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Do Your Service Offerings Help Your Clients Address the Big Picture?

My dad was a bankruptcy attorney for nearly 30 years. Through my early years and young adulthood, I worked for the family business. For the great majority of my dad’s debtor clients, we would see them once. They hit a rough spot, and needed bankruptcy for their new start. Once their discharge was granted, they went on to lead debt-free lives.

But there were also a few clients who we would see again and again. They would make a mistake and fall deeply into debt, move through the bankruptcy process for a fresh start, and then find themselves in the same predicament a few years later.

I remember one client in particular named John. Every couple of years, John would come to my dad for representation. He would have a business venture fail, or lose a key account, or overextend his credit.

Fortunately for John, he never had to worry about losing “everything,” because he had a modest trust fund. The trust fund was enough to pay John’s living expenses well into his retirement. Under law, the trust fund was a protected asset. It could not be liquidated to pay off his creditors.

John seemed like a nice fellow. I never got the impression he was trying to take advantage of anyone. But by the fourth or fifth time he filed bankruptcy, I got the impression that John was not learning from his mistakes.

His serial bankruptcy filings raised the ire of the bankruptcy court trustee. My dad found himself defending John’s trust, accruing thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees.

What do you think? Was John well served?

A Service Dilemma: The Umbrella Problem

Your work with clients will typically address a problem. People—you, me, and our clients—contribute significantly to their own problems.

So, how do you facilitate problem resolution and what problem do you solve: the immediate problem or the umbrella problem?

What is an umbrella problem? It’s the problem that encompasses the immediate problem. It’s the one way up, out of sight.

John’s immediate problem was that he found himself in significant debt. The umbrella problem was that he consistently found himself there. Perhaps, he had poor judgment. Perhaps, he had an inappropriately high risk tolerance. Perhaps, he didn’t apply sound economic principles when attempting a new venture. Perhaps, his trust fund left him a little too comfortable.

We will never really know, because we never addressed the umbrella problem. And why should we? We were not retained to address the umbrella problem. We were retained to address the immediate problem.

The umbrella problem was simply beyond the scope of the engagement.

Or was it?

Your Responsibility to Your Clients

Your clients come to you to solve their problems. Your agreements with them are likely to encompass how they understand their problems, which are more likely to be immediate, and not as likely to be umbrella.

Let me repeat that: your clients come to you to solve their problems.

Your work with them may very well reveal the bigger, deeper, and more significant issues behind what they present as the problem. To serve your clients, is to help them come to terms and ultimately manage the larger issue, the umbrella problem.

It’s why they found you and why they hired you, even if they don’t yet realize it. They hired you to keep their best interests to heart. So the question you must ask is: is it in your client’s best interest to address the umbrella problem?

My dad simply was not attuned to look for John’s umbrella problem. Over time, it cost John a lot of money. It cost the people around John a lot of money. Sadly, in John’s case, we missed an opportunity. My dad did fine work for many people for many years. But we all could have done better for John.

Don’t pass up your opportunities. Tune your attention to the ongoing issues. Ask tough and probing questions. Help your clients address the umbrella problem.

Happy Client Retaining,

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© 2004-2007 Jeff Simon Consulting. All Rights Reserved. Wouldn't you love to peer into your client's head and know what they are thinking and feeling? Could you have better success at keeping and choosing your best clients if you could decode their behavior? Check out the Happy Clients Newsletter at: www.happyclientsnewsletter.com.

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