Jim Stanley MICM

KEY STAGES IN LAW

FIRM MARKETING

Stage 1 – Reality Check

The success of marketing planning depends on developing an absolute

appreciation of where you are and developing a clear understanding of the market
you are in together with the trends affecting it.

For a legal practice a key element of the ‘reality check’ is to understand your
strengths through the eyes of a client; their perception of you is vital. Having a
thorough appreciation of your existing business forms the foundation for growth.

Client care should be the cornerstone of your business. As a service provider your
tangible value to the client is the level and value of service provided. Establishing
how effective you are will help determine your marketing strategy.

Client care covers many areas but ultimately it depends on effective

communication with clients. In addition to valuable marketing feedback, Client
surveys can be a valuable part of the communication process because:

1. They are part of the process itself, i.e. they establish or reinforce contact.

2. They can provide information on the effectiveness of the process or other

processes.

3. They can give a measure of the firm's performance in the past and a guide
to changes for the future.

4. They can be used as a marketing tool by making clients aware of the range
of services available.

5. They have the potential to reduce the chance of complaints.

The client is the solicitor's customer. In successful businesses in other fields, the
customer satisfaction survey is in regular use. It is too easy for once successful
businesses to rest on their laurels and convince themselves that they "know" their
customers without ever asking them. Research shows that it costs five times
more to gain a new customer than it does to retain an existing one.

Client satisfaction surveys can be seen as part of the firm's client retention
process and, because surveys show that most new clients come on the
recommendation of existing clients, as contributing to the attraction of new
clients.

© 2005 Jim Stanley.

Why Survey?

Personally, I believe that the value of a customer survey is to identify who the
best and worse clients are, ascertain your areas of strength and gather
information on where you need to improve.

A client survey will help:

1. Obtain information and facts or a ‘reality check’.

2. Establish clients' needs.

3. Identify and respond to changes in needs.

4. Identify clients' expectations of the firm's services.

5. Establish clients' perceptions of the firm and its services to compare with
the firm's perception of itself.

6. Improve the quality of service by identifying weaknesses and allowing

these to be remedied.

7. Improve internal processes.

8. Retain clients.

9. Sell other services.

10 Resolve complaints.

And I guess most importantly ensure survival!!

© 2005 Jim Stanley.

How to survey

There is a range of methods of obtaining clients' views:

1. Survey existing clients.

2. Conduct end of matter satisfaction surveys. This is slightly different from 1

above as it tends to relate to specific matters.

3. Survey referrers and contacts whether they be professional referrers for

commercial work such as accountants, or the local advice bureaux for private
client work.

4. Consumer panel. Invite a group of critical (constructively so) friends; supply

them with cheese and wine, and ask them to give you their views on your
practice and what they think of other practices they have encountered.

5. Observation. We often see good and bad actions such as clients being left
waiting in the reception. Make a note of the details. Use them as examples,
adopting a remedial preventative style with colleagues and fee earners rather
than a punitive approach.

6. Interview occasional clients if and when opportunities arise.

7. Reflect carefully on complaints; to remedy not to punish. Remember you want

to know about these.

8. Listen to client comments whether good or bad. Repeat them to your

colleagues and consider the implications.

9. Conduct a telephone survey of existing clients.

10. Interpret research starter such as The Law Society's research.

11. Finally, plot trends from your own data and interpret.

The above indicates that there are a plethora of ways of conducting surveys and
gaining information and views from clients. No one is perfect and this is an
important point. Lawyers used to evidential burdens of proof will often dismiss
clients' perception and comments as not coming up to that standard. They do so
at their peril. Client perceptions are not necessarily right or wrong but they
certainly matter! Please therefore remember to use a combination of survey
methods and be rigorous in how you conduct them but do not expect the same
degree of rigour in client comments.

© 2005 Jim Stanley.

Content of the survey

The actual content of a survey will depend on the firm's own interests and
objectives but it is necessary that the firm is clear at the outset what it wants
from the survey. It is important that clients who are being invited to participate
should know what the firm's objective is. They should also be thanked for their
assistance and be assured that the survey findings will be acted upon which in
turn will benefit them.

Different questionnaires may be required for different client groups. The method
of survey could be a fairly simple questionnaire which is sent to clients for
completion by them on their own. For selected major clients a structured face to
face interview may be more appropriate.

Designing the questionnaire

Keep questions short, simple and unambiguous.

Questions can have a yes / no response e.g. Were you kept fully informed of the
progress of your case?

It is preferable, however, to use multiple choice ratings for clients to tick or ring,
e.g. a 1-5 numerical rating; excellent, very good, good, fair, poor; very satisfied,
satisfied, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, dissatisfied, very dissatisfied.

In all cases ask for the client's views or explanations by including a "comments"
space after each answer.

To encourage a response to a postal questionnaire keep it short, probably no

more than 10 questions and send a stamped addressed envelope.

Face to Face Interviews

More in-depth face to face interviews may enable the firm to gauge client
perceptions better. In order to ensure a free and honest response from the client
it may be better for the interviewer to be someone from outside the firm
altogether or, if from within the firm, not to be the fee earner involved in the case
nor the partner most closely associated with the client.

© 2005 Jim Stanley.

Questions should cover:

The client's reasons for choosing the firm.

The client's perceptions of the firm.

What the client expects of the firm and whether those expectations are being
met.

The client's concerns about any aspect of service provision.

The client's own plans.

The client's awareness of the range of services the firm can provide.

The client's present and future needs for advice or assistance.

Whether the client appreciates the need for early advice to prevent expensive
disputes arising in the future.

How the firm can assist the client to identify and respond to threats or
opportunities to the client's business from changes in the law.

It is important however, not to concentrate solely on legal matters. The

opportunity should be taken to evaluate on the "total" service provided for clients.
Market research shows that 75% of all lost business is lost on the first contact
with a firm. Being able to offer first class legal advice is useless if potential clients
are put off by the off-hand telephone manner of the receptionist.

Postal Survey

Many complaints to the Society and to the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman
relate to failures to communicate either at all or effectively. It is likely therefore
those clients will be pleased to be asked for their opinions and will be ready to
respond to a survey.

However, this benefit will be lost unless firms embarking on surveys of clients are
prepared to listen to what their clients tell them and to adapt and change if need
be. A readiness to take action on the results of a survey is the key because clients
will expect something to be done as a result of the survey and their expression of
views.

More importantly all clients should be told that actions have been taken to
improve service and that these are a result of the survey findings.

For that reason there needs to be someone within the firm whose task it is to:

© 2005 Jim Stanley.

 1. Analyse the survey data.

2. Identify possible action.

3. Ensure decisions are taken.

4. Ensure any appropriate feedback is given to clients.

Final thought

It is vital to ensure that surveys are carried out regularly, say every two or three
years. Clients' needs and expectations change and solicitors must ensure that
their service changes accordingly.

Previous years' findings should be used as the bench-mark to measure progress

and to ensure that firms do not become complacent after the results of one
survey!

• Clients who are being invited to participate should know what the firm's
objective is.

• Keep questions short, simple and unambiguous.

• A postal questionnaire should have no more than ten questions.

• Re-evaluate all the services provided. Ensure that telephone, reception

and mail room services are included along with professional service.

• Appoint a survey manager.

• Consider the analysed survey and communicate decisions made to clients.

• Ensure that surveys are carried out regularly.

• Set bench marks to measure progress.

For more information visit www.jimstanley.co.uk

or telephone me on 0207 193 7533

© 2005 Jim Stanley.