Considering a rebrand? You’d better switch on those listening ears!

In professional services, a brand must represent trust, expertise, reputation, and relationships. That’s the standard price of admission, the absolute bare minimum.

Beyond that it must differentiate you, tell your story, align with your clients…represent you when you’re not in the room. That’s a lot to achieve and that’s why brand refreshes, or complete rebrands, are such important strategic exercises for firms across the industry.

How do you stand out in a sea of ‘client centric’, ‘innovative’, ‘straight talking’, ‘commercially minded’, ‘relationship driven’, ‘full service’, ‘trusted advisers’, that make up most professional services website home pages.   

For any brand project, the discovery phase is one of the most valuable stages. Before creative work begins, agencies and consultants need to understand the organisation from both an internal and external perspective.

Ultimately, the most successful professional services brands are not built purely on what businesses want to say about themselves. They are built on a genuine understanding of how clients experience and value them.

This is where a lot of firms stumble…at the first hurdle…with most discovery focusing on the leadership team, partner cohorts, and internal workshops across the business. Some client feedback may take place, but it’s often considered a bit awkward, inconvenient, or even troublesome.

While internal opinions are important, and your brand certainly has to represent the place your people recognise as the place they work, client feedback often reveals the most valuable insights. Professional services firms are frequently surprised by what clients value most and these insights help shape the strategic direction of the entire brand project.

Now, before we get into things, I am going to address two famous quotes head on:

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Henry Ford*

“People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Steve Jobs

It is not unusual for people to quote these to me when discussing client listening full stop, let alone in relation to a brand refresh. So, let’s discuss.

Ultimately, I agree, no client is going to say, “what you need is a more contemporary visual identity, refined positioning, and clearer market messaging.” Nor are they going to explore the intricacies of your verbal or behavioural brand. That is not their role. They will not provide the creative solution, but they will reveal the perceptions, frustrations, emotional drivers, and experiences that should inform it.

They may say things like:

• “Your website doesn’t reflect the quality of your people.”

• “You feel more premium than your competitors.”

• “We value your responsiveness more than your technical expertise, which is a given.”

• “You’re only known for [x], and we didn’t realise your coverage of [y]”

• “We find you easier to work with/more approachable than our other lawyers”

• “Your business has evolved far beyond its current brand.”

• “To us your competitors are…”

• “We instruct you in spite of your branding” (genuine comment received)

Those insights are incredibly valuable.

The Henry Ford and Steve Job arguments are often used to dismiss client feedback, when actually they prove the opposite. Success doesn’t come from ignoring people, it comes from understanding them deeply. Customers may not describe the final solution perfectly, but they do understand their frustrations, habits, and unmet needs.

So no, your clients will not describe exactly what your brand should be, but they absolutely reveal how your brand is currently experienced in the market, the good and the bad, and agencies and consultants can translate those insights into a stronger strategic and creative direction.

Why Client Listening Matters

Client listening helps agencies and consultants understand:

• Why clients choose the firm

• What differentiates the business

• Which parts of the experience build trust

• Whether current messaging reflects reality

• Where gaps exist between perception and positioning

This information becomes the foundation for brand strategy, messaging, tone of voice, visual identity, and client experience alignment. Without client insight, branding risks becoming an internal exercise and reflecting internal structure and, dare I say it…politics, based on assumptions rather than evidence.

The Value of Collaboration

The strongest branding projects happen when leadership teams, clients, design agencies, and brand consultants work collaboratively. Client listening bridges the gap between strategy and creativity and it gives agencies the context needed to create brands that feel authentic, differentiated, and commercially credible.

*caveat: there’s no solid evidence that Henry Ford actually said this. Researchers and publications like Harvard Business Review note that the quote is probably misattributed.