Full Sail Partners Blog (53)

Are you responsible for handling client complaints? As an Owner of a firm, I know that figuring out a way to proactively identify issues before they become bigger is a key concern for most executives. The Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) conducted research on this topic and found that the average business never hears from 96% of unhappy clients. Businesses dedicate money to attracting new clients each year, yet a key area that is overlooked is developing a client retention plan. 

How Do You Calculate Client Retention Rates?

It seems like almost every firm I speak with in the AEC industry states their client retention rate is 80%. However, is that a good or bad rate? Let’s breakdown some definitions: 

• Attrition rate is the percentage of clients you have lost over a given period
• Retention rate is the percentage of clients you have retained over a given period 

So if your client retention rate is 80% then that means your attrition rate is 20%, no matter how many new clients you obtain. Here is how to calculate client retention rates: 

Client Retention Rate = ((CE-CN)/CS)) x 100 

Clients End (CE) = Number of clients at END of period

Clients New (CN) = Number of NEW clients acquired during period

Clients Start (CS) = Number of clients at START of period

Client Retention Impacts Profits

When you take into account that SMPS reports it takes six to seven times more effort to obtain a new client than retain an existing client. It would seem that focusing on client retention would be a no brainer. Yet does your firm even have a plan for client retention and do you track it? 

A study by Bain & Company shows that even a five percent increase in client retention can lead to an increase in profits of between 25 and 95 percent. Let’s do the math. Envision the following is true for your firm: 

• Your firm makes $2M a year
• Has a profit of 10% or $200,000 at the end of the year
• Has 50 clients at the beginning of the year
• Has a 80% client retention rate (kept 40 clients) at the end of the year

So, let’s say that our goal is to increase client retention to 85%. By increasing your client retention by 5% you could increase your profits to $250,000 (13%) or $390,000 (20%). Have you connected the dots? Profits increase because you are spending less time trying to win new clients and more time making sure you are managing the expectations of your existing clients. 

Why Clients Leave and How to Prevent It

So now that we know why it’s important, let’s understand more about why clients leave. SMPS found that 68% of clients leave firms because of an attitude of indifference toward the client by some employee and only 9% leave for competitive reasons, which most firms think is the cause. Yet as previously pointed out most firms don’t even know there is an issue. 

The obvious answer to resolve this challenge is talk to the client and obtain feedback periodically, yet few firms do it and fewer do it consistently well. Understanding what motivates clients and how to make your services relevant to them is fundamental to building strong client relationships. Obtaining feedback is important for executives and marketing to monitor, but the key way to ensure the relationship is strong is to provide a systematic way, like the Client Feedback Tool, for Project Managers to know when to reach out throughout the lifecycle of the project. Not just at the end. 

Benefits of Feedback

Successful companies know the critical importance of reaching out to their clients for feedback and service firms that ARE monitoring client feedback are: 

• Differentiating themselves
• Gaining great insight to better serve their clients
• Discovering what clients find of value
• Identifying clients that will pay a premium for their services
• Increasing profits
• Improving staff retention
• and much more

Reach out to us today to find out more about monitoring feedback and developing a client retention plan for your firm.
 

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek and Client Feedback Premier Partner, is honored to announce that Scott Gailhouse has been promoted to Principal Consultant. Scott's extensive industry knowledge and proven consulting acumen will be an asset as professional services firms continue to seek ways to further leverage their investment in Deltek Vision.

As Principal Consultant, Scott will be responsible for process and service development including best practices and implementation protocols. He will also be responsible for overseeing the skill development of Full Sail Partners' consulting staff, the development of quality-driven implementation strategies, client management and implementation compliance.

"I am extremely excited about my new position and my continued growth within Full Sail Partners," said Scott Gailhouse. "I believe that this role will give me the opportunity to enhance our consulting practice and concentrate on how our firm can further add value to our client's knowledge of Deltek Vision. My focus, along with the other consultants will be to continually seek ways to improve our training model to better utilize Vision's capabilities, provide best practice recommendations while boosting productivity."

Scott Gailhouse has been actively involved in the Deltek community for more than 20 years. With a focus on financial solutions and best practices, Scott has leveraged his extensive knowledge of the professional services industry to assist firms with making the move to an ERP.

"It is with great pleasure that we recognize Scott's strong leadership and expertise," said Scott Seal, Full Sail Partners' Vice President of Consulting. "Scott continues to bring in-depth knowledge and experience to the table, working with his clients and colleagues to create innovative solutions to help achieve maximum value out of Deltek Vision."

Want to learn more about the Full Sail Partners' team? Check out our crew!
 

