turn feedback into strategic advantage (Research)

March 9, 2026|Accountants, Kim's Blog, Lawyers, Marketing|

Former solicitor, business development consultant and coach Claire Rason | LinkedIn of Client Talk | Coaching, Training & Client Listening | Coaching Leaders & Business Professionals led an interactive workshop for PM Forum – PM Forum on client listening and research. This summary – exploring sources of client insight in professional service firms, research best practice, guidance on auditing programmes, help to build a business case and ideas to win stakeholder approval – provides an additional learning resource for the delegates: Unlock client insights – turn feedback into strategic advantage (Research)

Workshop contents and delegates

The interactive workshop was divided into three elements:

The Role of Client Listening in Growth and Experience
Build or Enhance Client Listening Systems
Practical Ideas and Questions

Delegates were from law and other professional services firms. Their roles spanned Head of Marketing and Business Development, Head of Client Programmes, Client Experience Managers, Business Development Managers and CRM Executives.

Sources of client insight

Marketing is anticipating and meeting client needs profitably. So client research is a fundamental part of our responsibilities.

Delegates were polled on the various sources of client insight and intelligence. Responses included:

Senior partner feedback
Lawyer perceptions
Matter closure forms
Client listening programmes
Key client relationship meetings
Tender and pitch feedback
Online reviews
Directories
Informal feedback
Regular client surveys

It was noted that many sources were not managed in a structured or systematic way. Some information was in silos and not integrated to provide an overall picture for the firm. Claire, in her calm coaching style, introduced a framework to address this: Gather, Reflect, Act.

She observed that we could classify research based on whether it was firm/question-led or client/listening-led.

Role of client listening and research in professional service firms

Claire provided an overview of research methods: surveys, post matter reviews, testimonials, online reviews and interviews. And we talked about the value and use of both qualitative and quantitative data.

She considered the merits of different mechanisms to score performance – NPS, CSAT etc (these are described in detail here: client feedback playbook – How professional services firms). And this book talks about the origin of the NPS scale from Bain & Co – The Ultimate Question 2.0 – NPS Book | Bain & Company

Delegates asked questions about the use of different scales using 5, 7 or 10 ratings (see: Comparison of Likert and other measuring scales Types of survey scales: A guide for effective data │Kantar).

She noted cultural differences when interpreting rating data (e.g. Americans typically rate higher than British) which will be an important consideration for global firms. I mentioned illustrative studies that compared client perceptions of value in different professional services (e.g. The price-value relationship: Insights from Beaton’s research).

There’s a wide variety of publicly and commercially available benchmarking and analyst data sources as well as various social listening platforms. Different types of insight included:

Direct client feedback
- Interviews
- Internal feedback
- Client Advisory Boards

Quantitative feedback
- Surveys
- Scores
- Client sentiment tracking
- Online reviews

Internal data and behavioural insight
- CRM analytics
- Billing, write-offs, profitability data, client buying behaviour, digital behaviour

Market and competitor data
- Competitor reviews
- Market reports
- Sector trends
- Industry commentary

Brand and perception
- Brand perception studies
- Reputation audits
- Media analysis

Third party sources
- Benchmarking tools
- Industry surveys
- External research

We discussed sample sizes – and Claire indicated how many responses were a strong baseline for relationship metrics. And explored which samples sizes provided direction, reliable trends and high confidence on transactional metrics and for small populations (e.g. key accounts).

The organisation, facilitation and use of information obtained during focus groups initiated some lively debate. (What Is A Focus Group? Definition And Examples)

There was some discussion about market research. And we noted some qualifications in this area:

Market Research Executive Apprenticeship | Cambridge Marketing College (Level 4)

3-cim-level-6-award-in-commercial-intelligence-2024-module-specification-v20.pdf (Level 6)

4-cim-level-6-award-in-customer-journey-optimisation-2024-module-specification-v20.pdf (Level 6)

MRS Advanced Certificate in Market and Social Research Practice | Market Research Society

Claire bought things back to the overall value of research – whether from strategic drivers or relationship drivers. These are important and tricky issues to consider when you plan new client research programmes or when you try to develop strategy from research that started as a relationship exercise.

