Withers
Case Study
In 2021, Withers, like many law firms, moved its annual partners conference online. When it wanted to hear how the Covid pandemic is affecting its clients and how that might change the relationship clients have with their advisors, it turned to Meridian West and its best-in-class research team.
The brief given to Meridian West was to design a one-off client listening programme that answered four business critical questions:
The Withers partner meeting was scheduled for eight weeks ahead of the brief being confirmed, with all conference materials required in just six weeks.
“It was,” admits Alice Francis, a key member of the Meridian West delivery team, “a tight and unmoveable deadline.”
Meridian West, who has worked with Withers previously on more traditional client listening programmes, steered Withers towards an online survey rather than in-depth interviews.
Working collaboratively with Withers’ CEO Margaret Robertson and International Marketing and Business Development Director Nigel Sprunt, the Meridian West team developed the questionnaire framework and approach.
The survey questionnaire accompanied by a personal note from Margaret Robertson and achieved a 35% response rate and high levels of feedback.
“Having the firm’s senior management team driving this project was critical to its rapid turnaround and success,” says Meridian West’s Ben Kent.
Dashboard reporting
The results were collated and presented back to the Withers management team via the exclusive Meridian West dashboard, with the results collated into a slide deck for presentation to the firm’s global partnership.
It was a survey designed to encourage discussion and debate, with the Meridian West Dashboard showing segmentation of data by jurisdiction, corporate and private clients.
“It was a client listening project designed to engage and ignite the firm’s global partnership conference, and it did just that,” says Ben.
The research showed that nearly all (98%) rate Withers quality as ‘outstanding’ or ‘very good’. However, clients’ needs are changing – they expect faster speed of response, greater transparency and are embracing technology. The research gave Withers detailed insight into how they can continue to evolve their service delivery model.
‘The clarity of Meridian’s findings and presentation enabled us to quickly communicate to the partners our strengths and areas for improvement. This in turn was instrumental in shaping our future strategy with regards to client engagement, especially via the use of enhanced technology.’