Using client feedback as a driver for growth

I was recently invited to speak at the Digital Accountancy Show, in an expert panel session on how client feedback can best be used to drive revenue and profit growth.

Key take-aways for the marketing and communications professionals attending were:

• Feedback needs to be embedded as part of organisational culture, not as a bolt-on. We discussed how client feedback has most value as part of a wider client-centric approach that incorporates all business touchpoints and propositions.
• One size doesn’t fit all. In structuring a client feedback methodology focused on growth, there’s a need to design for distinct client typologies, based on sector, services purchased to date, value and more. This enables a more granular means of qualifying the risk and potential axes.
• Qual. and Quant. Cross-tabulating big picture quantitative feedback with individual qualitative work is a powerful enabler of where potential and cross-sell opportunities lie.
• Identifying both recognized and latent needs. Interrogating data using qual. and quant. also allows you to identify more than what clients say they want. Many don’t yet know their needs or what services you could deliver for them, enabling innovation and higher value service tailoring, aligned to their specific business goals.
• Validating your point of difference. Research can help identify whether the primary points of difference your business thinks separate it from competitors match what your customers believe. And, if not, use that data to re-align the two.
• Benchmark your ‘how’ over your ‘what’. Many companies focus overly on the latter, while it’s the ‘how’ that clients remember, value and retain you for.
• Internal barriers need to be overcome; client leads being sometimes reluctant to explore and embrace the findings from client feedback.

A big thank you to Liz Hobkinson of VerityRI for inviting me to speak at the event, and to my panel partner Gregor Angus from AAB. If you’d like to discuss how our experience could help you drive understanding and growth, please contact me @ eevans@teamspirit.co.uk