Making an Impression With Your Firm's Logo
This week’s tip deals with having a firm logo, color scheme and a motto or slogan. Your first thought may be “what does this have to do with clients?” As I hope you will see from the following, the answer is everything.
Yesterday I was reading a newsletter from a client that had some excellent suggestions that I was happy to realize I was implementing in my office on a daily basis. The first suggestion was to have live plants and flowers as a way of psychologically telling your clients your firm is alive. The second concept came to me when I was listening to public radio. An individual from England discussed a study they had done with regard to how successful people were people who thought they were lucky. Not surprisingly, those who thought they were lucky, and even took courses in making themselves think like successful and lucky people, were more successful. The third concept was from an article that said, “Research constantly shows that the first three seconds influence client satisfaction more than every minute of service that follows.” This quotation was followed with the following questions:
1. How do you greet people?
2. What immediate impressions does your office make?
3. Is the visitor greeted immediately and warmly?
4. Does the receptionist desk face the people who enter your office?
5. Are your phones always answered within three rings?
The above information comes from What Clients Love by Harry Beckwith.
What all the above comments point out is what I have been saying over and over in these tips, and that is perception is reality.
When you have a firm logo, you have something that identifies you as being unique. In my case, my name can be used as a play on words, and this adds to the significance of the logo.
The color scheme for my firm is navy blue. Our letterhead has a navy blue logo, we sign letters in navy blue and a lot of the things in our office have blue tones to them. We give away blue pens to clients and remind them never to sign anything important with anything but a blue pen, and to never sign anything with a blue pen before they call their lawyers first. All of this can tie together in coasters, coffee cups, clothing apparel, caps and anything else you can think of to display your logo and your color scheme.
I have often told people our firm’s motto and slogan is “the difficult we can do, the impossible takes just a little bit longer.” Quite often, I also use the phrase, “Our job is to give you peace of mind.” I also talk about our job being to put ourselves out of business as soon as possible, for the least number of dollars in attorney’s fees, and achieving the best result we can for our clients. Our firm resume contains the following quotes:
“The firm has an aggressive style which has obtained excellent results in many complex legal areas,” and “We are committed to providing excellent and affordable legal representation focusing on the individual needs and objectives of our clients.”
I recently came across an article that said everyone should have a personal mission statement. The article talked about a mission statement as being “that little description that defines the purpose and plan of the committee.” The article described a mission statement as, “it’s like a beat at the end of a gun barrel. It helps you set your sights on your target. It also serves as a filter or a standard by which to make company decisions.” The article went on to state that, “it’s been my observations that companies that don’t have one, or companies whose people don’t know it, struggle to hit their targets, and make foolish decisions that waste time, energy and resources.” The article followed up these observations with a question, “what’s your personal mission statement?”
In talking about the personal mission statement, the article stated, “much like a company mission statement, a personal mission statement can help you focus in on who you are, what you are all about and what you want to accomplish in life. It can help you decide which things are really important and which things are clutter or just baggage.” It commented further that, “Once you have a personal mission statement, all the important choices you make should be made by that standard.” Once you have defined yourself, you have a powerful tool to help you make decisions. You can ask, “What would a person that fits this definition and this mission statement do?” All of this was from an excerpt from an article by Dan Hurst of KUDL radio, 98.1 in Kansas City, Mo. and was contained in the newsletter from my client.
Next week’s topic is to talk about firm newsletters, but I think you can see all of this information, when all put together, makes it pretty clear that a firm logo, color scheme and motto or slogan puts forth an important image for you as a lawyer and for your law firm.
Let’s talk about what perceptions the firm logo, color scheme and motto or slogan could give to your clients. The likely perceptions about you and your firm are as follows:
1. You are creative;
2. You think ahead;
3. You plan;
4. You understand marketing;
5. You have the capacity to coordinate;
6. You are literate;
7. You are philosophical;
8. You are action-oriented;
9. You are practical;
10. You are results-oriented; and
11. You care.
Wow! Wouldn’t we all love to be perceived by our clients regarding the above concepts. Do we create a set of circumstances where we are perceived this way? Do we pay attention to the little things? Do we put our best foot forward and give a good first impression? Do we deliver on what we say? These are all very good questions, by taking the time to get a firm logo, color scheme and motto or slogan, you are taking a step in a direction of being sure that you have a better chance that the perception is that you believe in excellence.
I hope it is obvious by now that any one of the tips I give you may well work by itself, but if you can begin to weave together the fabric of a plan in terms of dealing with getting clients, keeping clients and making clients happy, the slogan you adopt regarding performing legal services for your clients will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Next week, as I indicated earlier, we are going to talk about a firm newsletter and some ideas as to where you can get material for newsletters that are prepackaged and will allow you to keep in contact with your clients and others you come in contact with in the practice of law.
Talk with you next week!
Jim Wirken is a civil trial attorney and the Chairman of the Board of The Wirken Law Group in Kansas City.