Marketing and finance often seem destined to clash. The common misconception is that marketing’s sole purpose is to spend money, while finance does everything in their power to throw up hurdles to spending. Marketing focuses on building quality relationships and creating brand equity, while finance has an, admittedly sometimes myopic, focus on hard numbers and empirical evidence. Let’s examine how we can help marketing better communicate with finance and bring these two opposite ends of the spectrum together!

Speaking the Language of Finance

We are all familiar with the saying ‘it is better to give than receive’:  If marketing and finance applied this principle to their interactions the entire company would reap the benefit in the long run! Accounting can often be over protective of financial data and systems, and rightfully so – when things go wrong, everyone looks their way! Take on the responsibility of proving your marketing efforts in language finance can understand – data, not Facebook likes – and you will find that your finance department will be a lot more receptive to your efforts and requests.

Smart Tips for Creating a Better Conversation:

1. Put yourself in accounting’s shoes and understand hesitancy | Understand that often times finance is not questioning the value of marketing, they are however questioning how to quantify the results to the effort/cost. Marketing is not a perfected science and your mere desire to track marketing ROI will show your finance department that you too have the company’s bottom line in your best interests.
2. Establish desire to measure marketing ROI | The single biggest hurdle with communication is the illusion that it has taken place! Don’t sit back and assume that your finance department is aware of your desire to be a metric-driven-results-producing marketer. Get the conversation started!
3. Think about data needed to do your job better | This can be a tough one! We suggest starting small and working your way up. Doing so will allow you to include finance in the discussions regarding your marketing planning, and help you better understand the value of the metrics you are tracking.

How to Start the Conversation

Need help getting the conversation started? Here are some of our favorite ways to open a two-way dialogue:

• Retaining & Gaining Clients: “I’m looking to understand our total customer growth. Do we have a way to determine by percentage and revenue the amount of our work we’ve received is new vs. existing clients throughout the year?”
• Pursuing the Right Client: “I’m looking at how we can be more strategic in our pursuit of clients. Would it be beneficial to advise you when I see we are pursuing more work with clients that we are having AR issues with?”
• Forecasting and Backlog: “Can you help me understand what our break-even is and do we have a way to see what our current backlog is? I’d like to help make sure we have enough business coming in the pipeline for each market or division.”
• Effectiveness: “Can you help me better understand how I affect the bottom line? I want to develop metrics that help me understand the financial results from marketing’s efforts and help me fine tune my approach.” 

We hope that you are able to apply these tips to start a better dialogue between your marketing and finance departments. Improving the synergy between these departments will result in marketing receiving more support and executive buy-in, while finance is able to capture the analytics and financial metrics they crave.

Ready to take your conversations to the next level? Check out this on-demand webinar to see how marketing and finance can team up for greater results!

It’s finally fall again and you know what that means, the leaves are changing color and the temperature is dropping, but most importantly - football is back and the wait for our favorite teams to take the field is finally over. Nevertheless, what does football and resource planning have to do with each other? Simple, coaches are like project managers, their resources are the players, and the project is the season. So what we can learn from football coaches to become more effective project managers?

Monday Morning Quarterbacking

A good coach always reflects on each game to identify plays that worked and plays that need work, and of the players, who played well and who under performed. They spend hours watching videos of the previous game to develop a plan to overcome shortfalls. Successful coaches know planning forward cannot occur until they’ve planned backwards.

Smart resource planning starts with planning backwards. Like football coaches, project managers need to think back on the previous week and evaluate their performance. This is a time when you ask yourself how efficient was your previous plan?

Let’s say you planned a task to take 20 hours and it was really done in 10 hours. Is this a result of a great resource or an over-estimated work duration? Identifying what went well and what didn’t go so well allows for continuous improvement throughout the project lifecycle. As a result, project managers can make cost saving decisions and improve resource utilization.  

Have the Right Playbook

The playbook is the lynchpin to a winning team in football. A team can have all the best players, but without a plan, they can’t play as a team. Even more, the teams they play each week change and players get injured. To build the right playbook, the coach needs to know what to expect from the other team and which players they have available.

So who are your injured reserve resources and who do you have available?

Let’s start with your injured reserve. These resources are allocated to non-billable work such as marketing and business development or out on PTO. These resources don’t have 100% availability and this needs to be taken into account when developing your playbook. Therefore, non-billable work needs to be aggressively maintained when resource planning to make sure resources are not over utilized.

Now think about your shared resources. Are other project managers keeping their project plans up-to-date so you know which shared resources are available? Shared resources availability may change throughout the lifecycle of a project and it may change several times. As a result, they often become over utilized. A shared resource’s time has to be updated regularly to ensure project plans across the organization stay on track.

