Feedback – It’s Relative!

“A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.”
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

All too often we get caught up in our ability to solve problems.  We are problem solvers!  It’s how we sell our services.  You have a problem, we can help you solve it.

But how often do we create our own problems?  How much work (which you can’t usually get paid for), must you do just to recover from a situation you created for yourself?  A clever person might find a way out without losing much profit on the job.  As Einstein implied, the wise person will keep (or increase)  his profit by avoiding extra unbillable efforts.

The wise person seeks first to understand the problem.  The problem is not a technical one.  Nor is it an artistic one.  The problem is a client problem.  More accurately, the client’s problem.  Until we understand the problem as the client perceives it, we will not be able to solve it.  Regardless of how clever the technical and artistic solutions are, if the client’s basic issues were not addressed, the project has not succeeded.

If we can engage our clients systematically and frequently throughout the project, and measure their perceptions of our success with solving their problems, we can avoid creating our own.  Before we’ve gone off track, the client can correct, clarify, and guide us in the right direction.

Only when we are truly asking our clients how we’re doing, listening to their feedback, and responding with a refined approach, will we ever attain professional services “genius” on level with Mr. Einstein himself.

The Feedback Attitude

A friend of a friend found me on LinkedIn and passed along a resume, looking for a position as a web designer.  While we weren’t hiring for that position, I took a look at the resume.  To be quite candid, it was pretty awful.

I’m in the business of feedback, so I replied with some friendly but strong criticism.  I offered it as feedback – information to be processed, with no intent to hurt or offend.  I took time to highlight some of the good points, but spent most of my words identifying problem areas.   The reply I received could have been one of indignation, defensiveness, anger, or any other counter-productive reaction.  Instead, I got probably the best response I could have.

Ouch!  But thank you!

That’s the subject line of the email I received in reply.  What a great response!  In four words, two punctuation marks, and an emoticon this young woman managed to set the entire mood for our (still ongoing) dialog.  She accepted that challenges in her work exist, and acknowledged the effort (and even pain) needed to fix them.  She expressed honest gratitude for identifying issues for her to work on.  She also set a tone of friendly collaboration – probably the most important reaction to have when receiving tough feedback.  Before reading her response, I knew she was open to ideas, and willing to work with me to improve.

I appreciate your feed back and will work on it…

If you still want to help me organize my resume, etc, I am all ears….

Thanks for the insight.  I know you are right, I think I need someone to literally get in my face and prove it, instead of sugar coating it like people have been.

Within the email, she again thanked me for feedback.  Instead of defending why she did things her way, opened the door to further feedback, correction, and adjustment.

Not only has she set a tone of collaboration, but she also diffused any fear or anxiety on my part about giving feedback.  Since I had never met this woman before, it took quite a bit of courage to provide feedback.  I really wanted to help, but also wanted to avoid hurting her feelings, or causing her any more anxiety when she’s already out of work.  Instead, her reply opened the door wide open to mutually honest communication.  What I thought would be a one-time note with some suggestions turned into a week-long exercise to build a great resume.   I have been able to share my opinions openly and without fear of reprisal.

Now, I feel invested in this woman’s success.  I want to be a part of that.  Why?  Because her resume, and by extension, her process of finding a job, is now a part of me and my process.  I feel some ownership of what she’s built, and thus I feel connected by proxy to her eventual employment (and success).

When your clients give you feedback, they earn the same kind of ownership.  Engage a client who has given you feedback with a proactive, collaborative, and kind attitude and you will tend to get more feedback!  As you work with your client to tweak the processes and methods used to deliver services, these revised methods become your clients methods too.  He becomes invested, not just financially, but at a deeper level as well.  No one wants to see their own work or efforts fail.  It’s natural to want to win, to be right, and to succeed.  The more you can adopt processes and methods that match your clients preferences, the more he will want you to succeed.  Your success becomes his success.

Can you imagine a business where all your clients want you to succeed?  Where your clients are your biggest advocates?  Imagine what this attitude shift will bring when it’s time to send invoices, or raise your fee structure, or request a contract addendum for additional services or a change order.  Instead of arm wrestling over details, you have a client engaged with you on a deeper level.  And since he was fundamentally a part of the process that created the need for billings, your ability to recover fair and rewarding compensation is secure.

Ask for feedback!  Then respond openly and engage your clients in the solutions that follow.  Mutual success is not far behind.

As for the resume, it has gone from something that would very quickly hit my recycle bin, to something I would even pass along – not because of her skills or experience, but because of the process she used to improve.  That’s the kind of person I want to work with.

