Every professional services firm claims to be “client-centric”. But here’s the reality that stings: putting it on your website doesn’t make it so.
At Beaton, we’ve been researching client preferences in professional services for more than 20 years. And when we ask clients what truly defines a client-centric firm, their answers often reveal a gap between perception and reality. For many firms, their website slogan of being customer-centric doesn’t translate into consistent behaviour.
To move from “we believe we put clients first” to “our clients say we put clients first,” you have to go straight to the source – ask those clients. True customer-centricity starts with asking directly for feedback, actioning that feedback, and measuring your progress through feedback over time.
The kind of shift that is required to become genuinely client-centric often demands an organisational culture change. In this article we discuss how to make the transition and become known as a firm that embeds client insights into strategy, performance measurement, and daily decision-making.
What is a customer-centric culture?
A genuinely client-centric culture sees the world through clients’ eyes. A customer-centric culture means working according to values, behaviours, and metrics that put clients (rather than your firm’s internal lens) at the centre of every decision. For professional services firms, becoming truly customer-centric demands concrete systems, open feedback loops, and metrics aligned with client outcomes.
When professional services firms shift their thinking from “what’s easiest for us” to “what’s most valuable for them,” they create a customer-centric culture.
“Being client-centric is about really understanding what the client values, what keeps them up at night, and then shaping your approach around that rather than just pushing your own agenda,” says Beaton partner Paul Hugh-Jones.
Being client-centric is about really understanding what the client values, what keeps them up at night, and then shaping your approach around that rather than just pushing your own agenda.
The role of trust in customer-centricity
Client-centricity plays a critical role in building trust, and trust is a powerful differentiator in professional services firm. Amid recent news about declining trust in the Big Four firms, trust is becoming more valuable to your firm than ever before.
Our research finds firms that score high on trust attributes consistently outperform other firms in loyalty, referrals, and charging a fee premium. Trust reduces friction, makes clients more forgiving of occasional mistakes, and increases likelihood of repeat business, upsell, and positive word-of-mouth. A client-centric culture that embeds measurable and authentic trust between clients and the firm delivers both stronger client satisfaction and stronger commercial returns.
In this article we explore in more detail how to build trust with your clients using measurable and actionable levers.
Common roadblocks to client-centricity
Most professional services firms would say they will do whatever it takes to become more client centric. However, good intentions often collide with ingrained habits, systems and incentives. True customer-centricity requires a big organisational culture change. It demands re-engineering how your firm makes decisions, measures success and collaborates across teams.
Becoming a customer-centric professional services firm often requires large-scale organisational change.
1. Busyness
When teams are overloaded with day-to-day work, becoming client-centric can fall down the priority list. This is especially in professional services firms, where billable hour targets still drive work patterns.
“One of the biggest challenges firms face is simply being too busy. Everyone’s heads are down delivering work,” says Hugh-Jones.
“It’s not that firms don’t want to be client-centric, it’s that the day-to-day busyness, particularly around billable work, makes it hard to actually focus on the things that will improve client relationships.”
2. Entrenched partner-centric cultures
Being truly client-centric challenges the traditional partnership model in professional services firms. The ownership mentality of “this is my client” rather than “this is our client” is ingrained for many partners. But it can create a big barrier for clients, who usually benefit from having access to multiple different experts at the same firm. This outdated mindset creates siloed operations, where teams work in isolation rather than aligning around shared client outcomes that benefit the client most.
3. Siloed service delivery
Related to the above point: when different teams within a firm work in isolation, clients receive disjointed communication, inconsistent service, and potentially duplicated effort. This creates frustration for clients while also missing a valuable opportunity: Beaton research has found clients are happier when they can use the same firm for multiple different service lines. In fact, clients report increasingly better outcomes from firms with every additional practice group they utilise. True client-centricity means offering cross-selling opportunities that benefit the client.
“Clients don’t care about internal structures – they just want seamless service. When teams are siloed, you miss opportunities to understand the full picture and to respond proactively,” says Hugh-Jones.
4. Change fatigue
Research shows that 70 per cent of transformation efforts fail due to resistance to change, not the strategy itself. In professional services firms, where billable pressure and client demands are already high, introducing a new client-centric culture can be met with quiet resistance or burnout. Overcoming this requires leadership to set the tone, pace transformation thoughtfully and communicate the “why” behind new client-centric strategies. It helps if those leaders can show tangible evidence that these changes make work smarter, not harder.
5. Lack of meaningful insights
Many firms still rely on anecdotal feedback or informal conversations rather than structured client feedback programs. Others struggle with gathering regular feedback and actioning it systematically. In this firm, for example, client listening became sporadic and resource-intensive before setting up Beaton Debrief to organise and manage surveying clients.
Many firms fail to track metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) or regularly make benchmarking comparisons to similar competitor firms. Without data-driven decision making, they struggle to offer the kind of experience that clients truly value, and fail to improve where they may fall short.
