Customer Service 101: How to Keep Your Clients Happy, Part 1

[Although I originally wrote this article as “Customer Service 101 for Lawyers” [GP/Solo Magazine (American Bar Association), Jan/Feb 2008], there are a number of lessons that apply to small businesses in general.  Read this 5-part series to find out what they are .…] “Haresh” arrived at my law office, visibly agitated.  He thought he had taken all the right steps to start his clothing business.  He had formed a corporation.  His business partner, his childhood friend, “Neel,” shared his vision for growth.  They had a written shareholders’ agreement.  But now these 50/50 partners were deadlocked on how to achieve their vision, and the business was rapidly deteriorating.  “I don’t understand – what happened?” Haresh pleaded.  A quick look at the shareholders’ agreement revealed that it contained no method for resolving stalemates.  No dispute resolution terms, no procedures for accountability between the partners . . . in fact, it lacked so many important provisions that I remember thinking a first-year associate working with a form book could have cobbled together a better document.  “Who prepared this…