented staff, respect them, and encourage their professional development, you will find clients eager to call on you, assured that their messages will be passed along and their needs attended to promptly. Just having a kind, knowledgeable voice on the line can reassure a client and keep them at bay until you are able to attend to their matter.
As I have said before, if your secretary feels like a respected and trusted member of your team, she will want that team to succeed. She will derive pleasure from anticipating your needs and those of your clients. She will approach her work with gusto, knowing that your success and the firm’s success will ultimately lead to her success (trickle down economics). If you recognize her contribution and reward her appropriately with regular feedback, praise and compensation increases, you will help yourself and your practice more than you can imagine.