6. Short-term KPIs
We get it – every professional services firm is incredibly busy, operating in an environment that is more competitive than ever before. It can be hard to dedicate time or resources to building long-term loyalty, when most KPIs reward billable hours and revenue targets in the short-term. One way to get around this is shifting to client-centric KPIs such as feedback satisfaction scores, NPS, retention rates, and referrals. This encourages behaviours that build trust and deliver longer-term value. It will also help build a culture that doesn’t just claim to be client-centric, but actually proves it through consistent client experience.
Risks of not being client-centric
Failing to prioritise clients can carry significant consequences for a professional services firm. As Paul Hugh-Jones notes, “If you’re not putting clients at the centre of your thinking, you can deliver technically perfect work but still fall short of what they actually need.”
“You might be leaving revenue on the table because you’re not seeing where clients want more support.”
When firms aren’t truly client-centric, they often miss opportunities to expand relationships or offer services that clients value, directly impacting growth. It can mean walking past chances for cross-selling or upselling, and can even risk losing clients who don’t feel understood or supported.
It’s not just about satisfaction. Trust is crucial, and Paul emphasises that “clients will give you their business again only if they trust you understand and anticipate their priorities.” Growth depends on this understanding, and firms that overlook it risk missing out on both stronger relationships and tangible business results.
Mindset shifts required to become client-centric
To overcome the roadblocks and move towards real customer-centric strategies, people in your firm must start thinking differently. Developing a customer-first mindset means anticipating what clients truly need (often before they articulate it) and aligning your expertise to meet those needs.
Paul Hugh-Jones emphasises the importance of shifting thinking from reactive to proactive care.
“Proactive care is about anticipating client needs rather than just reacting to requests. The best firms are always one step ahead, thinking about what clients might need before they even ask,” he says.
“If you wait for a problem to come to you, you’re already behind. A client-centric approach requires continuous engagement and foresight.”
Your firm also needs to start seeing clients as partners, and projects as partnerships. Research shows customers want relationships with providers and salespeople, not just easy experiences. Developing a partnership where you work together for a common goal strengthens long-term client relationships and drives higher loyalty and retention. Clients will want to work with their “partner” time and again.
Finally, this requires a shift to prioritise lifetime value over the immediate transactions on offer. A client-centric strategy flips the focus from billable hours to lifetime value. Embedding client-centric KPIs such as satisfaction scores, NPS, client experience (CX) and retention rates helps teams measure success through the client’s eyes. In improving the client experience, customer-centricity provides financial benefits that may even outscore traditional metrics. Our research shows better CX drives faster growth, higher repeat business and greater fee growth.
To recap, here are some shifts to focus on internally:
- “What can we sell?” → “What does the client need (now, later, next)?”
- Projects → partnerships
- Billable hours → lifetime value and client retention strategies
- Internal success metrics → client outcomes, satisfaction, loyalty
These mindset shifts have to be loud, visible, rewarded – or they won’t stick.
The importance of leadership in customer-centric culture
We’ve discussed previously how leadership support is integral for any change initiative to succeed. Beaton’s research into client experience in professional services demonstrates the importance of CX leadership in building a client-centric culture. Similarly, in firms building client-centric cultures, every employee should understand and embrace the importance of putting clients first. Everyone is empowered to think and operate for the benefit of clients.
Leaders are instrumental in forging a path for the broader client-centric transformation. One way of doing this is communicating progress and highlighting success stories. Whether it’s a story about a cross-departmental collaboration that solved a client’s challenge or feedback showing improved satisfaction after process changes, these examples build belief and reinforce positive behaviour. They help teams see how their work contributes to the broader client-centric transformation.
Leaders are instrumental in forging a path for the broader client-centric transformation in a professional services firm.
Practical strategies to become more customer-centric
Making the changes we’ve discussed above might seem overwhelming at first. Here are some practical strategies you can put in place to start building client-centricity in your firm.
1. Embed client feedback into everyday operations
Integrating client feedback into daily workflows ensures continuous improvement and responsiveness. Automated survey tools with real-time alerts like Beaton Debrief can manage the survey process for you and collect feedback from clients regularly, reducing the time cost and resources required from your firm internally. Our research over two decades has consistently shown firms who actively gather and act on client feedback enjoy greater client retention and loyalty than those who don’t.
2. Establish cross-functional client teams
Establishing cross-departmental collaboration to service clients promotes a holistic approach to client needs. Break down the siloes between members from business development, marketing, and client services – your firm’s internal collaboration ensures consistent messaging and a unified client experience. This is essential for delivering seamless service and enhancing client satisfaction via cross-selling opportunities.
“Client-centricity isn’t just about your immediate contact. It’s about establishing relationships across multiple teams and service lines so the client feels understood and supported at every level,” adds Hugh-Jones.
3. Key account management to personalise service delivery
Develop a key account management (KAM) strategy to hone your client-centric approach and tailor services to the unique needs of your most important clients. Assign dedicated account managers who deeply understand that client’s business, preferences and challenges, and regularly keep track of their value. Managers should also provide the client with access and touchpoints to multiple experts they may need within the firm (per the above point).
