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Mediation Follow Through… Extremes
1 February 2007I had a mediation the other day and the attorney and I were chatting while waiting for the other side to show up. This was in the context of New Jersey’s court annexed mediation program. He asked me whether the court sets our fees, or whether mediators set their own fees. I told him we set our own fees.
He went on to say that he had a mediation where the mediator kept calling them after the fact and his fees were really high. I guessed at the hourly fee (the top of the range here in NJ) and he nodded yes. I asked if it was a retired judge, to which he also nodded yes.
This is an interesting situation. Usually, mediators are encouraged to follow up when the parties are unable to reach an agreement at a mediation. Often times, the mediation process is very useful in beginning the dialogue and once people begin to process their options, they may be in a better position to reach a settlement or resolution after the fact.
Of course, our model is to encourage that to happen at the day of a mediation. Sometimes, however, this is not realistic; particularly where parties are forced to go to mediation by a court order and may not be ready, or they haven’t had a lot of discovery and are learning factual information for the first time during mediation. Another problem with the court program is that the court in New Jersey now offers two free hours (one hour of preparation and one hour of mediation) and attorneys will only block off a very limited number of hours for mediation. Thus, while a settlement would be possible during the day, they haven’t blocked off enough time, or believe enough in the process to stick with it past the first sign of impasse.
So, as mediators, we must continue to educate the parties and lawyers about reasonable expectations. If they don’t see the value in the process, then they will resent a mediator for following up when they think they are going to be running up a big bill. I know many mediators who do not charge for routine follow up calls after the mediation session. This makes sense when you get paid up front. Most court mediators are reluctant to do this because they may be starving for business.
However, I think this is a mistake. Remember, we are in the business of adding value. If an attorney thinks you are going to go through a long opening and waste time (running up your bill) they may resent you (in low dollar value cases). In this mediation the other day, the attorney said to me, “we’ve all heard the opening spiel…” so can we skip that. In this situation, his client was a repeat mediator. So, I was happy to skip parts of the preamble and get to the task of the day.
Back to following up after the fact…
If you can add value to parties/lawyers when a case didn’t settle by following up – then do so. Follow through can be very useful. Yet, why not provide this time free of charge? You will build more good will and more business by the few minutes you spend on the phone, than by annoying an attorney into thinking you are following up to continue to run up your bill. hmmm….
Sure, most attorneys will appreciate your follow through. Particularly at the larger end of the economic spectrum, you won’t find attorneys worried about nickles and dimes, but in the smaller cases, this can be an issue.
Bottom line: if the time you spend following up is not excessive (e.g. more than __ hour) — give it away. You will build good will and may be able to assist them in settling the case.
Remember, marketing is not just about generating leads, converting leads, it is also about providing excellent service that is a great value for your clients. Free follow through can be good for your business.
NEVER GIVE UP!
Kristina
p.s. we still have a few sets left of our marketing success system at www.mediationmarketingsecrets.com. 6 month coaching group starting in April 2007.
Posted in Keys to Technical Mastery, Marketing Strategies, Practice Building Advice
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