Identifying your top clients for client service interviews.

• Author: Candiello, Martha E.

Client service feedback interviews have become increasingly important for law firms around the country. When feedback interviews are done properly by professionals skilled in the endeavor, clients are not only delighted to be asked but they frequently offer thoughtful ways to better serve them and enhance your business with them.

But who exactly should be interviewed? Many will suggest the "top clients," but who, exactly, qualifies as a top client? Here are a few categories of clients your firm should consider and some of the possible benefits of interviewing each group.

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Top Revenue Generating Clients

Manage Risk: Keep and Grow Your Business with Key Clients.

Interviewing clients who comprise the top 10 or 20 percent of the firm's revenue is the first and most logical choice for many firms. A recent study found that close to half of inside counsel have ousted a primary firm in the last 18 months.

In this demanding marketplace, making sure your firm's lawyers understand the expectations and preferences of the clients in this group provides an important risk management function for the firm: Sometimes, preventing the loss or erosion of work from just one of these clients can make a significant difference in the firm's financial performance.

Also, because a firm's existing client base provides the best source of new business, keeping this group of clients satisfied helps a firm leverage important relationships into additional business.

Newly Formed Relationships:

Cement New Client Relationships.

Perhaps your firm recently hired lateral partners or merged with another firm. Or the client entity may have undergone a significant structural change, bringing new in-house clients to the firm.

In these circumstances, the risk of losing a client is at its highest in the first 12 to 18 months of the relationship because the new client's relationship with the firm may not yet be solidly in place. Interviewing these clients after they have had some exposure to the service delivery model of your firm can help determine whether they perceive a gap between the services they had been receiving and those they are now getting.

Identifying and addressing any service gaps is critical to firmly establishing these relationships.

Smaller Revenue Clients with Potential for Growth

Identify the Unmet Legal Needs of Smaller Clients.

This is an often overlooked category for client interviews. Since there is less contact with these clients...