I remember my first thought when I saw Circuit City going out of business – no wonder. I had visited the store several months ago shopping for a flat screen television and I couldn’t find anyone to help me with a selection. No one acknowledged me except for the gentleman who opened the door. Not a single sales person approached me, and they actually avoided my eye when I was looking for help. As I left, the doorman asked if I had found what I needed and I just had to laugh.
We’ve all endured this type of experience. Who hasn’t gone into a drug store, grocery store or clothing store and NOT experienced bad customer service? Sales clerks talking on the phone, cashiers even eating behind the counter and sadly, entire transactions are completed in silence. These have become the norm in our society. It’s so commonplace that now we are only surprised when we receive good customer service. We are rarely surprised when we don’t.
During the Christmas shopping season, there was one shining moment, one glimmer of hope as a sales clerk dared to be different. I was looking for a particular gift for a relative and not having much luck. I entered a small store and told the first sales person that approached what I was looking for. She looked around the store and waved me in the direction of some white shirts and left me to my own devices. I looked for a moment and began to leave. Another saleswoman, a little older and much more determined, quickly approached and took me in hand. She pulled out 4 items from the floor and then went into the back and pulled out another selection that couldn’t be found on the sales floor. How could I say no? I made my purchase and she wrapped my gift beautifully – even including an item that I purchased elsewhere. Amazing. She went over and beyond the call of duty and made the sale.
There is a lesson here that we all could learn.
During the boom time in our industry, many companies were able to make placements almost in spite of themselves. Recruiting was happening fast and furiously, and many of the old work standards were bypassed and the level of service delivered to law firms slipped. Why bother to form a relationship with a law firm coordinator? Why bother to know the prevailing culture of a law firm? Send in 100 resumes and you’ll get a good percentage placed! Not so anymore.
Legal recruiting is a service industry. Recruiters provide a service to law firms and many times the service provided has been quite lacking. Law firm recruiting coordinators can tell you horror stories of working with certain legal consultants. (Have you heard the one about the recruiter who submitted a resume for an attorney, to the firm where they still currently worked?) How about email submissions without a subject line, without a cover letter, just with an attached resume? You all have heard of recruiters who have blasted a candidate’s resume to hundreds of firms, virtually taking them off the market for 6 months to a year. Take a moment and remember all the gossip and stories YOU’VE heard about fellow recruiters.
The Importance of Customer Service continued....