Ok. Your firm isn’t into the client feedback thing. Or maybe your firm is into it but only conducts a dozen or maybe even a couple of dozen interviews a year. They haven’t gotten to your client just yet or the feedback is more stream of consciousness than feedback. It’s time to up the game. Here’s BTI’s double dog dare—
Complete this worksheet (see how below):
After every assignment ask each partner—better yet, make it each timekeeper—to answer the following simple questions:
- How would you rate the client service you received from your colleagues (as a group) on the team?
- How would you rate the client service you delivered to your team?
- How do you think the client would rate the team’s client service?
Send the results to your CMO and ask them to remove the timekeepers’ names and calculate a simple average of the rankings. Use a 1 to 10 scale where 10 is the best. Use the downloadable worksheet to record and track the self-rankings. Now:
- Share the aggregate results while making sure your CMO keeps a record of the individual scores—in case someone wants to check their scores (especially over time).
- Convene a meeting of no more than 15 minutes to discuss the results with your team.
- Ask everyone on the team to comment on the overall ranking. Inevitably one person will share their ranking and provide a constructive comment. This is your breakthrough—meaningful dialogue on how to improve client service within the team.
This self-ranking approach forces your team to think about client service on a regular basis. It only takes 3 or 4 meetings for at least half the members of your team to start filtering their actions through the prism of improving client service. The benefits include a more streamlined project, a happier team, a better work product, and most importantly: a happier client.
If you want to hit real pay dirt ask your client for their ranking of the team’s client service performance. You will finally have your true reference point to measure performance.
This will be the start of a new beginning in your client relationships—not to mention building a higher performing team.
MBR