Client satisfaction surveys are all around us. Buy a car, a mobile phone or a PC and you will be required to complete some form comprising tick box after tick box. Some solicitors have jumped on the bandwagon and require their clients to fill in similar forms. The question is, who benefits from this interrogation?
The premise was simple to start with: ask your clients what they want and how they want it delivered, and you will be able to wear the client-led badge with pride. But somehow it is not that simple when the product for sale is knowledge and professional expertise.
Most firms have long-term relationships with their clients. Most will have calculated how much more profitable old clients are than new ones. The strategy of doing everything possible to retain old clients before you start seeking new ones will not be a revelation.
Solicitors provide professional knowledge and opinions, guiding clients through legal difficulties towards a satisfactory solution. Clients have to listen. Imagine how the client feels after years of listening to a firm’s partners and solicitors when the firm decides to turn the tables and listen to the client’s opinions. It is a revelation.
Too often, clients are unable to distinguish the nature and quality of advice received between firms or the individuals within them. As a result they choose between those same firms and individuals on the basis of how the advice is delivered:
*how approachable is the partner?
*how accessible are they?
*how concise is the advice?
*are they clear in their recommendations as to my next steps or do they sit on the professional fence?
*do they want to show off their professional knowledge or are they mindful of the commercial implications and my company’s broader business strategy?
*when the individual is not available, how quick are they at coming back to me?
