Three Keys to Success in Investigations

I have had people ask me how can they become a successful investigator? I sat down the other day and came up with these three key points. If you really want to succeed as an investigator, you need to continually learn new ideas and methods, but not forget about the basics. With all of the electronic shortcuts, some investigators forget to actually investigate things, which is a shame. The following are the three key points I have come up with:

1. One of the most important things I know for anyone to have in their work is a passion to do well in their job. This passion may be that you just really love what you do. I for one am one of those people who really loves what I am doing right now. I am a people person, and I am constantly meeting people all the time and I love the interaction.

I also love studying people and their behavior. I know of no other job that lets me do this - including being a psychologist. They almost never get to study people when they are totally unaware that they are being observed. If you are a people person, loving the investigations business and having a passion for your work can come easy.

2. Another key element to success in investigation, is perseverance. Now, I know that you will not always be compensated to persevere, so we cannot always check out every single lead to the end. But you need to have the never-give-up attitude. When your clients see this attitude in you - you give them the confidence that you will succeed.

This does not mean you will always catch a cheater cheating. It also does not mean that you will catch the fraudulent insurance or disability claimant. Sometimes they are not cheating. Sometimes the claimant is really disabled. You cannot make them actually cheat or commit fraud. Also, sometimes they can just avoid being caught for a period more than your client can afford to pay you.

3. Honest self-criticism is necessary for you to continually improve as an investigator. For the inexperienced investigator, I suggest finding an experienced friend who will do this with you. Do not get offended if they find something you have missed or have done wrong. Be open to suggestions, even from people who are not "experts" as new ideas should always at least be considered.

What I have done when doing self-criticism, is that when I notice I did something wrong, or I missed something, I make a note of it, both in the file, and in a notebook I use for generic notes for myself. In a recent case, I forgot something as basic as to confirm the identity of someone I was interviewing. I feel silly for doing it, but I did not even realize I did it until I wrote the report of the investigation. You can bet that is not going to happen again. When I make mistakes in an investigation, I do not charge the client to correct the issue, because that one is on me.

If you do these three things on a consistent basis, you will conduct good investigations that get better as time goes on. Always study, learn, and especially learn from your mistakes. Becoming not just a good, but an exemplary investigator is goal I have, and you can attain that goal yourself with a little self-discipline.

Copyright Barry Dunn all rights reserved.

For Barry's Professional PI Blog be sure and check out http://blog.realtexaspi.com/

View the original article here

Client Retention - The Key to Success

Can clear communication with your client base promote your business?

The answer is of course a resounding "Yes"

Competition for clients has never been so intense. Following on from the D Day scenario that from the 6th October this year non-lawyers are now allowed to offer legal services; law firms will need to be much more client focused in their approach than ever before. One way to ensure that clients are kept within a law firm is ensure that clear communication with the client is paramount in the mind of all staff who deal with clients. That could be from your reception area to general staff working within your firm, and of course the fee earner who deals with their case load.

Some key ways to ensure that the client stays with your firm and do not stray to any of your competitors would be to implement the following:

Retaining clients through clear communication?

Rapport: Rapport with clients making their cases individual to them. Asking them how they are and how they are doing always gets a positive response. This tends to immediately create rapport which is a powerful tool when dealing with clients. This way the client does not feel that they are simply a number in a persons case work load and the service becomes much more personalised.
Specific: Knowing what you need in terms of information from the client and explaining to the client the process and what will happen next. Clarity about the clients' responsibility in relation to providing instructions and why certain forms have to be completed and returned. Being knowledgeable about their case and answering queries with clarity and without hesitation, this increases the clients' confidence in the handling of their claim.
Voice mail messages: Leaving clear contact details such as direct dial, e-mail and willingness to answer queries should they have any problems or concerns. Inviting clients to call at any time to discuss their case (office hours need to be specified of course); consider the tone of voice used as this can have a profound effect if the message left sounds disinterested. Being enthusiastic about clients' claims will also encourage the clients to be motivated to provide any instructions that are needed. If interests in the clients cases is shown then it follows that the clients will also be interested and motivated to progress their cases.
Understanding: Checking to make sure that the client understands the information provided, this entails listening and feeding back to ensure that clients have understood all that has been said.
Reassurance: Explaining and reassuring the clients that their claims are under control that sound legal advice is provided. Providing clear, accurate and concise information; this can further seek to increase rapport which will encourage the clients to stay with a firm and will also reduce any client complaints. A client is unlikely to complain if they like the person they are dealing with!
Promoting awards and services: The Lexcel accreditation backs up your credentials as a law firm, and this is something that the non-law based firms may lack at the outset. Promoting other membership bodies will also boost confidence with clients and this will lead to retaining their business. This should also lead to repeat business which will also enhance reputation.

Advising clients of your other services will encourage clients to stay with your firm if they have some other type of legal need. This promotes the firm as being able to handle all their legal needs and will reduce the need for the client to shop around if they have had a good experience.

The client experience: If the client has had a good experience then they will come back to your firm, this will also lead to further referrals by word of mouth and to law firms this should be considered to be very valuable. The reason for this is that it does not cost in terms of advertising, a good reputation in terms of customer service can soon lead to much more repeat business, as a personal recommendation is a trusted lead.

Retention of your clients is of paramount importance and communication is a key factor. Analysing communication as to how information is delivered and the accuracy therefore, leads to more clients being retained which will overall lead to a more profitable practice.

Established in 2001, MTA Solicitors provides a wide range of legal services including personal injury, employment, debt, corporate law, general and commercial litigation and dispute resolution (including arbitration), IT and e-commerce, banking and finance, trusts, wills and probate, trust litigation and contentious probate.

MTA has offices based in London, Kent and Manchester. Please visit: http://www.mtasolicitors.com/ for further information

View the original article here