Voice of the Customer:
An Important First Step to Launching A Quality Improvement Program

By Connie C. Laug

Many law firms are beginning to explore whether quality improvement programs, like those used by business and industry, can play a role in improving the performance or their organization.  Although quality improvement reaches well beyond customer service issues, a critical tenet in all quality programs is customer focus.  Therefore, an important first step in developing a quality improvement program is gaining a clear understanding clients’ business strategies, legal needs and service expectations.  Customer feedback or Voice of the Customer is one of the cornerstones of quality improvement and serves as an important piece of research to help guide strategies and decision-making for law Firms interested in performance improvement.

  In addition to gaining client insight, firms interested in quality improvement will benefit from testing firm readiness by determining, at the outset, whether the firm culture can tolerate a move from the traditional law firm “Product-Out” orientation to a  “Market-In” orientation.  A culture of “Market-In” will set the stage for effective quality initiatives.

Assuming the firm is committed to a Market-In orientation, voice of the customer research can be used to help guide virtually all business decisions of the firm, from the look and feel to invoices to whether to expand into new geographic locations.    It will be particularly helpful in setting the stage for the development of an effective quality program at the firm. 

Traditional methods of obtaining client input in law firms may be appropriate,  however , questions need to go beyond the traditional service issues and will vary depending upon goal of the project.  If the firm is considering offering a new service or product (starting an ancillary business or developing a new practice area), the questions will be designed to assess client needs and customer requirements specifically related to the issue.  If, however, the firm is re-assessing it’s overall strategy and using the data as a way to move to a more quality driven orientation,  the Voice of the Customer may address a broad range of issues.

Voice of the Customer is a tool developed by The Center for Quality of Management (CQM)  to assist member companies is developing a systematic approach to obtaining client input that helps drive business decisions.  The Voice of the Customer can help to determine customer requirements for new product (service) development strategies, geographic expansion possibilities as well as hone in on customer requirements for the delivery of legal services.  More traditional methods of obtaining client input in law firms can be used as well, however the benefit of a more systematic approach to the  survey process and, in particular, a more systematic approach to determining how to utilize the input  will improve the effectiveness of the project.  

CQM’s Voice of the Customer methodology is quite specific and involves significant training of interviewers.  In brief, Voice of the Customer  suggests teams of two who are specifically trained Voice of the Customer methodology conduct interviews with one person as scribe and one as interviewer.  After the interview, the teams immediately review the customer input and clarify key  points of information.  The goal is to record comments from these  “voices” verbatim.  When all interviews are completed, team members convene and review and systematically organize input received from all interviews in a language processing exercise.  The following outline is from Voices to Choices offered through cqm.org outlines the following steps to guide organizations in setting forth an effective strategy for using Voice of the Customer strategies.

Frame the Issue

• Pinpoint the project’s purpose
• Determine your objectives for learning
• Identify relevant and representative interview samples
• Develop an interview guide that addresses key questions

Organize Resources

• Confirm scope
• Establish schedules
• Secure resources

Collect Data

• Practice critical interview skills
• Explore diverse perspectives
• Conduct face-to-face interviews
• Capture customer voices verbatim
• Directly observe customers’ environments

Understand and Interpret the Voices

• Identify high-leverage points for improvement
• Understand which components significantly impact the entire system
• Identify key customer requirements
• Interpret market trends and forces
• Understand dynamics of organizational culture

Select Action

• Create products and services that meet customer requirements
• Decide whether to design or redesign
• Decide whether to change the system or the process
• Make appropriate business decisions
• Align corporate strategies with stockholder requirements

Other Options for Obtaining Client Input  

Focus Groups are another effective tool used to obtain in-person feedback from customers. Often, an issue that requires detailed discussion and feedback will be explored with a facilitator (usually outside of your organization) and a group of clients. Again, open-ended questions are used. However, in this forum, clients have an opportunity to build upon others’ comments, which may allow for more in-depth examination of an issue or product.

Client Panel Discussions can be used during organizational meetings to allow an opportunity for attorneys to learn more about client companies and provide an opportunity to expose more people to  the survey process. There is also some built-in credibility to hearing client input directly.

Written Surveys are usually made-up of closed-ended questions allowing for a yes or no answer, or questions soliciting a satisfaction level on a rating scale. Generally, written surveys are used to establish a baseline for measurement of client satisfaction as opposed to gaining input on potential business strategies. The baseline can determine current level of satisfaction and help set specific goals for improvement. Subsequent use of the written survey instrument will allow for benchmarking — evaluation and measurement of progress.

Responding to Client Input

In addition to using the information to drive decision making at the firm, it is important to note that once you’ve asked, you have created an expectation that you will listen carefully and respond. Compile survey results, determine how the input impacts the decision(s) at hand and share it with appropriate audiences.   Any recommendations for service improvement initiatives should be developed and implemented. Improvement initiatives will vary widely depending upon your areas of practice and many will be custom-tailored to respond to specific client input.  As appropriate, decisions and improvement plans should be communicated directly with those clients who participated in the process.

Generating Improvement Ideas based upon customer input can be an exciting way to get everyone involved in developing your quality program. Conducting workshops within the firm to examine the feedback and to identify ways to improve general business practices and day-to-day operations can generate great ideas.

Connie Laug is the Chief Quality Officer at  Graydon, Head & Ritchey and has been involved in law firm management for more than 15 years.   The firm was awarded the Customer Focus award by The Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce in 1996 and is the only law firm member of The Center for Quality of Management.

Connie Cook Laug
Chief Quality Officer
Graydon Head & Ritchey
claug@graydon.com