Listening To Clients To Deliver Legal Services Their Way

In the 1990s, companies like Nordstrom, FedEx, the Ritz Carlton, and British Airways are well known for delivering services precisely the way their customers want them. British Airways, in fact, spends more on customer satisfaction than on advertising. Companies like these, says Steve Barrett, national marketing director of Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker, a Los Angeles law firm, "have led business people to expect extraordinary services."

Law firms are catching on. They are acknowledging that if they want to sustain client loyalty at a level comparable to the intense loyalty of Nordstrom or FedEx customers, they must focus on client services, satisfaction, and loyalty just as sharply as successful businesses do. Firms must respond to this market-driven reality. To be successful, law firms must take the initiative and ask their clients, what can we do to create complete satisfaction in our relationship?

Law firms must be prepared to follow up. Partners, associates, and staff must work together to find out what clients prefer in the delivery of legal services and then make sure each client gets what it asked for.

Failure to deliver what a client requests can lead to disaster in a relationship. In an article in teh December 1995 Harvard Business Review titled "Why Satisfied Clients Defect," Thomas Jones and W. Earl Sasser point out that somewhat satisfied clients tend to look to other service providers to meet their expressed needs. In fact, according to their research, 85 percent of clients who switched to other service providers were not dissatisfied. They were simply not delighted with the service provided.

Francis R. Tunney, Jr., corporate vice president and general counsel of Allergan, Inc., comments, "I was working with one large law firm that had assigned an attorney to us in a specialty area. This attorney was not providing teh decisive advice we needed in a timely fashion. I told them that this attorney needed to be replaced by a 'bread and butter' specialist, someone with more experience. After my second request wen unheeded, I simply switched firms."

Responding Creatively to the Market-Driven Reality

To avoid being thus switched off and having them go elsewhere for legal services, savvy firms are now training their partners in active listening skills that include asking questions to reflect understanding and encourage clarification. Once attorneys master active listening, gender listening, and nonverbal communication, they can more precisely ascertain specific client needs. When it becomes natural for attorneys to listen actively to current clients, enhanced communication develops between the firm and potential clients. These potential clients will perceive that the attorney and the firm he or she represents can provide a level of service that distinguishes the firm from others.

When law firms understand that business success means meeting prospective and current clients' needs, marketing efforst become buyer-driven and yield specific and measurable results. However, firms must be willing to use more sophisticated marketing techniques and respond creatively to market demands. For example, higher-level marketing activities may include:

• Joint planning by client and firm to determine strategies
• Formal, systematic, statistical client satisfaction surveys with frequent face-to-face follow-up meetings
• Customized responses to RFPs, including training partners in presentation skills
• Project management employing joint electronic interfacing
• Market-driven compensation strategies
• Market penetration research
• Participation by marketing directors in presentations and bringing new business into the firm
• Client-focused teams that target specific clients, geographical areas, or industries.

The Client-Satisfaction Survey

Client satisfaction is determined only by the client. Keeping clients completely satisfied is how a law firm maintains current business and obtains new business.

How is complete client satisfaction accomplished? The client survey, or audit, is a crticial step in benchmarking the quality of the service your clients, prospective clients, and referral sources feel they are getting. The key component in conducting the survey is to focus on the needs of the client. What does teh client value in the delivery of legal services? How well is teh firm delivering what the client values? Are referral sources receiving positive feedback from clients they refer to the law firm?

In 1995, the state bar of California recognized teh need for law firms to focus as sharply on client service and satisfaction as other succesful businesses and published a booklet I had written on the topic, Servicing the Needs of Your Clients: The Client Satisfaction Survey. This bookley presents cogent arguements regarding the benefits of client-satisfaction surveys and includes samle questions, which are reprinted in Appendix 1.

Survey Types

Client satisfaction surveys can be conducted in person, over the telephone, or in writing. The response rate is directly related to how personally the survey is conducteed; in-person surveys yield the highest response rate and mail-in surveys the lowest. A mix of the three survey types - written, phone, and in-person - works best in providing information to clearly assess clients' needs.

Survey questions can be shaped to elicit predefined responses, from a simple yes or no to a continuum response. A continuum response is made by selecting from a scale of 1 to 5, for example, where 1 means "rarely satisfied" and 5 means "completely satisfied."

Questions drafted to elicit set responses like "yes" or "no" lend themselves to computer analysis. Open-ended questions, however, which require the client to make more detailed responses, can provide a deeper level of information and provide topics for follow-up questions.

