How to Conduct an EFFECTIVE Client Interview
5 Essential Components to a Successful Client Interview Program
Any firm that has not established its own client interview program could be putting itself in jeopardy.
Client interviewing can yield precious insight into a firm's business practices. They can also lead to new business opportunities and help firms troubleshoot problems before they lead their clients astray.
Firms that carry out these interviews often see BIG RESULTS. The problem, though, is taking that first step - actually designing and implementing a program. Some firms just don't know where to begin.
If your firm falls in that category, here are five client interview essentials to help kick start your program.
1. Roundup support.
The key to a successful client interview program is to have the support of firm management who can set the tone and model expectations.
Before conducting your first interview, consider developing a pilot program that will allow you to test the idea among partners. This will help you identify who's really on board and would support the idea.
2. Nip misconceptions in the bud.
Many people in the firm may harbor misconceptions about client interview programs. Some lawyers are overprotective of their client relationships, or they have a false sense of security concerning their clients satisfaction with the firm.
Don't let these misconceptions around the office deter you! If given enough lead time and asked properly, clients are generally willing (if not eager) to participate. They may even be flattered that the firm cared enough about the relationship to ask.
3. Ask the right questions.
An effective client interview program requires thoughtful questions and someone who is extremely good at listening and asking probing follow-up questions. Furthermore, keep these principles in mind:
- Strive for consistency in questions. This will allow you to make a comparison across clients.
- Do your homework on clients and add a few specific questions for each.
- Ask open-ended questions and wait for a response.
4. Send the right person to conduct the interview.
Choosing the right person to conduct the interviews is critical. Many clients are not comfortable giving feedback directly to the person they deal with on a regular basis. Consider calling on someone from the marketing department, or hiring an outside consultant who specializes in such interview programs.
5. Share success stories.
After you've conducted some successful interviews, share the stories within the firm. Tell people what you learned! This type of detailed information can improve the firm's service as well as lend support to the interview program as a whole.
A successful client interview program has the power to yield new business and create sustainable, healthy client relationships.
Engage your clients and learn from them... because what they tell you could prove to be invaluable to the longevity of the firm.
Adapted from article Why Client Feedback Interviews? Because You Really Do Need to Know by Martha E. Candiello
Entries(RSS)
This is an excellent article. I think there's one piece that's missing or been under-emphasized, though.
All of these practices are excellent practices, but law firms are still going to struggle if don't do the initial groundwork of defining what client service success looks like. The first step should really be to define success metrics.
For instance, here at Fruition (even though we're not a law firm) we've been doing post-engagement client satisfaction surveys for about a year now. Before we started surveying, we decided that Net Promoter Score (NPS) was going to be our primary performance indicator for client satisfaction. NPS is an averaged, aggregated number representing clients answers to the question, "on a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend Fruition to a friend or colleague".
NPS isn't going to be the right metric for every firm, but without knowing exactly what it is you're measuring, you're going to have a hard time defining how you're going to measure it.
- kent wakely, fruition interactive