client value key client reviews a a how to guide for law firms m
TRANSCRIPT
client value Key Client Reviews
A A How To Guide for Law Firms
www.richmontewells.com
www.richmontewells.com
Why bother asking clients?
Don’t bother doing client reviews if:
- You intend to stay exactly as you are- You don’t want to make any changes
We are all inundated with requests for feedback from supermarkets to our local tapas bar.
Do invest in client reviews if:
- You have (or want to have) an active key client strategy- You want better relationships with your clients- You want to know what they value about your firm- You want an insight into their changing needs- You’d value an early warning of any problems- You’d like input into how best to change processes- You’d like to develop new products and services- You’d like improved cash flow and prompt payment- You’d like to recruit the right people
Don’t add to the noise unless there is something in it for your clients – and by that we don’t mean a free gift. If you have no intention of listening to your clients, let alone acting on their suggestions, then it’s just plain rude to waste their valuable time. If however, you are committed to making positive changes that will benefit them and improve their experiences with your firm, then read on. What follows is a clear “how to” on the necessary steps and approach required to carry out client reviews that will inform:
- Your key client strategy
- Your client relationship handling- Your new business approach- Your marketing and communications tools- Your services and how you package them- Your new products - Your investments in new areas, offices, services and IT- Your billing processes- Your recruitment processes- What your offices and website look like
“We guarantee that Richmonte Wells client reviews will be one of the very best investment of time and money you make in the future of your business. It will give you insights you would not have expected.”
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The process DIY
Desk research and preparationTake time to carefully decide which clients are to take part in the survey using your internal information and desk based research, including publicly available information and the client data you hold. Which criteria will you use? Which criteria might you sensibly ignore? Think through how best to approach difficult clients or clients who only instruct one individual. Which are the best questions to ask your clients to achieve your desired outcomes? Set KPIs for the project.
CommunicationExplain to management and staff why you are conducting client reviews and what they and their clients will get out of it. Provide training for staff who might be involved in interviews. Draft letters to send to clients to explain to them what you are doing, to ask for their time and to explain what the benefits will be. Be careful not only to protect your client relationships but improve them.
Client interviewsBe prepared to conduct interviews in a number of ways, either face to face, online or on the telephone and adjust your methodology to suit your client base. Facilitate focus group meetings. Provide a report of the interview and a copy for the client’s use.
Analysis and ReportUsing the feedback from the report and any additional information you can glean from your current client data, provide a full report to cover what your clients value about your service, improvements they would like to see, things they would prefer you didn’t do and recommendations for action. Present this report to the management team, both in a written report and face to face. Prepare an executive summary for clients and staff. Communicate outcomes and necessary actions.
One Year on Audit
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How we can help
• Key client strategy• Audit of client satisfaction processes• Audit of client complaints• Training including:
• how to perform client review interviews• Client relationship development• Cross selling and upselling
• One off or annual client review programme including:
• Desk research• One to one interviews• Online surveys• Telephone interviews• Analysis• Report• Benchmarking
• New product development and launch• Business process improvement• Marketing and communications strategy
Most firms these days understand that they need to know what their clients want and will often have client satisfaction processes already in place. These are (as we say elsewhere) useful in the same way as a rear view mirror is useful.
Our process will give you better forward visibility - through the windscreen not the rear view mirror.
Our consultants are available to provide advice and support, to give you feedback or compare your systems with best practice achieved elsewhere. We can also handle individual parts of projects for you or (if you need additional expert resource rather than handling it in house) we can do the whole thing for you.
We can guide you through the whole DIY process or we can manage it for you – you decide.
After all, we wont be reinventing the wheel!
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Martin Griffiths has over 35 years’ experience of business and practice management in the legal sector and is the Richmonte Wells lead for Business Restructuring and Acquisitions.
He works with clients to help them develop and grow their businesses, particularly through strategy, business planning and implementation. He advises in a non-executive capacity at law firm board level and supports and advises individual business leaders and senior managers on a one to one basis.
Martin is lead consultant at Richmonte Wells for all aspects of law firm mergers and acquisitions and has a good understanding of the cultural and operational changes required to make teams work across organisation boundaries. He is currently advising three Top 200 law firms on separate merger projects as well as facilitating merger searches for
several smaller firms. • Martin gained an MBA in Legal Practice from Nottingham
Law School in 2003.
• Recent projects include undertaking strategy reviews of a number of law firm clients, working with a firm to assist them with decision making and implementation, recruiting a CEO for a law firm to replace the retiring managing partner role and recruiting a COO for a major regional practice.
• Martin was a member of Bar Council working parties that developed practice management standards and complaints handling procedures for chambers and a member of the LSC working party that developed the Quality Standard for the Bar.
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Our Team
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Simon White is a recognised strategist with a particular affinity for the challenges and opportunities facing full-service medium-sized law firms throughout the UK.
Simon has been providing Business Development and sales expertise to professional service organisations for over 28 years. He specialises in coaching and mentoring members of the key management team through paradigm shifts in organisations approach to Business Development.
Simon has worked in-house as a senior regional marketing manager for Ernst & Young, and as Strategy & Marketing Director for Bevan Ashford (now Bevan Brittan) and for the Oxford office of Manches. In addition, he has held the role of Marketing Director for an IT Training and Recruitment company, a Director of a property company and acted as a marketing consultant for a number of law firms throughout
the UK, specialising in the challenges of those firms outside the top 50 in the Lawyer rankings. In addition he acts in a non-executive director capacity or managing partner coach for a number of law firms across the UK.
For the last three years Simon has been publicly speaking and writing on the dangers of being drawn into low-cost competition with the new emerging legal structures and businesses. He is a strong advocate of encouraging his clients to embrace a more “value orientated” pricing strategy around key niche segments.
His approach focuses on changing thought processes and mindsets as well as new marketing strategies and tactics.
He holds a Masters in Business Administration from Warwick Business School.
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Our Team
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Our Team (continued)
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Sally Calverley is a lawyer turned legal business consultant with a first class understanding of the market and how it is changing to meet the future: something that her clients find “invaluable”.
In 2010 Sally set up Richmonte Wells – her stated goal being to help her clients become more successful and more profitable. Her clients are forward thinking and entrepreneurial and welcome Sally’s fresh approach to legal business and the fact she clearly enjoys helping clients to build and grow their firms in a time of great change and opportunity. They appreciate the understanding she has, which comes from having sat in the hot seat of law firm management.
As both partner (Head of Litigation and Public Law) and then later as Commercial Director, Sally developed close relationships with in house Counsel as she spearheaded a change programme designed to deliver greater value for clients and improved profitability for the firm. Outside the legal sector, Sally’s consultancy experience includes development programmes for companies such as Astra Zeneca, the National Grid and AMP including values and team building. She has run Board Strategy Days for NHS Trusts and Housing Associations. She continues to provide soft skills training and coaching for law firms and in house teams.
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