how and why client service teams work

in a sound strategic plan it’s the clientele, not the firm, that’s primary.

by bruce marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

editor’s note: 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 was privileged to have a long relationship with bruce w. marcus, who was ahead of his time in his thinking and practice in marketing for accounting. we are publishing some of the late expert’s evergreen work, which retains wisdom for the present.

it has long been the accepted tradition, in accounting and law firms, that what’s yours is yours and what’s mine is mine. in other words, “i love you charlie. you’re a great guy and a great partner. but keep your hands off my clients.” and thus was the lie put to the myth of cross-selling.

more: when clients think they know marketing | internal communications are underrated | four things better than a company song | let’s lose the word ‘image’ | the risk in not understanding risk | what your marketing program can and can’t do | nine reasons that prospects say yes | how marketing evolved to 3.0 | accountants don’t sell soap.
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but things change. for example, frank competition, once anathema to the professions, is now well woven into the fabric of professional practice. the nature of the clientele has changed, somewhat drastically. today’s client rarely uses just one law or accounting firm, rarely accepts advice unquestioningly, rarely accepts non-detailed bills (and so will go, eventually, the billable hour). the day of the naïve client is now in its twilight.

at one point in the dynamic motion of client service, it began to dawn on lawyers and accountants that clients, particularly large ones, are best served by more than just a partner with a staff of lesser lights. for one thing, in today’s economic and regulatory environment, the level of expertise, and the variety of skills demanded by clients, is greater than that available from the traditional partner and second team. for another, the needs of a larger client, particularly in law firms, may transcend the skills of just one practice group. the real problem here is that this kind of client need breeds invitation to second and third additional specialized firms, which can make serious inroads into the primary firm’s client relationship.

an earlier solution to this configuration of client needs and the attempts to meet those needs has been the practice group, a marvelous invention, superbly chronicled and shaped by patrick mckenna and david maister in their book, “first among equals, how to manage a group of professionals.” what was remarkable about that book was that it was the first to set forth rules for managing lawyers and accountants who, among other things, might otherwise tend to compete with one another within the same firm. without understanding that concept, it might well be extremely difficult to get lawyers and accountants, each of whom has his or her own song, to sing one song in four-part harmony. in other words, getting lawyers and accountants, proud professionals and individualists all, to sing as one team. thus, the client service team.

in a sense, groups of professionals functioning as teams are not really new. and certainly, the value of teamwork in all aspects of industry and commerce, if more praised than practiced, is no secret. rarely, in recent years, has any firm with more than a few partners pitched a prospective client solo. while the implication is that the client will be served by the larger firm, and that there actually is a larger firm, that presentation of bodies is more often than not just a show. new business teams, however, are not client service teams. true client service teams go much farther than that, although the body of experience and expertise in developing and managing these teams, while growing, is still scarce and cherished. moreover, building a genuine client service team that combines the skills and talent of the individual team members into a powerful client-serving phalanx is no casual or simple matter.

once a novelty, a growing number of firms have discovered the benefits of using the client service team as an approach to dealing with larger clients, for both better service and better client relations. professional firms tend to be spare in accepting new ideas and concepts. but now, the time of the client service team has come. and as firms see other firms use them successfully, and begin to understand the value of the concept, they may seem willing to try it. they begin to understand that with client service teams,

clients benefit from the combined brainpower of the well-chosen and well-run team,
the firm benefits by both demonstrating the depth of its skills and by the extensive access to the client’s business, and
the firm has a competitive advantage in its extended presence and greater ability to serve clients.

with this access, the firm has greater rapport with the client, and more intensive access to the client’s thinking and response to the firm’s efforts.

while some firms have explored the idea of client service groups, and leading thinkers like patrick mckenna have been training firms in the concept for several years, few firms have developed the art and science of the team as successfully as the washington-based law firm, akin gump strauss hauer and feld. under the aegis of its brilliant and energetic client service advisor, iris j. jones, and with the full support of its chairman, bruce mclean, akin gump has so finely tuned the team concept that as of this writing, it now serves clients with more than 65 highly skilled, powerfully effective teams. a lawyer with a strong practice background, jones was brought in to akin gump in 2003 to establish the team concept. what she has done most brilliantly is inculcate the concept within the highest echelons of akin gump’s management, and then develop a system to build the teams effectively on almost a production line basis, without losing the individual identity and value of each team (or its members) in working with the distinctive needs and opportunities of each individual client. a truly remarkable feat.

