How to Conduct Client Satisfaction Interviews - Part 2

(See Part 1 for the beginning of this topic.)

How should the interviews be conducted?

There must be some experts out there who feel that client satisfaction reviews are best conducted by phone or written survey. But all the ones I’ve talked to recommend face to face meetings. Peter Johnson explained why: “A skilled interviewer often picks up on the subtleties of non-verbal cues that cannot be observed over the phone. A personal meeting allows increased focus, limits distractions… [and] creates the opportunity to establish rapport.” In my mind, the last point is the most critical: building rapport means building relationships and future business.

On the other hand, if you are in Wisconsin and your clients are in Dubai, a telecon is better than nothing.

Make sure that the client knows that your aim is to improve communication and service, and that you are not billing for the time. That in itself will make people smile.

During the meeting, clients must be encouraged to speak freely. Interviewers should listen and take notes, and never argue or defend themselves. (That comes later.) If you are the kind of person who will be unable to prevent yourself from arguing, find someone else to conduct the interview.

Questions to ask

Survey questions should be defined in advance. Skilled interviewers may improvise based on their script, but it is still important to start from a script. Some experts even recommend sending the questions in advance, so that clients know exactly what to expect, and can choose to prepare their answers

Tom Kane suggested starting with these basic content areas:
How are we doing?
What is the firm doing well?
What could we do better or differently to improve our services?
Would you recommend the firm to others? Why (yes or no)?
Anything I haven’t asked that I should have?
Are there any other issues you would like to discuss?

Laura Meherg suggests adding questions about other firms that your clients use: What do they do well? What do they do that makes your life easier? What should they do differently? “It's great for competitive intelligence gathering,” she noted, “and clients are surprisingly open about their experiences working with other law firms.”

Gerry Riskin suggests thought provoking questions, such as:
“Please describe the top three ways you measure our performance.
How important to you is it that we know your industry? How do you measure that?
When you’re stuck in traffic and you’re thinking about the business, what issues are running through your mind?
What could we be doing that would make your life easier?
What could we be doing that clients like you may not yet have asked for?
How could we better use technology to be of service to you?
Are there any services that you think we are missing out on by not making them available to companies like yours?
If you were appointed the Managing Partner for a firm like ours, what would you do differently?”

You may also add questions about how clients perceive key issues of your practice, including:
The quality of the legal product
Listening to client concerns.
Understanding client goals.
Understanding the client’s industry.
Keeping clients informed.
Explaining legal issues in terms that clients understand.
Showing genuine interest and concern.
Being prompt, responsive, and accessible on short notice.
Providing accurate and complete billing statements.
Charging fair and reasonable fees.

If you don’t have time to put together a custom list of questions from the lists above, start with these:

What do you like about working with our firm?
What could we do better?
How would you rate your overall satisfaction?
What could we do to increase our rating?
In the past, what are some of the things that you’ve liked most about working with law firms, both our firm and others?
What have you liked least about working with law firms?
Do you see any future trends in your business or industry that will affect the need for legal services?
What could we do to make you happy?
Would you recommend our firm to others? Why or why not?

When you interview clients who are very satisfied, is it OK to ask for referrals or even proceed to directly selling new services? That’s where the experts disagree, passionately. To review the debate, see my March 8 posting, Dan Hull’s post, Patrick Lamb’s post, Michelle Golden’s post, Tom Kane’s post, and Gerry Riskin’s comments in my blog. The short answer is that while some have had success with selling, most experts agree that formal interviews should focus strictly on client satisfaction. Anything that sounds like selling could make the client defensive, and should be saved for another time and place.

Then the real work begins

When the client satisfaction interview has been completed, the work of creating super-satisfied clients has just begun.

After the meeting, email the client a list of action items which you can and will achieve, and inform the client as you accomplish each one. A handwritten thank you note also adds a special touch.

For large clients, follow-up is best handled by a coordinated client service team. But that’s a whole different topic (see Part 3 of this series).

For a summary of this advice, go the free resources section of my web page and download a copy of “How to Conduct Client Satisfaction Interviews” from the next edition of my Law Firm Business Development Workbook.

The most important thing is to get started, and to establish a regular schedule of client satisfaction reviews. It’s easy to get slowed down by all the controversies and the options. But every expert agrees that the most important thing is just to get out there and talk to your clients about what they like, and what they need. If you don’t, your competitors will.