This is a true story that illustrates how a client feedback session and the marginal gains it delivered can combine to help you evolve your offering towards perfection.

It also proves how important it is to get some client feedback on pretty much everything you do.

It begins with a small piece of consultancy for a client; a workshop, some analysis and a report.

All went well.

I did the work and asked for a feedback session. The client was happy to oblige – I got the impression it was a bit of a novelty for him. Normally I conduct these by telephone but I was passing by their offices on my way to dinner with another client, so we arranged a face-to-face meeting instead.

I never do them by email or an online form or a third-party company.

They were pleased with the work but by pressing they finally admitted to two issues: –

  1. The report I had produced used red, amber and green markings to indicate how serious the problem was. Unfortunately, their everyday printer was black and white and, even worse, my sponsor was colour blind.
  2. I spent the first part of our workshop gathering key information that I couldn’t get from any other source. They would have preferred to get straight to the problem.

On the face of it two small issues that they weren’t overly bothered by. Ignoring them and pressing on to bigger things was an option. But I didn’t.

I concluded there were two simple remedies to their issues:

  1. Using a traffic light clip-art design which makes it obvious whether the red, amber and green light apply, even in black and white.
  2. Designing a simple form and sending it to the sponsor before a session, gathering the key information I need.

Why is this important?

There are two things from this exercise.

First my product improved by 2%. It was a marginal gain but these soon add up.

Secondly, the client was amazed at my attention to detail and desire to improve even in the smallest of ways. That did my rep no harm at all and would you stand out if you did it?

Here’s my tip.

As often as you can, arrange a client feedback session after you’ve completed a piece of work.

Do this in person or on the telephone and never by email or online questionnaire. Many won’t even fill in the form and those that do won’t tell you everything you need to know.

Encourage your client to dig deep and come up with a 1% improvement to your offering: What it does, the way it’s sold, how you supported or its delivery.

Act on what they tell you. Change things. Tell them what you’ve done. Validate their feedback.

In a world where everybody complains about how hard it is to differentiate themselves from their competition, the clients know the answer. All you need to do is ask them in the right way.