As a Legal Nurse Consultant, Are You as Irresistible to Attorneys as Starbucks® Is to Coffee Lovers?
On my trip from Houston to San Diego to attend the christening of my new great-niece Reese, I experienced a strong dose of branding. Many of you know I enjoy my cups of healthy green tea almost as much as I enjoy a glass of healthy red wine. You probably don’t know that I have a secret addiction for Starbucks® coffee. One that’s not entirely healthy if I’m not careful to tame it. I don’t get a Starbucks fix on a daily basis, but I manage to fit in two-three cups a week (usually at least one free one) on my morning walks with Tom. So, anytime I hit an airport in the morning (and I tend to fly only in the morning), my internal GPS goes off as soon as I clear security. That GPS will lead Tom and me directly to the airport’s Starbucks for my “red-eye.”
Tom’s favorite part of flying is sitting in Continental Airline’s Presidents Club. It’s all I can do to keep him from getting us to the airport three hours before our flight. He likes the free newspapers and will plow through the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Houston Chronicle and The Financial Times and then jump on the club’s free wireless Internet to blow through his email on his laptop – all before we head to the gate. Even though I’m a president, I’m not crazy about the Presidents Clubs. From my point of view, although the seats are comfortable and the restrooms are clean, there’s no decent food. We usually fly before the bar is open and, here’s my pet peeve, the coffee is terrible.
As part of the process of being married for almost 19 years, we’ve worked out a bargain (one of many). I agree to get to the airport a little early. Tom agrees to go to Starbucks with me for my Starbucks fix. Then we both go to the Presidents Club so Tom can get his “news” fix. That bargain sometimes turns out to be more than Tom expected and a little frustrating for him as our last few flights have gone out of gates 27 or 30 in Terminal C at Houston’s George Bush Airport (IAH) and the closest Starbucks is way over in Terminal E. In fact, it’s so far that I joke with Tom that it’s in another time zone. What makes it frustrating for him is not just that we’ll have to walk one mile across the entire width of the airport, but that we’ll pass by at least two other brands of coffee shops (Peet’s and Einstein Bagels) and any number of fast food joints serving coffee on the way to the Starbucks in Terminal E. Tom loves to drink coffee, but he doesn’t really care that much about the brand. It can be airline coffee, McDonald’s coffee or even the brown water they call coffee in our office. As long as it’s hot, he’s happy. Me, I’m stuck on Starbucks. In fact, I’m so hooked, I go without coffee if I can’t find a Starbucks. Now that’s brand identification!
Let me ask you about your brand as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. Do you provide your attorney-clients with the quality of service that creates that sort of brand identification with you? Will your attorney-clients use only you for their medical-related cases? Are you the first and only legal nurse consultant they think of? If yes, you’ve accomplished what all entrepreneurs strive for. If no, ask yourself what you can do to create the Starbucks experience for your attorney-clients. Make it more than just providing the best CLNC® work product available. Add a little lagniappe (as we say in New Orleans) – something more. In the technology age when everyone emails each other, show up at the door with bagels and a box of Starbucks coffee, deliver a bottle of champagne after your attorney-client wins or settles a big case or send a handwritten thank-you note.
I’d like you to comment and post some of your favorite tips for fostering brand loyalty to your own CLNC® business. While you’re doing that, I’ll have another cup of one of my favorite brands.
8 thoughts on “As a Legal Nurse Consultant, Are You as Irresistible to Attorneys as Starbucks® Is to Coffee Lovers?”
I am the only CLNC® consultant (LNCs aren’t even in our league!) that my clients use. I have followed your advice Vickie; from the hand written thank-you notes to Christmas baskets (Guinness on St Pat’s day!). My next gift will be for the 4th of July – Costco apple pie and ice cream. This will treat everyone at the firms…and my clients are very proud of their employees so this will be well received. It will also establish an even better rapport with all the staff!
My CLNC® business is growing every day because I do something with it every day! Success is mine because of all your fabulous guidance. Thank you again, Vickie!
Vickie, I have been wanting to pursue this avenue for some time now and am very interested in doing the CLNC® 6-Day Certification Seminar in October. I am currently pursuing my RN to BSN degree, but maybe I need to just pursue this instead. I am passionate about what I do, but wonder if this is the direction I should go. I have been a nurse for 34 years now and work in genetics.