Be Prepared to Call an Audible

The playbook is complete and now it’s game day. Everything is going as planned and the plays called by the coach are unstoppable. Then all of a sudden, the opposing team changes their formation on the line. The coach then instructs the quarterback to call an audible.  

Like the coach's playbook, your plan needs to be flexible. Being blindsided by unforeseen circumstances in project management should be anticipated. Don’t let dependent tasks get disrupted and destroy your plan. By adding contingencies to dependent tasks, you can avoid major disruptions to your project plan and be ready to call an audible.  

Earning the Gatorade Shower!

Every week, coaches are revamping and tweaking their plans. They evaluate their bench and design plays based on their available players and their individual skills. Constantly trying to improve and continue to win all in hopes that their resource planning throughout the season earns them the championship and they receive the coveted Gatorade shower.

This year’s Deltek Insight Conference will be held on November 3-6, in Nashville, TN. Deltek Insight is all that, and more! If you are still on the fence about registering for the conference here are five reasons we think you can’t miss this signature event!

5 Can’t Miss Reasons to Attend Deltek Insight 2015

1. Exclusive sessions with Deltek Vision experts. Attend limited expert-led breakout sessions that teach tips and tricks to getting the most out of your Deltek Vision system! Join Full Sail Partners for a variety of classes ranging from connecting your Deltek Vision system to the outside world to discovering the sweet metrics of success to help your firm thrive.
   
   
2. Network with your peers. Deltek Insight 2015 is the perfect opportunity for you to meet with your peers and discuss the latest industry issues. Take advantage of the opportunity to get plugged in with the interactive ‘Social Zone’, and relax and unwind at the Welcome Reception.
   
   
3. Stay on the cutting edge with Deltek Vision. Do you find yourself needing the latest tools and features from Deltek? Deltek Insight is the perfect place to learn about all of the new releases and features coming for your Deltek Vision system. Be the first to know about new complementary solutions that can add value to your company.
   
   
4. Meet the Full Sail Partners’ Team! This year Full Sail Partners is excited to announce that our entire team will be attending Deltek Insight. Our crew would love to meet you face-to-face! Let us know if you will be attending Insight and schedule some time to meet with one of our experts one-on-one. Don’t forget to stop by our booth to drop off a business card to participate in our raffle!
   
   
5. Celebrate Deltek Insight 2015 with The Band Perry! How often are you able to get up close and personal with Grammy Award winning artists? Join us for an amazing concert experience with The Band Perry, plus a high-energy performance from our favorite house band LoCash!

Thousands of Deltek Vision users from around the world will be attending Deltek Insight 2015 – we hope you are one of them! Haven’t registered yet? Don’t worry, it’s not too late to sign up today:

With Deltek Touch CRM for Vision, Deltek Vision CRM customers have access to the critical business information they need, through their iOS or Android devices — anywhere, anytime! See how Touch CRM gives your firm the strategic advantage to do more.

Deltek Touch CRM: 3 Strategic Advantages

1) Access to Crucial Information While On-The-Go

Deltek Touch CRM provides out of office employees with immediate access to important information such as account history, contact information and much more!

Just a few short years ago, being away from the office meant being completely blocked out from your company’s competitive intelligence. Not anymore! With Deltek Touch CRM your employees have full access to your Deltek Vision CRM system from their mobile device. Boost your road-warrior’s productivity by providing them with the tools needed to keep in touch with a higher number of prospects

2) Collect Information at the Source

Deltek Touch CRM is designed to help your employees gather information at the source. Improve data accuracy by giving your out-of-office team the ability to instantly update Vision data from a mobile device, anywhere in the world!

3) Improve Company Insight

Deltek Touch CRM allows all of your employees access to the most up-to-date real-time information. Have you ever reached out to a customer, only to find out that one of your co-workers had already spoken with them the day before? This situation is not only embarrassing, but it makes your entire organization appear inept. Reduce the amount of information lag in your organization by enabling mobile CRM.

Instead of waiting for weekly, monthly or quarterly reports, decision makers can access on-demand information and address any problems before they arise.

Mobile CRM is No Longer Optional

You already take your smart phone everywhere, so why not take your Vision data with you? Today’s market place is a dog-eat-dog world, and you need every competitive advantage you can get. See how your firm can start doing more with Deltek Touch CRM:

In June Deltek announced iAccess. So what is iAccess? Deltek’s iAccess is a new, user-friendly interface that gives front office employees access to Deltek Vision information on-the-go. Users can access information from anywhere, anytime and the new interface is specifically built for tablets and mobile devices. 

