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.

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.

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?

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?

A Letter to Your Firm

Introducing the Client Feedback Tool to your firm is an important part of beginning your feedback collection process.  Your firm members will be looking for leadership to endorse the feedback collection process, and they also will want to know what it is, how it works, and what will be expected of them.  Below is one method you might try, delivered via email:

Dear Firm Member,

As you know, we value our client relationships very highly.  The root of our firm’s prosperity comes from clients who trust us to do their work.  It is important to continuously improve our ability to meet their specific needs.

Every client is different, so we need to identify what processes work best for each of them.  While our firm standards create a good baseline for successful project delivery, we may need to adjust on a case by case basis for each client, and often for each unique project.

Shortly, you will receive an email invitation from The Client Feedback Tool, to join our firm as a participant in this online feedback management system.  We will also soon be scheduling training to teach you how to use this simple system to collect feedback quickly, easily, and consistently from your clients and others.  The Client Feedback Tool is easy to use, and takes only two minutes to solicit feedback using the built-in templates.

We are excited at this opportunity for each of us to grow personally;  and as a firm, corporately improve our client relationships to create real, lasting value.

Thank you in advance for your participation.

You may also be interested in introducing your clients to The Client Feedback Tool.  Please see this post for suggestions.

A Letter to Your Clients

One of our most common questions when first beginning to use our Client Feedback Tool is “How do we let our clients know what we’re doing?” followed by “Do you have an email I can use to send to them?”

After being asked this several times, we are pleased to offer you this template email.  Use this (or something similar) to let your clients know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how.  You can send this email immediately before sending a client a survey for the first time.

For additional suggestions on improving your response rate, check out our previous posts.

Dear Client,

Thank you for trusting us with your business.  It is a pleasure and privilege to help you with your [service type] needs.

You hire us to perform this work for you, expecting us to provide great service.  That is our goal,  but we know we can always do better.  We will begin seeking your feedback more often, in a more systematic manner.

We would like to collect feedback from you in very short, 1-2 minute doses.  If it’s okay with you, we would like to do so on a more regular basis.  Please look for an email or emails coming from us soon.  Each will come from the person you have been working with directly, and will identify which project, phase, and service is being evaluated.  Should you click on the link to respond, you will be brought to a survey with no more than 7 questions, which will never take more than two minutes to complete.

Each time you respond, the appropriate people in our company will be notified, so we can immediately attend to your comments.  This is not a once-yearly marketing survey – but rather a personal request for feedback so we can customize our approach specifically for you.  Your participation is critical for our improvement to occur.
Thank you for your consideration, and we are eager to become your expert at [service type].

You may also want to introduce The Client Feedback Tool to members of your firm.  If so, please see this post.

Improving Your Response Rate – Part II

Client Feedback Tool subscribers often ask what they can do to get people to respond to feedback requests. In this article, I offer some tips you can use to improve your response rate. In Part I, I addressed what you could do to prepare the recipient before you send the feedback request. In Part II, I will discuss techniques you can apply while creating and following up on the survey.

Many factors affect the likelihood of a recipient responding to your feedback requests. The factors include, but are not limited to, the recipient’s

·    Quantity of received email
·    Reaction to the email subject line
·    Perception of the time and effort required to reply
·    Perceived benefits of answering your request (Will it really make a difference?)
·    Ability to remember to complete the survey later if it cannot be finished now

Sending the Survey

·    Pick the right time

You might have looked at the list above and thought, “I cannot control the quantity of email my client receives.”  That is true; but you can control when your survey invitation arrives. Consider how much email, especially spam, you receive between Friday afternoon and Monday morning. On a busy Monday morning, is one of your priorities answering feedback requests in your inbox? Our most experienced and successful Client Feedback Tool subscribers confirm that although it is often easiest to send surveys on a Friday afternoon, surveys sent between Monday afternoon and Thursday morning result in significantly higher response rates.  We recommend sending surveys about 10 AM local time on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

·    Make it stand out

Your survey invitation subject line should be simple and clearly identify that this is important information. One very effective technique is to start the subject line with the name of the project. Few people will trash an unopened email if the subject is one of their projects.  The Client Feedback Tool makes this easy for you by automatically inserting the project name into the subject line of the survey invitation.

