Feedback, Trust, and Anonymity

One of my guilty pleasures is making sure I catch Scott Adams’ Dilbert cartoon every morning.  Today’s is genius (at least, for those of us in the business of feedback).  In three panes, Adams succinctly captures the challenges and pitfalls of so many efforts to collect feedback.

Anonymous surveys that collect demographic or statistical information can be very useful.  However, surveys collecting feedback – particularly when that feedback about a service – are challenged greatly when attempted anonymously.

Fundamentally, the goal of collecting feedback is to understand his unique preferences and adjust your processes to fit his style accordingly.  Feedback of this nature is inherently personal and unique.  Providing a service (whether it be managing employees like the Pointy Haired Boss, or providing engineering expertise to a client) is not just a technical proposition.  Services are provided by people to people.  And since we’re all different and have individual preferences and approaches, there is no one-size-fits-all methodology.

Understanding this concept unveils the first challenge of anonymous feedback.  When no name is attached to the feedback, it can’t directly benefit the respondent.   When you receive anonymous feedback, and 99 out of 100 people love the way you do something, how much effect does the one dissenter have on your approach?  You aren’t going to change everything for one person.  However, if you knew who that one person was, you could adjust the process just for him (assuming it made business sense to do so).

Secondly, anonymous feedback demonstrates real challenges with trust.  The respondent can’t trust you to actually do anything about the feedback given (because, after all, you don’t know who gave it).  Or, he doesn’t trust the actual anonymity of the feedback.  With all the tracking and tricks of technology today, how often do you really believe your anonymous feedback is truly a secret?  Worse, what if you ask for feedback anonymously, and (without trying to) you figure out who gave challenging information.  Now, you really want to respond, and fix the problem – but doing so is going to violate the “trust” you offered the client by offering an anonymous survey in the first place.

But what about the good anonymity provides?  Won’t my clients be more honest?

Actually, you can get great, honest feedback, and get more of it – if the right person asks the right questions – to the right person at the right time.  Therein lies the challenge of building a great feedback process.  The most important aspect of collecting feedback from clients is to be sure the feedback is about the client – not about you.  If you collect feedback  in a manner that unveils the client’s preferences, and you respond by specifically helping the client more according to his expectations, trust is created.  When you prove to the client that feedback matters, and that you act upon it, there is no need for anonymity to get honest feedback.

That is the paradigm where the healthiest relationships are developed and were lasting client loyalty is built.

How to Eliminate 83% of Your Client Problems

How do you measure the results collecting feedback has on your business?  Anecdotally, we have heard from many of our Feedback Tool clients that certain situations were brought to light -avoiding problems before they became big.  Client’s seem happier.   Profits have improved.   Those are all great success stories, and we love hearing them.

But we wanted to dig deeper, and let the actual clients surveyed tell the story, from their perspective.

We analyzed all the feedback collected in the last two years. 24% of all replies included a score below “Met Expectations.” We then selected just the cases where someone who gave a low score at least once later responded to another survey from the same person.

We found 1,121 vendor-client relationships that had feedback collected a second time after a low score was given.

In these relationships, the occurrence of scores below “Met Expectations” went DOWN by over 83%. In essence, those who collected feedback and got a low score were able to adjust and demonstrably improve their service to those clients.

Would you like to eliminate 83% of your client problems?

In addition to an overall lower rate of low scores, the overall average scores went up noticeably as well.  If we draw a line for all feedback collected before the low score occurred, and compare it to all feedback collected after, we see the ratings move from just barely meeting expectations to consistently exceeding expectations.

When you can exceed your client’s expectations, you will keep them around – building loyalty and maximizing the value of your relationship.

If you aren’t already asking, don’t assume your clients are telling you everything.  When you ask for feedback, you will discover opportunities to improve.  Even better, once you discover a problem, the data shows you can fix it.

If you want to find out how we can help you find these opportunities quickly, contact us at:

answers@designfacilitator.com   or   866-4-DES-FAC

Incoming! It’s a Feedback Grenade!

I had my car in for some work last week.  The shop, as innovative and forward-thinking as they are, actually have a feedback system in place.  I was delighted to see a service business taking feedback seriously.  I was so impressed, I even took a picture of their system!

