Matter feedback and communication - Why and how

Seeking feedback and communicating with your client - at every stage of the matter - saves you time and money while delighting your client

Matter-focused feedback

Typically firms collect client satisfaction (for major ones at least) on an annual basis in a standardized way (click here for Lex Mundi resources).

Matter-focused communication and feedback is different; it occurs:

With every client
For every significant matter
Tailored to the type of work and the client's preferences

WHY?

You are very busy; and so is your client. You probably believe you already know the scope of work; and imagine that - if there is something specific they want or if they want things done differently - they will ask you.

So why do you need to do more?

You don't need to do more!

But, by figuring out how best to get their feedback (and when and how to provide communications about their matters) you will save yourself time and effort while delighting your client.

That will translate into happier (and more) clients, more work from them, more satisfied team members, and fewer write-offs / write-downs / discounts.

For more on how to scope matters - click here

The mindset you need

You are expert on the law; and your law firm has excellent systems for delivering that advice and guidance. Equally, your client is expert on their organization and the business realities they are facing.

Effective communication and feedback between these sets of experts is essential to deliver a solution the client is happy with (and will pay for). And a lot of communication is about the work (where is at? has it been started? who is reviewing the draft?) and about the plan for the work to come. By giving your client "view" access to the matter board (click here) they can see all of that at a glance.

To be excellent in the delivery of legal services your mindset needs to be:

Your client is THE expert on their world - and they like to be asked about it

Your matter management board is the main communication tool about the work

Ask open-ended, positive, questions: "What is working well?" "What would you like more of?"

Match the rhythm

You need to match the rhythm of your communication and seeking feedback to:

The specifics of the matter and the nature of the legal work
How your client likes to operate and what else is going on with them

The simplest approach is:

Provide online access to your task-management board (so the client can see where the work is at)

For more on task-management boards - click here

Have an initial conversation with your client to discuss how and when they would like to communicate / feedback regarding:
- Work / task status
- Billing / reporting

Example:

Client will use task-management board view to see where the work is at and what is coming up next
Weekly 20-minute call with lead Partner / Senior Associate to review that board
Monthly extra 20-minute call with lead Partner / Senior Associate to answer three questions: Does the work align to scope of work required? What is working well that we should do more of? Who is going to do what about scope? and work changes?

Document and share the results with your team
Make sure you act on the feedback you are getting

To see all the articles about matter delivery: click here