·    Make it personal

By default, The Client Feedback Tool’s survey invitation email states that the feedback is important. Of course, this cannot match the sincerity of a short personal statement from you explaining why the recipient’s feedback is important to you— that it really does matter. You might also mention that the survey only takes about two minutes to complete.

Follow up!

·    If the recipient does not reply

There are many reasons why a recipient may not initially reply. Misdirected mail, time constraints, forgetfulness, apprehension, the list goes on. What can you do about it? Follow Up! Let him know that his feedback really is important. Call or email him; or send him a reminder through the Client Feedback Tool. Chances are that after the first time, he will realize that his feedback really is an important part of your process.

·    If the recipient does reply

Ironically, the correct action if the recipient does reply is the same as above— Follow Up! Let him know that you appreciate his response. If his response identified an issue or concern, that is OK— you have learned how to improve your process and his perception of it. If the response praised your efforts, thank him for the feedback. In either case, you have reinforced to the recipient just how important the feedback was to you.

Conclusion

We all understand that an open, bidirectional flow of information is in your best interest and that of your clients. The Client Feedback Tool is an essential conduit through which that information flows. In order to enjoy the most successful exchange of information through that conduit, consider employing the tips we presented:

Prepare your recipient. Before you send the survey, explain to him  it that it will help you help him.
Send your feedback invitation mid-week. Use the project name in the subject line. Add a personal note.
Always follow up! This reinforces your sincerity, increases the likelihood of future responses, and most importantly, it helps you become his most understanding service provider.

Keeping your eye on the ball…

Those that know me, know about my obsession with the game of baseball. While I was always a lousy player as a kid, I decided to try again, two decades removed from playing my last game in Little League.

I found that my fear of the ball has not magically grown out of me. Stationed at second base for the first time in my life, ground balls hit my way really throw me for a loop. While I know intellectually that I should keep my eye on the ball, watch it into the glove, and then catch it cleanly; instead I flinch – afraid of taking a ball in the face.

Saturday, at practice, I flinched yet again, and took a screamer off the knee. I learned this weekend that catching a ball with the kneecap is much more painful than catching it in the glove. So, in thinking to myself about this experience, I realized I have a behavioral tendency to flinch when the ball is hit sharply in my direction. That (very natural) tendency leads to failure, pain, and embarrassment. The only way to change the RESULT is to change the TENDENCY that causes it. In short, I need to practice, practice, practice until I no longer flinch and instead confidently and smoothly field the ball naturally and without thought.

Now let’s get off the ball field (thanks for going along though) and think about your behavioral tendencies when dealing with criticism from a client. What is your initial reaction? Do you flinch? Does it hurt? Do you get defensive and try to justify your actions? Passive aggression? Cry? Whatever your reaction is – it’s just that – a natural tendency to respond in a predisposed way.

Look back at the results of your tendencies. Does your typical reaction really get you the results you want? What most people want is ultimately to have strong healthy relationships with the people around them – both personally and professionally. In the business world, effective relationships with your clients are the key to prosperity. Even the most talented designer will sometimes deliver a design that doesn’t suit the client’s taste or specific needs. Is your reaction to feedback negative, so that the client is afraid to criticize your work? What do you think will happen if your client can’t openly express his needs, preferences, and expectations – don’t you think he’ll look for another designer he can talk to?

It doesn’t matter what kind of work you do for your clients – if they don’t feel able to tell you what they need – and when you missed the ball – you will lose clients.

The good news is there is a cure! Just like me on the ball field, you need to practice. Start asking for feedback frequently. Realize that is it just information – a tool for you to use to get the results you ultimately want. It’s not personal – it doesn’t have to hurt or be scary – it’s just information. Keep asking for feedback using a comfortable method (like our Client Feedback Tool) that gives you some time and distance to process and measure your reaction. Over time, with practice and experience, you can make receiving feedback – even the critical type – an easy and natural process; and your response – your behavioral tendency – can be positive, open, and engender even more communication with your clients.

