In professional services, listening is currency. Clients offer insight not just into what they think of your work, but how your firm is perceived, how relationships are evolving, and where future opportunity (or risk) lies. Internally, the same applies: listening well is a competitive advantage. But new research suggests most leaders, despite their best intentions, are not as good at it as they think. A meta-analysis of 117 studies, published in  Harvard Business Review , ide

New research in the Journal of Consumer Research describes how critical feedback helps with your clients’ blood pressure as well as your bottom line. One study, as part of the project, used machine learning to analyse 22,983 negative reviews of airlines. It found that the odds of recommending the airline went up 5 to 10 times when the review included rational as well as emotional criticism. People who are aware of the flaws in a service will still recommend, albeit with cave

Graham Archbold joined Maddie Platt on the Conscious Solutions Podcast.

Here’s a behind the scenes of our internal reporting console with last year’s feedback.   In the open-ended comments, there was useful constructive criticism (which we very much welcome!) We addressed each at account-level but our broader improvement actions this year are to:   Provide more clarity on our service offering, along with a breakdown of fees and background of the delivery team (be less ‘mysterious’!) Ensure fast and reliable turnaround of reporting (for example, e

Will this be the year you'll launch your client listening programme? 

Surveys aren’t a new technology. In fact, they’re actually a lot older than you might think. Scholars have even dated surveys back to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Of course, the technology we use today has come a long way with big names like Survey Monkey founded in 1999 and YouGov in 2000. So with such an old technology, does it still have a place in today's world of research? We think so. Although slightly outdated there are undoubtedly still ways to use the traditional

When asking clients for feedback, there are timeless questions you’ll ask over and over that always yield deep insights. And that’s exactly how it should be. How likely they are to recommend you is a KPI you’ll always want to track. But with major developments in the business environment other questions come into play to help understand and better connect with clients. From the ever-hot topic of AI, to the growing importance of an ESG strategy, and the looming UK general elec

It’s one of the numbers you want to keep low in business. Churn. Firms with churn rates of more than 5% are often less profitable and that’s usually because they have higher acquisition costs and slower productivity as they constantly onboard new clients. In fact, it’s estimated that the average churn rate in the professional services industry is as high as 27%. As a result, reducing churn is usually one of the main priorities of firms. So how do they go about it? We think th