Case Study: Maintaining Trusted Advisor Status

Research to stay close to clients through understanding wants, needs and preferences.

How Penningtons Manches Cooper equipped its team to deepen key client relationships.

BACKGROUND

Foot Anstey is a leading legal practice with a rich history and entrepreneurial spirit, serving regional, national, and international clients. Guided by values like collaboration, aspiration, and integrated thinking, it is dedicated to becoming a trusted advisor.

Stretching back to 2016, the firm has captured client feedback in adapting to ever-changing client needs. For 2024, the aim was to not only assess service experience but also understand the relative importance of various value-added initiatives and its performance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) priorities.

Chorus has been instrumental in bringing the client voice to our business, informing our strategic thinking and planning. The insights have helped us identify areas for improvement, growth opportunities and influenced where we place our efforts going forward.

Emma Hayward – Head of Client Programmes

SOLUTION

Chorus conducted an engaging, user-friendly online survey, collecting insights from multiple contacts across 65 client organizations. The research highlights included:

• Benchmarking: Comparing performance against other market-leading firms.

• Trend Analysis: Tracking service and value performance trends 2016 to 2024.

• Competitor Insights: Gathering detailed information on 14 direct competitors.

• Client Priorities: Identifying the most valuable value-added.

• Sector Comparison: Highlighting strengths and weaknesses by sectors.

• Brand Perception: Insights into client perceptions of the firm’s market position.

• ESG Sentiment Analysis: Assessing client views on the firm’s ESG performance.

The research offered a dual perspective: granular insights at the individual client level and a comprehensive view of broader trends.

IMPACT

Every survey response was transformed into a tailored respondent report, enabling the firm to take immediate account-level action by addressing concerns and capitalizing on opportunities.

An interactive reporting dashboard provided management with visibility into broader trends, while a comprehensive board-level report was prepared for presentation at the partner conference. This report played a key role in mobilizing the partnership to drive change and improvement.

Foot Anstey has continued its entrepreneurial journey, achieving record-breaking turnover, expanding its lawyer headcount, and expanding its footprint to Manchester.