When People Think Cheap

When you are busy – and busy making money – you don’t have time to deal with aspects of life that are outside your realm of expertise.  Why would you change your own oil to save $10, when you’re busy making more money than that working?  Instead, you head to the local quick lube pay a little extra, and catch up on phone calls and email on your mobile while someone else does the dirty work.  That is so 2007.

As 2009 rolls out, we’ve seen a very different attitude.  In the A/E/C industry (and others), the amount of available work ground to a halt.  Almost everyone slowed down.  Almost everyone had extra time.  They didn’t have enough work to fill the hours they were hired to work.  One result – dramatic plunges in profitability.

When profits drop, you try to economize.  When people aren’t busy making money, they will often try to stay busy saving expenses.  Insourcing, rather than hiring experts where appropriate.  If you don’t have phone calls to make and emails to catch up on, why pay someone to change your oil?  You’d just be sitting in the reception area waiting.  Instead, you put on some grubby clothes, head to the auto parts store, and you save yourself $10.

Whatever your profession, your clients have likely done the same thing.  In the boom, they scurried around with more to do than time to do it.  With all the deals going on, money was flowing, so the easiest solution to getting work done was to hire you, the expert, to do it.  Now, with deals drying up, your clients have time to do parts of your job for themselves.  Not only is there less work overall, but less of the available work filters down to you.

Your value has changed.  In the “old days” a key part of your value was simply ability and availability.  You could do the work, and do it well enough to be worth the price you charged, relative to competitors.  Now, you have a new competitor – the client!  Your value pitch has to focus on how giving work to you is actually more cost effective than doing it on their own.  When you change your own oil, do you do a 24 point inspection?  Do you check all the fluids, lubricate the chassis, etc?  What effect will it have on your car to NOT do those things?  Besides, do you like to change your own oil, or are you just trying to save a buck?

You’ve got to understand the same case with your clients.  What are they doing (or trying to do) without you, that you used to do for them?  What are they doing, that they really wish you would do for them again?  Have you asked?  They may not only need help doing something, but might need help justifying to their boss why it’s more valuable and cost effective for you to do it instead.  Have you helped your client understand all the ways you can help them save money, and helped him give you the work?  Have you helped your client understand the risks of not employing an expert do to things that really need an expert to do well?

Client Feedback Tool – Mobile

Some Client Feedback Tool clients have asked us over the years about accessing feedback while mobile.  Early in 2009 we did release a version of responding to surveys optimized for mobile devices, as this would be required for anyone checking email on a Blackberry, Windows Phone, or iPhone. We continue to explore options for a customized mobile interface, but at this time do not have an official mobile solution.

This week, Opera Mobile 10 Beta (an open-source web browser for mobile devices) was released, and in early testing, most of the functionality in the Client Feedback Tool is operational.  Surveys can be sent, reports reviewed, and data managed.  The mobile web is still in its infancy, and mobile platforms are not officially supported at this time.   However, our development team is committed to enhancing the mobile user experience in the future.

If you love feedback, and want to have it with you on the go, download Opera Mobile 10 Beta (free!) here:

http://www.opera.com/mobile/

If Opera is not supported on your device, you may also have some success with Skyfire:

http://www.skyfire.com/

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 to present at AIA SAR 2009

DesignFacilitator’s Mike Phillips will be presenting  a session Friday at 4:00pm entitled “The Power of Feedback: A Simple Strategy for Succes,” at the The South Atlantic Region of the American Institute of Architects (AIA SAR) 2009 Conference in Greenville, SC. 

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.

The results are in…. You need feedback!

How often do you meet your clients’ expectations?  Or perhaps more importantly, how often to you fall short of their expectations?

DesignFacilitator has been helping subscribers exceed their clients’ expectations since 2004.  Even so, a recent strategic partnership with PSMJ Resources, Inc. has provided an entirely new look at how firms measure up to clients’ expectations.

Typically, a DesignFacilitator subscriber uses the Client Feedback Tool on an ongoing basis, regularly requesting feedback from his firm’s clients.  These subscribers belong to firms whose philosophies include a commitment to collecting feedback; and they use the Client Feedback Tool to enhance their relationships and delivery of services.  In the last two years, looking across all data collected, these firms have received scores below “Met Expectations” only three percent of the time.  We see then, that engaging clients to find out what they really want from you allows firms to best meet their clients’ needs.  These firms ultimately keep more of their clients, and build the healthiest, most prosperous relationships.

