Mike Phillips presents at Axium User Conference on Friday, October 23rd

DesignFacilitator’s Mike Phillips will be presenting seminars on Client Feedback on Friday, October 23 at 10:15am and 1:15pm Axium’s User Conference in Portland, Oregon.  Phillips will detail the simple strategies to improve the understanding between designers and their clients using client feedback.

Mike Phillips presenting at Buildex Seattle on Oct.15

DesignFacilitator’s Mike Phillips will be presenting an educational session on Thursday, October 15 at 1:00pm entitled “Using Client Feedback to Improve Your Firm’s Prosperity,” at Buildex Seattle.  This case study will detail the simple strategies found to improve the understanding between designers and their clients.

Best Firm to Work for Summit is next week!

The Best Firm to Work for Summit is coming up next week (September 22-23) in Chicago.  

DesignFacilitator is proud to be sponsoring this event and to annouce that Mike Phillips will be presenting  a session on Tuesday at 11:15 am entitled “How to Use a Client Feedback System to Improve Your Firm’s Prosperity.”  He should know, his firm, Phillips Architecture, won several ZweigWhite Best Firm to Work For awards the first year that his office incorporated a client feedback system, and is up for more awards this year.

Here’s a brief description of the event from the site http://www.bestfirmsummit.com/.

Presented by CE News, Structural Engineer, The Zweig HR Letter and the Environmental Business Journal, the two-day conference will explore topics such as retaining top talent in tough times, workforce planning in an economic downturn, firm cultures that motivate and inspire commitment, retooling your current workforce, diversification strategies, staffing and cash flow, managing overhead, training and workforce development, benefits integration, legal issues, and best practices, as well as provide unlimited networking opportunities for all involved in the business of architecture, engineering, and environmental consulting.

PSMJ’s Premier Award for Client Satisfaction

DesignFacilitator is pleased to announce a partnership with PSMJ for their Premier Award for Client Satisfaction!

PSMJ has partnered with DesignFacilitator, creators of the only feedback tool designed specifically for the architecture and engineering community, to operate feedback collection for PSMJ’s Premier Award for Client Satisfaction.  The program uses feedback from design firms’ clients to identify some of the best A/E/C firms across the nation.  You can enroll to participate ($495) here.   For a limited time, participants can receive the entire cost of their entry fee back if they subscribe to our Client Feedback Tool.

Upon joining the program, PSMJ will send participants a link to the participation form at DesignFacilitator’s website.

Participants will enter their contact details and the names/emails of the clients they would like surveyed.

The DesignFacilitator team will contact participants with further details and instructions including guidance on how to introduce the survey to your clients, with strategies to maximize your return rate.

A week later, the survey will be sent using DesignFacilitator’s Client Feedback Tool.  Those who would like to receive a sample of the survey may request one by emailing PSMJ@designfacilitator.com.

The results will be collected over 30 days.  Within two weeks of completion, participants will receive a copy of the results, both a summary and detailed responses.   Participants’ results will only be collated and delivered to PSMJ for purpose of the award rankings, and will not be published in any way to anyone else.

When the results from all participants are in and the program is over, awards will be determined based on the quantity and quality of feedback received, using DesignFacilitator’s “Feedback Quotient” formula.  The 2009 award winners will be announced in February 2010 and featured at PSMJ’s Circle of Excellence Conference in March 2010.

All participants will also be entitled to a $495 discount on subscriptions to DesignFacilitator’s Client Feedback Tool purchased within 60 days of program completion.  For more details contact us at 866-4-DES-FAC or answers@designfacilitator.com.

Mike Phillips to present webinar with Axium on April 9th

Feedback Case Study: Discovering Expectations Early

Feedback collected early in a project’s lifecycle critically affects many projects to better results. Marc Christopher and Jason Byrd, architects at Phillips Architecture in Raleigh, NC, share an experience that occurred in the schematic design phase of a new activity center for a local church.

Having used a previously successful process to collect programming information about the project, Marc and Jason met with the client to review the initial schematic designs. The meeting went smoothly, and both left feeling the project was on track. However, after a survey was sent to the eight participants, two attendees rated the efforts “needing improvement.”

Surprised, Jason quickly followed up, and discovered that these project participants hadn’t been through an architectural project of this nature before – and therefore had no basis to set expectations for what a schematic design was, nor what the deliverables from that phase included. After some discussion (and education) everyone was up to speed. Subsequent surveys revealed a very high level of excellence, consistently exceeding the client’s more informed expectations. The project resolved successfully. Of the experience, Jason says, “Had we never sent a survey requesting feedback, we would have been oblivious to the client’s feelings as to where we stood to date.” Armed with this information, Jason could adjust expectations accordingly by walking through the project’s process clearly.

Taking the lesson learned more broadly, Marc and Jason now approach new projects differently. Rather than take for granted an understanding of the architectural project’s process and deliverables, an initial project conversation is held to:

• Clearly quantify expectations for the next deliverable.
• Establish a clear timeline to meet those expectations.
• Communicate any deviations in advance.

“While these items may seem obvious, we sometimes take for granted that we are delivering in accordance with our clients expectations, ” says Marc.

Recent projects have accordingly seen consistently high marks across the board, as the improved processes are taking place.

DesignFacilitator Sponsors
PSMJ Circle of Excellence 2009

DesignFacilitator is sponsoring PSMJ’s Circle of Excellence Conference in Orlando March 19 & 20, 2009.   Visit our table to learn more about our Client Feedback Tool and what it can do to increase the prosperity of your A/E firm.

“PSMJ’s Circle of Excellence represents the top 20% of firms participating in PSMJ’s Financial Performance Survey that achieve the best overall business performance in the A/E industry.

This distinction is awarded based upon a combination of 11 performance benchmarks that measure business operations in terms of profitability, growth, cash flow, overhead control, business development, project performance, and employee satisfaction. As a group, PSMJ’s 2008 Circle of Excellence firms averaged 21% revenue growth, 27% profits (as a percentage of net revenues) and less than 10% employee turnover.

PSMJ’s 2009 Circle of Excellence Conference is going to be held on March 19-20, 2009 in Orlando, Florida.”  – PSMJ Resources, Inc.