Jeffrey Miller and Jill Kohn‘s article, The Top Five Reasons Why Clients Leave and How You Can Prevent It over on the LawMarketing Portal is a worthwhile read for anyone providing professional services. It’s a stark reminder of the mantra, “It’s all about the client.” Can you honestly know if your clients are happy with your service if you never ask them?
According to the authors, the top five reasons clients leave are:
- Cost and Billing
- Lack of Response
- Incompetence
- Not Understanding Client’s Needs
- Personality Conflict.
The article also offers tips for handling each situation and prevention strategies such as client check-ins and client satisfaction surveys. Promoting good communication between client and service provider and working to understanding the “value” that they’re looking for from you — and delivering it — is key to a long, happy relationship.
The Best Advice… The article reinforced one of the good take-aways from the LMA New England Chapter’s in-house counsel panel in November. When asked during question-and-answer time if they ever had a law firm ask for a client feedback interview, the four in-house counsel on the panel all said no, but that they would welcome it and thought it would be a very good thing. So, in other words, if you are looking for a way to differentiate yourself from the pack, taking the time and effort to do client satisfaction interviews can go a long way in improving your relationship, demonstrating your willingness to better understanding your client, and ultimately providing better service.
I’m certainly not an expert on this topic, but since the time I first entered the legal marketing space and started attending legal marketing seminars, the importance of client feedback interviews/surveys has been repeated and repeated as the single most effective thing you can do to get closer to your clients. And yet many firms are still not doing it. Those who have implemented client satisfaction programs have told me that it is generally very well received by the client, and it often leads to additional work.
Learn more here about: client satisfaction.
