Client Experience - Notes from 2015 LMASE

Laura Hudson, Marketing Director for Brooks Pierce, kindly shared her notes from the Client Experience session at the 2015 Legal Marketing Association Southeastern Conference.

Many thanks to Laura for not only taking amazing notes but for being a friend to Society 54!

The Client Experience - LMASE Session Notes

Susan Conley, client experience Coach, ROCKbiz- Moderator Laura Mills, Grant Thornton, National Managing Director - Presenter Beth Westbrook, Grant Thornton, SE Region Marketing Director- Presenter

The GT Client Experience This is a story about what a “confluence of disrupters” can do.

Moderator Q: In 2011, tell us what you walked into. Laura Mills A: I had been recruited away with the opportunity to lead the client experience team with Grant Thornton.

Q “Create a client experience.” What's the role, responsibility, what does success look like? A Mike McGuire, new CEO hired Laura Mills, he has a vision for what our clients should feel like, what they should experience, and he shared it. It looks like the Target Bullseye, with the Client is at the center of everything. All that we are doing, all the touches, all the content, all the processes, both in terms of connecting with the prospect, and the interactions with a mature client, is at the core of that.

At that time, GT had a client voice program in place. It was a check the box routine, and some partners were gaming the system.

GT, at that time, didn't see connection between a happy client and what could be delivered in term of results. A few small processes were already in place. The attitude of wanting to make the client the center of success was there, but partners were not clear on what the business advantages were (of that posture).

GTY had just bought on board a CMO, new client experience director, and at that time they were not using client feedback to drive marketing strategy. Instead GT had a “transactional” sales approach. They were chasing after things that came up. “This person needs a tax project, so go get one.” Didn't have a strategic account approach. The new folks wanted to ensure a greatest level of profitability, but at the time, the partners didn't see the value of linking client feedback to our marketing strategy to our bottom line.

That was then.

The disrupters started to build the business case for a client experience initiative. They convinced the partners that delivering the best client experience will have a major impact on the business.

What it takes to win with customer experience Bain & Company 2011, Extensive research including y Bain and company shows that higher the net promoter score drives organic growth.

See http://www.netpromotersystem.com/about/how-is-nps-related-to-growth.aspx

On average, an industry's Net Promoter Score leader grows at more than twice the rates of competitors. This shows the business connection to client experience. It answers the question “Why would I do this? Why would I make that investment? Think about it- making a net promoter means that these clients become our external marketers!

GT client experience “1.0” was what they inherited in 2011: The current state was the service profit chain.

The Service-Profit Chain basically says “External service value to customer satisfaction to customer loyalty and that drives both loyal behavior and profitability.”

Look at Heskett et al, HBR, 2007 Putting the service profit chain to work.

Also see March 2015 HBR, When Senior Managers Won’t Collaborate (will make your firm want to launch interdisciplinary teams!) This research shows firms can increase revenue from selling integrated services. (Focuses on law firms, shows the dollar value of collaborating.) Clients are not just looking for a single solution, where maybe a firm can bring several experts to the table.

GT suggests you do your own research into the Client Experience and build your businesses case based on your firm’s goals.

Q: Why should we invest in a broader client experience? How you can take a look at those promoters in an organization and look at revenue per client?

A: It takes time to uncover those metrics to see how those can be in accordance with dollars.

Q: How do you begin developing leadership buy-in?

A: Armed with the research and the data, the argument for a standard and excellent client experience becomes more compelling. At GT, Leadership put together a Council of most senior partners around the firm who are great at client service, and got them to buy into the idea that clients are central to our vision, and they became early adopters.

GT convinced these folks that delivering the best client experience will have a major impact on the business, as greater client satisfaction increased client loyalty, which led to clients using a broader range of services, which led to greater recommendations, and referrals, thus attracting new dynamic clients, (all of which factors into a net promoter score), and that equals a growing and more profitable client base.

GT suggests we look at what our brand means to our marketplace. They used focus groups to get firsthand knowledge of their clients thoughts. Advice: DON’T BE FEARFUL. Find out what are we actually known for vs what we think we are known for.

They also did brand research on the market’s impression of GT with leadership of dynamic organizations (Americas, EMEA, APAC).

Part of their research: They found that the number one driver of overall satisfaction by a factor of 2 to 1 is understanding client expectations up front.

What’s Next for GT? Future state: Everyone will have a similar expectation and their clients CAN EXPECT SIMILAR TREATMENT FROM EVERYONE, so it's high quality, and some baseline things are consistent (like you provide pragmatic advice and recommendations), training to this (how you show up and be prescriptive about what that looks like. Their folks show up with a similar attitude.)

Selling this internally: Say “It costs 6 to 8 times more to go out and get a new client than to take care of the one we've got. Collaborate and your job is easier, clients are happier, and it costs less.”

They are rolling this out at an international Partner’s meeting in Greece this fall. So far, response is great.

Power of referrals Grant Thornton Clients Voice Results • 40% of clients have referred people to us (demonstration of loyal behavior) • Of current clients who have not referred the firm in the last 6 months, 71% of those said it was because they had not been asked. • 83% of the clients are WILLING TO REFER

This doesn’t mean they go on a referral-seeking binge. They told their folks to “Be strategic and thoughtful, so we are seeing them, he is on the board of that, he is connected here, and then being able to approach them, and then ask for an introduction.” Use current clients as points of reference, saying “We think that what we've done with you (current client) will perhaps resonate with them (person we want to meet). Would you mind introducing us?”

Most recent Hinge survey that looks at feedback that looks at professional service firms, the majority of their client base is willing to provide a referral.

Big win: the Client Experience initiative has had a huge impact on our marketing team in that we have to spend more time focusing on our clients we already have. We have lots of specialty services, so cross marketing is HUGE. Our partners don't always understand the triggers and pain points that exist when they are outside their key area of expertise. Training, helping these people understand what to look for means we can develop cross line-of-service strategy teams for certain clients so we have the greatest potential to see which clients are most profitable.

Now: there is a key account program in place. We are realigning ourselves as a marketing and sales team to support that process. This has been a catalyst to get to the next level.

Suggestion: Start with a Key influencers strategy, how can we partner with a respected other service provider, talk to them about joint events

Q: How much time are you asking a client to commit to this process? How do you deal with pushback with a partner? A: If a client has no interest in improving a relationship with your firm, they are likely firing you. The partner on the account on the team has to tee this up correctly.

GT says you have to build process around a closed loop feedback program. Onus is on the relationship partner. That' s the part of getting them bought in to why it matters.

They need to understand that this is not a witch hunt; it's about improving the overall experience that our clients are having, and it’s positive, let's take that feedback, and do something positive with it, look at themes, look at tactical feedback, and make the client happier because it’s good business to do that.