3 Ways to Increase Your Net Promoter Score

If you aren’t familiar with Net Promoter Score (NPS), this powerful and SIMPLE metric is a proven way to gauge client satisfaction, the likelihood of them returning to your law office in their next time of need, and most importantly their potential to refer new clients. By using this fast, 1 question survey, your firm can quickly categorize its clients as Detractors, Passives, and Promoters. So how can you reduce your Detractors, turn your Passives into Promoters, and create Promoters from the beginning? To learn more about calculating your score, check out this blog post.

Be a Smooth Operator

Make your office as efficient and easy to work with as possible. While NPS doesn’t measure your ability to practice law, it does measure what clients think of how you practice and their interactions with everyone in your firm. This is a good time to reevaluate the way you serve clients from the first phone call. Do you have a documented intake process that assures clients they’ve come to the right place? Is their call answered by a friendly receptionist who is trained in your intake process and can effortlessly schedule the first meeting?

Pulse Checks

Check in with your clients while in process. Ask them if there is anything you can do to better serve them. I once worked at a hospital where everyone from administration to medical staff was required to ask a patient if there was anything else we could do for them. We could not be halfway out the door or asking as we walked away, we were required to stand firm, look at our patient in the eyes, and earnestly offer assistance. How often do you do this with clients? Taking this step will create a sense of connection even when your clients don’t take you up on the offer.

Seek Out Your Detractors

Take the opportunity to reach out to detractors to find out what went wrong. Listen without defending and make course corrections as needed. Sometimes things are out of your control or the client is unreasonable, but getting defensive will not help move anyone from a detractor to a promoter. When things go wrong, take this as an opportunity to shine. One of my favorite phrases is “I’m sorry this is what you experienced. This is not the level of service we want to provide at our firm.” Use feedback to enhance your internal processes to avoid repeat mistakes.

Inavero, a leading provider of Net Promoter-based satisfaction survey tools, recently reported the average NPS for law firms at 7.59.  How do you shape up? Perhaps you are right in line, or better, above average. On the other hand, maybe your firm is below the 7.59 mark (yikes!), and some serious work needs to be done.

Most importantly, get started now! If you don’t have the time to dedicate to sending post-case surveys, consider outsourcing the task. Your friendly team at Back Office Betties is very knowledgeable about NPS and happy to help you create a process for your firm if you’re unable to assign this task to someone on your staff. The bottom line is to get started right away because according to Frederick F Reichheld, pioneer of NPS “The only path to profitable growth may lie in a (firm’s) ability to get its loyal customers to become, in effect, its marketing department.”