Is this what your feedback program looks like?

How does this make you feel as a client?

More importantly, is this the message you give to your clients when they provide feedback?  Research indicates the overwhelming majority of professional services firms (architects, engineers, lawyers, etc) do not solicit feedback from their clients.   And yet, feedback is critical to your ability to serve, keep, and profit from your clients.

Some clients are bold enough to provide feedback, at least once, even if you don’t ask for it.  Your response, though, will dictate exactly how much more feedback you will get from them.  When you get feedback, are you the grenade?  Do you get defensive and start spreading blame like shrapnel in all directions?  If lodging a complaint (or even giving constructive criticism)  feels like pulling the pin on this example to the right, how many clients are going to keep on complaining?

While we all want our clients to stop complaining or criticizing, making them afraid to do so will only further the speed at which they take their projects (and corresponding fees) somewhere else.  Rather, we want more feedback – in the form of praise!  Now you can turn clients into allies – loyal consumers of your services, and champions of yours when referrals are requested.

Here are three fairly basic approaches to help you become adept at avoiding shrapnel, and encourage your clients to give you more feedback.

1. Respond without reacting.  When criticism comes in, realize it’s not personal, but really just information.  Your client is training you to help him better.  I know it sometimes feels like an attack on you, your character, and your self-worth.  It’s not.  Feedback is always more about who’s giving the feedback than who it’s about.  Understand what your client is trying to accomplish with this information.   He’s got a problem, he hired you to help him with it, and now there’s another problem to deal with.  Instead of trying to explain how it’s not your fault, be very interested in his problem, and how you can fix it.  ”Oh, wow.  That does sound like a problem.  How can I help you fix that?  Is there anything else we can do to avoid going down this road again?”  If there are other people involved, and you are the one that takes this approach, you’ve just risen above the crowd and earned a huge dose of respect from the client (and probably your peers too).
2. Focus on the process not the people. People don’t intend to screw up.  When stuff goes awry, look at the process used.  If you focus on the people involved, the conversation turns to blame.  The best that can happen here is someone else gets to “pay” for the problem.   This builds conflict between you, your team, and your client.  Conflict is not healthy when trying to build effective processes.  If instead, talk about the process that resulted in the undesirable outcome, and cement your role as the leader steering the team (regardless of what your business card title says).  By pointing fingers at a process – which is emotionless and easy to adjust, you don’t have to try to change people.  A process can be documented, explained, understood, and modified on the fly to produce different results.  Draw the process on a white board with everyone involved.  Act as the recorder, asking which processes work best for each person, and build consensus on a client-focused plan.  If the client designs the process, he will take more ownership of the results.  More importantly, you’ve again been trained as his expert – worth a premium price so he doesn’t have to deal with this again with someone else.
3. Ask for feedback often!  When your clients see you as a grenade, ready to explode, they are less likely to train you to expert status.  But, asking for feedback in a soft, friendly, comfortable manner will diffuse challenging situations before they get big.  You will create a feedback habit with your clients, and they will be much more engaged in helping you help them.  It’s their process now too, so they want it to succeed.  Follow up to check on how changes to your service are working, measure the results, and adjust your course when needed.

Over time, you will build a level of trust, loyalty, and expertise with your clients that no other professional will be able to match.  Now you can be “the guy” he goes to.  You can charge a fee that’s great for you, for a service that’s great for him.  Even better, no one has to pick shrapnel out of their hides.

Feedback On Purpose

Get more feedback! Who thinks that’s a great idea (obviously, we do)?  Feedback connects you to your clients and helps you increase your value to them.  Feedback is one of many ways to increase your prosperity and the health of your business.  Let’s look at a list of ways to be better businesses:

• Get More Feedback
• Work Harder
• Work Faster
• Charge More
• Make Fewer Mistakes
• Etc

At some point we’ve all talked about ways to make our businesses better, and most ideas end up as a list like that.  No one would argue that they’re good things to have on a list, but how often do we actually have any idea of how do anything on that list?

