Full Sail Partners Blog (61)

If you ask friends or colleagues how they feel about conflict, you will likely know their answer even before they speak. Their body language will tell you immediately. That is because most people view conflict as having to do with arguments, agitation, and to an extreme extent, hostility. But what if we reframe the way we look at conflict? Is there a way to see conflict as an opportunity if we accept the fact that conflict is essentially about the gaps in expectations that happen when individuals interact?

Project teams work hard to match their deliverables to their clients’ expectations. However, we all know there are, at times, bumps in the road and that project conflict can occur when your team’s understanding of deliverables, communication, or schedule is different than your client’s. There is certainly no magic to ensuring this doesn’t happen but there are three actions you can take to minimize the frequency and to actually turn these gaps in expectations into an opportunity to learn more about your clients.

Don’t avoid it or ignore it. Just because you are not aware of the gap between your clients’ expectations and what your team is delivering does not mean that the gap doesn’t exist. Both you and your client make assumptions related to their project every day. You assume that the way you have done 50 projects in the past that are just like this one is the way to progress on this one. Your client may have expectations (or a vision) about what the deliverable will look like that is different than what you are planning. It happens. However, if throughout the project you ask questions, you will catch these gaps in expectations as soon as they occur. And, the sooner you and your client have a conversation about the difference in your expectations, the sooner your project gets back on a healthy track.

Don’t blame anyone. I have heard many A/E/C firms speak of having difficult clients. Their (clients) expectations are unrealistic, they are inconsistent, they just expect you to read their minds and know exactly how they want things done. This may be true. But beyond the obvious problem with telling your clients they are wrong, playing the blame game may create an attitude on your team that your clients will pick up on. By looking at project conflict as nothing more than a gap in expectations, you and your team will have the opportunity to learn more about each client. As you solicit feedback from your clients, you will close any gaps in expectations and be recognized as their expert.

Communication – the great conflict alleviator. You can avoid having conflict escalate or go unresolved, by communicating regularly with your clients. Asking for feedback on a regular basis lets you keep a pulse on whether or not there are any expectation gaps. You will quickly see if there any issues that need to come to the surface? By asking for feedback and following up, you will keep the channels of communication open. And, you will give your clients the opportunity to share with you their ideas and thoughts about how they would like you to serve them.

Getting regular feedback lets you build an easy rapport with clients. The Client Feedback Tool process is easy and comfortable for both you and your clients. Integrated into your existing project management system, the feedback you receive provides you with new ideas about your clients’ preferences. We hear a lot about being your client’s trusted advisor. In addition to being their trusted advisor, you will also become the expert at how each individual client prefers to be served.

Learn more about using feedback as an opportunity to turn conflict into client loyalty and trust.

For most professional services firms, planning for growth is a natural part of business. There are different strategies for doing so, and choosing the best one depends on your ultimate growth objectives. But whatever your goals, understanding how your growth plan affects your cash flow plan is essential to achieving the results you seek.

The way you grow affects cash flow planning.

Organic growth. There are a number of ways to grow one’s business organically. For example, in a generally healthy economy, your firm could continue doing “business as usual” (i.e., not increase your marketing or business development activity) and still experience significant growth from the improving economy. This type of growth is typically slow-paced; you can keep up with the increased demand either by using existing staff or gradually “ramping up” your staffing to meet the growth curve.

A somewhat more aggressive growth plan might be to expand your client base in the same market niche and geographic area where you’re already doing business. In such a scenario, you are typically increasing your marketing and business development outreach to generate business. As this outreach occurs, you may experience rapid growth that requires you to have staff immediately available to meet the increased client demands.

Strategic growth. Alternatively, you might be planning to significantly expand your service offerings or target market. For example, an engineering firm might add a new service line, or expand into another geographic market. In such cases, you could expect to take on additional marketing and staffing expenses, along with expenses for market research (please do not skip this step), software and equipment and possibly even new office space. These added expenses occur up front, well before you bring dollar one through the door. 

Expect a time lag before reaching ROI.

The fundamental point to keep in mind is that your cash flow will take a hit, probably at least for 90 days for increased staffing costs, and longer for marketing costs. The reason for this is the unavoidable lag between when you begin investing in expansion, and when you actually start reaping the benefit.

