July 12th, 2010 by Mark Britton, CEO

---

I had a simple but interesting experience the other day.  We (actually my wife) decided to put AC in our 100-year-old home.  Anyone that has put AC in an old home knows that it is staggeringly expensive.  That is why this spring, after last summer’s heat wave (they do occur now and then in Seattle), my wife paid for new AC without additional wrangling with or notice to her allegedly cheap husband.  I was surprised to see a gargantuan AC installation charge on our credit card, but I was even more surprised to find out it was only for the down payment . . .

Anyway, no matter how much we spent on our new, super-duper AC system, it broke down the first day we used it.  Mrs. Britton (she loves being called that btw) was livid and called the company and they had someone out the next day.  Considering my wife’s mood, I did not want to be the AC guy ringing our bell.

But, when I came home that evening, my wife was all smiles (!?) even though the AC man was still at our house doing repair work.  Apparently he had to run off to get some new parts which slowed his progress to the point where he was still working in our kitchen during dinnertime.  Raising an eyebrow at my wife (both because this guy was still in the kitchen and because my wife was so calm about it) she said, “He is very competent and working so hard.  He’s doing his best.”  I wondered if my wife was getting snowed, so I decided to go meet Mr. AC.  He looked up, smiled and introduced himself as Ignacio but quickly pointed out that I could call him “Nacho.”

Now, I probably wouldn’t start by asking customers to call me a snack food, but I found myself being immediately comfortable with Ignacio . . . sorry, “Nacho.”  He stood squarely in front of me in a very proper, but unassuming way and explained everything that had happened – in plain English (I’m not an AC guy).  He told me what he had done to rectify the issue, why it was taking so long, and how much longer he would be at our house.   He told me upfront that the issue was their fault and that we would not have to pay any money.  He was direct in his eye contact and communication.  I couldn’t help but feeling like I was watching some well-rehearsed speech.  He also asked me if there was anything else related to the AC that we wanted to change because he was happy to handle it before he went home.  After our exchange, I felt like we were in the best of hands – someone who really cared.  A young person — but one that was bright and in search of excellence.

I tell this story because Nacho offers an important lesson to anyone in the service business, including lawyers.  Young lawyers should take particular note, as they are constantly met with clients wondering whether they are worth their hourly rate.

What did Nacho do that was so effective?  He mixed together a number of presentation, client-service and product-expertise elements that made both my wife and me immediately trust him and feel lucky that he was in our house:

• Nacho was highly communicative.  Nacho understood his product, service responsibility and the specific issues with our system.  He clearly articulated the issues, his analysis and the proposed solution.  He told me exactly where he had been, where he was going and when he would be gone.  I found myself having to ask few questions because Nacho had identified my key questions in advance.  Before speaking with a client, a great lawyer (or any other service provider) will always ask himself, “What is important to my client?  What will she want to know?  What facts, documents, etc. could I offer to communicate more clearly?”  Identifying and answering those questions in advance will often lead to the necessary preparation to wow your clients.
• Nacho was confident.  He stood squarely in front of me, looked me right in the eye and spoke to me as a peer – so much so that he asked me to call him by his nickname.  He sold the idea that we were in the AC boat together, and he was the captain.  Every lawyer, from partner on down must be a similarly confident leader.  Young lawyers in particular are often so servile that they immediately put themselves at a disadvantage.  The client views them as someone inferior who is in charge of nothing, when in fact every lawyer on a case or transaction is in charge of something.  As a client, I like very confident lawyers that will have a normal conversation with me — no matter their years of experience.  They don’t put me on a client pedestal; they talk to me as a peer and together we decide on the best course of action.
• Finally, for someone that had been working on an AC unit for hours, Nacho was very put-together.  He was not a blur of oil and coolant stains.  When you meet with clients after a long morning, day or whatever of work.  How do you look?  Do you look fresh to fight their battles, or do you look worn down.  Believe me, no client likes to see someone from their high-priced legal team looking worn down.
• Nacho understood his service responsibility.  This may simply be the culmination of all of the above, but he also had an upbeat, “How can I help you” attitude without it seeming overly apologetic or stiff.  On the other hand, he wasn’t macho, aggressive or defensive.  The entire conversation had an element of “I have a responsibility to make you happy because you are the client.”  Again, I didn’t feel he was playing me, I felt that he would sincerely do whatever it took to get our AC was working by the end of the day.

In the end, all of the presentation, client-service and product-expertise elements that Nacho implemented – consciously or not – made him very affective in handling the Britton’s AC disaster.  Whether it is an AC Unit or a delicate legal transaction, people want confident, communicative, service-oriented people like Nacho on their team at all times.  Notwithstanding, I consistently see technically great lawyers, and often other professionals, fumble in this area.  Instead of trying to dissect it, maybe we should simply ask, “Are you like Nacho?”

Be Like Nacho!

Mark

This entry was posted on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 10:07 pm by Mark Britton, CEO and is filed under Mark Britton Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.