Don’t waste a good referee
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been banging on about directories.
First, using the process to think properly about what you want to be famous for. Then, capturing useful matter intelligence without sending lawyers another spreadsheet and hoping guilt eventually gets the better of them.
This week, we get to referees.
Every year, firms hand over hundreds, sometimes thousands, of their best client relationships to the directories. They carefully select them. Check their email addresses. Ask permission. Submit the list.
And then largely wait for someone else to have the interesting conversation with them.
That feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.
Here are three things to think about to maximise referee engagement. Enjoy.
Side note: given the slight data hiccup by Legal 500 last week, firms would be wise to ask the directories providers for their data security credentials before handing over anything.
#1. Ask for a conversation, not just permission
The standard referee conversation is pretty transactional:
“We’re submitting to Chambers again. Would you mind if we put you down as a referee?”
Client says yes. Box ticked. Everyone moves on.
But you’ve just been given a completely legitimate reason to speak to an important client about their experience of working with you.
Use it. Ask for 20 minutes. Have a coffee. Pick up the phone. Find out how things are going before the directory does.
What are we doing well? What could we do better? What’s changing in your business? What do you need more of from us?
And, yes, check they’re happy to be a referee while you’re there.
Three Things task: Take your next five proposed referees and replace the permission email with a request for a conversation.
#2. Listen for the stuff that won’t make the submission
The most useful thing a referee tells you might be something you absolutely don’t want them telling Chambers or Legal 500. And, judging on recent form, there is precisely no guarantee these constructive comments will not appear as weird testimonials on the Legal 500 website!
Perhaps communication could be better. Billing is causing frustration. Another firm is doing something particularly well. Or the client simply doesn’t understand everything you could be helping them with.
That’s gold dust. But only if you capture it properly.
Don’t leave client feedback sitting in somebody’s notebook or memory. Structure it. Look across multiple conversations. Identify recurring themes, opportunities and problems.
Ten individual comments can feel anecdotal. The same issue appearing across 30 client conversations starts looking rather more interesting.
Three Things task: Create somewhere simple to capture referee feedback consistently. Then look for patterns, not just individual comments.
#3. Close the loop
This is where the value exchange from last week comes back in.
Asking clients for feedback and then doing absolutely nothing visible with it isn’t client listening. At best, it’s data collection. More likely, it’s relationship destruction.
If somebody gives you 20 minutes and tells you something could be better, give that feedback an owner. Decide what you’re going to do. Then go back to the client.
“You told us X. We’ve done Y as a result. Has it made a difference?”
That last conversation is arguably more important than the first.
Because it demonstrates that you didn’t just ask because the directories deadline was approaching. You actually listened.
Three Things task: Find one piece of recent client feedback, identify what happened as a result and tell the client.
Chat to Tina by voice, when you’re between meetings, on the commute to/from work, or heading into something you’d rather avoid.
Final thought
There’s something slightly odd about the traditional referee process.
We identify some of our most important clients, send their details to a third party and ask them to find out what those clients think of us.
Then we wait months to discover what happened. Why not have the conversation ourselves?
Done properly, referee management becomes part of a continuous client-listening programme.
Ask. Listen. Capture. Act. Close the loop.
And if Chambers subsequently gives you a lovely ranking, fantastic.
But that’s the by-product.
The real prize is knowing what your clients think, what they need and what you can do differently while you can still do something about it.
That seems rather more valuable than another badge for the website.
We’re building a team of voice enabled AI assistants to support you with BD activities and allow you to spend more time being human. Interested? We’d love to chat.
