Michelle (00:08.527)

Okay, welcome to season three, episode 28 of the Ladies Who Build podcast. We are on the topic of client feedback, the secret to success for any business, really for anybody in regards to business or relationships. So we will talk about some key points as how we get client feedback, how we incorporate the feedback with our team and with our individuals.

Why it's important and what is feedback and literally how it can make or break your business. So.

Yeah, let's talk about it.

‍

Ashley Wainscott (00:50.318)

Let's roll. Let's roll, girl.

Michelle (00:53.871)

How do we get client feedback? What are some ways that we have incorporated over the years?

‍

Ashley Wainscott (01:00.878)

Yes, yes, yes. So I think one thing that takes a little bit more time to build out, but is so necessary, and I think that there are some platforms that actually do this for you, but collecting surveys throughout the project to actually document all of the feedback, and it's something you can refer back to and share with your team. And then it's kind of neutral, and the client feels like, they can answer it without offending anyone. And they can know that it actually gets passed up through leadership or management if it is positive.

‍

Michelle (01:42.319)

Yes, we also at the end of the project will meet, we sit down with the client face to face and we go through, I mean this meeting can typically take between like 30 minutes to an hour, but we go through certain questions to ask them their feedback on the project as a whole. We talk about the sales process, the vendors, the timeline, the budget, all the things. And I always preface it as to say, we wanna hear the good, the bad, the ugly.

And we don't take anything personally. And so I want to make sure that clients know that like, hey, I'm not going to go run off and tell like so and so that you have maybe had some feedback for them. What we do is we look at this as a whole and how it affects the business. And so we really encourage people to be honest during that time. So it's just a really impactful moment for us as a business and the client to really sit down with them and have an honest conversation of how the project went as a whole.

‍

Ashley Wainscott (02:41.998)

Yeah, and I was just thinking that if we didn't have these surveys and touch points with clients that it would be really hard to put ourselves in their shoes, you know, and be empathetic towards what they have going on because we're just living our experience on our side. And then when we have these touch points, I think...

I mean, I think we naturally are empathetic to our clients and we're always thinking about them, but it really allows like a really good conversation where we can put ourselves in their shoes and really hear like this one thing you did changed my whole life and it was so great and I loved it and it was so positive or like this one thing that happened changed my whole experience and then caused me to rethink things in. That's what I love about those meetings.

Michelle (03:38.831)

Yeah, and I mean, I think it's good. It's it, but it also ties into like our whole foundation of our company of why, why we wanted to be different and who we are. But another way, which I'll get into in a little bit, but another way we collect feedback is during the weekly onsite PM meeting. We will talk with the client one -on -one. Like we obviously go over the work and wants to come, blah, blah, blah. But then.

We really train the team to ask the deeper questions. So not just, how's everything going for you? But we go deeper, for example, saying, I know this happened last week, how is that setting with you this week now that you've had time to think about it? Or, I know this happened the other day, is everything okay? Or did I explain why that had to happen properly? Or did you still have questions about that?

Or even if there is tension, even calling it out to say, I feel that there might be some frustrations about that. Did you want to talk about it right now? I have the time. I'd love to sit down and kind of go through the details or we can revisit it. So it's a different, our whole way that we look at client relationships is yes, we are giving you a service that you are paying for, but it goes so much deeper beyond that. And our team really needs to feel comfortable.

And we train them to feel comfortable to ask those questions because when you can get there with the client and you can create that relationship, it literally transforms the project when that communication flow is cleared. Like you can easily go to the other person and talk about what's going on. I mean, it's like night and day, the conversations and the relationships we have with them are like 10 times better.

Ashley Wainscott (05:29.166)

Yeah, that honesty and transparency and then creating the environment where you're open to getting that feedback.

Allows for the feedback.

You know, and when somebody trusts you and they have a good relationship with you, they're gonna, they're gonna feel like they can speak up and be honest with you. And I feel like that's where the real goodness, that's where the real goodness is, right? It's like right in there. And so we get feedback throughout the whole project, right? We're always talking to clients and even in ways where.

We have these weekly one -on -one meetings, but even just throughout our whole process, like specifically on the sales prep and planning side, we're always talking to clients, meeting with clients. And again, we're creating that environment for people to ask questions and to be engaged. And I think it just makes the whole experience better.

