A Change of Perspective
Which way is your firm looking?
Aside from the delivery discussions, where do your client conversations focus?
Traditionally client listening exercises – whether interviews, surveys or informal conversations – focus on looking backwards. They gather feedback on what the firm has done and how the client has experienced it in the recent past.
These insights are used to reinforce and improve how the firm serves that client. In some cases, they also inform how the firm improves the processes, products and systems used to deliver experiences to all clients.
There may be one or two forward-looking questions, but the main focus has been on past and present results, experiences and lessons.
Consequently, engagement with client listening has been low.
Partners ‘opt-in’ clients one-by-one. In essence, cherry-picking the ones that they want to hear from. In many cases, the reports are only shared with the relationship partner in question, further limiting the insights available to the wider firm.
Unsurprisingly, the response to the feedback is “I already knew that”.
The missing incentive
The bottom line? There is no internal incentive to grow CX-focused client listening. Few partners are looking for opportunities to get more of their clients into the programme.
They’re not pushing for a cultural shift to an ‘opt-out’ programme. They see nothing odd about a firm working with thousands of people across their client base but collecting annual feedback from less than a hundred.
Why?
Most partners genuinely want to deliver standout client experiences. Most firms want their people to deliver client service that aligns with their distinctive brand promises.
The problem is they believe they are already doing this.
After all, clients would say if they have a problem. Why invest time and effort gathering more feedback that will tell them the same thing?
Is it time to change perspective?
That’s the bad news for client listening teams – and perhaps the reassurance that it’s not just a problem at your firm. If I had a pound for every time I was asked how to improve partner engagement with client listening, I’d be writing this newsletter from my yacht.
So, what’s the good news?
You can still future proof your client listening programme. It can expand to have a significant impact on your firm’s strategy and decision-making.
Imagine your client listening programme having the attention and energies of colleagues across the business.
Imagine it scaled up to include the voices of many more clients and prospects.
Imagine being invited into leadership meetings to share the latest insights and your expert opinion on what the firm should do in response.
Listen differently
To achieve that bigger, bolder vision we must channel our inner Stephen Covey and ‘begin with the end in mind’. If Covey’s paper books seem a bit old hat, feel free to be Simon Sinek and ‘start with why’.
Rather than seeking a bigger audience for CX insights, client listening needs to begin with the insights that the firm is craving. The answers that partners across the business will willingly engage with.
Once you know the insights that senior leaders are desperate for, you can work backwards to define how you will produce those insights and hence what data you need to collect.
The million-dollar question becomes ‘what do decision-makers believe they need to know that requires a broad range of inputs and regular updates’?
Nothing answers this question quite as well as finance and budget data, which is why the numbers get so much attention. That’s not a gap client listening needs to fill.
The emerging insight gap with strategic-level importance, is how the firm can deliver on its growth targets.
Strategies, job adverts, and merger announcements are currently full of references to business development, deeper client relationships, rapid expansion and ambitious growth strategies.
Aligning client listening with strategic priorities
Client listening can – must – become the central driver of growth-related intelligence.
Client growth starts with delivering consistent and relevant experiences but expands through selling additional services to more parts of the client’s business. Questions that look backwards (CX-focused) and look forwards (BD-focused) are not competitors. They’re two sides of the same coin.
Your firm is united around the need to have stronger, deeper, growing client relationships. But there are different beliefs about what insights can drive those outcomes.
Neither is right or wrong, but one can draw a much shorter line to revenue; and revenue growth (v the cost of achieving it) is a key metric that client listening programmes are being judged on. If not officially, then informally when budget conversations are happening.
Embracing both the CX and BD insight needs of the business, is the way to scale-up and future-proof your client listening programme. Some client relationships will benefit from conversations focused on looking backwards – either to address gaps or to discover why the relationship is so strong.
Others will benefit from a more forward-looking conversation. One that focuses on their emerging challenges, expectations of a trusted advisor and how your firm is positioned in their mind.
Across these conversations, you will be creating insights relevant to teams responsible for bids & pitches, marketing, account management, service delivery, operations and even complaints.
So where do you stand? Does it feel like selling out to shift conversations from CX to BD, or are you already heading down that path?
Ready to listen differently?
Discover how MyCustomerLens can help you unify feedback across your entire firm, generate actionable insights automatically and drive strategic decision-making.
MyCustomerLens is the innovative, always-on client listening platform designed to give law firms a competitive edge. By harnessing the power of advanced AI, we transform formal and informal feedback signals into real-time, actionable insights.
Our pioneering approach helps firms drive organic growth by unlocking deeper client. Ready to learn more? Click here to arrange a time to chat.
