Is it possible that your firm has gone as far as it can with its present approaches to client feedback — that is, surveys conducted either by written/Web questionnaires, by telephone interviews or by in-person interviews? Has the value received reached a plateau, and are you now experiencing diminishing returns? If so, isn’t now the time for your firm to be exploring ways to take client feedback to the next level — especially with the firm’s largest and most valued clients?
Some considerations:
- Can a written questionnaire, a 15- to 30-minute structured phone interview or an even longer scripted in-person interview result in the kind of penetrating insights and candid observations that are needed to comprehensively understand and chart a course to improve client service?
- Does the subject matter that is addressed provide sufficient input to determine, validate and implement the firm’s strategic growth strategies?
- Are the impressions of senior client executives regarding the firm’s method of inquiry always positive when they receive written/Web surveys or they are asked over the phone or in-person to respond to a list of relatively standard questions, particularly when such questions are unchanged from year to year and from client to client?