My motto is we’re nurses and we can do anything. Your 34 years of experience is an asset to attorneys. I look forward to seeing you at the CLNC® 6-Day Certification Seminar in October. I will teach you everything you need to get started as a CLNC® consultant. Please contact our office at 800.880.0944 and ask to talk to Evie. She can answer all of your questions and can also connect you with a full-time practicing CLNC® consultant if you would like to speak to someone who is active in legal nurse consulting.
I think it is important to add here to not forget the gatekeepers! A few weeks ago I posted how I took one of the receptionists some water plants after my husband had cleaned out my pond (he built his & her ponds in our backyard) because she had a black thumb and she loved them. She helps remind the attorneys to send out their cases to me. I always get an armload of cases when I go into the office. My best haul so far was when I went in and was handed 16 (yes, sixteen!) cases… I thought that to fall on the floor laughing would look less than professional, so I waited until I got home to do that! The gatekeepers can be your closest buddy in the firm; they get you to the attorneys. The gatekeepers can introduce you to other gatekeepers (they have their own network thing going!).
It was Christmas time when one of my attorney-clients won his most recent case (with the help of my CLNC® services). I sent his law firm (through my attorney’s gatekeeper) a basket from Harry and David. When I talked with the attorney a few days later, he thanked me for the basket and said the office staff had enjoyed the food very much. About a month later, the attorney contacted me with another case to work on. He said that his gatekeeper had suggested that he give me a call to work on this case. This taught me to include the gatekeeper in my communications with attorney-clients. Food (with my name associated with it) is always a great marketing strategy when shared by everyone at a law firm.
This is too funny as I read Vickie’s blog today because I just happened to be in the grocery store looking for two things, yes, just TWO things…….well, I am immediately drawn to the gift card aisle and my eyes zoom in on Starbucks gift cards! I live in a mountain town in Colorado where we do not have the same things as everyone else but we do have a Starbucks (just one). My attorney-client who I have done two cases with is from Seattle. He knows I just received my CLNC® and to tell you the truth, I mainly talk to his paralegal. So I bought them each a gift card of $25 and I am going to send that in my letter to their office. My attorney-client works with 5 others in his firm and stated he would be willing to circulate my information to help me with my business. I wanted to get a more original gift card or gift but I am a 4 hour plane ride away and sending the sun or its rays would be a little difficult – ha ha!
Excellent article. Since I live in the Seattle area and market to Seattle area attorneys, this is relatable. I love Starbucks with all my heart. A nurse/friend that I consult with even gave me a tip as to when to go through the drive thru at the Northgate (north Seattle area) Starbucks. There’s a certain time to go to that Starbucks if you want free coffee (yes, free coffee!). Since I am up late at night a lot, I took his advice and scored some free coffee one night in the recent past. Inspired by your article, I relate my above story with the importance of connecting with attorneys at the right time. I know that there is no “silver bullet” to marketing, but marketing to attorneys in specific ways with a “special flavor” will help a CLNC® consultant develop a lasting attorney-client relationship over time. I am inspired to continually offer my “best flavor” to my Seattle-Everett-Bellevue attorney-clients! And by the way, I miss the “Christmas blend” already…my favorite drip from Starbucks.
I was the expert for the plaintiff in a long term care case with an attorney in West Virginia. He didn’t know much about long term care, nor what a CLNC® consultant could do for him. We had a great working relationship from the start and I opened his eyes to a lot of things, including the other services I could help him with down the road during the legal course of this case. After the medical review was done and I gave him my expert opinion, I sent him my information packet and a handwritten thank you with a Starbucks gift card. His response back to me was, “I wanted to thank you for the Starbucks card – a very nice gesture, and something I’ve never seen an expert do.”
I try to always add a little something different at the end of the case to make it memorable and to get that repeat business. It seems to be working. You are an inspiration to us all, even in those “fixes” you need.
LegalNurse.com is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
The National Alliance of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants (NACLNC®) is the largest and oldest association of legal nurse consultants.
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*The opinions and statements made by Vickie Milazzo, the founder of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc. are based on her experiences and expertise, should not be applied beyond the specific context provided, and do not guaranty or project actual results. Vickie Milazzo is no longer involved in the operations or management of the business, but is involved as an independent education consultant.
I am the only CLNC® consultant (LNCs aren’t even in our league!) that my clients use. I have followed your advice Vickie; from the hand written thank-you notes to Christmas baskets (Guinness on St Pat’s day!). My next gift will be for the 4th of July – Costco apple pie and ice cream. This will treat everyone at the firms…and my clients are very proud of their employees so this will be well received. It will also establish an even better rapport with all the staff!
