However, there are two major problems with this approach. First, lawyers rarely know what mature client-centrism really is and how to adopt it. As a result, instead of client centric, they become overworked, chaotic and stressed and their firms lose money. More importantly, contrary to common belief, client-centrism is not appropriate for every lawyer or every law firm. 

In this article I explore the strategy itself and try to give a take on when to apply it and … when to stop. 

What is client-centrism?

How would you answer when asked that question? Probably by saying that it is “being close to the client” or “putting client’s needs first”. Well, no. Paradoxically, client-centrism is not about the client, but about your business. It is a business strategy aligned with your firm’s values and based on prioritising your clients’ satisfaction metrics by deliberate and systematic actions. 

Let’s take a closer look at three key components of that definition. 

Strategy. 

First, you must perceive client-centrism as a business strategy. What does it mean? In essence, that it needs to be the result of a complex thought & business analysis process, not a breakthrough idea you had on your way to the office. Without diving too deep into the topic of strategic thinking, your reasoning should contain 5 elements: 

1. Arenas – where will you adopt the strategy? Will it apply across all of your practice areas or just in some of them (for example: more client-centric focus in family law practice or in developing practice areas, etc.).
2. Vehicles – what actions will you take to implement the strategy? At this stage you decide what client-centrism will mean for your firm and select measures that you will introduce to implement the strategy. Client communication, overall client experience, your branding, pricing policy, client-driven office hours – just to name a few. It is important to note that there is no one universal form of client-centrism. Depending on your particular market position your strategy may vary.
3. Differentiators – how will you be different? This aspect is a deliberation on how the strategy will differentiate your business from the market or your previous service model (if the strategy targets your existing client-base). Since the result you’re looking for is your clients’ sense that your service is your distinguishing factor, you need to plan how that feeling is going to be evoked. This step helps to target the actions you’ve planned and implement correct measuring tools. 
4. Staging – how will you roll out the strategy? This is the planning phase of your thinking, where you will allocate resources and determine phases of implementation. That is also where you should secure internal buy-in. Good project management skills are a must here. Do not disregard this step and do not try the “all-at-once” approach especially if the strategy means major changes for your firm. 
5. Economic Logic, aka Goal – all of the above should be tested against two questions: what is the intended economic result of the strategy and whether the actions you’ve planned are the most economically reasonable way of reaching these results. This is the place for fine tuning your strategy and double checking its coherence with your values. In particular, here you will approve all deviations from economic principles justified by adhering to your values (an example of this would be choosing a more expensive process or solution in order to lower your carbon footprint if that was your value).

Example 1. Client centric strategy decision board:

Drawing from values. 

Second, mature client-centrism needs to be firmly and consciously rooted at the very top of your business construct – in your firm’s values. If structured properly, these values will affect your every decision and thereby shape the firm’s focus in the most powerful and consistent way. That’s why almost every effort-intensive business strategy should be aligned with them. Let’s look at an example. 

Imagine your firm is about to adopt a new policy on tools used by lawyers to communicate with clients. There are various solutions and approaches available and your role is to make the best choice. What will you take into account when doing so? Price? Security? Accessibility? User experience? 

If your firm’s values are not set, you have to design a decision matrix every time you make a choice. If not synced, these matrixes may not form a coherent push towards a desired outcome. However, once in place, values can serve as a semi-universal matrix for all your business choices. Not only does this simplify the decision process but also ensures that all decisions are made with coherent matrixes in place. And that’s how your organisation can deliver a powerful message and move forward in the direction you set.

Therefore, only client-centrism rooted in values will automatically percolate to all aspects of your firm creating a powerful drive towards enhancing the clients’ satisfaction. Conversely, if that connection is not established you risk implementation being far more effortful and prone to avoidable mistakes.

Example 2. Values impact on decision making (simplified)

Consistency and deliberation. 

Finally, implementing a client-centric strategy demands continuous, deliberate effort across all actions you decide to undertake. Unlike ‘single-shot’ business strategies, client-centrism focuses on numerous contact points between your firm and its clients. These can be either direct (visit in the office, email from an associate, billing received) or indirect (brand-based interactions like social media posts, news, conferences). High number of interactions to manage obviously means a significant impact on your resources. What’s more, each of those points will recur so they need to be continuously kept at the desired standard. And that’s why this client-centrism is so difficult. 