Written Survey

Written surveys are most useful when a firm wants to get feedback from a large number of clients at one time. A practice that deals with one -time users, that is, clients who seek legal assistance for personal injury, worker's compensation, debtor's bankruptcy, or family issues can include a brief survey at teh end of the matter to gauge client satisfaction. Firms whose practices are based on on-going relationships may want to conduct written surveys from time to time to see how things are going.

Because a written survey has the lowest response rate, however, at least two mailings are necessary for maximum response. In addition, the more follow-up that is done, the greater the response rate. If confidentiality is not an issue, a staff member can establish a log of respondents and do at least one follow-up request for a response two weeks after the initial mailing.

To improve the response rate, the questionnaire should be kept as short and as focused as possible. a rule of thumb, therefore, is two pages and ten minutes to complete.

One technique for improving response rate is to reward respondents. A discount or credit against future legal services ($50 off the next bill, for example) not only gets the survey abck but also sets the stage for future representation.

If the survey consists primarily of continuum questions, support staff can compile the responses. The director of marketing should always review the survey forms, however, with an eye out for written comments, which can be very revealing.

Open-ended questions, which provide very specific feedback, are also suitable for written surveys. It is necessary to plan for personal, one-on-one follow-up to these "essay questions," especially for those who provided lengthy responses.

Telephone Survey

Telephone surveys yield a more significant response than do written surveys becasue clients can expand their answers and respond to follow-up questions. This is a good way to enhance client-law-firm relationships. Nonverbal communication is, however, lost in telephone interviews, and if the phone interview is conducted for the law firm's convenience - and not the client's - it sends a signal that the client is not important enough to merit the presence of the attorney.

Telephone surveys are also a good way to get feedback while a matter is pending. A client can be asked, "Are you satisfied with the amount of information you're getting on your case?" or "Are your calls and letters being promptly answered in language you can understand?" The client's answers communicate his or her needs before problems develop and the relationship is damaged. If the firm is already providing satisfactory service, brief telephone surveys boos the relationship by sending the message that the law firm cares about its clients.

In-Person Interview

A face-to-face interview between attorney and client yields the most significant response rate. There is, in fact, no better tool for building good client relationship, becasue it demonstrates sincere commitment. Interviewing an on-going client offers an opportunity to cement the relationship and often opens the door to new business.

Because in-person interviews are time-consuming for both law firms and clients, an appropriate amount of time whould be scheduled to meet this commitment, as would occur for any other major legal work. Ten questions with their follow-up components can be covered in about forty-five minutes to an hour. Follow-up questions should be asked, and the interviewer should engage in active listening and ask clarifying questions that draw out more specific answers.

Rules of thumb for conducting an in-person survey include:

• Acknowledge to the client that he or she is doing a service by participating in the interview. Clients should be clear that the law firm is not billing for this process.
• Clearly set a time limit, usually no more than one hour, so that both attorney and client can schedule appropriately.
• If possible, meet at the client's office. This is a courtesy that will emphasize the value the firm places on the client's business.

It is also useful to survey clients who do not have an active matter at the law firm. This will give the firm the opportunity to resolve past issues or concerns perhaps not expressed by inactive clients. Surveying inactive clients can become a stepping stone to new business.

To create a list of survey questions that will be pertinent to various client segments be sure to address issues that are relevant to:

• Major clients or referral sources that make up 10 percent or more of the firm's gross revenues.
• Key clients or referral sources that offer potential for real growth.
• A cross section of clients (taking into account services used, fees generated, size of business operation, geographic location, and length of relationship with the firm.)
• Third parties from teh community who can become referral sources. Such sources include bankers, accountants, real estate brokers, and other professionals.

The more often a firm elicits client feedback, the more up to date such feedback is. Although surveying is a time-consuming activity that does not always generate immediate revenues, surveying clients is important - even essential - to surviving in the 90s. Firms need to carefully plan for the commitment this marketing tool requires.

At the conclusion of the survey, if done via telephone or in person, thank the client for his or her time and participation. Follow up with a thank-you letter to the client.

The next step is to send a letter to all respondents that summarizes changes taking place in the firm as a result of teh survey process. Changes may include such things as a direct electronic hook-up with clients that want it, systematizing procedures for sharing litigation documents, adding another dedicated fax line, sending out practice group brochures, setting up alternative fee arrangements, and exploring precisely what "partnering" means.

Learning How to Listen

When asked, clients will offer a frank assessment of the services they receive, but the stage must be carefully set. Whether they are partners, marketing directors, or outside consultants, the interviewers must be trained in order to elicit in-depth responses. The skills training may include active listening, gender listening, nonverbal communication, asking questions, and other presentation skills. These skills are briefly described in the following paragraphs.