Also, we have how we incorporate the feedback, which I think is the other big part, because step one is you have to get it, and then step two, it's like.

Ashley Wainscott (06:55.086)

And I think this can be done in a lot of ways. So one of the ways in which we do this is spreading, you know, the positive feedback throughout the team. So when somebody, when a client is super satisfied, when a client has told us really great feedback, we're always celebrating our wins. And this happens in our internal meetings. It happens throughout the company, which is amazing. So we'll have like our internal team chat. So if there's, you know, some immediate feedback that we got that's positive, we'll share it with the chat and it kind of just brings, you know, some positivity to the day. And it's always nice, like when a client acknowledges all the hard work that someone has done or the team has done, because it is like such a labor of love for each project. So when clients see it, we definitely want to make sure that the team feels it.

Ashley Wainscott (07:51.086)

Yeah, and you know, Michelle, I think we should push for...

Like normalizing or there being normalcy around giving project managers, clients giving project managers even like a small token appreciation. You know, like a little basket. I mean, we treat our clients throughout the whole process, but I think it's always nice.

Ashley Wainscott (10:34.67)

Yes, I think we should normalize that. I think it changes everything because I think it's different because I think a project manager is working on your personal home and so it's already personal for clients. I think we keep it professional but I just know on our side like all the times that we've been appreciated or recognized it changes their life getting like...

I think you candle or a set of flowers or whatever. We treat our clients of course that way but anyways I'm putting that out there in the world because I think that project managers of course anybody that's worked on your project but doing small tokens of appreciation I think goes a long way.

Michelle (11:27.279)

Yeah, so what we're basically saying if you're listening to this, we're accepting gifts at this point. So that's what we want to start seeing.

Ashley Wainscott (11:36.718)

Basically, I'm gonna have a tip jar out for myself.

But long story long, it goes a long way.

Michelle (11:51.215)

Yeah, yeah, I mean it does.

It really goes a long way and like, I don't mean it lightly when we say this is a labor of love. So when people do recognize us, like that's it, it really is a big deal. Like that means a lot. Um, so I think on, in addition to talking about it throughout the team, we share it with the chat. We also do project review meetings once the project closes out. And that's like a larger, we meet with the salesperson, we meet with the PMs. Um,

Michelle (12:25.775)

anybody who was involved in that project and we kind of go through it as a whole. Like how did we do on the numbers? How did we do on the timeline? What did the client have to say? So that's another time we talk about feedback so everybody can hear it. We also, if the feedback is something that is either consistent or that is a big enough issue, then as...

as an exec team, we would also talk about it in the sense that, okay, does this need to be a systematic change or does our process need to be tweaked in any way because of this or, oh, that's a really good point. We didn't consider that that's something we should carry forward, moving forward, you know, especially if it's like repeated. So if someone is saying, if multiple different people are saying one thing, then that means that's not a, that's not a one off. That's a, that's a problem.

And so then we might look at it as like, okay, hey, we probably should incorporate this throughout the company as a system change.

Ashley Wainscott (13:26.702)

Yes, absolutely. That's a huge element of how to incorporate it and how to not repeat it is how are you going to make the changes internally. I think the next level of it that we had noted on here too is also.

Internally talking about it with team members and noting if it's a problem over and over again, because that becomes a team member or employee performance issue rather than just an issue you're seeing on projects. And maybe you might discover like, oh, this is actually a metric that I need to start measuring for this role because this has become a huge.

Gap in the role or a huge opportunity where we can excel so that may snowball there too.

Michelle (14:35.887)

Yeah, I mean, all the way around, we definitely don't take feedback lightly. And if we, this kind of ties into like why it's important for us and for our company is it really does change the way that we operate. I mean, and we don't, it's not like to say every feedback we've ever gotten, we're immediately gonna go change it right then and there, but.

We do talk about it and we document it and so we'll say if it's coming up again and again, should it be something that we change or incorporate? And it's very much, like what I was saying earlier, it goes back to the basics of who we are because we don't want to be the contractor of, well, that's just the way it's been for 10 years and it's worked for 10 years, so get over it. Or my other clients didn't have an issue with that, right?

