Want repeat instructions? Write a good attendance note

An attendance note isn’t a tick-box exercise. It’s the fifth stage on your way to securing a repeat instruction.

“Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.” Fred Rogers

Irritation or opportunity?

Solicitors tell me that chasing the attendance note is a bore.  If you’re dashing it off as a procedural irritation, you might miss the opportunity to lock in the next instruction.

The function of the attendance note

If you like feel the job is done after your date in court, consider this perspective.

By the time the hearing is over, your solicitor is thinking about the next case for which she’ll need counsel, around the time you deliver your attendance note.

This is the moment for you to confirm that you’re the best choice.  

The location of the attendance note

There are different ways to explain the various stages in a marketing funnel. In Junior Entrepreneur, I teach marketing for barristers using the following stages:

1. Awareness
2. Interest
3. Consideration
4. Trial
5. Instruction 
6. Repeat Instruction

By the time you’ve been instructed, you’re at Stage 5 Purchase. That means you’re just over half-way through.  If your client drops off at Stage 5, you’re going to have to start again at Stage 1 with a new client.

And that could take another year, or even longer.  

Your job at Stage 5

If your solicitor fits the profile of your Ideal Client and you’d like instructions from the firm in the future, now is the time to lock it in.

During client onboarding , you’ve set your client’s expectation regarding your attendance note. For example:

“I will send a detailed Attendance Note within 24 hours.  As well as providing the legal basis for the outcome, I will include answers to questions I anticipate from our client”.

After you’ve sent it, follow up with a phone call to the solicitor to confirm receipt.  Ask for feedback, say thank you for the instruction and state that you’re looking forward to working together in the future.   

An easy way to differentiate yourself

You are probably looking for new ways to differentiate yourself.  Service delivery is the easiest way to set yourself apart from the crowd.

If you know that your solicitor needs an attendance note for the next conversation with her client, why not help her out?

Use the opportunity to make an enduring good impression by sending a detailed attendance note, without waiting to be asked. It will guarantee your place in the line-up for the next instruction.

More tools to grow your practice

In Module 3 of Junior Entrepreneur, you’ll take your future client from Awareness to Repeat Instruction.  Find out more here

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By Heidi Smith
Creator of Jurilogical.com