Graphical version of site | Change Colour Settings
How many shops take time and trouble over the arrangement of the shop window and think about the idea of attracting customers into the store and making the experience as they walk in as positive as possible?
Quite a lot.
Leading retailers spend time and money trying to understand their customers and doing what they can to entice them in and make a good impression on them whether they buy on that occasion or not.
What is the law firm equivalent of the shop window and the pleasant retail experience?
There are several aspects to this, but there is one, which is very important and is often overlooked. That is the reception area and the way in which visitors to the firm; from important clients, to lowly executive search consultants, are treated.
I spend a significant part of my working life visiting law firms.
I am consistently and constantly underwhelmed by the lack of attention paid by firms to the treatment meted out to their visitors.
I do not know whether they do not understand how important it is and what a difference, it can make to the brand of the firm or whether they even think about it at all.
I am aware of only 1 firm which has positively considered the way in which visitors are greeted in an effort to make sure the greeting is correct and consistent.
Q: Which firm?
A: DLA Piper?
Aren’t they one of the most successful law firms in the world? Yes. The fact that they think about stuff like this is part of the reason why.
We have come across a small number of firms who get it right and a large number who get it wrong.
Here are some thoughts about the reception area and what happens within it:
How should reception look?
It should project the image of the firm as you want to be seen by those you deal with.
Dirty carpets and clutter in reception are not good.
Consider also the route visitors have to take to get to reception. What impression does it give them.
Furniture and fittings should fit with the brand, particularly in relation to quality and novelty.
Best reception areas: Halliwells (
What should it contain?
Entertainment for waiting visitors is good. If you use magazines, think about the titles and make them consistent with your brand. If you are a commercial firm use business orientated newspapers and periodicals. For a private client firm more mainstream and topical press. Personally I would avoid Hello or OK.
Plasma TVs are good but think about the channel shown. Sky news or Bloomberg is good. Jeremy Kyle may not make such a great impression for a commercial firm.
Again think about consistency with the brand.
Who is on reception and how do they deal with people?
Some clearly have a limited budget for the salary of reception staff and employ accordingly.
Reception staff project in a very personal way the brand of the firm and need to sound and act the part. They need to care about visitors and show they do. They need to remember they are on show at all times and think about how it looks to visitors if they stand and chat to their mate while the visitor is waiting to speak to them.
This is one of the problems with the 2 stage reception (see below) because someone employed as a security guard does not see projection of the brand of the firm as part of their job.
Best recent experience:
What do your reception team look like?
Whatever your dress code is for the rest of the office it is essential to have a uniform for receptionists wherever there is more than one of them. There is nothing worse than seeing 2 or 3 people sat on reception wearing an assortment of styles and colours.
The “uniform” can be as simple as requiring a white top half and a black bottom half but there needs to be something.
Reception staff need to think about the rest of their appearance and how that looks to visitors.
Best reception team for appearance: Halliwells
The 2 Stage Problem
By virtue of the fact that they may share a building many firms have to have a 2 stage reception process. Often there is a common front desk to negotiate before moving to the firms own reception area. Please think about this from the visitors point of view. Often the front desk is manned by a security guard who has little regard for your visitors and has not attended any recent courses on people skills. The cheerful wit and banter often extends only to “sign here” (see below).
You have to tackle this and make sure your visitors are properly and courteously greeted at the front desk and passed through to your reception in a way which makes it as easy as possible for them.
Recent victims of this are Halliwells in
Best exponents of making the 2 stage process painless are
Signing In
I visit a lot of law firms. I have grown to dislike intensely the process by which most firms require their visitors to “sign in”. I am convinced that in most cases they don’t even know why they are doing it.
Signing in is a potential barrier to a positive arrival experience and blights the first impressions for visitors to law firms.
A few firms turn this into a really positive element of the experience by one very simple step.
Most visitors to law firms have appointments. The firm knows who is coming and when.
Why can thy not fill the visitors badge out in advance and hand it to the visitor when they arrive?
If the visit is unplanned why can the receptionist not fill out the pass and hand it to the visitor?
“Sign Here” is not the best greeting in the world.
Even “Would you care to sign in?” disappoints me because I want to say “no thank you” but of course, I never do.
On the other hand signing in for your visitors makes them feel special. If the pass is already prepared before they arrive, it makes them feel valued.
Best exponents of the positive signing in experience:
Great former exponents: Halliwells (
The above is based on the firms I have visited and my own knowledge and experience. The views and opinions are my own. I hope there are other standard bearers out there and look forward to discovering you.
Phil Jepson
21/10/2008
Jepson Holt Goes Public
Read more about "Jepson Holt Goes Public"
11/09/2008
Crunch! Ouch?
Read more about "Crunch! Ouch?"
03/04/2008
A Cold Reception
Read more about "A Cold Reception"
01/04/2008
Anthony Taylor makes solo Atlantic crossing
Read more about "Anthony Taylor makes solo Atlantic crossing"
20/03/2008
Matthew Draper joins Jepson Holt
Read more about "Matthew Draper joins Jepson Holt"
28/02/2008
Have you got a following?
Read more about "Have you got a following?"