In a recent webinar, Anna Lake and Claire Rason came together to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about feedback and client listening. Both experts explored what it means to have a listening culture, the importance of client-led listening and on how to produce actionable insights. Read on to find out what the key takeaways were....
How to get partners to say yes?
This is without doubt the question that gets asked the most when you start to explore client listening with firms. Some firms have clearer lines of ownership than others when it comes to client relationships, but regardless of the formality that exists, often the partner who does the most work with a particular client can feel nervous about putting them forward for feedback.
For Claire, the reason behind this question is a mismatch between how the client development teams 'sell the programme in', and where the partner is in their thinking. In other words, it is often the case that client listening programmes are sold by focusing on the benefits at firm level. That can often be misaligned with individual pain points. As an individual partner, there might be reasons why I don't want to put forward some of my contacts for interview. Those are often quite personal to the individual and it could be that what's going to be required off the back of the interview is something that's going to cause the partner an individual pain. Talking about a collective gain isn’t going to work.
It is important for teams to understand the psychological phenomenon of Fear of Finding Out. It is also important that marketing and business development teams use coaching skills to help move the more nervous partners along. These key coaching skills can be taught, they don't need marketing teams to become professional coaches!
For Anna, when thinking about firms early on in the journey, it is often a question of pushing the open doors first. That itself can lead to increased awareness client-side and it is not unheard of for clients to put themselves forward.
How do I respond to partners who say “I know everything there is to know”?
This is something that often comes up. Actually client listening is a chance to confirm that what you know is true! However, it is also an opportunity to challenge those assumptions and identify blind spots.
Often there are surprises because the dynamic between the listener and the client is different from that which the client is used to. Often those doing the interview client side used to be in private practice themselves. They therefore have a different level of appreciation of the interview and see it as an opportunity to praise individuals who might otherwise get overlooked.
Clients can also use a feedback exercise to raise the niggles that might seem petty in the context of the big picture, but which make a huge difference to service delivery for them. Often clients are reluctant to give what might be perceived as negative feedback directly – that’s human nature – client listening provides a safe space to do that.
How do I know if my firm has a feedback culture?
For Anna, one of the hallmarks is undertaking regular client listening. Firms with a strong feedback culture regularly ask clients for feedback - and it is accessible. Clients can give feedback when it's right for them and in different ways.
In feedback cultures the insights gathered are used for decision making and to change behaviours.
Similarly, for Claire, the real Holy Grail of having a culture of listening is where you listen outside of those formal opportunities to listen. And that requires everyone have their ears open, and be capturing and collating the information that's coming through. The good and the bad.
One way to identify how advanced your feedback culture is, is to think about how widely and openly “bad” feedback is shared. Is it embraced or is it dealt with behind closed doors?
How can client listening be used?
Regular client listening with accessible feedback can be used to drive decision making at all stages of the sales funnel. Client feedback can be used bottom-up or top down. It can help to inform marketing strategies. It can be used to inform decision-making and set future direction.
Client listening can also help identify topics of interest, understand how clients perceive you in the market, and inform proposal content.
At a client level, it provides firms with a better understanding of client priorities and helps to identify opportunities. It can even help mitigate risks such as key person risk.
How important is to to train internal teams to listen?
In order to scale client listening, firms cannot be limited to external listeners. Even the largest of firms have a budget. The amount of insight that is captured should not be capped by the amount of zeros in the client listening budget.
However, to truly get the most out of listening exercises, it pays to understand what active listening is and how to harness it. This is a key skill and one that is so often overlooked. It can make the difference between a client-led conversation which produces deep insight and a market research interview, which at best can be self-affirming, at worst can alienate the client.
Claire Rason explained that professionals need to adopt a different skill set to listen effectively, which includes framing conversations differently and resisting the urge to provide answers.
When should we use external consultants for client feedback?
Often firms combine internal and external listeners. External listeners can be used to provide up-to-date insights into the market and how client listening is evolving. They can help provide recommendations that benefit from having a wider view of the market.
An external listener can also help identify opportunities with high growth potential clients, even if they're not billing much currently. Using an external listener makes it less likely that that the conversation will convert into a sales call (which runs the risk of shutting the client down).
External listeners are also useful where it is expected that the feedback will be challenging. This can help avoid "shoot the messenger syndrome" and provide a fresh perspective. Our listeners are also coaches - so we can help the receipent process and action what has been heard.
Key takeaways
So, what were the key takeaways from the session?
Consider using behaviour change and coaching techniques to get partners more engaged in client listening programs. Think about how best to overcoming reluctance and address individual pain points.
Explore how to demonstrate the benefits of client listening at an individual partner level, not just firm-wide.
Investigate using client feedback to inform content planning and marketing messages. Map out topics of interest to clients.
Consider including referrers in client listening to understand why they refer work. You could even extend your listening to employees and other stakeholders, to get a broader view of how you are doing.
Evaluate selecting a manager to observe client interviews/meetings to develop listening skills early career.
Determine frequency of client listening touchpoints based on firm size and budget. Consider quick check-ins during engagements and more in-depth interviews at key milestones.
If you would like to find out how Client Talk can help you with Client Listening, be that coaching or training your internal listeners, or providing external listening support, get in touch.
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