Here’s the general reason for the time lag. Once you decide to expand, there are several types of expenses you’ll incur at the beginning of your growth effort — investments that will not bear fruit immediately. For example, there are costs to hire and train new employees, with probably 60 days before they’re doing billable work. Even if you’re very efficient and bill on day 61, then the earliest you should expect payment for their work will be another 30 days, making it a minimum total of 90 days where cash is going out, but no additional revenue is coming in.  

How to meet the demand: sub-consultants vs. salaried staff.

In general, hiring consultants requires less of a cash investment than full- or part-time staff, as they typically will not get paid until you get paid (Paid When Paid, or PWP). This advantage may be offset, however, by the fact that consultants can also be more challenging to manage and they have their own clients (and potentially conflicting commitments as well). Additionally, you still have to invest manager time to assign and manage the sub-consultants’ performance.

On the other hand, while full- or part-time staff may be more costly to hire, they will likely gain institutional and process knowledge as they work, which should make them increasingly valuable to your company. Additionally, they are typically focused on the company’s needs and requirements; you can control their priorities.

Tracking cash flow and return.

The other part of cash flow planning during a growth period (or at any time, for that matter) is monitoring your expenditures and results (hopefully in the form of additional revenue). As with any plan, it’s essential to have an idea of the effort you need to expend, and what results you expect from that effort. Even if your plan is “business as usual” because of an improving market, you should understand what results you expect from the improving market. If you are increasing your marketing effort in your existing market, you should know what you expect from that effort in the form of additional leads, opportunities, clients and, of course, revenue. Without the increased revenue, what is the justification of the increased marketing effort (and assumed increased cost)?

There are a number of approaches for tracking results, ranging from one-off spreadsheets to purpose-built ERP solutions.

In our experience, one of the most effective strategies is to find a solution that accomplishes several key functions at once. Deltek Vision, for example, is a purpose-built ERP solution that provides a unified platform for connecting the front and back office functions — providing up-to-the-minute insight into cash flow planning, as well as accounts receivable, billability and utilization statistics, and much more. It even includes integrated solutions for automating major parts of your processes for customer relationship management, proposal development and tracking.

Watch the details, but don’t neglect the big picture.

Keep in mind that the timeframes for generating ROI mentioned in this article are generalizations. In fact, they’re based on an ideal scenario that assumes making good hires, efficiently training and integrating them, finding a receptive market … and getting paid on time.

Naturally, as the fine print often says, actual results may vary. This makes it even more important to build-in expectations that cash flow will take a significant hit for at least a few months before you start reaping the rewards of you investment.

Growth is rarely painless or easy — but knowing what to expect is far better than wading into a growth plan without knowing when it will start paying off.

Full Sail Partners, offering business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision, recently announced it has earned a spot on Accounting Today’s 2013 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 2012 revenue, number of offices, and staff size.

According to Accounting Today, “There can be no doubt that many of this year’s top accounting and ERP value-added resellers benefited from an improved economy, but adding niche-focused services and software and even new product lines helped keep them at the top and prepare for the future.”

"Full Sail Partners is extremely honored to be named a Value-Added Reseller for the second year in a row," said Sarah Gonnella, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development of Full Sail Partners. "Our firm continues to look at ways to strength our relationship with our clients and serve as a voice for the SMB market. It is because of this, coupled with a strong reputation as a leading Deltek Vision implementation partner that we not only remained on the top list, but moved up nine spots. We will continue to work hard for our clients to provide them the tools needed to help them grow their business.”

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 also provides unique technology solutions that integrate with Deltek Vision including Deltek’s Kona social collaboration platform, the Client Feedback Tool, and Vision Unleashed.

“At Deltek, we rely on our strategic partner relationships to extend our solutions in key markets, and Full Sail Partners has a long history as a committed Deltek Premier Partner. They understand the challenges and issues professional services firms face on a day-to-day basis and ensure their customers have solutions in place that will deliver the critical information they need to be successful,” said Claus Thorsgaard, Executive VP and General Manager – Professional Services at Deltek. “On behalf of Deltek, I’d like to congratulate Full Sail Partners for being named a Top 100 Value-Added Reseller – a well-deserved recognition.”

About Full Sail Partners 
Full Sail Partners specializes in client-focused technology solutions for architects and engineers, energy and environmental consultants, and professional service firms across the country. Full Sail Partners offers business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision. Partnering with more than 1000 clients nationwide, Full Sail Partners builds long-term relationships and seeks to identify the critical resources to create a faster, more efficient, and integrated business.

