Client listening with Client Talk's Anna Lake

In this insightful episode, Anna Lake of Client Talk discusses the merger of her consultancy with Claire Raison’s and their shared mission to improve client listening and experience for law firms across the UK and beyond. Anna outlines the multifaceted services they offer, from consultancy and training to a supportive community for firms conducting their own listening exercises.

A central theme is the importance of commitment at three levels – firm-wide, individual partner, and client variety – to create a meaningful client listening programme. Anna stresses the need for law firms to engage not only satisfied clients but also those with criticisms, as the richest insights often stem from less positive feedback. She advocates for independent voices in the process, ensuring unbiased input.

Client Talk’s “Gather, Reflect, Act” framework enables firms to collect feedback, consider it holistically, and implement changes that close the feedback loop. This approach helps firms tackle points of friction such as onboarding or billing, and identify opportunities like cross-selling or training.

Anna also emphasises listening beyond clients – to teams, support staff, and referrers – to foster a culture of responsiveness and continuous improvement. She advocates blending qualitative and quantitative feedback for richer insights and explains how thoughtful reporting and storytelling around feedback strengthens internal engagement.

Key challenges addressed include demonstrating ROI, fostering psychological safety, and improving soft skills like giving and receiving feedback. Anna notes that firms often overemphasise technical skill development at the expense of relationship-building and internal collaboration.

The episode closes with encouraging signs from the latest Professional Services Marketing Survey, revealing a small but meaningful increase in law firms actively engaging in client listening, signalling growing recognition of its strategic value.