Active Listening

Active listening is teh process of listening carefully and paraphrasing what teh speaker says. It is similar to what psychologists learned from Dr. Carl Rogers, who called this crucial skill "reflective listening." For example, in a client interview, if the client states that he or she is feeling ill at ease with the bill, the attorney reflects the client's feelings and elicits clarification by saying,"What parts of the bill make you uncomfortable?" The attorney repeats key phrases or words that he or she hears the client say.

Other active listening skills include:

• Sitting forward in the chair, which signals attentiveness and care,
• Taking notes,
• Not interrupting the interviewee or showing other signs of impatience,
• Nodding, making constant eye contact (without, of course, staring at the interviewee),
• Making comments like, "It sounds as though you have a few reservations about...," and
• Asking open-ended questions to get more information.

Gender Listening

Gender listening is based on the work of experts like Debra Tannen. Tannen's book, Talking from 9 to 5 (published by Avon Books,1994) is based on research findings that men and women ahve different communication styles.

During a conversation, for example, women tend to nod their heads to show that they understand what is being said. Men interpret this nodding, however, as agreement with what is being said and are often suprised to learn that all is not well. Women will say, "I'm sorry," meaning "it's too bad that such and such happened." Men tend to view the "I'm sorry," however, as teh woman's apology, as if she feels responsible. It is also true that women often tilt their heads and smile, two gestures meant as courtesy; men tend to consider them submissive. Finally, women are more intuitive and better listeners, wheras men tend to lecture to others and interrupt more. The law firm interviewer who understands gender listening will pick up these clues and cues and gather more and better information than one who is unaware of such gender distinctions.

Nonverbal Communication

Going beyond early research in body language, gestures, and other forms of nonverbal communication, the work of Professor Albert Mehrabian of the University of Southern California defined three essential components of personal presentation: verbal (what we say), vocal (how we sound), and visual (how we look when we speak). The effectiveness of a speaker is, Mehrabian found, 55 percent visual, 38 percent vocal, and only 7 percent verbal. Nonverbal communication may therefore be as vital during a survey as teh words spoken, and the interviewer should both hone his or her own nonverbal and active listening skills and remain alert to the interviewee's nonverbal communication. It is necessary to pay close attention to eye contact, gestures, posture, facial expressions, and other signals.

Asking more Effective Questions

Attorneys who have been trained in questioning strategies have an edge in face-to-face interviews with clients and prospective clients. The goal is to ask questions that get people thinking about business solutions. Neil Rackham has developed an effective technique in his book SPIN Selling (published by McGraw Hill Inc., 1988). The acronym SPIN identifies four kinds of questions:

1. Situational questions. At the start of a client meeting, it is appropriate for the attorney to ask questions to gather background information. Although situational questions have an important fact-finding role, successful service providers do not overuse them. Too many such questions will bore clients and make them feel that their time is being wasted.

Situational questions thus set the stage. Examples may include, "What are your plans for corporate growth?" "What recent changes have had the largest impact on your firm?"

2. Problem Questions. Once sufficient information has been gathered about the (potential) client's situation, successful interviewers move to problem questions.

Examples are, "Are you concerned about litigation trends in your industry?" "Have changes in manufacturing worked out with expected labor demands?" "Have you lost market share as a result of your impending merger?"

3. Implication questions. The third type of question, which is more complex and sophisticated, helps the (potential) client understand the seriousness or urgency of a concern. Examples include, "How will this affect your future profitability?" and "What labor problems do you anticipate will follow this merger?"

4. Need-payoff questions. The most iportant use of need-payoff questions is to get the client to tell you the benefits that your solution could offer. There is a strong correlation between asking need-payoff questions and having the client ask for your assistance in solving a current or potential legal problem. Examples include, "If putting in new contractual assurances to your clients could increase business by 12 percent, would that be as significant increase?" "If these labor guidelines could reduce litigation by 20 percent, would that offer enough to the bottom line to solve the legal budget problem?"

Presentation Skills

Presentation skills are the effective techniques used by successful speakers. They are designed to increase audience participation, increase audience retention of your content, and motivate the audience to want to remember and learn your content. In addition to learning the skills and tricks to increase audience participation, retention, and desire, the trained presenter learns to involve the audience by using appropriate questioning techniques, humom, and activities. The trained presenter also uses audio-visual aids, including Powerpoint presentations, overhead slides, and charts on a stand.

