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3 Reasons to support Performance Appraisal with Bespoke Client Satisfaction Reviews

By June 25, 2021Blog
Authors: Prutha Lad and Peter Rosenwald

5/6 MANAGERS PREFER A PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SUPPORTED BY  BESPOKE CLIENT SATISFACTION. HERE’S WHY.

According to Bain & Company, companies that excel at offering great client experiences can expect to grow their revenues as much as 8% above their market.  Building on this statement, in June 2021 we conducted a small survey asking professional service partners and marketers to rank, in order of importance to them, the six main benefits of bespoke client satisfaction surveys. Unsurprisingly, the most important benefit cited was to support  partner/senior performance appraisal. This blog looks deeper into the performance appraisal aspect and explores the feedback loop from client to employees and concludes with an interesting theory.

Of the six main benefits of Bespoke Client Satisfaction Reviews which do professionals rank as their No 1 benefit.

Gaining
Referrals

Identifying best practice / process improvement

Reducing risk of clients leaving

Integrating client reviews into partner / senior appraisals

Increasing
client margins

Cross selling share of client wallet

The results of the survey demonstrate the conclusions of recent psychological research conducted on employee satisfaction which places importance of positive affirmations in the workplace and how it can improve productivity.

A good client satisfaction score leads to improved positive affirmations which directly relates to self-efficacy, i.e. our motivations to produce a good result.

Client satisfaction surveys allow managers to know that their work and performance is both recognized and valued. This feedback is especially important because it increases morale, encourages good work and helps provide a sense of purpose, and it grants them the confidence to go out and experiment with their way of conducting business. It allows managers to improve performance by prioritising which aspects of the business need development. Additionally, it gives managers insights into future trends by helping to identify trends in your clients thinking and needs. Understanding such trends can help to predict future client requirements and can help managers market services specialised towards these needs or even recognise cross-selling opportunities! Therefore, when managers are offered consistent actionable feedback, they gain better insights into their successes and opportunities for improvements.

The second advantage of bespoke client satisfaction in relation to appraisal is that these surveys also offer guidance as to which skills to invest in and what training courses to undertake. Such actionable insights can be beneficial to not only a manger but also other employees for whom the additional skills and expertise are beneficial. It allows managers to take appropriate action to address areas of poor performance but also helps your practice focus on those interpersonal skills and processes that clients like. In effect teach your practice to do more of what clients like.

A third and indirect benefit of performance appraisal via client satisfaction is low recruitment costs. Many studies have examined the /relationship between employee/partner satisfaction and client satisfaction which, in brief, claim that happier, more satisfied partners create happier more satisfied clients. When this performance and relationship is appraised, partner productivity rises, and they perform better. And so, they are more likely to stay and continue in the same company, which addresses a major hindrance of the professional services industry- high recruitment costs.

Finally, this leads to our theory of the virtuous cycle of client satisfaction and employee satisfaction. Our survey results show that client satisfaction is used to improve employee/partner performance and therefore their job satisfaction. Studies by Forbes (2019) show that employee satisfaction can improve client satisfaction.  We therefore have a cycle of productivity and empowerment formed when your practice has a culture of continuous bespoke client satisfaction surveying linked to partner / senior appraisal.

Let us know what YOU think of this theory and how it applies in your industry!