November Edition 2020

35 » » Feedback delivered to the point where it was generated – i.e. not a centralised department » » Generates useable KPIs The feedback mechanism must, crucially, be constructed to elicit from the client verbatim commentary on the experience to allow an understanding of what was important to them about their experience. Simply stacking up a questionnaire with questions on what the firm wants to knowwill not give any indication on which of those elements was actually the most important. The fact that they reported the initial welcome they received was not the warmest might be more important than the fact that they were not always updated with the progress of their matter. Of course, it might be the other way around. If there is no way to gauge this you simply have a whole set of data points that are tricky to process and impossible to rank in terms of their relative importance. As firms move into the new normal and, as they get those processes and systems in place to better support their chosen method of work, it’s important to have a continual feedback process from the client base. With this in place the work methods can be influenced by the impact they have on the clients and the clients’ reaction to them. One thing you don’t want to do is to spend a lot of time and money implementing a system that fails to give them an experience that exceeds their expectations. Conclusion Naturally, in lean times, firms with a strong recurring client base are better placed to survive than those who have to continually hunt for new work. A strong client experience is shown to result in more recurring work and higher margin work. Having the discipline to implement and maintain a client experience programme is tough at the best of times - and we are in far from those at the moment. It is clear, however, that as new firm structures emerge and new ways of working are developed, the most successful firms will do this in conjunction with their clients rather than in the absence of them. Firms must do best what matters most - and only their clients can tell them that. “This article first appeared in the Autumn 2020 edition of Centrum, The PSMGMagazine”