Unlock Client Insight Early to Elevate Project Results
Strategies to get meaningful client feedback on your project team’s performance while there is still time to address any concerns.
It’s standard practice for service providers to seek out feedback following the completion of a contract, often in the form of a survey. Confirmation that a provider successfully met their client’s needs gives the provider a green light to pursue more opportunities with that client – or at the least, feel comfortable asking the client for a recommendation.
However, if you’re a service provider are you missing a major opportunity by waiting until the very end of a project to ask for feedback? By waiting until the end of a contract to seek feedback, you have no time to remedy any issues that may exist. You potentially leave your client with a sour taste – and doubts about whether they want to work with you again in the future.
Seeking feedback during a project gives you the opportunity to fix issues of concern before the project ends.
Keep in mind that this is usually not a black and white issue, but a nuanced one. If there is a serious problem, the customer is likely to speak up without being asked or terminate the project quickly.
But if it’s a less serious problem, your client may never mention it unless they are asked.
Why is this important? Think customer retention. Imagine your client is mostly happy with your services, yet still slightly dissatisfied with a specific work process your company has established for the project. Since they’re mostly happy, they don’t think it’s worth questioning – especially in cases where the issue does not drastically or directly impact the outcome of the project. However, silence is not golden. By keeping quiet they have a lingering feeling of annoyance.
How can you alleviate this negative feeling? By giving the client the opportunity to openly express any concerns. Once you’re aware of the issue, you could resolve it and relieve their uneasiness.
According to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, it is 6-7X more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. If your aim is to have repeat contracts and to get contracts from word-of-mouth recommendations, then your goal should be to end every project with your client rating the experience as a 10 out of 10.
If a client has some issues that are not serious but that are still annoying and unresolved, the project may reach completion with the client rating the experience of working with you as a 5 or 6 rather than a 10. If that happens, will they come back to you for another project? Will they recommend you to a colleague?
All this suggests that obtaining feedback from a client during a project will benefit you much more than waiting until the contract is completed.
How Best to Organize the Client Feedback Process
To optimize your client feedback process, focus on these four elements.
1. Ditch the survey
Surveys are impersonal. These are only appropriate if no one on your team has personal contact with anyone on the client team. Most consulting projects are the opposite – you work closely with the client and get to know them and their business so there is no reason you shouldn’t be able to talk frankly about any issues.
2. Ensure optimal timing
Timing is critical and an iterative approach is best. That means obtain input at key intervals, particularly at the outset of a project, during its execution, and upon its completion. This approach allows you to make in-game changes that immediately benefit the project at hand. This participatory process also communicates to clients that you value their input and care deeply about working to create the best possible results.
3. Involve the right participants
Putting the right stakeholders in the room at the correct time can make all the difference. Suppose a client has an issue with your account manager. They want to continue their relationship with your company but would prefer to work with a different manager. Obviously, the client can’t address that issue with the account manager. Rather, they need to speak with someone higher up, like VP of Sales, or someone impartial, such as a customer success manager.
For this reason it is beneficial to have different types of feedback sessions for different levels of participants. Having someone not working directly on a contract but higher up in the organization doing a couple of check-ins allows the client to voice concerns about the assigned team members.
Conversely, suppose a client has an issue with a specific UI design process. Someone who is uninvolved in handling the day-to-day tasks is ill-equipped to address the client’s concerns. In this case, it would make sense for the client to voice their concerns directly to the project’s UI designer and work out a solution to the concern.
4. Prioritize trust and honesty
It can be difficult to compel your client to move beyond surface-level answers to provide more impactful – and actionable – information so that you can best meet their needs. It’s simply human nature: many people are uncomfortable voicing their honest feelings, even when being asked for them in a non-confrontational way.
One way to do this is by being open and honest yourself in all client interactions and demonstrating sincerity and your interest in the client’s input. By doing so, you set the tone for open communication and create an environment that promotes trust and transparency.
Understand that clients may be reluctant to provide negative feedback if your organization is still actively providing services to them for fear any comments might negatively impact the working relationship or the success of a project.
That’s why it’s imperative to make clear to the client that both negative and positive feedback are welcomed – and that there will be absolutely no negative consequences for feedback that is less than glowing.
Once you have obtained feedback, you have a responsibility to act. Let your client know that you’ve heard them, understand their concerns if the feedback was negative, and are taking steps to address any issues. Be transparent. Inform your client of the actions you’ll take as a result of their feedback – this demonstrates how seriously you take their input.
The Takeaway
An iterative process that leverages client input at multiple stages is a more effective approach that allows issues to be resolved in a timely manner, enhancing client satisfaction and in turn overall project success.
A critical component of any successful working relationship is the ability for both parties to be open and honest with one another. Allowing clients to express their concerns while still having time to address them is beneficial to the overall workings of the partnership. Feedback gathered at the end of a project occurs too late in the process to allow you to effectively address any issues. The collaborative and inclusive nature of this feedback process promotes stronger, long-lasting working relationships and elevates client satisfaction.