I recently went on a trip and didn’t have internet access to my laptop, but I had cellular service on my iPad. I found the new interface a life saver as I needed to quickly access client data. Portions of the new feature may look familiar because iAccess was formerly called Navigator, but has received new and improved capabilities. It now also includes CRM related information. Best of all iAccess is free for all users. The Business Development component does require a CRM license. 

The new interface now provides users the ability to access three critical areas of Vision: 

• Employee Workspace: View, create and submit timesheets anywhere, anytime an employee has internet access. Provides a simplified way to manage and submit expenses with the ability to upload receipts from any mobile device.
• Project Management Workspace: Plan, manage, monitor and execute project in a centralized, easy-to-use tool. Quickly and simply view key project metrics and view alerts and warnings when projects are at risk.  
• Business Development Workspace: Manage clients, contacts and opportunities on-the-go. Business Development teams can review, add and update critical client data and add touchpoints after client meetings or calls.

As you can see, the tool is really intuitive and the sleek new interface provides a more modern look and feel. Vision iAccess does have to be set-up by your IT staff just like the Deltek Touch products. Users must have remote access capabilities. For more information, be sure to download the product sheet or view Full Sail Partners’ iAccess webinar. 

All too often, certain words and catchphrases are overused in business meetings to the point they have become trite and serve little to no real purpose. These words and phrases are used in business blogs, articles, websites, and day-to-day business emails. One such term, "client-focused", is thrown around as a marketing gimmick for professional services firms, but what does it really mean to be client-focused?

Before we get too far, here’s what you need to know:

1. There is a difference between saying you’re a client-focused firm and actually being client-focused.
2. Your firm’s culture dictates the level of service your clients receive. 
3. If your firm isn’t using technology to support your client relationships, you’re already behind.

The Firm-Focused vs. Client-Focused Professional Services Firm

Being truly client-focused depends on how your firm sees their clients. Sure, it is easy to talk the talk, but putting words into action is where things tend to get difficult.

When a firm places an enormous emphasis on the needs of their clients, they are firm-focused. A firm-focused business makes decisions based on the benefits to themselves and not with their client’s best interest in mind. 

On the contrary, truly "client-focused" firms make decisions that are determined by their client’s needs, as they are at the center of all such business decisions. They understand exactly what their clients need which helps to promote a symbiotic relationship between the firm and the clients.

Through the delivery of top-notch service aimed directly at the needs of their clients, a company will see a simultaneous rise in business performance. After all, the services provided were determined with the client and their needs in mind.  

Living the Firm’s Culture

Who are your clients? The answer might surprise you, but in the business world, there are two types: internal and external clients. 

Internal clients are members of your organization that rely on the help of other members to perform their job. These individuals can fall anywhere on the spectrum of your chain of command, from coworkers to upper management and executives. 

On the other hand, external clients are clients in the traditional sense of the term. They are the buyer of the services your firm provides. 

Do you feel you receive great service from the other internal customers within your firm? If you’re not receiving great service from within your own organization, imagine the service your external clients are receiving. Your firm’s culture is a reflected by the employees, and your clients can see if you live by the values you market.

If you’re not satisfied with your internal customer service, start communicating and living the values that define your firm. Your clients will notice the difference.

How Technology is Changing Playing Field  

Keep up with the Joneses - In order to be competitive and effective within an industry, your firm needs to ensure it is using innovative technology that helps promote success. Failing to innovate hinders a firms’ ability to adapt and grow while the "Joneses," aka your competitors, employ the use of industry leading technology enabling them to leave you in the dust. 

With a Client Relationship Management (CRM) software, you can take your company to the next level by keeping the functions of your company in a centralized system. This helps promote a conducive work environment in which the sales and marketing teams, and administration and finance teams can better work together to achieve client-focused results. To learn more about the basics to Deltek Vision CRM, click here.

An additional benefit of using innovative technology and software is that it enables you to access your work on-the-go. Today we have access to everything on our smartphone devices. From banking to entertainment, email to ordering pizza and everything in between, we can do incredible things with just one, single device. Having mobile access to your CRM allows you to -update client information on-the-go and enables other members of your organization access to the most up-to-date information about your clients. 

The Takeaway 

The importance of understanding what it means to be "client-focused" cannot be overstated. Your firm should define itself by its actions and not by catchphrases.

The goal of being client-focused is to nurture client relationships to retain clients and win more work. Remember, your existing clients are the lifeblood of your organization. According to Bain & Company, it cost 6 to 7 time more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one. It seems smart to try to keep the clients you already have.

