Client interviews: How to reap the benefits and overcome internal resistance

Many clients still claim to receive little or no contact from their law firms regarding standards of service delivery, suggesting that many firms continue to fail to effectively manage a client-interview process, despite the potential benefits.

By Julia Hayhoe and Emma Kaye, consultants, Hildebrandt International

Client interviews are by no means a new phenomenon; many law-firm leaders have either had first-hand experience of a client-interview exercise or have heard about the process. When structured and focused appropriately, undertaking client interviews can be overwhelmingly beneficial. However, overcoming the internal challenges to even be able to kick off a client-interview effort can be quite daunting. That is why – even after decades of conducting interviews – we still often hear law-firm clients saying “this is the first time any law firm has asked my opinion or assessed my satisfaction”.

The benefits of the client-interview process may theoretically be accepted, but it is the practicalities and uncertainty from within the firm that can cause law-firm leaders to sometimes reject the process, in terms of:

Differing views about the best approach to take in conducting the interviews;
Dealing with partners that are reluctant to buy into the process;
Dealing with partners that insist they know their clients better than anyone;
Concerns that the interview will cause the client to focus on negative things they might have otherwise ignored;
Getting partners to act on feedback received and develop follow-up plans.

Much of this article will provide practical tips for dealing with this partner resistance to client interviews. But first, let’s look at the many and beneficial uses of client interviews.

Understanding these benefits helps managing partners make a stronger case to the lawyers in their firm. It is especially interesting to note the varied types and richness of information you can obtain from a well-implemented programme.

The benefits of client interviews

Client interviews have been traditionally used for assessing client satisfaction or as part of a review of a firm’s current position in the market – this is, however, evolving. There is growing recognition that the interview process has more flexibility and potential than previously believed. Interviews are increasingly being used to gather intelligence on proposed practice/geographic expansion, potential new areas of focus, trends and patterns in specific practices and/or industries, development and performance of specific client/industry teams, and progress against prior feedback received.

Client interviews are a very powerful tool, not only in terms of influencing change in your firm (‘the voice of the client’ speaks to both the hearts and minds of partners), but also in terms of generating deep insight into understanding your clients’ needs, preferences and perceptions. Some of the strongest and most crucial insights we have seen emerging from client interviews in recent years include:

Increasingly demanding client expectations. Technical expertise, commerciality and client knowledge are today often merely ‘hygiene’ factors (that is, firms are expected to have such capabilities). Clients are increasingly looking for their legal advisers to differentiate themselves with capabilities such as sector knowledge, consistency of service delivery, effective team working, relationship management and, above all, demonstrable commitment to client success;
Perceptions of value. Clients’ perception of value for a significant proportion of work typically declines over time, hence increasing amounts of work are considered as lower value than historically;
Perceptions of credibility. Law firms increasingly need to demonstrate a strong reputation in an area to attract and retain the best clients, work and lawyers – in other words, be recognised as a leading firm in key areas and thereby regarded as credible and truly outstanding for the services provided.

Hence, client interviews enable a law firm to assess specific clients’ perceptions of ‘added value’ and how, therefore, it can differentiate itself from competitors and deliver on this in practice.

Evolving uses of client interviews

Client interviews can achieve multiple objectives. Some, such as monitoring client satisfaction and assessing attitudes about the firm’s brand and position, are quite traditional. Other aims are evolving and expanding – it is ‘eye-opening’ to many partners to discover just how much information they can learn by interviewing their clients.

More traditional objectives include:

To review and explore attitudes about the firm’s brand, image and reputation. This helps to
identify clients’ perceptions of the firm and assess its current capabilities in relation to clients’ needs and competitors;
To assess the firm’s current market position (an integral part of a firm/practice-strategy review). Interviewers seek to identify the firm or practice’s strengths, shortcomings, opportunities and risks, and hence assess its current competitiveness;
To monitor client satisfaction. To ascertain the clients’ service expectations and levels of satisfaction with the firm’s current performance and service delivery. This type of review aims to supplement the normal interaction between a client and his/her relationship partner.