she is repeating the feat now at chadbourne & parke, where she heads the firm’s marketing operation. as a consultant, she is now ceo of alchemy business strategies.

that jones is so successful is no surprise, considering her background. with a j.d. from the thurgood marshall school of law, texas southern university, she has served as an assistant attorney general of texas, and as director of the city of austin’s law department, supervising 50 in-house attorneys. she has been in private practice in two prominent austin law firms, and has served as an instructor and trainer in many aspects of legal practice. to this background, which affords her a full understanding of the law firm and the client relationship intricacies, she brings an extraordinary organizational skill. if, as has often been said, managing lawyers is like herding cats, she has mastered the art of herding cats.

the team concept begins, she says, with helping a firm’s senior managers understand the concept and values of a comprehensive client satisfaction program. this goes beyond simply supplying legal service on demand. it requires a willingness to understand and penetrate the client’s business and business and legal needs. it requires that present and future team members understand the need to cooperate on a very high level without giving up individual status or initiative. with management backing, some 70 percent of the firm’s partners attended courses run by the william j. flannery training firm of austin, texas, which emphasizes working in teams. the courses are not just motivational cheer leading, but rather intensive training in the skills of cooperation and collaboration. presentations about the client service teams were presented at partner retreats, which further built enthusiasm for the program.

a second necessary element is a good client relationship management or knowledge management system that tracks information about clients, appropriate aspects of law and firm activity in behalf of the client, and measures firm performance. it serves, as well, to track team activities and performance.

a third necessary element is a good strategic plan for the firm, which will ultimately shape the strategic plan for each team in serving the team’s client. the strategic plan is inherent in the success of a client service team structure.

“the traditional approach to strategic planning involved long and protracted processes, requiring a series of meeting with individuals possessing varied self-interests, personal agendas, and a lack of focus or direction,” says jones. the results of such planning approaches, she says, were plans that participants didn’t support, nor from which they got clear direction. the result was that plans supposed to cover the following three to five years became obsolete well before that.

the traditional idea that high-quality and high-value services are enough to be successful in a competitive global market is a myth, jones suggests. a sound and realistic strategic plan, she says, is a foundation for superior performance, she says, and high quality alone is not enough. “exceptional performance and client service of the highest quality are essential elements in expanding relationships with current clients and are the critical ingredients in capturing new and loyal business relationships,” she points out, “but functions best only within the context of a strategic plan.” and it is this exceptional performance that the team is capable of consistently delivering. the contemporary strategic plan, she says is a function of defining the market, defining the firm in terms of its ability to serve the market, and developing a strategy to help the firm meet the needs of the market. but it’s the clientele, not the firm, that’s primary in a sound strategic plan.

it should be noted here that the client service team is more than a group of partners gathered together to descend on clients. the team is a complex organism, trained to function as a team, in the firm’s service to the client. it functions with a strategic plan that’s predicated on the firm’s own strategic plan. its members are chosen specifically by the needs and opportunities of the team’s client, well-trained in the process, well-indoctrinated in the client and the client’s business, and assiduously monitored. thus, the need for intensive commitment to the process. and the need, as well, for a culture of collaboration. collaboration and teamwork, she notes, are not learned in law school. and while every firm may have its stars, the well-run team doesn’t submerge the star’s talent, but rather, magnifies it .

“the first step in the process of collaboration,” says jones, “is that the firm or business entity must define its place in the market for the services it provides. the core practices or products must be defined and designated first and foremost in order to clarify for the internal team the firm’s priority, and the client’s expectation from a team of talented professionals.”

forming a team begins with a basic understanding of the client’s business and needs. this is a foundation for selecting the disciplines from which the team will be assembled. members of the team may well include lawyers from several offices, which not only assures the most appropriate team for the client, but serves the firm’s practice offices by offering the firm’s full range of services regardless of the offices or the client’s location. “the most successful team,” says jones, “selects the members who have the talent to match the needs and challenges of the client.”

many law firms, jones notes, are not yet willing to address attorney performance issues that arise from time to time while serving the needs of a client. “it’s sometimes awkward and often difficult to confront relationship managers or the service providers of a client when the performance, communication or service delivery is not consistent with client expectations,” she says. “however, it’s an essential step to identify and address the failure of a team or an individual team member in order to quickly respond and remedy the problem.”

