Best Practices for Collecting Feedback in Consulting

Getting the right feedback will transform your job as a PM. More scalability, better user engagement, and growth. But most PMs don’t know how to do it right. Here’s the Feedback Engine I’ve used to ship highly engaging products at unicorns & large organizations: — Right feedback can literally transform your product and company. At Apollo, we launched a contact enrichment feature. Feedback showed users loved its accuracy, but... They needed bulk processing. We shipped it and had a 40% increase in user engagement. Here’s how to get it right: — 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟭: 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 Most PMs get this wrong. They collect feedback randomly with no system or strategy. But remember: your output is only as good as your input. And if your input is messy, it will only lead you astray. Here’s how to collect feedback strategically: → Diversify your sources: customer interviews, support tickets, sales calls, social media & community forums, etc. → Be systematic: track feedback across channels consistently. → Close the loop: confirm your understanding with users to avoid misinterpretation. — 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟮: 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 Analyzing feedback is like building the foundation of a skyscraper. If it’s shaky, your decisions will crumble. So don’t rush through it. Dive deep to identify patterns that will guide your actions in the right direction. Here’s how: Aggregate feedback → pull data from all sources into one place. Spot themes → look for recurring pain points, feature requests, or frustrations. Quantify impact → how often does an issue occur? Map risks → classify issues by severity and potential business impact. — 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟯: 𝗔𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 Now comes the exciting part: turning insights into action. Execution here can make or break everything. Do it right, and you’ll ship features users love. Mess it up, and you’ll waste time, effort, and resources. Here’s how to execute effectively: Prioritize ruthlessly → focus on high-impact, low-effort changes first. Assign ownership → make sure every action has a responsible owner. Set validation loops → build mechanisms to test and validate changes. Stay agile → be ready to pivot if feedback reveals new priorities. — 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟰: 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 What can’t be measured, can’t be improved. If your metrics don’t move, something went wrong. Either the feedback was flawed, or your solution didn’t land. Here’s how to measure: → Set KPIs for success, like user engagement, adoption rates, or risk reduction. → Track metrics post-launch to catch issues early. → Iterate quickly and keep on improving on feedback. — In a nutshell... It creates a cycle that drives growth and reduces risk: → Collect feedback strategically. → Analyze it deeply for actionable insights. → Act on it with precision. → Measure its impact and iterate. — P.S. How do you collect and implement feedback?

Asking customers for feedback can be seamlessly integrated into any customer conversation. How? Through the structured framework known as the 1x1 Feedback Model. The 1x1 Feedback Model, named for its focus on drawing out one “did well” and one “do differently” from customers, is designed to help us get a sense of our customer’s preferences and how we can best serve them. To do this, we form a FEEDBACK ALLIANCE with our customers. It embodies a commitment to open communication, active listening and actionable feedback for continuous improvement. Within this Alliance, you and your customers establish a framework for collecting, analyzing and acting upon feedback. This framework includes defining the specific aspects of your performance or services on which you'd like to receive continuous feedback, as well as outlining the desired outcomes or goals of the feedback process. How do we go about creating Feedback Alliances and implementing the 1x1 Feedback Model in Customer Conversations? 1️⃣ Start with a Commitment: Open your conversation with a commitment to continuous improvement. Example: "My goal is to make each meeting better than the last. May I ask for your feedback at the end of our meeting to achieve this?" 2️⃣ Wrap Up with Feedback: As the meeting concludes, reinforce your commitment and remind your customer that you would like their feedback. Consider asking questions like, "What part of the meeting had the biggest impact?" and "What was missing that would have amplified the success of this meeting?" 3️⃣ Tips for Receiving Feedback: 📌 Stay patient and open. Give your customer space to share without interrupting. 📌 Avoid becoming defensive, justifying yourself or interrupting your customers when they are providing you with their feedback. 📌 Say thank you. Feedback is a gift! 📌 Take notes! Write down the feedback immediately. This ensures you don't miss out on valuable insights and demonstrates your commitment to making improvements. Remember, asking customers for feedback is about understanding their needs better to serve them. Creating customer Feedback Alliances is not only about soliciting feedback, it's about co-creating value with your customers, leveraging their insights to drive innovation, and ultimately, building stronger, more meaningful relationships. #Sales #Feedback #Partnerships

In a healthy agency culture, feedback is always flowing and driving continuous improvement. It's vital to build a system that drives new feedback... Rather than one-off attempts to gather feedback, set up recurring and repeatable processes. Here are some feedback collection mechanisms that we've used across our Barrel Holdings agencies: 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆: after a project or periodically (e.g. monthly, quarterly), send a short survey asking for scores on communication, work quality, project management, value they feel they're getting, and whatever else. Leave an open-ended space for any additional comments. 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆: each quarter, send around a short questionnaire (Gallup's Q12 has some good questions) to get a sense of how the team is feeling about the work, their colleagues, the culture, and whether they are being supported 𝗪𝗶𝗻/𝗟𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: whether you win or lose a prospect, follow up with a call to understand how they came to the decision, what counted for/against your firm, and how you stacked up against competitors. 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗶𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: when an employee hands in their resignation notice, find time to have a convo and dig into what led to their decision, their thoughts on the culture, work, processes, etc. and what they thought could've been better. 𝗔𝗻𝗼𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸: on some teams, feedback is more forthcoming if it's submitted anonymously. This also opens the door for more extreme types of feedback, but it's an opportunity to gather information that might only become available on Glassdoor later. 𝗢𝗻𝗲-𝗼𝗻-𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸-𝗶𝗻𝘀: these can be between manager and direct reports, HR and employees, skip level meetings where leadership meets with employees a few levels below, etc. These are periodic conversations to gain perspective on how a team member is experiencing the work and the culture. It's also an opportunity to surface any roadblocks or issues that are getting in the way. These are some core feedback collection practices – what would you add to this list? And an important note about feedback: it's like any other source of information – some of it may be useful and others not so much. Separate the emotions surrounding it as much as possible and reflect on what makes sense to take away from the feedback. In some cases, you'll want to adapt and evolve but in others you may want to stick to your guns and hold firm on your principles.

If I took a blind sample of 100 agencies, I’d bet 95 of them don’t collect client feedback enough or the right way. Here’s how to maximize it: If you wait until the client churns to ask for feedback, you miss opportunities to improve the experience during their time with you. You miss opportunities to stop churn before it happens. The right way to collect feedback is strategically, periodically, and methodically. Our method for doing so: 1. Recurring CSAT Check-Ins We run a recurring CSAT process on a fixed cadence, once or twice per quarter. It’s not tied to a milestone or outcome, and it gives us a baseline sentiment across all clients. But it’s more of a pulse check than a microscope. So we’re in the process of changing that. 2. Feedback at Every Important Touchpoint For our next phase, we’re rolling out a new system that forces feedback at important moments. We're using a tool that blocks access to client dashboards (e.g., to-do lists or file downloads) until they respond to a feedback prompt. That may sound harsh. But instead of getting one broad review, we’ll be getting granular insights across every client phase and deliverable. If the client doesn’t like that or finds it annoying, they can go work with an agency that cares less than we do about their client experience. 3. Feedback by Phase We’re moving toward CSAT that isn’t just: “How happy is this client overall?” Instead, we’ll be able to ask: “How satisfied were they with onboarding?” “How did they feel after implementation?” “Did they get what they wanted from their Q1 QBR?” It’s the difference between saying our clients are happy vs. knowing exactly where the relationship is strong or needs help. If you’re not making it easy (and required) for clients to tell you how you’re doing…you should start doing that today. How do you collect feedback from clients? Any tools or tricks you swear by?