New Role at Firms? Client Interviewer

Ballard Spahr has hired a veteran journalist, Debra Nussbaum, to be a full-time client interviewer, according to a recent report on the Law Marketing Blog. Nussbaum has more than 30 years of newspaper reporting experience, beginning her career at The Minneapolis Star, then writing about real estate for The Philadelphia Inquirer and about schools for The New York Times. She started in the firm's Philadelphia office in February and is gradually starting to meet with clients for candid interviews in which the clients can talk about what type of service they are getting, any problems that have arisen and what needs to be done better. Nussbaum is not a lawyer herself, but might be accompanied to some of these interviews by lawyers from the firm.

As Larry Bodine of the Law Marketing Blog notes:  Client interviewers are a perfect extension of the marketing function, not a replacement.  Gathering data about clients is what marketing is supposed to be all about. In our recently-completed survey of Law Firm Business Development Practices, over half (56%) of large firm respondents said their firms conduct formal client interviews or satisfaction surveys, and 70% felt that it was a “very” or “extremely” effective strategy for building business. Hey, it just makes common sense to find out if your clients are satisfied with the service they are getting—and if, perhaps, they have more business they’d like to bring your way.