Eight Reasons Why Client Feedback Is Da Bomb

You might think you know how clients view your firm, writes Jim Pagliaro in Eight Ways That Listening to Clients Will Improve Your Law Firm and Add Value to Your Client Relationships. You might think you know how your firm looks from the outside. You might even think that your stellar reputation is universal. But you won’t really know until you ask:

“Practices that I believed were premier were seen as mid-market; partners whom I believed were service all-stars were rated as mediocre; and reputations I thought were well-established were barely known in many corners of the market. It is sobering and incredibly enlightening to see your law firm the way your clients see it.

The good news is that that “candid and often unforgiving” perspective from your clients is but one way that client interviews can help you run your firm and guarantee your future. Read Pagliaro’s post to see the others. Then start talking – and listening – to your clients.

"Client Focus" Is In The Eye Of The ... Client

There's only one way to give your client she expects, writes Gina Rubel in How In House Counsel Defines Client Focus. You ask her:

The phrase “client focus” can take on many meanings for lawyers. [...] One thing is certain, it is important for every attorney to ask his or her client what their expectations are as they relate to providing client-focused service and then do everything it takes to meet those expectations.

Read the post for Rubel's take - and that of a handful of in-house lawyers - on what it really means to "focus on the client." Then start doing it.

Do You Hear What Your Client Isn't Saying?

It's important to listen to everything your client tells you. But, writes Michael Rynowecer in 13 Unspoken Rules of Client Relationships, it's probably more important that you hear what she isn't saying. Because you need to follow the same unspoken rules that your clients have made "part of their core personality, behavior and decision making." Like these:

1. Clients always find a way to hire the people they want when they want to.
2. Clients don't fire their law firms, they just stop giving them work.
3. “Your rates are too high” is a euphemism for “I want to give the work to someone else”.

Read the post. Let these unspoken rules guide your behavior. You may not master all 13, but you just might start hearing more of what your client wants. And isn't that the goal?

Making your clients happy by asking them what they think.

Tom Kane's "Client Feedback Pointers" on his blog Legal Marketing Blog.com. Let's face it: everybody tells you to talk to your clients. But getting client feedback isn't easy. Not if you want to go beyond the standard "good job, good job" comments, that is. Kane's post, his who, what, when, why, and how of client feedback, will help. It's good advice for getting started. And while you're at it, go back and read what the Maister (David Maister, that is) has to say: "Getting Good at Getting Feedback." The best ten minutes you'll spend today.