Full Sail Partners – Keep Your Business on Course. | For more on Full Sail Partners profile and background on the Full Sail Partners crew, visit us at http://www.fullsailpartners.com.

About Deltek 
Deltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for professional services firms and government contractors. For decades, we have delivered actionable insight that empowers our customers to unlock their business potential. 16,000 organizations and 2 million users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek to research and identify opportunities, win new business, optimize resources, streamline operations, and deliver more profitable projects. Deltek – Know more. Do more.® http://www.deltek.com

Guest blog written by Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

It’s old news that technology has changed the way we interact – and that includes the way we purchase goods and services. But the professional services industry has largely lagged behind other sectors in reacting to this change, continuing to rely on traditional forms of marketing that are both more expensive and less effective. The small percentage of firms that have embraced online marketing, however, have seen marked success. In our recent study on online marketing, we learned that professional services firms employing online marketing techniques grow 4X faster, and are 2X more profitable than other firms. Why is this so? What is it about online marketing that is so effective? To understand why online marketing works, we need to understand today’s buyers. 

How Buyers Choose Professional Services Firms 

Technology has changed the way that buyers search for and evaluate professional services firms. Based on our research, we know that 71% of buyers still ask their friends and colleagues first when they search for a new professional services firm. At first glance, this seems like the old way of doing business. What’s changed is that, after receiving the referral, these buyers can now go online to do their own research on the firms that were recommended. 

The Internet has allowed buyers to take much more control of their purchasing process. In fact, in their recent study of over 1,400 B2B consumers, the Corporate Executive Board found that 57% of a typical purchasing decision occurs before the buyer ever has a conversation with a service provider. This represents a drastic break from the past. 

Even more notable, the third largest group in our study—11% of professional service buyers—said they skip the referral process altogether, going directly online to search for firms. Combined with the first group of buyers who use the Internet to check up on firms referred from their network, this means that altogether 82% of professional services buyers go online at some point in their buying process to evaluate a firm. 

The Digital Generation 

The Internet has drastically changed the marketing landscape for professional services firms, and we expect that landscape to continue changing. Consider that most workers under the age of 35 have never worked in an office without Internet access. Research shows that for this rising category of leaders, using online resources to evaluate and communicate with firms is second nature. And, as this digital generation ages and takes on increasingly senior leadership positions, they will give technology an expanding role in their buying and decision-making process. 

Putting It All Together 

Technology has forever changed the way that consumers interact with, and purchase, professional services. Those firms that learn to embrace the advantages offered by these new technologies will continue to grow and profit, widening the gap that already exists between technology adopters and non-adopters. For professional services firms, ignoring online marketing means living in the past. 

Read more about the way professional services marketing is changing in Hinge’s new coauthored book, Professional Services Marketing 

About the Author:

Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D., is Managing Partner at Hinge, a marketing firm that specializes in branding and marketing for professional services. Hinge is a leader in rebranding firms to help them grow faster and maximize value. Lee can be reached at LFrederiksen@hingemarketing.com or 703-391-8870. 

Interested in implementing an holistic solution to help your marketing team better manage your efforts? Check out Deltek Vision CRM and get a leg up on your competition.

Full Sail Partners, Deltek Premier Partner, is pleased to announce its recent hire of Nicole Temple who will join the Full Sail Partners team as a Senior Consultant. Within this role, Nicole will provide consulting and training to Deltek Vision users. Ms. Temple has a proven background supporting firms through system implementation and user training. With this most recent hire, Full Sail Partners continues to provide clients with the most knowledgeable professionals in the industry.

“I believe my unique experience of working with Deltek Vision as both the front end as an accounting user, and back end as a consultant will provide clients with a strong functional foundation to address their daily challenges,” said Nicole Temple. “With the introduction of Vision 7.1, I look forward to bringing my passion for training to Full Sail Partners to assist clients with the transition from legacy software and prior versions, to gain more from their Deltek experience.” 

Nicole Temple comes to Full Sail Partners with 15 years of experience A/E/C industry. Most recently, Nicole worked for Deltek University providing clients with Deltek Vision system implementation, customized and front-end training. Through her rich history working with Deltek Vision, Nicole is uniquely qualified to assist firms in the training and implementation of Deltek Vision software, methodologies, and best practices.

