Why Some Clients Love One Part of Your Firm—and Avoid the Rest

Ever had a client rave about one part of your firm, but complain about another?

It’s more common than you think - and it doesn’t always mean something’s gone wrong.

Mixed feedback from the same client often points to other issues: inconsistent onboarding, unrealistic client expectations, patchy internal referrals, or overloaded client relationship partners.

Here’s seven things to consider and what you can do to create a more consistent experience across every practice area.

1. Look Long and Hard at Your Strong Client Relationship Partners

A good client relationship partner is like a conductor. They use their position to orchestrate expert resources. They introduce clients to the right people, keep a watchful eye on workflow, and collaborate and share insights where they can. They are a conductor of talent rather than a player in the pit.

They can do this because they know the clients’ businesses inside out and they’ve helped orient your firm towards servicing them. They’re a beacon of trust, a bridge between the two organisations and they’re the go-to person for everyone on both sides.

If your client relationship partner doesn’t sound like this it could be because becoming an effective client relationship partner takes a serious amount of effort. It’s not something that can be mastered on the half-hour commute into work each morning.

So look hard at your client partner’s workload and ask yourself, are you giving them too much to do by putting them on too many accounts?

If you expect your client relationship partner to spend up to two (non-billable) hours a week on each of their key clients (as many large firms do), and you give them 20 clients to look after, you’re in trouble. There simply aren’t enough hours in a week.

If it’s more than stretched capacity, then support your client relationship Partners with updated skills or extra resources that will help turn them around.

And if they’re not prepared to change, then it’s time to either change the expectations of the role or change the Client Relationship Partner.

2. Build Better Briefs

In my experience, patchiness is often the result of internal referrals gone awry. And, when it comes to referrals, I think it’s also too often overlooked that there are obligations on both sides: the referrer and referee.

Often, the referrer thinks their job is done the minute they’ve introduced their client contact to a colleague. That usually leads to a situation where the referrer knows the client’s expectations and how to meet them. However, the referee has no idea at all.

If the internal referees in your firm are getting bad reviews, could it be because they weren’t briefed properly?

For instance, did you tell them about how the client likes to receive their advice? Did you let them know about the client’s price sensitivity or what motivates them? If you’re writing off time you spend on their account, did you mention that? Did you block out time to have an in-depth conversation about how to treat the client so you retain and grow their fees?

3. Reward The Right Behaviour

When it comes to rewarding partners and staff for bringing in a new client, I’ve noticed many firms give credit to the originator. That might encourage some serious rainmaking behaviour that can give the bottom line a massive ‘new work’ boost but, by rewarding only the sale, you’re promoting a culture of hunting and killing, rather than one of cultivating and growing.

When you consider it like that, you also need to consider how vested in a client’s success a professional will be when their hard work directly boosts their colleague’s bank account.

Recommendation: Map your firm’s client experience measures alongside client profitability measures and your incentivisation scheme.

4.   Take Your Time

When it comes to onboarding a new client, I’m a massive fan of the idea of slowing down to speed up. That means taking the time you need at the start of the relationship to get things off on the right foot.

When you do, turn the clock off. The long-term benefits of this approach will far outweigh any short-term loss of billable hours.

You should also be checking in at regular - say 30-day intervals - for the first 6 months or so, just to make sure things are progressing as they should and that any problems and unrealised expectations are ironed-out or explained early, before they become serious.

Formalise this process if you can. But, at the same time, don’t be robotic about it. You should also be taking the time to do the small things too.

I like the example that one of Australia’s most successful corporate lawyers gave me when I sat down with him recently. He built a practice worth millions of revenue each year. When I asked him how he did it he replied. “Simple. I just called every one of my clients every Friday afternoon and asked them how they were.”

Communication counts.

5. Understand Your Baggage

Here’s the thing. Clients don’t like the pushy cross-sell and they know when you’re doing it. So be aware of how you’re coming across. Also be aware that the client will probably be more critical of any new part of a firm they’re talked into using, especially if they’re happy with who they’re using at the moment.

They’ll also be constantly comparing them to the incumbent. That means if they weren’t completely dissatisfied with the last guys, it was always going to be hard to retain them.

6.  Aim For Consistency, Not Cookie-Cutter

The hallmark of any good business is consistency. But being consistent doesn’t mean being identical, especially in professional services.

In what we do, people are essentially paying for our brains and they expect a person, not a robot. So, prepare the client for what consistency really means - applying the same principles, but adapting them to the context.

For example, if one of your goals is responsiveness, let the client know that being responsive in a fast-moving piece of commercial litigation may mean getting back within the hour. But, being consistent in a slower-moving tax ruling may mean the next day.

7. Stop Treating All Feedback As Equal

Business success (and personal happiness) comes from replicating good clients and doing the work you love. And, just as all clients weren’t created equal, all feedback wasn’t created equal either.

Before you get feedback from a client, ask your partners to rate them first. Then compare this assessment to how the client rates you. If the scores come in low at your end and low at their end, it won’t be any surprise. If they come in high at your end and low at their end, you’ve got problems.

Why not also consider using a system like the Client Effort Score or the Net Promoter Score to map your feedback and find out where you should put your efforts for the best return.

Want more?

If you’d like to know more about how to deal with patchy client feedback, or if you need help building a client feedback program in your firm, get in touch.

References & Further Reading

Is it Time to Change your Client Relationship Partner?

5 Reasons To Stop ‘Cross Selling’

Why Collaboration Eats Cross Selling For Breakfast

Oakes N (2018) Do Financial Incentives Work in Law Firms?

What’s Your Customer Effort Score? Gartner (2019)

What is Net Promoter? Satmetrix (2018)

Deeb G (2021) Business Lessons From The Great Conductors, Forbes

Sue-Ella is the Principal of Prodonovich Advisory, a business dedicated to helping professional services practices sharpen their business development practices.

She works with Law Firms and Business Consultants that focus on positive client relationships, and with individuals who want personal, intelligent support.

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/sueella-prodonovich/

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