Lantern Seller — Anne Claude Philippe de Tubières, comte de Caylus See more at: http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/398848#sthash.RNoAuuPw.dpuf

I recently had an experience of knowing more than the salesperson about the company’s product so of course I took my business elsewhere.

I’m trying new services to improve workflow as part of my end-of-year evaluations. My most pressing need is a visual tracking tool that resonates with my brain. I found one that looked promising so I signed up for the trial and sent a question to sales about a the feature. A sales specialist called the next day. Most of the services this CRM company offer are not relevant to me, so I wanted two functions a la carte.

I was irritated from the start the call: I was on speakerphone and told the woman I couldn’t hear very well but she didn’t switch, and her keyboard was right next to the phone mic so her typing was ridiculously loud.

She truly lost my business when we started talking about the levels of service. As she described the first option, a paid account, I asked about the free one listed on the company webpage. The one that said free in at least three places with no indication of a time limit. She replied that it was free for 30 days only. She was wrong or the company website was wrong and I’ll go with the former. Either way, what looked like a promising service is off my radar because of poor and uninformed customer service.

Does that happen in law? Of course it does. Clients sometimes come in having researched what they think they want while I am hearing the facts for the first time. What can you do?

As lawyers, we have so much to know. Narrow your focus on areas of law, know all you can know about them, do not be shy about looking things up, and perfect your way of telling clients you need time to research a question without saying you don’t yet know the answer.