Number of words: 598 In a large-scale study I supervised for a major international professional service firm, corporate purchasers of a broad range of professional services (including audit, actuarial, consulting, legal, and marketing communications services) were asked, among other things, to rate their experience with professional firms on two key dimensions. First, we asked them … Read more
Number of Words: 676 There is a danger that in a vigorous attempt to win new clients, excessive promises may be made, creating expectations that cannot be fulfilled. One professional I know describes the syndrome this way: The most depressing day in the office is the day after we have won a new client. We … Read more
Number of words: 844 Much of the previous discussion can be summarized by what I have come to call “The First Law of Service,” expressed as a formula: SATISFACTION equals PERCEPTION minus EXPECTATION If the client perceives service at a certain level, but expected something more (or different), then he or she will be dissatisfied. … Read more
Number of words: 535 Consider the following scenario: You have had your car repaired at a new local garage. A week or two later, your neighbor, curious about whether she should also use this new garage, asks, “Did they fix the car?” “I think so,” you reply. “It seems to be running smoothly, so I … Read more
Number of words: 147 A major, and common, form of listening to clients is a more or less formal program of visits to key clients by senior partners of the firm (or, if the firm is not a partnership, then by office or practice managers of “executive committee members). Frequently these “visits” are conducted not … Read more
Number of words: 373 If a seminar is where the professional firm invites a group of clients together and talks to them, then a reverse seminar is where the firm invites the client executive to come and talk to the members of the firm. A typical request would go something like this Dear Client, We … Read more
By inviting evaluations of current services, firms create the opportunity to improve. As the Japanese manufacturers say, a “defect is a treasure.” In other words, by eagerly seeking out your “defects” and studying them carefully to identify why and how that performance failure occurred, you get the opportunity to improve. If you avoid feedback from … Read more
My observation of professional firms in general is that they tend to overinvest their non-billable practice development time in categories mentioned first on my list (broadcasting and courting) and, as a rule, under-invest in those activities lower on my list (superpleasing, nurturing, and listening). In large part, I have learned, this is because firms tend … Read more
In tackling the issue of staffing efficiency on engagements, no activity in the office surpasses in importance good management of the scheduling process. Once it has been decided how an engagement is to be staffed (who is assigned, and what portion of the engagement each is scheduled to do), the engagement’s leverage structure is in … Read more
While there clearly are a variety of personal factors at work (“I prefer to do it myself” or “I have more confidence it will be done correctly if I do it”), I have learned that a bigger explanation is provided by the measurement and reward systems of most firms (hence the name systemic under-delegation). First, … Read more
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