These techniques can help attorneys increase their effectiveness with very small audiences such as in a client interview. An attorney or other interviewer who has mastered presentation skills will be more successful on a one-to-one basis, when presenting to a small group, responding to a proposal, and giving a speech to a large peer group.

It Pays to Ask Questions

Almost without exception when a law firm conducts a client satisfaction survey the comments made by clients and prospective clients are constructive, specific, and productive. In many instances, attorneys are concerned that prior mistakes or misunderstandings between themselves and their clients may surface. From a marketing perspective these are merely opportunities for lawyers to reinforce relationships with their clients.

Mistakes are a part of life. They are a part of business deals as well as legal matters. It is the recovery process of righting a wrong that is an attorney's chance to demonstrate that he or she is willing to deal with an error, correct it, and stand behind the relationship. The recovery of an error is one of the strongest marketing opportunities that exists. A few examples are provided below.

Through gentle but strong probing during a face-to-face interview, a client finally revealed that the in-house department had been very disappointed with a weak coverage memo written two years earlier by the law firm. The client had been so disappointed with teh memo, in fact, that it had retained another firm to write a second opinion, but the client had never complained to the first firm about either the problem or the fee. Chagrinned to learn about this blunder and its consequences, the law firm decided to compensate by providing four free hours of coverage work to the client, to be used at any time the in-house attorney deemed necessary. This solution pleased teh in-house client and prompted a significant amount of new litigation sent to the law firm over the following months. The relationship continues to this day.
When I accompanied the managing partner of a one hundred attorney-Los Angeles-based law firm and visited a privately held, father-and-son-owned company, we were greeted with acdcolades and great war stories. When the son was asked whether there was anything the law firm could do to make the service even better, however, he peered over his glasses, paused , and said, "Well... I wasn't going to say anything about this because it's embarrassing. But you know that litigator you've been bringing around The one who will replace your retiring partner?" The interviewer nodded. "Well," said the son, "Pop hates him." He added that they'd been interviewing other litigation boutiques to take over that part of the work. The very next day, the law firm's managing partner brought a new litigator to meet father and son, thus salvaging the relationship.

A managing partner met with the in-house counsel of a Fortune 500 electronic company to discuss their views on the services the law firm had been providing for over tweleve years. As teh interview progressed, the managing partner was shocked to learn that this client, who had been using the firm exclusively for corporated and intellectual property matters, had no idea that the firm had a litigation department. A meeting was set up to cross-market the litigation practice group, and within six weeks litigation matters followed.

A large paper products manufacturer had been working with a law firm for eight years. During this interview, I was surprised to learn of the company's annoyance about billing. The company's billing format had changed, and on three separate occasions instructions had been sent to the law firm regarding future billings. The company's representatives expressed their anger over teh law firm's continued disregard of the new formatting instructions and said they were contemplating ending the relationship. It turned out that the billing department had been filing the requests, but no one was acting on them. The situation was rectified immediately and the relationship was saved.
Finally, a market penetration research interview was conducted with a potential client, an emerging biotechnology firm in Silicon Valley. The company provided all of the specifics of how outside counsel were selected, what the working relationship should be, how the company preferred to engage one of their ten in-house attorneys to work directly with outside attorneys, thus forming a cohesive team. The company even proviced a bridge for the law firm by providing details of what experience a firm must have and how that information should be relayed to the general counsel in order to be considered for future matters.

Merely surveying clients is clearly not enough to maintain and develop client relationships. the past few years have demonstrated to teh legal community at large that law firm survival depends on responsiveness. Longevity of a relationship is no longer any guarantee for continuity of a relationship. Clients want more than satisfaction; now, just like the customers of Nordstrom, FedEx, and the Ritz Carlton, the demand "delight."

Meeting face-to-face with clients is clearly essential to a healthy client relationship. After the firm finds out what the client requires, expects, or demands, partners and attorneys must be prepared to meet those requirements, expectations, and demands to implement genuine changes. If such action is not taken, and taken promptly, the client may go elsewhere for legal services.

As mentioned earlier, the client survey process works equally well with potential clients. Imagine how impressed a potential client will feel when an attorney asks at teh outset of a potential relationship for help in structuring that relationship based on the client's needs and requirements. Picture your firm's success at training a team to present a proposal response meeting that has a big chunk of time reserved for asking the clients questions about their needs instead of telling them how good your firm is and what they'll get.

Spend most of your marketing dollars on plans for satisfying and delighting existing clients and then watch your firm's business base expand. As Deana Kardel, national marketing director of Littler Mendelson, says, "You don't have to interview all of your clients. Just the ones you want to keep."

Appendix 1. Sample Client-Satisfaction Survey