...or arrogance or just plain stupidity?
An article in today's on-line edition of Australasian Lawyer, reports a shocking statistic for an industry sector that claims that its highest value is service to the client.
A study to be released next week report that 60% of law firms do not ask for client feedback regularly. No wonder that the legal profession has a customer satisfaction score that is lower than other major professional and business services sectors.
To quote from the article:
Law firms fail on customer service says report
The legal profession is lagging behind other professional services when it comes to customer service according to a new report. The 'Benchmarking Legal Services' study from UK-based Peppermint Technology looks at what clients want from their law firms and how firms can meet those demands.
Ahead of the full release next week, some key findings have been revealed including that legal services achieved the lowest customer satisfaction score compared to accountancy, financial services, retail, insurance and consultancy. Sixty-per cent of law firms do not ask for customer feedback regularly.
The report also shines a light on the fragility of many law firms with 1 in 5 making a loss and 13 per cent close to ceasing trade. There is also insight into investment with 30 per cent not introducing any new initiatives in the last two years and law firms spending less as a percentage of turnover than financial services, accountancy or consultancy firms.
We can help you fix this.
We are shocked, but not really surprised. Peppermint Technology's findings are consistent with our own observations that approximately 70% of small and midsize law firms worldwide have not conducted any systematic client feedback at all -- not even a basic satisfaction survey -- in the past five years.
Walker Clark offers a range of client feedback services, such as our Strategic Business Development Survey, which is supported by more than 12 years data collection, and our in-depth client interviews.
Will this cost money? Sure.
However, your investment in our services will be a tiny fraction of your loss if you lose even one client for dissatisfaction reasons that you could have prevented. Our client feedback services can also help you to focus on what is really important to your clients and build competitively advantageous standards of client service into every client matter.
So what are you afraid of?
Norman Clark