Let’s look at “working harder” as an example.  You’re helping build a house, and the foreman yells for you to work harder.  It’s your job to carry lumber.  You could just pick up the boards and start walking around the house.  You’re working harder.  Or, you could figure out who needs what boards, where, and when, and deliver them before they are needed.  You’re still working harder – but you’ve got a plan and a purpose for what you’re doing.

Similarly, “Getting More Feedback” requires a purpose and a plan in order to provide the maximum benefit to your business.  Without knowing why you’re collecting feedback, you won’t know what feedback to gather.  When feedback comes in, you don’t know what to do with it.   The feedback just sits there, cold and lonely and wondering why someone even bothered to ask.  (So does your client, by the way).

Feedback helps firms do some amazing things.  We’ve identified nine key benefits, though certainly others apply.  From this list (or yours) pick ONE or TWO that you really want to focus on:

• Build Client Loyalty
• Market to Clients Effectively
• Increase Profitability
• Improve Firm Management
• Reduce Firm Liability
• Identify Patterns for Desired Outcomes
• Strengthen Staff Performance
• Promote Staff Satisfaction
• Increase Staff Retention

Once you have a purpose in mind, focus on a plan for how to obtain the desired benefits.  Our Client Feedback Tool has built in processes to help (and even automate) feedback collection in a standardized, methodical manner.

Consider the following example:

Your firm has been hit with reduced profits since the recession began.  You may have laid off staff, reduced hours, or cut benefits in response.  Your staff are scared, your reserves dwindling, and what you really need most right now is a boost in profits to help ride out the storm.  You identify your primary purpose for collecting feedback is to increase profitability.

Knowing what you want to accomplish, you can now put together a plan.  You determine that winning more proposals – without having to undercut your competitors – would quickly boost billable time.  Likewise, your firm has a history of being unable to bill for change orders late in the project – costing you time that can’t be billed.

First, you decide to collect feedback with a standard survey immediately after submitting each proposal.  The questions are focused on how well the proposal responded to the client’s stated requirements.  As the client engages in giving you feedback (before he’s awarded the project), he’s really training you on how to do his work better.  In addition, he now knows you know what he needs better than anyone else (because no one else asked).  You respond with a revised proposal, more fitting to his needs.

What you’ve just done is built value with your client.  You’ve proven you really understand him better than anyone else.  Your price may not be the lowest (and it shouldn’t be!) but you’ve given him confidence that you’ll more likely solve the problems he needs help with.  That’s worth something, and you start to win more projects.

Second, you decide to collect feedback at each project milestone.   When the project gets off track, change orders are harder to collect payment on.  By gathering feedback specific to each phase, and being alerted promptly if anything is off track, the frequency of change orders is reduced.  When changes and scope creep do come up, you can address them quickly, and with positive feedback from your clients, communicate changes to the fee with confidence.  Feedback helps you identify which changes are worth the added price to the client, and puts him in control of the decision process for which scope changes to make.  Overall, this eliminates wasted effort, and maximizes the project’s profitability.

There are hundreds of ways you can apply a feedback program to your business operations in order to improve outcomes and overall success.  The important thing is to identify a specific goal, develop a measurable plan, and apply the resources you need to execute the plan.  Once in place, measure the results as you go, and adjust your plan accordingly.

Not sure how to get started?  When we help our clients implement The Client Feedback Tool, we walk them through a consultative process to discover goals, plans, and desired outcomes.  Contact our team of experts, and we can help jump start the process.

Won’t I Annoy My Clients…

…if I ask for too much feedback?

This question is, almost without exception, the first one asked when we talk to firms about client feedback.  The short answer is NO!  Not if you ask for feedback when they want to give you feedback.

We are so conditioned to the idea of “feedback” as being a long survey sent to hundreds or thousands of people.  These surveys are generic, and don’t offer anything to the person responding.   They also usually come after the product or service has been offered, when it’s too late to do anything about it.  They are separated from the project, and don’t seem relevant at the time they are sent.

But you already ask for feedback all the time!  When you deliver something to a client, don’t you ask “is this what you were looking for?”  When you wrap up a meeting, don’t you ask if everything was covered? That’s asking for feedback!  It’s not very structured, and it doesn’t always get asked, but no client will ever be bothered if you check with them to make sure you covered your (and their) bases.

