Legalex 2014 What do clients really really want?
A
Sally Calverley
explains why
law firm
clients want
and expect more
www.richmontewells.com
What do clients really really want?
Meet Gemma….
–
Calls for a quote for doing her will
–
Two kids, single mum, owns a chain
of beauty salons in the south east
and has 3 buy to lets
–
Has loyalty cards for costa and her
gym, a Clubcard and a nectar card,
banks online and shops at the
farmers market
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What do clients really really want?
Top 10 customer priorities*
1.quality of the service
6.handling of enquiries
2.being treated as a valued 7.competence of staff
customer
8.ease of doing business
3.speed of service
9.being kept informed
4.friendliness of staff
10.helpfulness of staff
5.handling of problems and
complaints
*UK Institute of Customer Service
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“But it’s different for law firms!”*
1.Failure to advise 18%
2.Failure to follow
instructions 16%
Delay 9%
Deficient costs info 8.4%,
Failure to keep informed
8.3%
Excessive costs 8.2%
3.
4.
5.
7.Failure to progress 8%
8.Potential misconduct 6%
9.Failure to reply 5.3%
10.Failure to release papers
3%
6.
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* Not it’s not…Legal
Ombudsman complaints:
by type 2012-2013
The UKCSI says…
“
Joanna
Causon
CEO of
www.richmontewells.com
UKCSI
“Today’s customers are savvy,
discerning and expect
organisations to relate to them
as individuals, not as
transactions. Customers have
greater choice, more ability to
switch their business and
access to an ever-expanding set
of communication channels to
express their preferences or
displeasure.”
Some good news!
“It’s clear from our research that customers are highly
conscious of the service experience in their buying decisions.
60% of customers want a balance between price and service
and a sizeable segment of customers have a preference for
excellent service and are prepared to pay a premium for it.”
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Customer Service
• Requires magic…
…Disney Magic!
• 75% repeat visits
• 17m visitors
• Most visited theme park
…in the world!
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Here’s why you should care:
Customer service:
• Builds trust
• +10/100 points UKCSI score results in +13% trust rating
• Increases loyalty and positive buying behaviour
• +1/10 client sat score >> +10% loyalty and +11% additional purchase
• Increases recommendation
• +3/10 increase in client sat score to 9, x3 likelihood of referral
• Drives growth
• Positive correlation between above average sector scores and
growth in retail food (9%)
UKCSI January 2014
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UKCSI measured value
• Consumers want a balance of cost and service
• When faced with the choice, 60% of customers favour a
balance of price and service and will not accept low service
levels in exchange for a cheap deal.
• A substantial minority of consumers – 25% – seek excellent
service and are prepared to pay for it, while 15% are highly
motivated to find the cheapest deals.
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Who is the best?
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And….
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Why you should care
• Revenues going down amongst firms below the top 50
• Ability to invest in new services/delivery reduced
• Consumers increasing propensity to shop around
• Number of competitors are going up
• There are only so many costs you can take out
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One potent strategy
• Consolidate
• Build UP …
• …build ON existing Clients
• Expand
• Exploit reputation …
• …liberate partner time to win new Clients
• Deliver
• what your clients want and will pay for – VALUE!
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Three Actions
•Measure involvement
•Align service with client needs
•Provide leadership
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Consolidate:
build up existing Clients
• This is where income is now
• Short term, defend the base
• But how profitable is each ?
• What’s the profit standard ?
• Maximise satisfaction
•
•
•
•
How satisfied is each Client ?
Will they recommend us?
How do we measure it ?
How do we fix it ?
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Expand:
use reputation to grow
• Attack is best defence
• In a market in turmoil, we must be growing
• ABS have no track record of excellence
• Best growth platform is happy Clients
• Partners are our Big Guns
• Partners grow the cake
• Need time to win new business
• What new business do we want ?
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Involvement = profitability
• Define Client Involvement Profile
• How does the client want to work with us?
• What are the best channels for delivery?
• How can we guide them through the firm?
• Where are they on the timeline?
• We need a measure
• Systematic method of tracking Client needs …
• … and level of satisfaction
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Alignment
• How do we match our service to Client needs ?
• Do we do enough ?
• Do we overdo it ?
• How can we improve the sensitivity?
• And what about Client profitability ?
• How does that match Client satisfaction ?
– Unhappy Clients we lose £££ on is VERY bad
business
– Low service quality companies average lose 2% market
share a year
– High service-quality companies grow 6%
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Client study
• Reports to firm
• Status, outlook of industry, firm and key clients
• Segmentation of client base
• Interpretations and recommendations
– Competitive rating of current service and value
– Potential based on segmentation
– Define Client Value Measures per client
– The Richmonte Wells Value Standard©
• Recommendations for Action
• Style, services, communications, products
–
By client group
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An example
–
Substantial range
– Involvement score 44 to 22
– Revenue 75,000 to 1.2 M
• Only 4 clients very involved
More involvement & spend
45
40
35
Score 50-1
• 19 clients plotted by level of
involvement & revenue
50
Involvement
•Segmentation
Involvement vs Revenue
30
25
20
Less involvement & spend
15
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.2
1.4
Involvement vs Revenue
50
–
Spend over half a million
– 35% total, about 1 m each
45
40
35
Score 50-1
Involvement
• 15 clients less involved with
much lower spend
1
Revenue M
30
25
20
15
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
Revenue M
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Defining Value by segment
• Defining VALUE
• Set group and individual criteria
– What ‘success’ looks like
– Optimum yield for the firm, satisfaction for client
– Financial, reputation, growth etc
• Group criteria is primary focus
– Clients sharing common needs, expectations
– Potential for segmentation into clusters
• Individual criteria is key refinement
– Particular requirements
– Organisation, personality, communication etc
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An example
•Align service
• Boost rating of Value
• Lift loyalty
• Enhance profitability
50
"PARTNERS"
45
Highly involved, big spend
Part of Business future
Expect innovative solutions
Very demanding
40
Score 50-1
• ‘Partners’, ‘Procurers’,
‘No Frills’
• Law key to business
or grudge factor
• Very different needs &
expectation
Inv olv ement v s Rev enue
Involvement
•Three segments
35
"PROCURERS"
Medium involved, lower spend
Compete for Projects
Productive Outcomes
Effiency & Professional
30
25
"NO FRILLS"
Low involement & spend
Minumum cost
Streamlined process
Quick easy Outcome
20
15
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
R e v e nue M
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How do retailers do it?
•Branding
•Shop design
•Investment
•Logistics
•Channels
•Service levels
•Recruitment
•Product design/purchasing
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How would you change?
• Current service
• Premises
• Website and other channels
• Choosing new clients
• Recruitment
• Complaints
• Structure
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Redesign delivery to create value
• Do things differently to achieve a different result!
• Client expectations/Firm forecast
• Use value plan to redesign work flow
•
•
•
•
Analyse, improve, re-engineer
Lean/Six sigma tools and techniques
Remove waste, reduce reworking, improve communication
Streamlined processes increase productivity
• Test against what clients value and will pay for
–
Input (e.g. leverage) and output (results against target)
– Client satisfaction – stewardship survey
• Are you in control?
• forecasting, resource planning and performance measurement
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