It may be the holy grail of professional services consulting.
For decades, firms have been searching for ways to encourage clients to pay more, recommend their services more often, and return for repeat business. Even better if those clients forgive innocuous mistakes made along the way.
Now, in a first-of-its-kind study Beaton has found client experience – or CX – may be the key differentiator. Firms that enjoy excellent CX uncover the secret to successful and sustainable growth.
How CX builds competitive advantages
The State of Client Experience in Professional Services 2022 was published last week and launched to an audience of virtual attendees in a webinar hosted by Icon APAC and Beaton.
Client experience expert Kim Wiegand describes the research as “groundbreaking.”
“Client experience culture is the single most powerful and sustainable market differentiator for your firm,” Wiegand said, addressing the webinar audience in the keynote address.
“If you get it [client experience] right, clients will refer your firm to 20 per cent more people and they are 2.7 times more likely to pay more than they currently pay. They are 18 times more likely to forgive a mistake.
“If this is not a business case on a page for CX, I’m not sure what is.”
Wiegand has two decades’ experience in marketing and business development. She worked in professional services firms ranging in size from small regional practices to large UK “Magic Circle” firms.
Competitive advantages of excellent CX
The report found firms displaying the most successful investment in CX have unique competitive advantages. They enjoy 7 per cent more satisfied clients than the industry average. Among clients of firms with the strongest focus on CX, 40 per cent of clients indicate they would be prepared to pay higher fees for the same work than they currently do.
The research also uncovered a positive link between CX initiatives and employee satisfaction and engagement. Firms that are investing in successful CX strategies report higher employee net satisfaction scores. Wiegand notes this has important ramifications for staff retention amid the current war for talent.
We know and the data shows there is a significant correlation between EX [employee experience] and CX … Investment and development [in staff CX skills] is a key part of talent retention and motivation strategies
The report defines client experience (CX) as “the net value of clients’ perceptions and feelings resulting from all interactions with a firm’s brand, people, products and services”. It notes that the impact of ‘customer experience’ has long been studied in business-to-consumer (B2C) sectors like retail. However, until now, the experience of clients in the professions is less widely understood and researched.
Using CX as a market differentiator
“CX at the moment is huge. And, from my perspective, coming out of the pandemic it has never been more important,” says ICON APAC President Fraser McNaughton, who hosted the webinar launch event and also wrote the foreword to the report.
“Post-pandemic, clients are waking up to new priorities and the age-old ways of doing things are no longer enough to differentiate a firm in the market.”
Previous research by Beaton demonstrates what clients are looking for in firms they use. This study for the first time looks into how succeeding firms are executing a CX agenda across a significant sample size.
Wiegand says the report could be a game-changer for firms wondering how to improve or build their market differentiation. The extensive data essentially provides a guidebook for impressing new and returning clients and winning repeat business through CX.
“Ultimately client experience and your focus on client experience needs to be commercial,” she told the webinar.
“It’s not just the warm fluffies, while we talk about feelings and perceptions, that’s really important. But this is actually about the impact on your firm’s bottom line!”
Beaton Executive Chairman George Beaton emphasised CX represented a new frontier for professional services firms’ differentiation strategies and profitable growth.
“At Beaton we have long known improving client experience and avoiding poor client experience supports profitable growth,” he writes.
“Clients have consistently told us this in our research. This report provides through an operational lens what successful firms are doing differently in CX, and how they are winning.”
Survey - key facts
- Survey on the State of Client Experience in Professional Services 2022 was distributed to practitioners and CX decision makers in June 2022
- 148 data points per respondent
- 264 individuals responded
- Answers came from key CX decision makers in 199 firms
- Data was weighted to ensure multiple responses from separate individuals at each firm did not skew the overall results.
Download the CX report here or watch the webinar in full below.