Jonathan Wold writes in Smashing Magazine about his design firm’s experience when they stopped responding to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and started writing (and charging for) “Project Evaluations” instead.

His firm defines “project evaluation” as:

a detailed plan for the work that is to be done on a project, and explains how we do it. We eliminate the guess work, and detail the project out at such a level that the document becomes a living part of the development process, being referred back to and acting as the guide towards the project’s successful completion.

And here’s their experience:

A few years back, we decided to try something new. A potential client approached us and rather than preparing another project proposal, we offered the client what we now call a “Project Evaluation.” We charged them a fixed price for which we promised to evaluate the project, in all of our areas of expertise, and give them our recommendations.

They agreed, paid the price, and we set out to deliver. We put a lot of effort into that evaluation. We were in new territory and we wanted to make sure that we delivered it well. So we finished the report and sent it to them. The client liked it, agreed with our recommendations, and started a contract with us to do the work.

That project became a game changer for us, starting an on-going relationship that opened doors into a new market. It was the process of the evaluation itself that brought the new market potential to our attention, and gave us the opportunity to develop this business model. It was a definite win, and one that a project proposal couldn’t have delivered.

The real benefit to his firm (and the client)?  The freedom to dream:

Occasionally, we spend more time on an evaluation than we had initially expected. But knowing how our time is valued has given us the freedom to explore options and make recommendations that we might not have made otherwise. In our experience, the extra time and energy that the context of a paid evaluation provides for a project has consistently brought added value to the project, and contributed to its ultimate success.

I can think of quite a few lawyers who’d benefit from this same approach.  How about you?  How would a paid-for evaluation improve your shot at landing a great client (while delivering them significant value in the process)?

Here’s a fascinating article in Forbes about Apple and its reliance upon Fred Reichheld’s Net Promoter Score (NPS).  The NPS is a ratio of people who promote your product (promoters) against those who don’t (detractors).  It is calculated based upon their answer to a single question:

How likely is it that you will recommend this product or service to a friend or colleague? 

There’s lots of good stuff in the article, but the thing that stood out to me was not that Apple used the NPS to measure customer satisfaction (after all, lots of companies do), but rather what action Apple took when it got a poor score:

At Apple, store managers call every detractor within 24 hours. Initially, they found there were some detractors they couldn’t reach. Subsequent studies showed that detractors that they did reach purchased substantially  more Apple products and services than the others. Further studies showed that every hour spent calling detractors was generating more than $1,000 in revenue or additional sales of $25 million in the first year, which was a good return on the investment. (p.156)

In traditional management, where customers are secondary, the expense of following up with customers would seem like the first kind of expense to cut in a crunch. With these numbers in hand, Apple’s managers realize that this is one of the last things that should be cut.

Most lawyers I know chalk up unhappy customers as a cost of doing business.  It isn’t that the lawyers don’t care, they just realize that often clients are facing a multitude of unpleasant circumstances when they seek out an attorney (divorce, DUI, injury, death in the family, etc.) and will direct some of that displeasure to their lawyer as well.

What I wonder is whether or not a lawyer who begins measuring their firm’s Net Promoter Score will see similar results as Apple has by following up with the detractors as quickly as Apple has.  If you’re doing this already, let me know.  I’d love to learn more about your experience.