Our Client Feedback Tool blends the best from both approaches.  While we use email and the internet to deliver surveys, they are not typically designed to be sent broadly (though, they can be).  Instead, we’ve built hundreds of templates and supporting processes to send surveys, systematically, in a much more focused manner.

When should you ask for feedback (i.e., send a survey)?  Send one every time your client may want to give you feedback.  No client waits around to answer a mass survey.  If you send that out monthly, it’s too much.   On the other hand, if you give your client a key deliverable every week, don’t you want to make sure, each time, that you’ve given him what he needed/expected?  You could call or email asking “did you get what you need?”   Or, you could send a short feedback request that digs a little deeper and gives you more data, while not really taking any more time.

Odds are, you’ll only annoy your clients if you ask them for feedback two months AFTER a project is over as part of a quarterly survey.  It’s too late to fix, so why ask now?

Instead, show clients you care.   Ask for feedback when it makes sense.  Deliver something?  Ask for feedback.  That easy.  Since asking via The Client Feedback Tool is a simple email, clients can always ignore/delete it.  Even that gives you feedback!  NOT responding, in essence, let’s you know that things are most likely going well enough they don’t feel a need to correct anything.  However, for every few times they ignore your request because things are going okay, there will be one time when they have feedback, and will be glad you asked.  And they’ll respond.   Until you ask, you don’t know.  So, you have to ask.  And ask again.

If you’re still concerned, ask your clients!  Find out from them when they’d like to be asked for feedback.  Odds are, it’s more often than you think.

Watch Your Blind Spot!

You’re driving down the highway, and the car in front of you is going too slowly.  You would like to go faster.   Looking around, you decide that moving to the left lane will let you get ahead.  Seems like a good decision so you go for it – after all, who doesn’t want to get there faster?  You obey all traffic laws, use your signal, and slide over.

Except, you didn’t see the car in your blind spot.  If you’re lucky, he sees you and honks, avoiding disaster.  But if he’s busy yapping on his cell phone or otherwise focused, kaboom!  Your easy solution to speed things up just blew up, leaving you in quite a mess.  Your car is mangled; it’s going to take hours to sort out; you’ve got a very irate driver in the other car (hopefully not injured), and there’s no way you’re going to make that meeting now.  Oh, yeah, and there’s the increased insurance premiums, the lawsuit, and hours of work over the coming weeks and months to sort out all the financial and legal issues.

This was totally avoidable, if you had just checked your blind spot!

If you work on projects for a client, the same story holds true.

How often have you been working on a project, and part way in, you realize there’s a “better” or “faster” way to get things done.  Of course your client wants his project better and faster, so you “change lanes” and start doing things a bit differently.  You innovate every day – it’s how you solve the problems needed to get projects done.  You are constantly changing, adapting and adjusting your processes to “get there faster/better/cheaper.”  You have to, just to meet the demands of your clients and be competitive in your market.

However, have you checked your blind spot?  Do you always include your client in these process adjustments, to let him know what you’re doing and why?  Most of the time, your client will appreciate that you’ve adjusted and innovated for his benefit.  Does he know you’ve done so?  If not, let him know so he can appreciate the value you are adding.

But what about those times when the process doesn’t work for your client?  Your bright idea didn’t factor in some information your client knows (that you don’t) which will cause a wreck?  Assuming nothing can go wrong is a costly and risky proposition.   What you must do is check your blind spot!  Get feedback from your clients constantly throughout the project.  If you shift gears in order to “improve” the project, schedule, or budget – let your client know and get validation that the changes really are an enhancement.   Otherwise, you risk running into your client, and damaging not just the project delivery, but your very valuable client relationship.

To read more about feedback and your blind spot, check out my post on the Johari Window.

When Clients are Your Biggest Problem

We give seminars all over the country about feedback and it’s impact on professional services firms, their clients, and the industry.  We often ask a fun question:

What is your biggest problem?

Every seminar we pose this question, a large percentage of the audience quickly and simultaneously chime in “THE CLIENTS!”