Nicole Temple’s appointment comes shortly after the one year anniversary of Full Sail Partners. "Full Sail Partners is excited to add Nicole to our Consulting staff solidifying a very strong Consulting Team" said Scott Seal, Vice President at Full Sail Partners. "Nicole’s depth of experience, energy, enthusiasm with Deltek Vision and proven track record of success are exactly what the company needs for its next major phase of growth to ensure great service to our clients."

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing Communications Department or check out the rest of the Full Sail Partners Deltek Vision Consulting Team.

What is forecasting? Forecasting is a tool that many professional services firms use to help management make decisions based on past and current data trends. 

There are two types of forecasting we will focus on in this article: 

1. Utilization forecasting
2. Cash flow forecasting

For professional services firms, forecasting starts with the analysis of the work that is yet to be performed and equating that to overall firm revenue. The revenue then becomes the basis for the accountant to project cash flows coming in, considering average day’s receivables, to drive what cash is available versus the cash required to cover current expenses.

Without these forecasts, it makes it much more difficult for management to schedule, staff, plan or perform the work in production that is necessary without them sitting up in bed at night on a regular basis. 

So let’s break the process down into steps and then focus on the key benefits of what is forecasting. 

1. To properly track utilizations, it is important to establish two budgeted figures, target utilization and available utilization. Both should be established for every staff person and documented by employee in your system.
   Definitions:

• Target Utilization is a function of the targeted billable hours over the standard hours in the work week.
• Available Utilization is a function of all available hours minus just the benefit hours.

One engineering firm we are working with used to post the labor utilization “curves” on their message board in their lunch room and it was measured against budgeted utilization for the year as a constant.  This singular graph showed what the firm was projecting for scheduled utilization against target and available which kept staff cognizant of both the need to schedule fully.  The graph also served as a tool for staff to promote billable hours against project deadlines.

From this data, management was able to see the most important single factor for the firm, how far out they were scheduled, and if they needed to adjust staff or move project timelines to increase project throughput.  Since labor costs against labor revenue is the single most influential impact on a firm’s bottom line, forecasting in this way had this firm’s management sleeping better, while it also empowered the firm’s staff to keep an eye on utilization. 

Since this level of tracking was in place at this particular firm, it also allowed their senior financial person to produce informative forecasts of revenue, which in turn, promoted the morale of everyone in the firm. 

To note, when the firm had many proposals out with the results tracking per the graph above, and the firm had the ability to look at un-scheduled but awarded professional service hours as well, they knew when staffing could not meet the demand of the impending work and were able to stage clients expectation with delivery dates or let HR know that hiring was needed on the horizon. 

So, is your firm enabling forecasting to better win work and deploy resources? If not, after reading this blog do you recognize the importance of implementing forecasting at your firm? I would forecast that the answer is “yes”!  

Achieving consistent project profitability while maintaining strong client relationships is at the top of most firms’ goals and objectives. And, while there are certainly a number of variables that must be integrated to make this happen, asking your clients for feedback during the project plays a valuable role. I’ve identified two scenarios that are common in the A/E industry. Incorporating feedback into your project management process has been demonstrated to have a positive impact on both.

Reduce (or eliminate) Re-work

Streamlining the project delivery process is essential to creating project efficiencies that lead to increased profit on your job. But there are pitfalls to this approach unless you are getting regular project feedback from your clients. Let’s look at a scenario:

You have done projects for one of your best clients for more than 10 years. You have developed a delivery process that seems to be working for them and it eliminates the need for your team to reinvent the wheel each time. Enter the new client project manager. This individual has their own set of expectations regarding how this project will proceed. And, although you all believe you were aligned when you left the kick-off meeting, suddenly there are 10 pages of comments to your first major submittal. They don’t like the format, they feel you have left out critical information, and generally they are looking for you to fix the problem which will require some significant re-work on your team’s part.

How could project feedback have avoided this outcome? Firms that have integrated gathering feedback into their project management process understand the importance of requesting feedback after each milestone meeting or deliverable. In this scenario, a feedback request would have been sent after the initial meeting perhaps after the submission of the meeting minutes. This would give the project manager the opportunity to uncover gaps in expectations with this new project manager. Before his team began to move forward on the project, these gaps can be closed. In this scenario this would have meant deviating from the streamlined process at least a little, but that knowledge and flexibility would save many hours of re-work that kills a project budget.

