Question:
Our firm is a sixteen-attorney insurance defense in Louisville, Kentucky. We represent approximately twenty-five insurance companies in property casualty and personal injury cases. We handle products liability and medical malpractice cases as well. Our firm is in its second generation and all of the founding partners have retired. Virtually all of our clients were inherited and none of the existing partners have brought in any new clients since the founding partners retired eight years ago. While we are trying to do what we can to cultivate new clients, we want to ensure that we retain our existing clients and don’t have any client defections. Do you have any suggestions?
Response:
We have done numerous client satisfaction interviews with law firm insurance company clients. The category where most firms rank the lowest is understanding clients’ needs. For law firms, one way of achieving a competitive advantage is to have a better understanding of the wants and needs of clients than the competition. This understanding comes from an open dialog with your clients. In other words, ask them.
Recently I had a law firm client whose business was suffering due to the client’s operations shifting to adjacent states. The firm was considering an additional office location to serve these clients and was debating where and how to locate this office. I advised, why don’t we ask the clients. In our interviews, we asked this question and the clients told us where their needs were and where to locate the office. It was not where the law firm was thinking of locating. Six months later, a mini merger was done in the location where the clients advised us their needs were.
This is best accomplished by having an ongoing systematic structured client feedback system that tracks client preferences, desires, and requirements. Here are a few ways that this can be accomplished:
- Structured client telephone interviews
- Face-to-face interview with clients by senior partners
- Engagement team debriefings
- Attending client industry meetings
- Client user groups
- Market research
There are several articles on our website – see links below – that discuss client satisfaction survey programs and how to get started.
Click here for our blog on client service
Click here for our article on client satisfaction
Click here for our article on client surveys
Click here for our article on analyzing survey results
Click here for our article on developing your client service improvement plan
Click here for our article on tips for rewarding and recognizing employees
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