Ashley Wainscott (16:10.798)

Yeah, and honestly the quote unquote big learning feedback, the bad feedback is the, I mean that's the good stuff. That's the stuff in which you're really gonna grow from and that you actually need to hear. Because even if a client had a five star review and all of these amazing positive.

pieces in the experience you provided and they loved your service, those little pieces of feedback of how it could have been even better, oh, it's gold. It's just gold. And Michelle, you hit on something a minute ago, which we have to talk about, but it doesn't matter what industry you're in. It doesn't matter if you're a client or if you're providing a service or a product, whatever it is.

In the end, everybody just wants to feel heard, which in turn makes them feel seen. And I think that really applies in how you set up your business for feedback, because if you're hearing your clients and you're giving them the opportunity to share, then you're creating that space for them, then they feel heard and they automatically feels better. Even if the situation wasn't great.

you gave them a space to feel heard and seen and everybody feels better like that. And they're not gonna go try and feel heard and seen through a lot of their friends by sharing that feedback.

Michelle (17:46.159)

Yeah, that's a good point because they will talk about it. And so it's like you want them talking about it with you and not blasting it on social media or on your reviews page. I mean, there have been times where I've gone into closeout meetings to get feedback from clients and I know it's not gonna go well. And I'm like, oh, I'm kind of dreading this. But at the end of the day, what they have always said is, I really appreciate that you guys have incorporated this process in your system.

Because this is important and we appreciate that you want to hear our thoughts on it because maybe it didn't go well, whatever the case went, however it shaked out, is we're still gonna give you that time. We might know what you're gonna say and maybe we don't know what you're gonna say, but we know it might not be positive, but at the end of the day, we still need to hear it and it's important. And I will say some of our biggest company changes with our systems and processes has come from client feedback.

and it just makes us better in the end. And we're like, oh, you saw that from a client perspective, that's so important to know because we had no idea that that's what was coming across, right? Like that's important for us to know.

Ashley Wainscott (18:56.142)

Yeah, we can only guess what they want, but until they tell us, we don't know.

Michelle (19:01.423)

Right. Yeah, like that's what makes this really great is because we've incorporated and we've listened to what people want and what people need in their homes. So yeah, you're right though, like any industry, you have to get feedback. And even if it's just, even if you could get a third party to get it for you, like maybe you were working with that client one -on -one, maybe then get your operations person or I don't know, project manager, whoever is on your team, maybe that they could be the third party.

Ashley Wainscott (19:09.614)

Yep.

Michelle (19:30.319)

to talk about it with the client. So they're not having to be like, yeah, Ashley, that really upset me when you did that. So it's less direct and less personal. It's very neutral if you just have a third party come in and have that meeting with them.

Ashley Wainscott (19:43.022)

Yeah. Attack, attack. She's coming for me. Right. Yeah, that's way better. I mean, nobody wants to stare at someone else and be like, when you did that, that was, I didn't like that. Or, you know, like, especially for the non -confrontational clients, getting somebody else in there is the way to

what you want to see in these surveys and what you want to measure and thinking about the space that you create and, you know, having a culture like ours where we are super transparent, we are open to feedback, we are, we're all about the feedback, we're all about the emotions and the experience of the client. So I would say to incorporate it and build it out so it makes sense.

for the business and working with a team or company in any scenario that takes feedback, I think, means that they care and listen. So you might consider that when hiring someone.

Michelle (21:06.991)

Yeah, well, and that's like a part of our hiring process too is they have to be growth minded. They have to be wanting to better themselves. They have to be open to feedback because if they are not, they will absolutely not be a good fit because that is like such a big part of our culture.

Ashley Wainscott (21:42.35)

Look at us, Michelle and I were just saying after 11 years, you know, man, do we know client feedback. We, we have a great understanding around this and how to accept it, how to receive it, how to incorporate it. Hey, you know, we've only learned through experience. So, um, good luck to you all out there trying to set it up for yourselves.

Michelle (21:50.383)

Mm -hmm.

Yes.

Ashley Wainscott (22:09.166)

or for your business, or if you're looking for a contractor who's, has incorporated this, these are just things to consider.

Michelle (22:18.735)

Yeah. All right.

That's a wrap.

‍