Client-centricity isn’t just about your immediate contact. It’s about establishing relationships across multiple teams and service lines so the client feels understood and supported at every level.
4. Train your team for client-centric business development
Clients of professional services firms today are reporting between 30 to 50 per cent fewer proactive outreach efforts by firms in their industry. When firms do reach out, too often they use “salesy” and generic approaches that focus on selling rather than understanding and assisting clients. Investing in proper BD training that utilises valuable conversation techniques with a client-centric approach, designed to benefit the client first and sell second, can be far more effective.
5. Invest in technology to support client understanding
Implementing advanced technologies like customer relationship management (CRM) systems, NPS tracking and feedback tools enables firms to gather and analyse client data efficiently. These tools facilitate more personalised interactions and proactive service delivery. They also provide a real-time monitoring system for firms to quickly change and adapt when problems arise, enhancing the overall client experience.
Measuring your progress with client-centric KPIs
Tracking progress is critical to reinforcing a client-centric approach and ensuring your changes are delivering tangible results. In a true customer-centric transformation, what gets measured gets managed. Firms that systematically monitor and act on client feedback outperform their peers in retention and profitability. Moreover, this customer-centricity creates a top-tier client experience (CX), which can be the most powerful competitive advantage your firm has.
Our research has found customer-centric firms have leverage to charge higher fees without impacting client perceptions. In fact, clients of firms with the strongest focus on CX are willing to pay more for your work – up to 40 per cent of clients surveyed in our report on The State of Client Experience in Professional Services reported this. This should provide enough incentive to invest in tracking the progress of your customer-centric shift – there are clear financial returns for firms that do.
Start by building a measurement framework that provides insights on how clients feel their interactions with your firm have gone. KPIs should reflect client satisfaction rather than traditional sales metrics or financial benchmarks.
Your new client-centric KPIs could include:
- Client satisfaction scores through regularly surveying your own client base.
- Verbatim feedback opportunities in those surveys to capture immediate experiences and emotional responses.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS) to measure advocacy and referral potential, a leading metric of client-centric success programs.
- Client retention rates via B2B lifetime value, a crucial indicator of loyalty and the strength of long-term client relationships.
- KAM success metrics, analysing retention and repeat engagements from valued clients across multiple services.
- Market benchmarking comparison to understand how your client-centricity measures up against competitor firms (in clients’ eyes).
Celebrating wins publicly and linking them to measurable improvements ensures customer-centricity is a priority for everyone in the firm. As many as 93 per cent of top-performing firms report celebrating the success of team members who deliver excellent CX. Over time, this continuous measurement, feedback, and recognition cycle helps firms sustain focus on what matters most: creating value that clients can see, feel, and measure for themselves.
How Beaton can help your customer-centric transformation
With over 35 years of experience and a vast database encompassing more than 550,000 brand ratings and 220,000 pieces of client feedback, we are uniquely positioned to drive a client-centric transformation for your firm.
Beaton’s suite of client feedback tools, research and training enable you to gather, analyse, and act upon client insights effectively. Some you may choose to leverage include:
- Beaton Debrief is an intuitive online platform that simplifies the process of collecting real-time client feedback, allowing firms to monitor satisfaction levels and identify areas for improvement without the need for extensive resources.
- Beaton Benchmarks is the largest and most comprehensive client sentiment benchmarking study in professional services, providing firms with a comparative analysis of their performance against industry peers. This benchmarking study covers various aspects of client experience, including responsiveness, understanding of client business, and ease of interaction, offering firms actionable insights to enhance their service delivery.
- Bespoke market research that is targets your key strategic objectives and is tailored to your needs can help inform the most important questions your firm is asking. See this case study as an example.
- Business development training tailored to professional services and offered by our partners with a uniquely client-centric approach. Every recommendation we provide is grounded in research into client preferences, plus our partners’ 75+ years of combined experience working in-house in firms just like yours.
- Consulting services that help firms to embed the changes required and establish an ongoing client-centric culture.
Our approach centres on science: using research data, client feedback and market analysis to drive the improvement. We have experience working in and with professional services firms across all industries and can help you to align internal processes and behaviours with client needs.
Conclusion: client-centricity is a journey, not a destination
Becoming truly client-centric has no endpoint. The most successful professional services firms know their customer-centric transformation is ongoing. It requires consistent measurement, honest feedback, and a willingness to change based on what clients tell you.
The rewards are clear. Firms that invest in data-driven decision making, open client feedback programs, and cross-departmental collaboration outperform their peers on both loyalty and profitability. Beaton’s research has shown that firms with the strongest focus on client experience (CX) achieve higher client retention, stronger referral rates, and even greater fee growth. Client-centric strategies strengthen trust and long-term commercial value.
The firms that thrive in the next decade won’t just say they’re client-centric – they’ll prove it. They’ll measure it, celebrate it, and continuously improve it. Because when you build a culture that listens, learns, and acts for the client’s success, your own success inevitably follows.
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