The audience says this in jest, but the notion is rooted in truth.  Too many professionals have the attitude that it’s clients that make our life so difficult.  That somehow, if we could just get the client out of the way, we could really do some good work.  The client hires us to solve their problem, then we commandeer their problem and turn it into our project.  No wonder why clients are our biggest challenge – they don’t care about our project at all!  All they care about is their problem.

Whose agenda are we serving when we preempt the client and claim a project?  Many architects are talking about “green” everything.  Many try to be environmentally sensitive on all their projects – even if it costs more.  Is that really what the client wants?  Or, is your social conscience to save the planet costing your client the only “green” he cares about?  Don’t get me wrong – green is good, and it often can save a lot of money.  But if your client’s problem is a budget that’s too thin – green should only be a consideration where it saves him money.  Use green strategies to solve his problems, not to create new ones!

The same thing applies with any variable on the project.   Our preferences for quality, aesthetic, budget, social conscious – they really shouldn’t matter.  In order to maximize our value to clients, we need to focus doggedly on their needs and preferences, not ours.  We need to demonstrate an awareness of the client’s problem, and demonstrate that we care enough to solve it.

The thing is, we can’t actually know our clients’ preferences if we’re not asking!  Even worse – their preferences change!  Their problem is not static, but constantly shifting, evolving, and responding to a vast matrix of variables and external influences often beyond control.  How can we possibly get the project right without constantly seeking to understand the evolving nature of the original problem as presented?

You can’t, of course.   We need conversation, communication, and feedback throughout the project life-cycle.  Feedback allows us to identify when we’ve gone off track and made the project ours.  Feedback makes known the changing parameters of the client’s problem.   Feedback keeps us focused on the client’s problem, let’s him see our focus, and truly maximizes our value.

Imagine what business would be like if we truly embraced the clients’ problems and became their expert problem solver, instead of just another problem they had to manage?

Knowing What to Charge by Knowing What (Your Clients Think) You Are Worth

After running an architectural firm for 20 years, I have found two consistent challenges to a firm’s prosperity that most design firms share:

1. We underestimate our value to our clients

2. We price ourselves according to Problem #1

If you work at a design firm, and especially if you manage a firm, don’t take offense. I believe that these problems were created over time and have a lot to do with the manner in which building contractors represent our work to owners. Since the perfect set of construction documents has likely never been created, contractors usually have something to complain about.

But blaming is the sport of children, so let’s find the solution to the problem.

Remember, the problem is not that clients don’t value our work; it’s that we assume that value is less than it really is. To correct an inaccurate assumption, we need more accurate information concerning our value to clients. We have to ask our clients for this information, something that most design firms avoid like the plague. Why? See Problem #1 above; it’s tough to ask for feedback when you think it’s going to be critical.

The encouraging component to this entire dilemma is that Problem #1 is stated correctly. We underestimate our value to our clients. Our software company, DesignFacilitator, provides the only Client Feedback Tool customized for architects and engineers. Our tool collects objective data regarding what clients really think. Our research shows that, on average, clients think that their design firm’s deliverables and service “exceeded expectations”. This information is based upon over 30,000 responses from clients concerning their perception of their design firm’s value.

While asking for feedback from clients must be done very carefully to produce the most accurate and actionable data, our patent-pending system utilizes state-of-the-art perception mapping to identify what clients think, and what a design firm can do to maximize their value to those clients. Client feedback will also show you which approaches create problems for clients and how to avoid them. With this information, a firm will naturally make more effective decisions concerning:

1. Setting fees relative to a client’s perception of the firm’s value

2. Addressing ’scope creep’ more quickly as an additional service

3. Identifying the most effective assignments for staff

4. Identifying the most efficient training for staff

Since a design firm’s profitability helps determine its strength, a firm becomes stronger when it knows what it can charge by understanding what its clients think. Add to the mix the ability to enhance a firm’s worth by proper staff assignments and training– both made easier by utilizing client feedback regarding the results of staff’s efforts– and you have a recipe for sustainable prosperity.

Best In Class – 2010 Fee and Rate Adjustment Poll
As the premier feedback surveying group for the professional design industry, we are offering to gather and share anonymous fee and rate setting strategies.  By taking the following poll you will have immediate access to the valuable data gathered from firms across the US to help you in your fee and rate setting for 2010.

