Putting Clients First: Why Proactive Feedback is Crucial for Agency Success
Part of being a successful Client Account Manager is building strong, reciprocal relationships with your clients. You always want trust and communication to work both ways; your client knows that you can provide them with reliable and exceptional service, while you can trust your clients to be able to ask for exactly what they need.
A very simple way to develop and grow this trust, while also getting an accurate look at how you’re performing, is to ask your clients to fill out a happiness survey! A happiness survey for your agency clients is an incredibly valuable tool that can provide you with a crystal clear snapshot of how you’re doing, how things are going, and what you can do to improve. It also provides your client with a safe and supported avenue to honestly express their findings, providing the perfect jumping-off point to discuss any and all of their questions or concerns.
Overall, a happiness survey for agency clients is a straightforward and effective way to get a glimpse of how things are going, while allowing for more open and honest communication with your clients. In other words, this tool is a massive win-win!
Here are the top 5 reasons why you should consider sending out agency surveys to your roster of clients today!
1. Anticipating your Clients’ Needs Helps you Exceed their Expectations
Once you have the results from a client survey, you’ll gain access to extremely valuable information, including insight into how a client would like a job to be executed in both the micro sense and the macro. You can use these survey findings to spot trends and behaviors that can be applied to a project as a whole, in addition to what is addressed in the survey. This will put you two steps ahead of your clients’ needs, and miles ahead of other Client Account Managers in your field. Be sure to use the templates and tools available in our CAM Community so your surveys yield maximum results.
2. Acting Proactively Helps Minimize Client Concerns
The results from your happiness survey can alert you to issues bubbling below the surface. By inviting your clients to share their thoughts in a safe and structured way, you create an environment more conducive to truth and transparency. By taking the initiative to share the survey, you’re giving your clients permission to divulge their honest feelings and letting them know that you’re ready to receive whatever their findings may be; whether good or bad. This transparency will lead to more honest answers, allowing you to double down on what’s working while nipping any negative trajectories in the bud.
3. Extending a Happiness Survey Helps Open Lines of Communication
Once the results from your client survey are in, there may be more questions than answers. Use the survey to start an open dialogue with your client about whether or not you’re meeting their expectations. Make sure to follow up and ask targeted questions, proving that you listened to, and fully absorbed, their feedback, while also getting into the nitty gritty of what your client truly needs and is looking for.
When addressing your clients’ feedback, consider the following:
Take the time to receive, appreciate, and thank your client for any accolades. Although very nice to hear, positive feedback is also constructive and a great indicator as to how your client likes for a job to be executed!
Make sure to ask specific and detailed questions in regard to their answers, especially if there’s something you need more clarity on.
If addressing negative feedback, don’t get defensive and bogged down by the ‘he said she said they said’ or by trying to defend your actions. Apologize, take accountability, and simply focus on a constructive and collaborative solution.
4. Implementing Survey Results Helps to Strengthen Client Relationships
Collecting data is one thing, but actually using the data to create a better client experience is another. Once your client survey results have been received, it’s important to wholeheartedly embrace their suggestions to show them that you can not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk! Create a strategy to begin putting what they shared with you into practice (luckily here at DOT & Co., we have the perfect systems to help you execute this). Listening to, but then also applying their feedback will only strengthen the relationship with your client, helping them feel truly seen and heard.
5. Happiness Surveys Demonstrate Compassion and Care
Best of all, a happiness survey demonstrates to your client that you’re willing to go the extra mile. You’re not just waiting until something blows up or goes wrong to check-in. Going out of your way to get their opinion proactively lets them know that you’re genuinely invested in the outcome of your partnership. Being proactive, not reactive, is the best approach to ensure everything goes smoothly and that your clients stay happy.
Overall, How Should You Survey Your Clients?
In conclusion, a happiness survey is a critical tool to take the temperature of your current projects, your client's satisfaction, and what can be done, if anything, to improve. By initiating the survey, you’re extending an open invitation for feedback, providing the client with a safe space to voice what they’re really thinking and feeling. This transparency will lead to greater communication, trust, reciprocity, and ultimately loyalty with your clients. When addressing their concerns, whether positive or negative, don’t forget to be thorough, compassionate, and constructive, never defensive.
So, what are you waiting for? Get your happiness surveys out today to show your clients that you’re ready and willing to go above and beyond!
Are you a Client Account Manager looking to accelerate your career? Check out DOT & Co.’s Account Manager Training and CAM Community to elevate your skills today.