More recent objectives include:

To ‘test’ demand in respect of a firm’s proposed practice/industry/geographic expansion. Hence interviews seek to understand client expectations in the chosen area, and the trends, developments and changes that may impact on the law firms’ legal and service delivery;
To ascertain new business opportunities. Firms can use client feedback to identify trends and developments in a client or prospect company that may impact on the firm’s future service offering;
To assess a specific client or industry team’s performance and client relationship, and/or to kick-off a client-team initiative. This is a ‘deep dive’ process, whereby interviews are conducted with a number of key decision makers within one core client, often from both the business and in-house legal department. Hence this type of initiative helps to evaluate and build client relationships, as well as provide a team with necessary information to develop a client plan that is really meaningful to a particular client;
To assess progress against previous market research or interview feedback. Some firms conduct written surveys and then use client interviews to follow-up on the written responses to check on key themes more deeply. Firms can also use client feedback as a way to gauge their standing compared to secondary research (research that they can buy in the marketplace). For example, a directory ranking may indicate that a firm is not well known for a particular service area and client/market feedback can confirm or deny this, and suggest steps the firm can take to enhance its visibility.

Five challenges and suggestions for achieving success

While the benefits of client interviews may be readily apparent to many lawyers, the challenges posed in developing and implementing a client-interview programme are often daunting enough to keep a firm from even starting. Here, then, are several of these challenges and practical suggestions for overcoming them.

1. Challenge: Selecting the appropriate approach to conducting the interviews

Suggestion: The overall objectives of the interview programme will direct the approach taken and who undertakes its management. However, the optimum approach is for a firm to undertake a comprehensive three-pronged strategy
to client feedback:

1. Purpose of interview: Maintenance and alignment with the client Interviewer: Client relationship partner
The partner managing the relationship periodically visits the client and discusses the client’s satisfaction with the handling of current and past matters, as well as future needs and developments in the client’s business or industry so that the firm can adapt to needs as they evolve. Deal and matter reviews can inform and contribute to this process too;

2. Purpose of interview: Strengthening and expanding the firm’s relationship Interviewer: Managing partner/chairman
The firm’s most strategically significant core clients receive periodic visits from senior management (someone not directly involved in the client relationship). This communicates to the client how important they are to the firm and allows the client the opportunity to address any concerns with someone who is more impartial. In addition, it gives the law firm an opportunity to gauge appetite to cross-sell other services to the client that might be of interest and benefit to them, and thereby expand the relationship;

3. Purpose of interview: Objective review of issues, challenges, performance and trends
Interviewer: Third party
This type of approach takes an impartial look at the firm. The approach can achieve multiple objectives (as listed earlier). It enables the firm to look across a broader spectrum of its client base to identify trends and patterns (for example, changing processes for selecting outside legal counsel) and to probe more deeply about important strategic issues. Clients are typically more willing to be candid with a third party then they are with the partner with whom they work closely and regularly.

2. Challenge: Client partner(s) reluctant to get involved in process

Suggestion: A client partner often insists that he/she knows the client’s needs best and an independent assessment would not help. Our suggestion is that you start the process with a small pilot group. Once partners see how much they can learn from even the ‘best’ clients, it enables partners to get comfortable with the process and recognise its value in terms of client care. They are then less resistant to participating.

3. Challenge: The process gives the client the opportunity to reflect on underperformance issues it would not otherwise have the time to do

Suggestion: This is rarely an outcome; instead we find the client recognises the value of the process and the firm’s commitment to the client and this, therefore, in turn strengthens the relationship. In fact, if concerns are raised, then the firm has the opportunity to address them before perhaps it’s too late. The key is to have a plan to respond to the feedback you receive in a timely and appropriate manner.

4. Challenge: Client is reluctant to get involved in process

Suggestion: With a well-implemented programme this rarely happens. In fact, we find that clients respond favourably to being asked to participate in client-interview programmes and are impressed that firms are taking the time to gain their feedback. Such market and customer studies are often the norm in their own business and so are seen as part of a customer/client-focused business. The key is to ensure that the client’s schedule is respected; that time frames are observed; the interviewer (internal or external) is fully briefed on the client’s background; and that the interviewer has the proper interviewing skill-set.

5. Challenge: Feedback from the client interviews is not acted upon, thereby giving false expectations to the interviewed client(s)

Suggestion: There are a number of ‘tips’ here. First, agree the process in advance with the client partner. Second, ensure that when the feedback is fed through to the client partner it is done in a constructive manner. Third, ensure the relevant feedback is related back to the broader client team as well as the partner. Fourth, ensure that, where appropriate, client plans or clear written records are produced, with follow-up meetings that are facilitated by an internal person pushing through actions.

Insight to competitive success

Client interviews, if structured and focused appropriately, are by far the most powerful and insightful means to gather client intelligence, and measure performance against client and market expectations. In this ever demanding and changing legal market, truly understanding your clients’ needs, expectations, preferences and perceptions has never been so crucial to your competitive success.

Julia Hayhoe and Emma Kaye are consultants at Hildebrandt International. They can be contacted at jhayhoe@hildebrandt.com and ekaye@hildebrandt.com respectively.