Too Many Law Firms Aren’t Interviewing Their Clients. Here’s What They Stand to Gain
Law firm leaders may profess to want to know what’s on their clients’ minds. But not enough are taking the easiest step to figure this out: just asking.
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One way to think of soliciting client feedback is equating it to the cards one will frequently find on the table after a meal at a chain restaurant.
“If you get awful food and poor service, most people won’t complain, they just won’t go back. They’ll tell their friends, ‘Don’t go to that restaurant,’” said Blank Rome chief client officer Cole Silver. “Whatever business you’re in, particularly a service business, if you’re not constantly asking your clients how you can serve them better, you won’t know where the problems are, and you won’t fix them, so you won’t get the next matter.”
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Obviously appearing in person to interview every firm client, or even turning to Zoom, would be an exhaustive endeavor.
This should be the case whether it’s a professional within the firm who handles the conversation or a third party. Silver believes his status as a former general counsel delivers a level of comfort that’s hard for others to duplicate.
“Those conversations I’ve had with clients are very intimate. People will talk to me in ways they’d never talk to a consultant or non-general counsel,” he said.
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“Too Many Law Firms Aren’t Interviewing Their Clients. Here’s What They Stand to Gain,” by Dan Packel was published in The American Lawyer on May 25, 2021.
This article was reprinted in The Legal Intelligencer on May 28, 2021.
This coverage was referenced in Law.com Trendspotter newsletter on July 27, 2021.