Strategic drivers
- Create products and services that clients want
- Better understand your brand and how it is perceived
- Improve decision-making on client service and communications
- Identify opportunities to grow the business
- Web site UX projects
Relationship drivers
- Identify problems in relationships before they become terminal
- Increase client loyalty
- Identify cross-selling opportunities
- Improve client experience and relationships
- Generate higher client satisfaction

There was a helpful example showing the stages of: collect data, communicate, action and strategic theme identification. (There are numerous examples of client listening and research projects in the case study posts listed below).

Build or enhance client listening systems

Any research needs to be fed back to teams – and early discussions involve deciding what action to take (and communicating this back to the clients) and preparing plans for the changes in the firm, team and client.

Claire raised an important consideration when designing client listening programmes – do we go wide (interview lots of clients) or deep (explore issues in depth with a smaller number of clients)?

Using several case studies (e.g. a small regional firm, a London-based firm, a property consultancy), we reviewed the process to implement (or enhance) a firm’s client listening programmes:

Audit existing feedback processes
Align with firm (and team) goals and needs
Create a compelling business case for investment
Explain the benefits of client research to leadership
Select external advisers
Structure pilots
Communicate with internal stakeholders
Implement the research programme
Leverage data effectively

Delegates worked through a series of breakout sessions using the four corner technique to audit their client listening systems:

What’s working? (Success and progress?)
What’s not working yet? (What haven’t we figured out yet?)
What’s missing (What might you put in place?)
What’s possible (What can we make happen?)

Delegates identified many strategic and operational challenges in their current systems and the themes emerging included:

Encourage partners to engage in feedback (whether positive or negative)
Collect insight from informal research mechanisms (e.g. at team meetings)
Interrogate the CRM and other client systems
Prompt fee-earners to follow up with clients (e.g. say thanks, discuss points that arose, track changes)

The ideal outcome is that a firm develops end-to-end processes that show improved client satisfaction and ROI value to the firm.

Guidance on building a business case for client listening projects

To build a business case for client listening projects:

Identify the driver (strategy, service, marketing, relationships etc)
Consider your approach (question-led or listening-led – i.e. whether you know what you want to explore or whether you want to know what to explore further)
Audit what you already have and might need

Create the RUB – Consider why it is Relevant, Urgent and Beneficial

On calculating the Return-on-investment (ROI), consider:

What will you measure?
What will it cost? (people, time, tools)
What are the risks? (low adoption, data with no action)

Various outcomes were explored including:

Change in retention (reduce churn, retain key clients)
Average gross margin (profitability)
Cross selling uplift (additional revenue)

There was a worked example showing a ROI that suggested a 2-point improvement in the top 50 clients funds the programme twice over (i.e. a change in retention X average gross margin + cross-sell uplift – programme cost = net benefit)

There was a wider discussion of how to influence and engage the firm’s decision-makers and partners to gain support for research projects. Claire favoured the Aristotle method (see Buy in – Influence and Persuasion Toolbox – Kim Tasso)

For stakeholder mapping, Claire encouraged delegates to work through creating a power map (How to Build a Power Map for Your Project Harvard Business Review, Melody Wilding):

Claire will present the session again for PM Forum on 22^nd October 2026 – further details: Unlocking Client Insights: Turning Feedback into Strategic Advantage – PM Forum

Claire will also be speaking at: Henley Business School on Thursday 23^rd April – Client Listening and CX Away Day Beyond The Feedback 2026 | Client Talk

And she presents a free webinar on Thursday 19^th March on Client Listening Training – what do you need to know? Client Listening Training – what do you need to know? | Client Talk | Coaching, Training & Client Listening

Workshop contents and delegates

Sources of client insight

Role of client listening and research in professional service firms

Build or enhance client listening systems

Guidance on building a business case for client listening projects

Other resources and links discussed during the session

Related posts on market research, client research and client insight in professional services

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Unlock client insights – turn feedback into strategic advantage (Research)

Workshop contents and delegates

Sources of client insight

Role of client listening and research in professional service firms

Build or enhance client listening systems

Guidance on building a business case for client listening projects

Other resources and links discussed during the session

Related posts on market research, client research and client insight in professional services

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