Buying gifts for birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions is a common part of all of our personal lives, but should it become a part of our professional lives as well? Some years ago, I read a book entitled “How to Swim With the Sharks Without Getting Eaten Alive.” No, it was not about lawyers. But many of the points made in the book would be incredibly helpful when applied to a lawyer’s practice. The book was written by a man named Mackay who had a policy of requiring all of the sales people in his office to keep a list called the “Mackay 100.” He believed this company would be successful if, among other things, it kept detailed information on all of its customers that would help the sales staff constantly personalize each sale to each customer. The list of 100 items included names of the customers’ spouses and children, anniversary dates, birthdays, favorite colors and so on. The sales staff was instructed to extend birthday and anniversary wishes to their customers and mention the names of their customers’ spouses and children in conversation.

Put yourself in the position of being a recipient of warm greetings from someone you do business with. One of the people you encounter periodically in your law practice always remembers your birthday, you and your spouse’ anniversary, knows the names of your children, always inquires with some detail about how your life is going. Wow! This person is scoring big time points with you every time they come in contact with you. Now, flip the situation around and ask yourself how often you exhibit this type of communication with your clients?

Do you have a system in your firm that records significant clients birthdays, anniversaries or other special occasions? Do you go out of your way to remember and acknowledge those people on their special days? Do you send a card? Do you make a phone call? Or, do you simply not have the information and not do anything about it?

If you find that none of the above questions pertain to how you run your firm, you need to start. Now!

Quite often I will find myself in a restaurant in the metropolitan area and encounter people I know from the legal profession who are celebrating a birthday, an anniversary or some other special occasion. I always go out of my way and make sure to buy those people a celebratory dessert or drink. It is both an inexpensive and memorable way to accomplish your goal. However, in the case of a long-time or extremely significant client, you may find that you have to go the extra mile to express your appreciation.

I am reminded of a major client that I have had for 30 years and every year I always try to remember his birthday with a bottle of scotch. Over the years the bottles of scotch got bigger, older and better. To the best of my knowledge, I was the only person who gave him that type of a gift and so hopefully every time he had any scotch of any kind, no matter whether or not it was from me, he would think of me. After all, some years this client would spend upwards of $250,000 in attorneys’ fees with my firm. The least I could do was remember his birthday.

I remember one year in particular when this client happened to be in Bahrain for his birthday. Trying to get a bottle of Scotch to my client in a foreign country didn’t seem like such an easy task. Of course, I could have waited until he returned to the United States to deliver the gift, but why miss an opportunity to extend yourself and not only get something for your client that would be a great memory from his trip, but also point out that you remembered his birthday even while he was out of the country. I was able to contact the concierge at the hotel where my client was staying, and purchase a gift for him over the phone. It was a carved wooden boat with locally inspired inlays that the concierge said was one of the most popular souvenirs tourists bought to remember their trip to Bahrain. The concierge was able to deliver the boat to my client at the hotel and following the trip, subsequently ship the boat to my client’s office in the United States. That boat was proudly displayed in my client’s office and I hope every time he sees it he not only remembers Bahrain, but also that I gave it to him on his birthday while he was out of country.

One of the more interesting things I have received on my birthday was a print covered with interesting things from 1944, the year I was born. It is nice to see someone take the time to not only acknowledge my birthday, but to look up information from the year I was born and share it with me to make the occasion even more memorable.

I have always taken the time to read any gifts I was given and have always remembered the person who sent them to me.

You will remember in one of the earlier articles that I wrote regarding these “tips” I mentioned writing congratulatory letters to people you found doing noteworthy things in your community. A similar philosophy applies to remembering people on their birthdays, anniversaries or other special occasions. The idea is to constantly extend yourself to people, make yourself visible and if possible, positively memorable.

If you don’t have a system in your office to remember important clients’ birthdays, anniversaries and other such dates, set one up immediately. Figure out a way to get a computerized calendar that will allow you to bring this information up on a yearly basis. See what kind of information you already have in your client databases that can be condensed into a system where these reminders happen automatically. Do not set up any systems where people need to research and make the information as accessible and as automatic as possible. When the information does come to you, act on it. Get other people in your firm in the loop to help you remember important dates regarding your clients and you will have taken another giant step in successfully getting clients, keeping clients and making your clients happy! Get started today!

Next week we will talk about some ideas I have for special creative mementos or gifts connected to special results or occasions you can give your clients. I think when you see some of these ideas, you will definitely realize there are “golden” opportunities in your practice to create things for your clients that will put you in a favorable light in their mind, show your own creativity and create things that can be displayed so every time he or she sees these gifts, they will hopefully think of you in a positive way. Remember, as I said in a previous article, the three most important words for defensive marketing — meaning keeping the clients you have — are “contact, contact, contact.” I think you will see in the next article that when it comes to taking time to go out of your way and give gifts or mementos to your clients, the next three important phrases to keep in mind are “positive memory, positive memory, positive memory.”

Talk to you next week!

Jim Wirken is a civil trial attorney and the Chairman of the Board of The Wirken Law Group in Kansas City.