Posts Tagged ‘professional services’

Are you happy?

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 9:57 pm

Are you?  Happy?  Are you happy?  Really?

What does that actually mean?  Happy?  Or strike me down before I say this …..  “satisfied”….*cringe*

We’re talking in a business context here.  Let’s say you are a business owner.  You visit your accountant, say, and they run through your financial accounts with you.  It’s been a hard year.  Your turnover is down, you’ve made a loss and you’ve laid people off in the period being reviewed.

Are you happy at that point?  No… of course not.  You’re downbeat, crestfallen, disappointed.  You’re as far from happy as you’re going to get.  You’re walking through a necessary evil of signing off your annual accounts.

So if your accountant takes the opportunity to get out his silly “are you happy” cards (and yes I’ve seen them in gory technicolour)… you’re not going to be too chuffed are you?

It doesn’t matter how jolly your accountant is, what cup you’re having your coffee in, or how your accounts are modernly bundled together.

So with this in mind…. why do so many feedback attempts follow the focus of asking how “Happy” people are?

And if someone sends you a survey, and you say no… I’m not “Happy”… what happens then?

The point that’s trying to be got over here is the question itself.

If you ask a silly question, you’re going to get a silly answer that at it’s worst could mislead you further into making the wrong decision.

I remember a few months back.  I was chatting with a person from Business Link in South Yorkshire and they were proudly boasting that they had satisfaction levels in excess of 93%.

So… I asked what that actually meant and for what services and what situations and from what sort of businesses and for what period.  Yes ok…. so maybe I knew the chap wouldn’t have a clue, but it was good sport! 

But do you see how pointless a question it is?  If I was one of the 7%… what happens?  They aren’t asking the question in such a way with such a context that they can fix the problem.  If they ask specifically about contact points and services and people involved… they might have a chance of nailing the issue and improving what they do.  But a wide open question… “Are you satisfied?”  It evades the point.

And sorry for echoing this point, but this point is really crucial.  A silly question results in a silly answer.  That makes the feedback process pointless and you alienate the person you’re asking.  It’s a bit like being asked by your banks call centre people if there’s anything else they can help with when you’re asking them to transfer accounts!  It’s pointless, daft and only going to raise the heckles.

So do us a favour.  The next time you receive a survey (online survey or paper) and it has a generic question that asks if you are “Happy” or god forbid even worse “Satisfied”… why not be playful and ask “about what?”  And if the timing is really silly… pick them up on it.

Feedback is a fantastic opportunity to really understand and improve how a business operates and what it could do to improve.  But like estate agents, traffic wardens, MP’s and bankers…. it’s easy to tar online surveys and any feedback process with the brush of annoyance.

Questions that have value, not questions that are vague.

That’s the way forward…. now…. as I’ve got that off my chest, I can step back down from my soapbox… back to watching the Fulham Europa League Final!

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Is “professional” still relevant in 2010?

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 11:43 am

Well if you look at it’s antonym (it’s opposite) you find the word “amateur.”

How many businesses have you worked with that could be considered amateur?  Hmmm… wrong line of questioning maybe….  What do you deem to be professional in business and what do you deem to be amateur?  And who gets to decide?  An umbrella group or association?  Some kitemark that proves professionalism to the public?

The reason I ponder the question is because of the proportion of services we deliver to the “professional” services sector.  We’re talking with law firms, accountants and ifa’s most days of the week.

And if I can be allowed (well it’s my blog so I think i’ll brave it), the professional services sector seem almost obsessed in being professional at all cost.  We discuss business with them, we talk about how they think clients view them ahead of undertaking a feedback exercise.  More importantly we ask them what they WANT to be viewed as.  And 80% of the time (unscientific but accurate) the first word that passes the lips is……

Professional

My perception (and coming from a professional services background I’m qualified to say this) is that professional is a bit of a nondescript word.  It’s a bit like “satisfied” a bit like “ok”…. it hardly gets you excited about things does it?  It doesn’t say go-ahead, it doesn’t say proactive and it definately doesn’t say dynamic.

Accountancy, law and financial services to the outside world are seen as dull. So consider this…. how are you going about showing that your firm isn’t dull?  And what vision does “professional” conjure in your mind?

Is there a pin stripe suit in that vision?  A small meeting room with pencil pot, branded paper pad, telephone and insipid wallpaper that’s neutral so it doesn’t offend anyone?  A standard Ikea type table, royal blue chairs, beige/ grey/ bland carpet.  Do you imagine the bowler hatted people that used to mark the Bradford & Bingley logo?  Is the temperature you feel a little chilly, the air a little dry?  Do you feel comfortable thinking about that situation?  Is it one you relish being in?

Have you been offered a drink?  Out of a machine?  Is the cup a plastic one even fine china, maybe royal doulton, maybe a denby mug? 

You may see all this as an exaggeration of one end of the professional services spectrum, but it’s more common than you might think.

The true reality is that most accountants are professional.  As are solicitors, as are financial advisers.

So if that’s the case…. what sets them apart?  Why do people buy from an IFA, lawyer or accountant as opposed to another?  Apathy or recommendation.  And because the bar is set quite low, these professional services organisations meet the standard.  Don’t surpass, simply meet.

We’ve never met someone who wasn’t technically able.  Or someone who wasn’t too bright.  But we have struggled to meet someone in the professional services sector who stands out radically from the crowd.

Our challenge if you’re in the professional services sector.  Be different.  Dare.  Ask your clients what they really want… blank canvas.  And be prepared to stand out from the crowd.

Professional may be the traditional standard term for the industry… but is it still relevant in 2010?

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