At a recent gathering of small to mid size Managing Partners – shout out to John Remsen for including me,  I had the opportunity to briefly talk about Client Feedback programs, a real passion of mine. Afterwards a number of the partners said, “We know we should have such a program, but we don’t even know where to begin”.

Here are my top 5 suggestions to get such a program started:

1. Start small. Create a “pilot group” with a few attorneys who have an interest in participating.
2. Identify who will be responsible for the program. This can be someone in the firm or a consultant.
3. Review the firm’s top 25 list of clients, select 15 to discuss, and pick 5 to meet with. Work with the client relationship attorneys to secure meetings. Typically, they will not attend the meeting for their own client, so as to get candid feedback.
4. Create a list of questions to ask at the client meeting, remembering these are not sales calls. Ask about such things as quality of service, responsiveness, value, communications, etc.
5. Share the feedback with the client service team, addressing any specific service issues identified at the meeting.

Just do it! You will be surprised what client’s will tell you, if you just ask!

If you need any help, contact Maggie T. Watkins Consulting.