When clients realize that you are open for discussion, and that you respond to their concerns positively, you will build amazing relationships that will last for years. When these clients keep coming back for more work, and refer peers to you, you can realize sustained growth and real, lasting prosperity.

It’s Just Not Fair!

I had an interesting conversation this morning, arriving at work and walking into the break room for my morning caffeine.  Some coworkers were discussing injustices from early in life (playground bullying, unfair parental punishment, etc).  Even those these events were trivial, and took place three decades ago, the memory (and emotion) has stuck around through the years.

What causes “unfair” experiences to remain so powerful in our experience?  I’m no psychologist, so I won’t try to answer that question.  However, it’s important to be aware that memories of unfairness and injustice last a long time.  It’s even more important to understand the behavioral effects on those who feel they were treated unfairly.

Economists and psychologists have studied a phenomenon called “strong reciprocity,” classically observed in “The Ultimate Game.”   In this game, two strangers are brought together.  Stranger A is given a sum of money , and instructed to divide it however he sees fit between them.  Stranger B can accept the money, or reject it.  If Stranger B rejects the money, Stranger A loses his money as well.

In a purely rational sense, if Stranger A starts with $100 and keeps $99 (giving $1 to Stranger B), Stranger B should still accept the offer – after all, $1 is more than he had to start with.  However, since this isn’t perceived as “fair” Stranger B will almost always reject that offer, costing both players any winnings.  In fact, any time Stranger A attempts to keep more than 1/2 of the money, Stranger B becomes increasingly likely to reject the offer, to the point that over half of observed real-world subjects rejected offers where the balance exceeded 70/30.

According to James Surowiecki at the New Yorker:

“Essentially, people are willing to pay to punish those they think are free-riding or acting unfairly, even when doing so brings them no material benefits.”

Even though in EVERY case both parties win, the feeling of injustice causes the majority of people to cause a lose-lose outcome when the scales are balanced too far in someone else’s favor.  Unfortunately, the same ineffective behavior is seen professionally.

In delivering a service (for a fee), the client expects a certain value.  That value is based on their perception of how effectively the service was performed, and how well the service fulfilled a need.  At times, the balance of perceived value between cost of the service and the actual service delivered shifts too far in favor of the service provider.  When this happens, strong reciprocity by your client (where he will take a loss to penalize you for being unfair) can unmake the profits from your job  - and even become punitive to a broader degree.  Usually, this behavior isn’t even malicious in intent, but rather a natural behavioral response to a perceived injustice.

John Timmer at Ars Technica says this:

“Within this perspective, the snap judgment is that an offer is unfair. Sometimes, we can engage the post-hoc rationalization, in this case involving the economics of the situation, and override our ethical calculations. But, in a substantial fraction of the cases, we never get the chance, as we act on our snap decisions before that process can occur.”

Basically, as soon as a situation is perceived as unfair, unjust, or in some other way disadvantageous, the natural and immediate tendency is to reciprocate an injustice with injustice.  This is why feedback is so critical to get early in any service relationship.  As soon as a client perceives the balance of value going too far in favor of the provider, he has the opportunity to make his feelings known.  Whether his perceptions are valid will be for you to decide – but being aware of the imbalance lets you adjust, react, and manage the situation towards a win-win.   Without this crucial information, you may find yourself with a client committing resources and increasing his losses simply to make sure you feel the pain too.  Whether this pain is an unpaid invoice, loss of a client, or even a liability claim, it’s often too late to find the win-win.

Remember that kid in 2nd grade that ate two cupcakes at the school party, so you got none?   People don’t forget an injustice, and your clients won’t either.   A client lost tends to stay lost, forever skewed against you and your organization.

Ultimately, no one wants to lose.  Ask for feedback early and often,  adjust when needed to foster a fair outcome, and win-win outcomes are virtually assured.