Data-Driven L&D: Combining client and employee insights to transform client experiences

Meridian West’s proprietary client listening data reveals a concerning trend: client satisfaction with professional services firms is declining since COVID, dropping from a high of 8.7 to 7.8 in 2024. The same pain points emerge repeatedly in client feedback – a lack of commercial awareness, poor communication, and insufficient proactivity.

Responding to the challenge

How can firms respond to the challenge? The answer, as posited during our recent Client First webinar, lies in undertaking a dual-analysis approach to learning & development. One that considers client perspectives alongside internal behavioural insights, to pinpoint precise skills gaps and broader, cultural areas for improvement.

During the webinar, we shared findings from our ongoing client-facing skills focused research, the Client First Diagnostic, which examines the client-facing behaviours that professionals practice at each stage of the ‘client journey’, benchmarking them against peers of similar experience levels. The results are striking:

• 25% of junior professionals (0-3 years Post Qualified Experience) have never proactively suggested ideas to clients beyond their immediate matter
• Less than 20% regularly research their clients' business needs and sector developments
• Only 40% of technically focused juniors are satisfied with their long-term career prospects

Significantly, professionals who regularly engage with clients ("Client Champions") report 80% satisfaction with their career prospects – double that of peers who spend their time more exclusively on internally-facing and task-focused activities. This correlation between active client relationship involvement and employee satisfaction presents a clear opportunity for firms to simultaneously address both client service excellence and talent retention.

Nigel Spencer, Director at The Hub for Professional Practice, Queen Mary University of London School of Law, who co-created the “Client First Diagnostic” with us and the team at PQE.legal, emphasised the transformative impact of early client exposure when he was working in firms:

"What really accelerated their development was putting them in that client environment. When we did this, the only problem I had was clients wanting even more junior professionals involved the following year! Clients loved having the junior lawyers in their offices, pushing forward projects and generating ideas to evolve the commercial aspects of their businesses – and the junior lawyers themselves got a real buzz out of being connected in this work from early in their careers too."

Stephen Newton, Consultant at Meridian West, and a highly experienced advisor to professional services firms, reinforced why relationship-building capabilities are now crucial differentiators:

"Many professionals can do the technical stuff. The reason clients hire particular firms is because of the relationships they perceive can be built over the long term."

The message is clear: early client exposure not only accelerates professional development but creates a virtuous cycle of engagement, with satisfied professionals building stronger client relationships that benefit both individual careers, and firm-wide performance.

The Power of Cross-Source Analysis

Meridian West's unique approach to client-facing skills development combines systematic analysis of firms’ client feedback, paired with employee insights, derived through the Client First diagnostic. The insights from this cross-source analysis enable firms to:

1. Identify precise skill gaps across practice areas – and where different practice areas are involving their teams more, or less, in specific client-facing activity
2. Understand both the symptoms (client feedback) and root causes of client pain points (professional behaviours)
3. Target L&D investments with a far higher levels of accuracy
4. Deliver data-driven, and highly bespoke skills development materials, workshops, and coaching
5. Identify opportunities for boosting client interaction among junior staff – which enhance engagement and retention

This approach helps L&D leaders see exactly where and why client service is falling short, and exactly what their professionals need, in order to address it.

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Want to transform your firm's approach to L&D and client service? Meridian West is offering complimentary access to the Client First diagnostic tool. The 10-minute assessment benchmarks your professionals' client-facing capabilities and provides actionable insights for development.

Get in touch with Meridian West to:

• Access the Client First diagnostic for your firm
• Learn about our bespoke client-facing skills workshops
• Discover how our cross-source analysis approach can enhance your L&D strategy

Contact: Peter Vaughan-Fowler, Senior Consultant, Meridian West

[email protected]