Client Listening

SALLy DySON is the founder and director of Firm Sense Limited, a consultancy specialising in providing client listening services and client relationship management advice to law firms. Sally qualified as a solicitor and practised at Slaughter and May. She then worked as an in-house lawyer for nearly a decade before moving on from the pursuit of law to establish Firm Sense. Sally combines expertise in client listening with an in-depth understanding of the legal market to advise law firms on aligning organisational practices and individual behaviour with specific client needs in order to improve client retention, win business, and improve profitability. Sally is an Affiliate Member of and is regulated by the Market Research Society. In the context of optimising client relationships, Sally has developed particular knowledge on the topic of law firm fees and is the author of an Ark report entitled Budgeting and Negotiating Fees with Clients: A Lawyer's Guide. Sally is also a regular speaker at public conferences and private workshops and is a contributor to professional journals

• Executive summary...VII About the author...IX Acknowledgements ...XI Part One: Client listening explained Chapter 1: The trend in favour of client listening... 3 What is client listening?...3 Is client listening new?...3 Weaknesses in client listening practised by law firms...6 Other industries pointing the way forward...7 A vision for client listening in law firms...8 Chapter 2: The benefits of client listening... 11 Sustainable competitive advantage.11 Popular rationale ...11 Partner perspectives...11 Supplementary benefits...13 Measuring the return on investment14 Chapter 3: Positioning client listening in context... 19 Business development ...19 Client relationship management...21 Interplay between CRM and key account management...23 Chapter 4: Obstacles to engaging with clients... 27 Obstacle 1: There is nothing to learn...27 Rebuttal 1: Champions will demonstrate otherwise ...27 Obstacle 2: Clients will refuse to participate in formal client listening activity...28 Rebuttal 2: Clients enthusiastically embrace client listening...29 Obstacle 3: There is no time for client listening...29 Rebuttal 3: Making time...30 Obstacle 4: Lawyers are not trained interviewers...31 Rebuttal 4: Training, mentoring, and expert independent interviewers are available...31 Obstacle 5: Asking questions brings risk...32 Rebuttal 5: Don't be an ostrich!...32 Obstacle 6: Asking for feedback is pointless as no action will be taken...33 Rebuttal 6: Take responsibility ...33 Chapter 5: Selecting the best listening method... 35 Interplay between client listening and market research...35 Qualitative versus quantitative research...36 Data collection methods...37 Choosing interviewers...40 Chapter 6: An explanation of key techniques and how to handle tricky situations... 45 Preparation...45 Depth interviews...47 Questionnaires...50 Multi-jurisdictional programmes...54 Chapter 7: Ensuring that feedback is useful, user-friendly, and used... 57 Analysing free-form responses...57 Analysing numerical data ...59 Visual representations of feedback results...60 Reporting ...61 Framing recommendations...65 Chapter 8: Time to act... 67 Responding to feedback at the client level ...67 Setting firm strategy in the light of feedback comments received..68 Conclusions...71 Part Two: Case studies Case study 1: DLA Piper - International partner perspectives. 75 Case study 2: Ashurst - Responsive client service... 83 Case study 3: CMS Cameron McKenna - Applied intelligence ... 87 Case study 4: K&L GATES LLP - Beyond client listening... 93 Case Study 5: KPMG - Feedback that adds up: Lessons from accountancy... 97 Part Three: Appendices Appendix 1: Planner... 103 Appendix 2: Comparing methodologies... 105 Appendix 3: Invitation... 107 Appendix 4: Discussion guide... 109