Avoid Scope Creep

Scope creep is something most A/E firms understand all too well. You know what is needed to complete the project but the client is extremely cost conscious and asks you to remove several items to lower your fee. Depending upon the experience of the project manager involved, they may be able to complete the project to the client’s satisfaction. However, doing so will quite likely result in a lower profitability for your project. Let’s look at a scenario:

You have been asked to design a renovation for a commercial building for a new client. This type of work is your specialty. You know all of the elements that will be needed to meet your client’s expectations for a successful project. However, when the client asks you to remove about 5% – 10% of the scope so that your fee will fit into their budget, you agree because this is a client that you really want to work with and your staff is a little light on work at the moment as well. As the project progresses, you run into problems because of the scope you removed and the client ‘forgets’ they asked you to remove these items and asks you to do what is needed to complete the project. Rather than ask your client for an increase in fee, you just finish the project with the fee you have been given. This involves both you and your team working extra hours and your profit still takes a hit.

How could project feedback have avoided this outcome? Because this is a new client let’s assume that the opportunities to use feedback to avoid the fee reduction in the first place are limited. Requesting feedback from your client throughout the lifecycle of the project however, can play a significant role when the scope items you removed come back into play. Each time you send a feedback request to this client you are giving them the opportunity to let you know how well you efforts are matching their expectations. You are building the relationship with them that lets them know that you value your relationship with them and it is your goal to ensure the project outcome meets or exceeds their expectations. When the moment comes that the scope items you agreed to remove become essential to the project, this relationship will make the conversation to request additional fees more comfortable for both of you.

Interested in learning more about using project feedback to increase profits?
 

Budgeting and forecasting is part art, part science. For too many firms, however, it is also a frustrating process that takes a lot of effort to produce less than optimal results.

All too often, the budgeting and forecasting process breaks down because the two parties involved — the executive management team and the operations side — see the challenge from opposite ends of the same telescope. It may be a gross generalization, but from what I’ve seen, management often tends to be more aggressive and optimistic about goals and forecasts. On the other hand, the operational side sees the nuts-and-bolts challenges and logistics required to meet management’s goals, and tends to be more conservative in terms of what they think can be achieved with a given budget. 

In addition to this fundamental dynamic, another challenge related to budgeting and forecasting is that unless it’s handled well, it can lead to a lack of buy-in on the part of various parties. Even worse, it can result in a budget that ends up sitting on a shelf for the rest of the year, which is not in anyone’s best interest. 

Key strategies for success

Fortunately, there are several strategies that can help an organization improve its chances of a successful budgeting and forecasting process. 

1. Start early. Think about the budget process as one of dialogue and compromise — so allow time for both management and operations to develop their budgets and plans, and then to negotiate an acceptable compromise. If you’re aiming to complete your budget by December 31, for example, consider asking management to commit to establishing and publishing their corporate goals no later than October 31. 

2. Be transparent and clear about the process. If you let everyone know up front that the budgeting process is a dialogue and compromise, there may be more chance that all parties will embrace it and comply with expectations. 

3. Have the management team kick off the process. After all, their vision for the corporate goals and general forecasts should be what drives the organization. In general, it’s a good strategy to use previous years’ results as a baseline, incorporating any relevant data about changing market and economic conditions, new products in development, and so on. Once the management team has published its goals, the operational managers develop budgets for reaching those goals. This is not the order in which it’s always done, but in my experience, it’s a more effective approach and leads to better results. 

4. Have a meeting of the minds. Last but not least, block off some time to bring the two sides together around the budget documents and negotiate a compromise. As in any compromise, it’s critical that both sides understand that they are not going to get everything they want. But by finding an agreeable compromise, the organization can develop a budget and forecast that’s both aspirational and achievable. 

Budgeting and forecasting succeeds when it brings together two very different perspectives of the organization and finds an effective meeting point. Obviously, it needs to help the organization move forward in a strategic direction; but to become a plan that staff can buy into and implement; it also needs to be realistic and achievable. Above all, don’t forget that a realistic, well-thought-out budget is essential to the firm’s financial success. 

Every year in your conference planning meetings you agree to come away from the upcoming conference with concise, actionable intelligence. Instead, every year you come away with nothing but a big stack of business cards, and maybe some new LinkedIn connections. In this blog we are going to review how setting up a CRM marketing campaign can help you come away from your event with clearly defined goals and actions.

