These are certainly challenging economic times for design firms. The ability to strengthen your firm’s relationships with your existing clients and quickly create strong new relationships with new clients is more critical than ever for a firm’s success. Collecting real-time, objective feedback from your clients allows your firm to more strategically orient your staff’s efforts to produce the greatest sense of value with your clients.  This type of actionable data not only confirms which of your firm’s processes are working well, but gives you an immediate alert if the client feels something is off-track.  This process of tracking your client’s perceptions has been identified by countless consultants and business schools as a necessary ingredient for successful service firms. Yet research shows that fewer than 5% of architectural and engineering firms have any system or specific process to help them.  This seminar will show attendees how to set up and utilize a system that was designed to serve the specific needs of the A/E industry.

Building strong, effective relationships with clients is the most essential component in determining whether a design firm will survive, not to mention thrive. A client feedback system is the most efficient tool in strengthening client relationships because of its ability to track the preferences and priorities of your clients, and well as how and when they shift. Tracking clients in this manner, a firm can better meet their needs by focusing on what the clients identify as most important. Improving your understanding of your clients in this manner brings you closer and makes your firm more that client’s expert. It is this status that directly improves your firm’s prosperity by increasing the loyalty of your clients while simultaneously reducing your firm’s costs to handle their work.

The recession has also increased the number of liability claims suffered by design firms.  Part of the problem is that reduced design fees leaves less time for the type of efforts and attention that helps spot and stop problems. Using an effective client feedback system has been acknowledged by major liability insurance carriers to reduce the size and frequency of liability claims against design firms. In addition, client feedback can help problems earlier, when they are easier and less costly to solve. 

Clients want to be heard. When your firm asks them for feedback in a professional, concise manner, it shows them your firm’s attention and concern for their needs and opinions. No matter what feedback you receive, your firm’s “stock price” improves just because you asked. If you incorporate your client’s feedback into their project’s process, then they feel more ownership in that process and are more likely to defend it. This creates a competitive advantage for your firm in that your firm is viewed as an effective collaborator.

In this seminar, Mike Phillips AIA, shows attendees how to most effectively collect and incorporate client feedback to quickly and comfortably create a more strategic awareness of ongoing client issues. Attendees will also see how to capture feedback as helpful database to encourage and recognize superior staff performance.

At the end of the event:

• Firm leaders will learn to identify project problems before they become costly to resolve
• Firm leaders will be able to promote and recognize each staff member’s performance in a trackable manner
• Firms will be able to enhance their marketing success by incorporating client feedback
• Firms will be able to objectively identify each staff member’s optimal assignments and training
• Firm leaders will see techniques to improve their firm’s value (and billings) to their clients

Who should attend:

• Architects
• Engineers
• Interior Designers
• Firm Owners
• Firm Managers
• Principals
• Marketing Directors
• Business Development Directors
• Firm Counsel

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