What percentage adjustment is your firm likely to implement regarding 2010 hourly rates?

• No change planned (65%)
• +2.5% (15%)
• Plan on reducing rates (8%)
• +5% (6%)
• +15% or more (4%)
• +10% (2%)

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What percentage adjustment is your firm likely to implement regarding 2010 standard fees?

• No change planned (59%)
• Plan on reducing rates (11%)
• +2.5% (10%)
• +15% or more (4%)
• +5% (3%)
• +10% (13%)

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Feedback and strategic reports from 50 clients for $999

If you would like to enjoy the competitive advantage of Best In Class client awareness for just $999,

email answers@designfacilitator.com or call us at 866-433-7322

Client Feedback Tool, DesignFacilitator, Feedback, Industry, Polls

Version 3 Is Here!

DesignFacilitator has released Version 3 of the Client Feedback Tool. Version 3 was developed in response to your comments– your feedback– to us. You told us you wanted the Client Feedback Tool to be faster, sharper, with more consistent actions and with more flexible, powerful reports. Version 3 provides all this and more. Its enhancements include:

• Simpler navigation and sharper screen graphics.

As soon as you log in you will notice how much easier it is to move about the new crisp screens. On the left side of the screen, clicking on a subject heading displays a list of sub-headings so you can quickly select the desired action or report without waiting for the screen to refresh. In the upper-right corner of the screen, we show you where you are on the site currently.

• A new ribbon-style toolbar with standardized actions. Found at the top of most screens, the toolbar offers

- A Filters tab where you can identify what you wish to see in the report (who, when, which project, and so on).

- An Options tab where you can control how to group and sort the information (by sender, project, team, average score, etc).

- A File tab that allows you to decide what to do with the information. You have the power to download it, print it as a pdf, send it to an email address, save the report settings as a favorite report. You can even schedule it for automatic recurring delivery to your email!

• Fewer screen post-backs.

Many subscribers previously expressed concern about the time required to post back the screen every time they changed a filter. Version 3 addresses that concern by incorporating an Update button on the ribbon. This allows you to select and change multiple filter settings without waiting for the screen to repost each time. Once you have made all your filter selections, simply click the Update button– we flash it to remind you– and all your changes are applied at once.

• Successes and challenges reports

These reports were designed to help identify areas of strength and those possibly requiring additional attention in your firm. You can tailor this report to show you which clients, projects, phases or firm members have the highest or lowest average scores, extremes, percentage of change, and so on . The Client Feedback Tool even includes several standard templates under the Options tab to help get you started.

• The Feedback Quotient® report is a Client Feedback Tool exclusive.

This report applies a proprietary formula to analyze numerous  metrics such as the number of surveys sent and received in a given period, reply rates, scores, score consistency, follow-up actions, and more. The result is a relative ranking of projects, project clients, and survey senders in your firm. You will know where feedback is being effectively used, and by whom.

Additional new functions of the Client Feedback Tool:

You can save and recall your favorite report configurations and settings.

You can create, save and send batch reports to yourself and others.

You can schedule your favorite reports for recurring delivery to your email… or others’.

You can send most reports as PDF files via email.

You can now view feedback on a mobile device.

Version 3 does not require any software changes on your part, as the Client Feedback Tool is a web-based service. Please let us know if you need help or want to schedule additional training for your team.

Please contact us if you have questions:
866-433-7322
919-573-1730
(M-F 9am – 6pm EST)
Or email answers@designfacilitator.com.

Johari Window, Part II

I blogged about the Johari Window a few months ago here. In summary, the Johari Window is a very simple and quick exercise that any two (or more) people can engage to give and receive feedback quickly, simply, and openly.  I’ve recently come across two online implementations that are fun and easy to use.

For those social media fans out there, you can use the Facebook application to share feedback with your friends and associates.  What you might learn about yourself is worth the effort.

If you don’t do the Facebook thing, you can use a stand-alone web version.  No registration or hoops required, but it takes a bit more work to invite others to participate.

If you haven’t already, experiment with the Johari Window with some friends, family, and/or coworkers.  After filling out the form and comparing notes, a discussion to understand the results may prove even more enlightening.

Ask for and give feedback daily!