How a Law Office Really Impressed Me

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash .

Germans complain that service is awful in Germany. I agree with them. However, this also means that there is an outstanding opportunity to distinguish yourself from your competition and make an impression on your customers and/or your clients.

A few years ago I needed consultation in a legal affair. It was only a small amount of money involved (around 60 Euros), so it was not worth much effort. I first researched the matter on the Internet and found a couple of law offices that deal with the subject matter. I sent them an inquiry.

A couple of them didn’t bother to respond. Others did respond, but they did not offer any useful insight; the worst one was that someone offered a consultation for around 60 Euros (!) and refused to take the case to court. What’s the point in that?

One law office, however, Härting, took the inquiry quite seriously and wrote a detailed response. They recommended me not to hire them (!) since the cost would be unreasonably high compared to the money involved. Instead, they researched on my website where I was located, and found the closest office of the Consumer Organization (Verbraucherzentrale), an organization that protects people from corporate abuse. Their response was thorough, well researched and ultimately most helpful. Although it might just have taken an experienced attorney five to ten minutes, it really made a world of a difference in terms of the impression on me!

The next time I have a case that involves substantially more money, who do you think I will go to? Who do you think will I recommend to friends, colleagues and business partners?