Clients might rate an attribute, such as training, low on their relative scale of importance, yet that rating may be dragged down because the law department trained poorly . If so, clients might not understand how valuable and important training can be.
If management of outside counsel expenses comes back as having low importance scores, it might be that the department hasn’t given clients a clue about the cost of external counsel. (See my post of Oct. 26,2005 on client satisfaction surveys and making a gap analysis.)
The learning from this is that a department should not take at face value low scores from clients on satisfaction. Assure yourself that the clients are able to make an informed decision.