“How am I doing?” It’s a question we don’t ask enough, but we should. Ask your clients and prospects and business contacts what they like about your services, your staff, your website, you ads and your image. What do they like about what you’re doing and what do they think you could improve?
Their feedback could be invaluable.
Ah, but don’t limit yourself to what you’re currently doing. Also, ask for feedback about what you might do.
What other services would your clients and prospects be interested in? Would they like to get your newsletter more often, or less? Would they like to learn about a certain subject or get content in a different format?
This can also be valuable information for you. And yet, it could be worthless.
People don’t always know what they want. Or what they think.
People lie because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. Or can’t tell you what they like or don’t like because they haven’t worked with a lot of attorneys and don’t know what to expect.
They might be unhappy about something but have trouble putting it into words. They might be mistaken about something you did or didn’t do.
Ask anyway. You might learn something important. Or get an idea you haven’t thought about before.
Feedback might be flawed, it’s true, so look for patterns. One client might have unreasonable expectations or demands or have had an anomalous experience and you can safely dismiss their opinion, but if several clients complain about something or prefer something, that’s probably something you need to look at.
This is hardly the first time I’ve talked about the value of conducting surveys, asking for ratings or reviews, or encouraging clients to tell you how they think you’re doing. You’ve heard this before, from me and others, but do you do it?
If not, I’ll give you another reason. Arguably, the most important reason of all.
No matter what you learn when you ask for feedback, there is value just in the asking.
It shows clients you care about serving them and making them happy. You care about what they think and want.
Most lawyers care about their reputation, of course, but don’t (regularly) ask what people think or want.
And that’s the point.
Asking for feedback is an easy way for you to differentiate yourself from other lawyers. And that is worth more than you can imagine.
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