Hogan Lovells Case Study: Building Blocks of An Effective Key Client Program

Clients are looking for trusted advisors in their law firms — lawyers who know their business almost better than they do themselves. They are looking for firms to serve as partners to address challenges and provide seamless service across all aspects of the relationship.

A firm that can deliver outstanding experience consistently across all practices that serve the client can be a real differentiator in developing a truly institutionalized or "sticky" relationship. This is where a key client program offers great value. It provides a structure to identify and systemize the common ingredients needed to reach this level of relationship — and maintain it.

While we talk about structure, we also recognize the need for flexibility, as individual client relationships and their needs vary. The ultimate focus should be on continually monitoring results and capturing learnings from one client that can be used with others in the portfolio.

4 Elements for a Strong Key Client Program

The Hogan Lovells Global Client Program was launched roughly five years ago and currently comprises approximately 100 clients chosen annually, with the aim of focusing our resources to provide that excellent client experience  Here are a few key elements that structure our program:

Sector Focus

To understand our clients, we must have deep insights into the markets they operate in. That’s why our client program is built around our sector strengths. We select clients in these sectors to be included in the program and review them annually. The sector approach allows us to segment the portfolio and facilitates idea sharing to support client needs holistically.

Relationship Categories

Clients are classified within the program by stage of the relationship. Is it already an institutionalized client where we are deeply embedded? If so, our focus is on maintaining and nurturing the relationship. Is it a client for which we have deep relationships in certain areas, with room to expand further? Here, the focus is on widening the relationship by breaking into new areas. The type of resources we invest in are different for each category to ensure alignment with these objectives.

Client Support

The legal expertise we bring to the table isn’t the only thing that influences overall client experience. In addition to partner leads, a member of our marketing and business development team acts as an account manager, with a key focus on growing our relationship in line with the client’s needs and expectations. We also include members from our business services teams to ensure key firm areas that influence the client journey are in sync. This often includes knowledge management, finance, conflicts, legal project management and pricing teams.

Client Feedback

Client service is not one size fits all, so feedback from the client is critical to a best-in-class approach. We’ve worked hard to make feedback-seeking a standard practice at our firm. We ask clients for post-matter, post-pitch and annual relationship feedback, and we also capture informal feedback received along the way. Hearing directly from our clients allows us to better understand what they want and need from our firm. If something works, they tell us; if it doesn’t, they tell us. More importantly, we focus on acting on this feedback. (More on this below.)

Defining Success in a Key Client Program 

There are several essential items to an effective key client program:

• Client selection: It can be easy to focus on obvious financial metrics in selecting a portfolio of key clients. However, additional factors that influence success include the amount of engagement from client relationship partners, how receptive the client is to building a partnership with the firm and having access to the right contacts within the client’s organization.
• Reviewing progress: Consistent check-ins are critical. Use a mix of financial and non-financial metrics — team engagement, client feedback, market penetration, practice development, etc. This isn’t limited to evaluating performance; it’s also an opportunity to discuss issues and share ideas when things aren’t working well.
• Translating feedback into action: It’s important to act on all client feedback, positive or negative. This is a key driver in developing evolving client action plans. Discuss with lawyers exactly what was conveyed by the client and decide what action is needed to respond, as well as who is responsible for delivering on it, to improve the client experience.

Lessons Learned Along the Way

In the five years that Hogan Lovell has run its Global Client Program, there are a few lessons learned worth imparting.

• Go for a simple and flexible approach: Don’t be overly prescriptive about how each team needs to operate. Every client is different, and teams should adapt their style to what suits the client. Be open to experimenting.
• Maintain client-facing and internal-facing focuses: Define base-level requirements for client teams that focus on client-facing goals and internal-facing requirements. Encourage teams to progress on both simultaneously. It can be easy for teams to get tied up with the internal piece. While this is important, ensure it doesn’t roadblock opportunities for client touchpoints.
• Build action-based client plans: Client teams can be enthusiastic, suggesting ideas in all directions of areas to develop. Plans need to be kept manageable in size and action-based so that teams stay focused. Set three to five goals and actions each year, focused on areas to grow or protect in the client relationship. Always identify who is responsible for moving these actions forward.
• Equip teams for success: Provide regular internal training to lawyers and account managers around specific areas of client development and relationship management. This includes developing best practice templates and tools, sharing success stories and bringing teams on similar clients together to exchange ideas.

Effectiveness of the Client Program

We’re happy when our clients are happy and the relationship is working for them. Through our client feedback exercises, we’ve been able to measure the results our key client program is bringing. As shown by the testimony below, this feedback provides proof that we are creating “sticky” relationships benefitting both sides:

"The team consistently goes above and beyond… They are a hands-on team that consistently provides the best service and prioritizes knowledge and client relationships."

Our clients continue to push the bar higher, with the contours of great client service constantly changing. The ongoing challenge is to keep our client program agile enough to respond to new expectations.