Therefore, when implementing a client-centric strategy, concentrate not only on setting the right quality standard, but also on maintaining it through correct monitoring. Resources should be allocated to training and quality-control functions. A good practice is also to have policies that prevent overriding quality assessment. If for example there is a checklist to be completed before work is handed over to a client, this item may never be scrapped from the project, no matter the time pressure.

When to apply client-centrism …

As you can see above, client-centrism requires a lot of effort and resources. Also, it prioritises client satisfaction over your other business metrics. And finally, especially for firms with more diversified client portfolios, it can slow growth by causing problems with design and implementation of policies and processes due to the high number of exceptions to those policies and processes driven by client preferences. If for example you allow your clients to choose one of seven different billing frequencies it will be hard to have a unified billing process. 

So when should you apply this strategy? In general, client-centrism has the best direct impact on your existing client base. 

First, it is excellent for organic growth of your client portfolio. By organic I mean not driven by marketing, but rather by recommendations and word of mouth. Level of service still remains the top reason for your client to recommend a law firm to his network. On the contrary, new lead generation will not benefit best from that strategy and should be rather stimulated by marketing / branding strategies (Economic Logis – see above).

Second, it is a must if you are willing to develop cross-sell. In particular, when providing services for corporate clients using multiple law firms, excelling in customer service is necessary to make this type of client consider broadening the cooperation with your firm. There are two important factors to consider here. Crucially, you need to ensure that the level of service is the same in all cross-sold practices. The worst thing that can happen is to have a client satisfied with one practice and then disappointed with the one you cross-sell. Also, the scope of client-centrism here will be limited by the necessity to ensure output quality (see below). 

Third, client-centrism reduces churn and increases retention. Therefore the strategy should be applied constantly for the most valuable clients to ensure they don’t shop around and remain satisfied. Also, it might be useful in cases where decrease in satisfaction is detected as it might prevent losing the client. 

Finally, it will be a necessity when faced with a limited number of clients. This will occur when the market you operate in is relatively narrow (marine industry) or when you have a small client base and losing a client is not an option for you. However, please consider this as a tricky spot, where you simultaneously need to adopt another strategy aimed at increasing your client portfolio and escaping this place. 

… and when to avoid it

Contrasting the above, there are times when client-centrism is not the best option for developing your business. In those instances, while maintaining a necessary level of customer satisfaction, you make better use of your time and resources by pursuing different objectives, like standardising your processes to streamline costs, increasing output quality, maximising RPL (revenue per lawyer) & PEP (profit per equity partner) or growing practice areas. Please note that you will still focus on service quality, but as a secondary metric. 

Client-centrism will not be the best option in practices with diversified or mass portfolios of clients who are not regular users of legal services. In these situations rather than asking the clients what they expect it is better to implement strong processes, thoroughly inform clients on what they should expect and then deliver on that. In other words, instead of adhering to client expectations you shape them. Crucially, by doing so you retain control over how the matter is handled by the firm.

Similarly, this strategy should not be the main point of focus for small, growing firms who need to prioritise client intake and lead generation over the existing client base. In this case, significantly more resources should be allocated to business development activities. Again, this doesn’t mean existing clients will be provided with services below the necessary quality. 

Finally, client-centrism transforms into part of a hybrid strategy at the pinnacle of legal business – in top tier firms. The higher the firm gets in the rankings, the more it needs to focus on outstanding output quality while simultaneously working on delivery time and service standards. In large organisations this means a fight between standardisation (ensures maximum quality) and individualisation (boosts customer satisfaction). Both are necessary in the world of extra high hourly rates, but the excellent output quality is prioritised and expected by the client. In fact one might say that here you deliver client-centrism through quality. That also applies to your corporate clients who are able to competently assess both the merits and the service standard. 

To be or not to be … client-centric

As the level of service will remain one of the main competition points for law firms, client-centrism must remain a vital consideration when planning ahead. Even today, some variant of a client-centric strategy is (consciously or not) implemented in most successful law firms. However, in order to unleash its true potential, this strategy must be implemented deliberately and in the right fashion. 

What’s more, client-centrism will almost always be implemented within a set of strategies driving your firm forward. Its position within that set should be determined by economic logic mentioned above and your firm’s goals.

After all, client-centrism ultimately is all about… you.