You can’t track a marketing campaign unless you create it. You can’t start tracking your marketing efforts until you start. Often we overlook tracking information from conferences and tradeshows because of how much time these events are already taking out of our hectic schedules. If you have already made the decision to attend, you need to get both feet wet. There is no way to justify not taking the time out of your day to create a detailed marketing campaign in your CRM.

Include as much detail as possible in this marketing campaign. Event location, registration dates, everything! This marketing campaign will become your holy grail for all things related to this conference. By doing so you create a centralized location where your entire firm knows to look for information related to this event – and heck, you probably save a few trees in the process.

Use your CRM system as a grocery list! We all know how hectic things can become before leaving for a conference or tradeshow. Nothing is worse than spending the night before the conference starts in a Kinkos trying to produce some brochures because you forgot to prepare them beforehand. Track important items through your CRM system and start your conference off right by showing up with everything you need!

The beauty of tracking your marketing tasks via your CRM software is that you can use a mobile solution such as Vision Unleashed to access your database, and update tasks as you go.

Track who you know will be there, and who you met! The whole point of going to these things is to make contacts, right? What good does a pocket full of business cards do if you fail to create actionable intelligence from the contact? Provide your entire company with visibility in to these contacts and track this information in your CRM.

Before the event, track those clients that you have verified will be in attendance. The name of the game is conference planning, right? So don’t be afraid to do a little planning! Be aggressive and proactive schedule some quick meet-ups with your clients. Grab a cup of coffee or invite them to lunch. By tracking this activity in CRM solution you are able to ensure that you are reaching out to as many clients as possible.

After the event, make sure to get all of your new contacts uploaded in to your system. Hopefully you talked you went beyond the typical conference small talk and discussed business opportunities with these soon to be clients. Track whatever actionable intelligence you have in the system. Add these new contacts to the appropriate mailing lists and groups so that they start receiving your targeted marketing materials.

If you were not setting up marketing campaigns in your CRM system before reading this article, I hope that you now see the error in your ways! The most powerful CRM systems, such as Deltek Vision, allow us to provide our entire firm with the data we gain from these events – do so, and maybe next time you are trying to get the expense approved to attend a conference, you won’t have such a hard time convincing your supervisor!

Your firm is committed to using client evaluation surveys to ensure project success. So what do you do when your client gives you all high marks and you just know it isn’t true?

Recently one of our clients shared a story with me in which she was faced with this situation. Megan had been working on a project for Dee for several months. During this time there were a lot of times – certainly more than typical – when Dee came back with comments like, ‘well, that is fine but…’ Megan continued to feel that as hard as she tried to meet Dee’s expectations, there was something that was just not adding up.

For a number of years, Megan’s firm had elected to use client evaluation surveys. As a result, and because Megan really wanted to create a successful project for Dee, she decided to send her a survey. The survey asked Dee to consider specific points in the project process. It gave her a chance to share her thoughts on how things were going. The goal of the survey was to hear what Dee felt was important and to allow Megan to uncover what processes Dee felt were working well and which ones might be adjusted to work a little more smoothly.

Much to her surprise, the survey came back with all top scores and the comment, “I just love working with Megan!”  

Since her purpose was not to receive accolades but to serve her client more successfully, Megan gave Dee a call. She told her she really appreciated her taking the time to complete the client evaluation survey but she was a little concerned with the high scores. She told Dee, “I really enjoy working with you as well but I just feel that there is some way in which I could be serving you better.” Dee told her that she gave her the high marks because she knew other people would be looking at the scores. She said she really did like working with Megan and didn’t want her to get into any trouble.

Megan thanked Dee and told her she really appreciated her thinking of her. She was quick to add, however, that she (and her firm) actually appreciate knowing what their clients are thinking even if the survey comes back saying that the client is not completely happy with something. She pointed out that the reason her firm uses client evaluation surveys is because they are committed to providing their clients with the best possible experience.

So how does the story end? Megan and Dee had an excellent conversation. They talked about the processes Megan was using on the project and agreed on a few minor adjustments that Dee felt would really work a little better for her. In the end, the client evaluation survey actually worked just as intended. Even though the high scores did not accurately reflect what was going on in the project at that time, it opened the door to an excellent conversation.