Listen Up

Photo by Sora Shimazaki

I met with a fellow consultant this week over Zoom who often operates as a fractional Chief Listening Officer for his clients. This is a C-Suite title I have never heard of, yet I love it!

His clients, primarily law firms, hire him to meet with their clients to gather feedback on how the firm is doing. He meets with them in person, asks a lot of questions, and listens. He doesn’t try to defend the firm nor give excuses for any issues the client raises. He simply listens and brings the feedback back to the firm. Clean, unfiltered feedback.

The firm can then decide how they want to respond. If it is negative feedback, they can discuss with the client how they can proactively make it right. If it is positive feedback, they can praise their colleagues associated with the work and discuss how they can continue this track with all their clients.

This is a simple line of communication that is often overlooked or ignored by professionals and firms. I have never understood why. When you are serving people, asking for and listening to their feedback is paramount to improving your game and strengthening the client relationship.

This brings us back to an important question – why don’t professionals focus more on gathering feedback after the completion of an engagement and/or during the life of the relationship?

I suspect it is ego, complacency, or a combination of both.

“I know that I am good so what is the point?”
“We are a top-rated firm. Gathering feedback is not a priority or seems unnecessary.”
“I don’t have time to do this right now. I’ll consider doing it later.”
"The last thing I want to hear is negative feedback."

I beg to differ with this mindset. If the issue is not egregious, many disgruntled clients won’t tell you that they are unhappy because they don’t want to have that uncomfortable conversation. It is often easier to switch to another firm.

In many situations when clients do try to express their concerns, the professional won’t listen or push back to save face.

What happened to “the client is always right” approach? Have we dismissed that level of customer service entirely?

I have touched on the importance of finding ways to build long-term relationships in prior articles. An important element in doing this is to open a clearer line of communication with the client.

• Check in with the client during an engagement to make sure your team is taking care of them.
• Have a debrief meeting with the client after the engagement is completed to make sure they were happy with not only the results but the entire work experience.
• Meet with your enterprise clients to gauge how the relationship is going overall. Ask what is going well and what you can improve.
• And here is one more thing that my new Chief Listening Officer friend shared with me – reach back to clients who have chosen to no longer work with you to see what you can do to rekindle that relationship. You might be surprised how many former clients might give you a second chance.

Some of my clients have mentioned that their firm sends out a survey at the completion of the engagement to gather feedback. That is better than nothing, however how often do people fill out surveys nowadays?

The most effective way to get honest feedback from clients is to have an in-person discussion, even if it requires flying across the country to get that feedback. In doing so, you will not only get candid feedback, but you will also make the client feel that they matter by investing the time and money to meet with them.

Clients want to feel that they are important and not just another revenue target. Sending someone from your firm or a third-party expert like my new CLO friend to the client for honest feedback can not only improve the firm’s level of service, but also solidify a client that will keep coming back.