The point of this story is that if you do the following five things, you will have extremely grateful and loyal clients who will not hesitate to pay your full fee and will recommend you to anyone with a similar problem.

1. Define your clients and know their pain inside and out
2. Make it easy for them to find you, recognize that you can help them, and want your help
3. Be reassuring, a confident problem-solver throughout the experience, demonstrate your competence
4. Highlight your efforts and results, make the case for your services ongoing by demonstrating the unique value you deliver over and over again
5. Follow up to be sure your client is satisfied and show you care

Warning- If you’re squeamish, see you next time! I’m going to use my recent experience with the head lice lady to illustrate the points. Yup. Head lice. This goes against an excellent Psychotactics  Newletter article, which discussed the importance of using stories that do NOT turn your audience off. I’ve been sitting on this post, but I can’t help publishing, it’s such a perfect example.

My daughter Hanna’s school had sent three different warnings home and checked heads four times before the morning she discovered a teeny critter on her pink towel after washing her hair. The school, and especially her fifth-grade class, had been hit hard.

It was easy to kill the hatched buggers. No problem. It was impossible, however, to remove all the nits (eggs) left glued to the hair, and thus, impossible to get rid of the yucky pests. For 4 days, I did nothing else. We meticulously tried every chemical and homeopathic remedy, and STILL couldn’t get her back to school. Even cut her hair about 4 inches. Washed everything. Each morning we were confident she’d pass the nurse’s inspection. Each time we returned home so very discouraged.

The entire family was desperate. Hanna’s dad found the “Lice Lady” online. Steve googled ‘nit removal’ and her site came up.  Lots of information, detailed testimonials, advice, products for sale. There was a “treatment center” as well as house-call services. The site sold us; we called immediately and left a message. It was Sunday, but the Lice Lady called us back immediately. She knew it was urgent. Despite the truly outrageous fee, we arranged for a “technician” who would come the same day. Hallelujah! What a tremendous relief. (#1- she knew our pain and #2 -easy to find & could solve our problem)

A lovely young lady arrived at our house. She was dressed professionally; heels, a pantsuit and a white lab coat. Mary Poppins might envy her satchel of solutions. Anna Rose introduced herself, unpacked, set up- and went to work. She explained exactly what she would do, why it worked and talked about mistakes people make. She so sorry we had cut Hanna’s hair, she said we hadn’t needed to do that. (#3 - we knew we were in the hands of an expert)

As she worked, she showed us the evidence (trying to be sensitive here, the stuff she was removing from our dear daughter’s head), we became more certain that we could NEVER have done this ourselves. In fact, Hanna clearly would have been in very bad shape if the trained technician hadn’t halted the invasion when she did. At that point- the fee was no longer outrageous. We would have paid anything. I’m not even shy about telling other parents what we spent, because I’m so convinced we had no alternative. I’m skeptical of others whose girls are out of school one day and back the next. I don’t believe that it’s possible to truly clear a kid with long thick hair unless you know the Lice Lady’s secret techniques. (#4 - highlight your efforts and results, demonstrate the unique value)

Before she left, Anna Rose reviewed the program we needed to follow. She spent plenty of time making sure we all understood what to do. She put our fears to rest. She triple-checked Hanna while I looked over her shoulder; I was 100% sure Hanna would be cleared by the nurse. All in all, Anna Rose spent nearly 6 hours at our house. Before she came, I felt overwhelmed and hopeless, afterwards- I felt incredibly relieved.

At about 9pm, after Anna Rose had left the house, the Lice Lady called to make sure we were satisfied. She then called the next day to make sure Hanna was back in school. (#5 - show you care)

Steve and I agree that we’re going to call the service immediately if the issue comes up again. We aren’t going to mess around! (knock on wood, please) We even gave the Lice Lady our principal and nurse’s contact info because she often works with schools. I’ve recommended the service to everyone.

So. That’s the Lice Lady story. Lawyers work with clients who need help.  Can you make your connection equally emotional? Can you do more to show your clients what you do for them? Make them understand what might happen without you? What about follow-up, do you stay connected with your clients?

Jump back up to the 5 story points and think about how you can incorporate each one into your own story. In the end, I’d like to know that some good came out of this awful experience!

OH! Apologies if your head starts itching. Mostly kids under 12 and girls seem to get them…if I didn’t, you won’t…