Ultimately, when push comes to shove, there are really only 3 ways to increase profits:  Sell more, improve margins or decrease overhead costs. While these principals may sound simple on paper they are often difficult to execute in the real world. But have you ever thought about the role client feedback plays in your firm profits? Perception is reality and understanding how your clients perceive you can uniquely position your firm to fuel the bottom line and increase profits.

The Breakdown: 3 Ways for Increase Profits

Sell More | Simply put, there are only two ways to sell more: Add new customers and increase sales to existing customers. In my experience, sales discussions tend to focus on adding new customers. But research has shown that it costs at least 8 times more to sell to a new customer versus an existing client. Ideally we want to ensure long term stability with existing relationship and leverage those relationships to win new work.

Tip for selling more:

• Avoid losing your least expensive prospects – existing customers. The best way to ensure long and meaningful relationships with clients is to (gasp!) create real relationships. Developing a client feedback process allows your firm to build trust between you and your clients, continuously strengthening your relationships and building client loyalty.

Improving Margins | The Pareto Principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Consequently, many businesses have glaring opportunities for improvements to their bottom line by simply eliminating or refocusing areas of their business that do not fit company goals. Regardless of the area of business you target, strong client relationships are proven to make a positive impact to your bottom line.

Tip for improving margins:

• All opportunities are not created equal. It’s a dog eat dog world and as clients are receiving more proposals than ever, identifying strategies to increase your win rate becomes increasingly important. Successful professional services firms are implementing tools and processes to create an RFP feedback strategy.

Decrease Overhead Costs | While expense management is an important element to every successful business, it is imperative to understand where to cut costs in your business. Is re-work eating away at your profit margins? Are your project managers delivering more than the scope of work in the contract to try and ensure their clients are satisfied? By using client feedback to guide these decisions we are able to cut fat from our budget – without cutting bone!

Tip for decreasing overhead costs:

• Develop a corporate culture that embraces automation. Although automating processes and procedures sounds like something only for Fortune 500 companies, automation is actually perfectly suited for  small- to medium-sized businesses where the focus is on being lean and mean. Start decreasing your overhead costs by focusing automation on processes and tasks that are menial and time intensive. Doing so will free up your employees to focus on tasks and assignments better suited for humans such as responding, tweaking, evaluating and navigating complex social issues. 

So Where’s the Magic Template? 

Ultimately there is no golden brush for improving profits. Your firm needs to make decisions based on your own set of criteria. However, as you look to continue to set yourself apart and differentiate from your competition, consider the value of keeping your clients at the center of everything you do. Many firms claim to be client-centric, but do words often meet reality? The Client Feedback Tool can help you integrate a proven process into your project delivery system to keep your clients at the center of your business and give your firm the winning hand. 
 

Full Sail Partners, a Client Feedback Tool and Deltek Premier Partner, recently announced it has earned a spot on Accounting Today’s 2015 Top Value-Added Reseller (VAR) List. Accounting Today is a leading provider of online business news for the tax and accounting community, offering breaking news, in-depth features, insightful editorial analysis, and a host of web-related resources and services.

Each year a select group of 100 organizations are honored for their accomplishments as VARs. The top VARs are selected from organizations focused on sales and implementation of accounting and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. Criteria used to determine the winners include 2014 revenue, number of offices, and staff size.

According to Seth Fineberg, Technology Editor of Accounting Today, “The Accounting Today VAR 100 list is comprised of top accounting and ERP software resellers throughout the country, ranked by revenue. This select group represents those in the world of accounting software resellers that are truly ahead of the pack and we are pleased to honor them in this special report.”

Full Sail Partners provides on-premise and cloud-based solutions for architects and engineers, energy and environmental consultants, and professional service firms across the United States. Full Sail Partners' team, collectively, brings more than 200 years of experience with Deltek solutions. The firm represents unique technology solutions that integrate with Deltek Vision including Deltek’s Kona social collaboration platform, the Client Feedback Tool, and Vision Unleashed.

"Last year Full Sail Partners was listed as one of the VARs to watch and we are extremely honored to make our return to the Value-Added Reseller Top 100 List," said Sarah Gonnella, Vice President of Marketing and Sales of Full Sail Partners. "Our firm continues to deepen our bench strength with Deltek Vision experts, allowing us to be the go-to firm for consulting, customization and integration. Jumping to number 85 in Accounting Today’s Top 100 Value Added Reseller list is a great accomplishment and demonstrates our ability to engage our existing client base, as well as, target new project-based firms beyond the AEC industry.”