My CLNC® business is growing every day because I do something with it every day! Success is mine because of all your fabulous guidance. Thank you again, Vickie!
Vickie, I have been wanting to pursue this avenue for some time now and am very interested in doing the CLNC® 6-Day Certification Seminar in October. I am currently pursuing my RN to BSN degree, but maybe I need to just pursue this instead. I am passionate about what I do, but wonder if this is the direction I should go. I have been a nurse for 34 years now and work in genetics.
Jane,
My motto is we’re nurses and we can do anything. Your 34 years of experience is an asset to attorneys. I look forward to seeing you at the CLNC® 6-Day Certification Seminar in October. I will teach you everything you need to get started as a CLNC® consultant. Please contact our office at 800.880.0944 and ask to talk to Evie. She can answer all of your questions and can also connect you with a full-time practicing CLNC® consultant if you would like to speak to someone who is active in legal nurse consulting.
I think it is important to add here to not forget the gatekeepers! A few weeks ago I posted how I took one of the receptionists some water plants after my husband had cleaned out my pond (he built his & her ponds in our backyard) because she had a black thumb and she loved them. She helps remind the attorneys to send out their cases to me. I always get an armload of cases when I go into the office. My best haul so far was when I went in and was handed 16 (yes, sixteen!) cases… I thought that to fall on the floor laughing would look less than professional, so I waited until I got home to do that! The gatekeepers can be your closest buddy in the firm; they get you to the attorneys. The gatekeepers can introduce you to other gatekeepers (they have their own network thing going!).
It was Christmas time when one of my attorney-clients won his most recent case (with the help of my CLNC® services). I sent his law firm (through my attorney’s gatekeeper) a basket from Harry and David. When I talked with the attorney a few days later, he thanked me for the basket and said the office staff had enjoyed the food very much. About a month later, the attorney contacted me with another case to work on. He said that his gatekeeper had suggested that he give me a call to work on this case. This taught me to include the gatekeeper in my communications with attorney-clients. Food (with my name associated with it) is always a great marketing strategy when shared by everyone at a law firm.
This is too funny as I read Vickie’s blog today because I just happened to be in the grocery store looking for two things, yes, just TWO things…….well, I am immediately drawn to the gift card aisle and my eyes zoom in on Starbucks gift cards! I live in a mountain town in Colorado where we do not have the same things as everyone else but we do have a Starbucks (just one). My attorney-client who I have done two cases with is from Seattle. He knows I just received my CLNC® and to tell you the truth, I mainly talk to his paralegal. So I bought them each a gift card of $25 and I am going to send that in my letter to their office. My attorney-client works with 5 others in his firm and stated he would be willing to circulate my information to help me with my business. I wanted to get a more original gift card or gift but I am a 4 hour plane ride away and sending the sun or its rays would be a little difficult – ha ha!
Excellent article. Since I live in the Seattle area and market to Seattle area attorneys, this is relatable. I love Starbucks with all my heart. A nurse/friend that I consult with even gave me a tip as to when to go through the drive thru at the Northgate (north Seattle area) Starbucks. There’s a certain time to go to that Starbucks if you want free coffee (yes, free coffee!). Since I am up late at night a lot, I took his advice and scored some free coffee one night in the recent past. Inspired by your article, I relate my above story with the importance of connecting with attorneys at the right time. I know that there is no “silver bullet” to marketing, but marketing to attorneys in specific ways with a “special flavor” will help a CLNC® consultant develop a lasting attorney-client relationship over time. I am inspired to continually offer my “best flavor” to my Seattle-Everett-Bellevue attorney-clients! And by the way, I miss the “Christmas blend” already…my favorite drip from Starbucks.
I was the expert for the plaintiff in a long term care case with an attorney in West Virginia. He didn’t know much about long term care, nor what a CLNC® consultant could do for him. We had a great working relationship from the start and I opened his eyes to a lot of things, including the other services I could help him with down the road during the legal course of this case. After the medical review was done and I gave him my expert opinion, I sent him my information packet and a handwritten thank you with a Starbucks gift card. His response back to me was, “I wanted to thank you for the Starbucks card – a very nice gesture, and something I’ve never seen an expert do.”
I try to always add a little something different at the end of the case to make it memorable and to get that repeat business. It seems to be working. You are an inspiration to us all, even in those “fixes” you need.