given an understanding of the client’s needs and problems, the team is then formed by selecting the several lawyers best able to meet those needs. a client service team member is selected based on what the member’s skill and experience can bring to the team to add value to the benefit of the client first and foremost. as new opportunities for client service are identified, the team may be expanded with appropriate lawyers. a client service team leader is appointed for each team by senior management and is responsible for …

serving as the relationship manager who is responsible for knowing the client needs and desires
communicating vision and direction to the team
coaching team members
scheduling team meetings and reviewing team’s progress
evaluating team members and providing feedback on performance and service
rewarding and recognizing team member contributions and successes
coordinating firm resources, lawyers and support staff
identifying best talent to work on specific client projects
building commitment, confidence and consensus
taking leadership role in action planning

in addition to bringing their skills and experience to the team, client service team members are responsible for:

learning and understanding the client’s business
understanding the firm’s capabilities
identifying problems and opportunities
coordinating and sharing client information
developing and sharing ideas for new services
attending and fully participating in team meetings
taking ownership of the action plan

in serving the client’s needs, the team establishes a successful business partnership with the client. inevitably, this results in adding value and benefits to the client. this coordinated approach improves communications, allows for consistent advice, and helps build a long-term relationship that serves to achieve the client’s global business objectives. the team’s objectives are met through the team’s strategic plan, in which each team member has a defined role and responsibility.

by frequently discussing the client’s expectations, the team is better able to understand the scope of the work, including staffing expectations, budgetary forecasts, and the necessary level and frequency of communications of information regarding the project.

a significant part of the team process is to keep abreast of the client’s satisfaction with the firm’s service. this is essential to client retention, as well as to keeping the team’s strategic plan on course. the questions to be asked, either in ongoing discussions or by formal survey, are …

how are we doing in providing legal or other services?
are we communicating with you according to your preference?
are we keeping you well informed?
are there any concerns about the team leader or the team members serving you?
now that we have met your expectations, what can we do to exceed them?

accountability, an integral factor in the team concept, is important for monitoring and measuring the successful accomplishments of the team, as well as for tracking the responsibility of individuals to the team. team leader accountability reports, team member evaluations of the leader, and team leader evaluations of team members are among the tools the firm uses to monitor team performance and client satisfaction.

ultimately, the goal of the client service team process is to apply a systematic approach to all significant clients so that the opportunities to serve their needs are maximized. the success of the client service team initiative is its ability to build high-quality, enduring relationships through teamwork and a commitment to using the firm’s best resources.

“dedication to client satisfaction requires the rigorous and unrelenting pursuit of the core values of excellence, commitment and intensity,” jones says. “to build a pre-eminent client base, one must concentrate on excellence and value. the pursuit of consistent quality must be unyielding.”

that akins gump has been able to sustain a high level of performance for 65 teams is a function of jones’ organizational skills. computerized performance tracking, biweekly strategy meetings, standardized report forms and spreadsheets form a knowledge management system that not only tracks performance, but spots both trouble spots and team opportunities.

with all the advantages to the firm from client service teams, the greatest beneficiary is the client. for the client, the program means more efficient service at lower overall cost, access to vast resources that might otherwise be difficult to draw from the firm, rapid response and better crisis management, and budget certainty.

for the firm it has meant improved client relations, high-value and interesting work, and all of the advantages of the trusted advisor relationship. significantly, it has also meant higher annual fees than ever before – from an average of $5.3 million from 1993 to 2001, increasing to an average $7.0 million from 2002-2004.

and where once attorneys were reluctant to collaborate with one another, the akins gump team members are more than enthusiastic. says one partner in dallas, “from simply communicating new developments to coordinating approaches on new opportunities, the client service team has been invaluable to maintaining our relationship in an increasingly competitive environment.” says a washington, d.c.-based partner, “the client service team approach has netted the firm energy, work and litigation opportunities that we have not had in the past, and was an important factor in the firm’s selection to be one of deutsche bank’s eight preferred providers.” and more of the same, from all of the partners functioning as part of client service teams.

the client service team is a 21st-century answer to the dramatic changes in the professions and the clients they serve. it’s a new structure for law firms – and accounting firms as well – to meet the client needs of the future in an era of elevated competition. it is a structure that enhances sensitivity to client needs, that allows firms and clients to become real partners, and that more than anything, offers real competitive advantage.

the well-run team program is not a simple nor a casual concept. it requires the commitment of the partnership, and recognizing that new times call for new structures and views of professional practice. it demands the enthusiastic support of the firm’s management team, a clearly developed and dedicated program, and the organizational skills of a client service coordinator who fully understands the client relationship process. it can be a complex program, and certainly, it must be done recognizing that it requires departure from traditional professional practice.

but when it works, it’s worth its weight in successful and profitable client relations.