Unfortunately, many of you have not yet realized the prosperity and satisfaction resulting from client feedback collection. DesignFacilitator has collaborated with PSMJ Resources to offer you a unique opportunity to gather client feedback. Simply participate in PSMJ’s Premier Award for Client Satisfaction Award, and you can send a one-time feedback survey to as many as 40 clients. This simple, cost effective process can actually pay for itself— but more on that later.  The data collection period ends October 30, 2009. DesignFacilitator will then compile the data and PSMJ will present awards to those firms that have demonstrated the greatest success from their clients’ perspective.

Although the Premier Award participation period is still open, early results have already provided significant findings.  Notably, firms that have no history of regular feedback collection receive “Below Expectations” ratings over ten percent of the time! This is more than three times higher than firms who use feedback on a regular basis!

What this reveals is that most firms do not know what their clients need and expect. Moreover, the only way to correct that blind spot is to ASK for feedback as soon as possible – before your clients become someone else’s clients.   Additionally, collecting feedback does far more than just increase the health of your professional relationships and keep you aware of your clients’ expectations. It also reduces liability risk, staff turnover, and burned-out project managers.  In fact, DesignFacilitator has worked with professional liability insurers who determined that feedback collection is so important that they provide 10% premium credits to firms who consistently collect it. Often these savings alone more than pay for the cost of the Client Feedback Tool.

The quickest way to get client feedback is to sign up for PSMJ’s Premier Award right away.  Through the end of the year, firms that buy the $495 Premier Award package from PSMJ receive a full credit towards a one-year Client Feedback Tool subscription with DesignFacilitator.  With the combination of these two services, you will quickly understand where you stand with 40 of your most trusted clients and how your client satisfaction measures up to the profession overall. You will even be able to collect feedback for the next 12 months from all your clients, partners, consultants, vendors, and anyone else whose relationship you value.

Do not wait.  The numbers are in.  Ten percent of your clients may be considering taking their business elsewhere.  Can you afford to lose them?

Visit http://www.psmj.com/surveys/products.aspx?v=item&i=1443 or contact DesignFacilitator at 866-4-DES-FAC for more information.

If You Already Know the Answer, Don’t Ask the Question

I’ve already written once about the survey methods of the car dealerships/manufacturers (see Blog Entry “What Did You Expect?“) but I have to bring it up again. To keep from distracting you with my particular choice in a car, let’s just call it a Yugo.

This time, the manufacturer sent me an email with a subject line “Please share your thoughts on your new Yugo GV.” This subject shows that the sender knows exactly who I am and what I have purchased. Yet, they proceeded to ask which features I have on the vehicle, what type of vehicle it is, the cost of the vehicle, and how I financed it. They also asked me for the total number of men, women and children in the household. After I selected “1″ the survey still asked me to indicate the number of: children under 6, children 6-12, and children 13-17. Didn’t I just answer that?

My point is not just to rant (though I do enjoy ranting), but to point out that people collecting feedback sometimes ask questions that they already know the answer to. This comes across to clients as though you do not value their time and you don’t care enough to consider the information you already have before asking more questions. Let your clients know that their time and feedback is important to you by asking only relevant, specific questions.  Ideally, their answers will provide valuable new information you can use to improve your service to that very client.  Isn’t that why we ask for feedback in the first place?

Is This How Your Clients Treat You?

Budget overruns, price negotiations, and zero-dollar line items.  We’ve all done them, and if not, they’ve been asked for.  Enjoy this little video for the next two minutes, and then come back for more:

Sorry for the cliche, but in “these tough times” everyone is angling for a discount.  Thin margins are being attacked.  How do you respond?

Consumers of professional services rely on your fear of rejection when they engage in discount games.  What if I say no?  Will I lose my client?  What if he goes to my biggest competitor?  These questions, in the heat of negotiation, often lead to reduced or eliminated profits – and worse, the loss-leaders.

What’s missing is information.  Information you NEED to know to make good decisions.  Fear comes from NOT knowing what your client thinks and feels about the services you provide.  Fear leads to irrational, emotional decisions that erode profits, and ultimately reduce the long-term perceived value of what you provide.

Feedback, collected frequently and consistently, will let you KNOW what your client thinks.  You can be confident to what level he VALUES your services.  There may be clients who legitimately feel like they got less than they expected – but most are simply negotiating.  With 50% margins, negotiation might be okay.  But that’s typically not the case.  A 10% discount will most likely lead to 50% of your profit evaporating before your eyes.

Start asking for feedback early in the relationship.  Continue asking throughout the project lifecycle.  Then, when the invoices go out, and negotiation begins, you know where you stand.  You may still choose to drop your price – but most likely you will feel confident that it’s not needed.  After all, you met or exceeded expectations consistently, so why should you?

Just ask!