722 Stress Reduction

Stress Causes and Cures

Other Office Information

#1 Cause of office Stress:  Clients and too many Clients and too many of the wrong Clients.  No Clients would be pretty stress free but obviously not sustainable.

We need to get better at controlling the Super Stressful Clients. About 90% of Client caused office stress is from 10% of the clients known as “Super Stressers” (aka “Crazies”). Lets control these Crazies by:
1. Profiling and being selective in allowing only the most worthy clients to hire us; some will always get through our screening, so see rule 2 and 3 below.
2. Clients who hire us want us, quite often badly, so we have the opportunity to lecture them on the importance of their stress causing behavior before and while we work for them as often as necessary reminding them that stressing us is counter productive in us doing our best work and we will fire them!
3. Give out strongly worded ultimatums generously to Super Stressers to behave or find another law office.
4. Fire Clients that stubbornly remain Super Stressers after two severe warnings. Let’s put up with less shit than we have been.
5. We need to foster and improve our referral system to get even more client referrals and depend less on advertising where most of the Crazies come from. We do that by making our clients happier by doing better work and being more supportive and friendly and reminding them to send their friends.

Well here’s your test.  Can you fire Billy Lynch or justify him?  It’s obvious that firing him will improve morale and vindicate your Staff.  Choosing to stand by, protect and defend your Staff will pay off handsomely.  He has paid in 39,000 and would owe 2,000 after deposit credited.  This is a morale/financial dilemma.  If you keep him, could you take him on exclusively and don’t let him talk to anyone but you and Julie?