Conbit tackles client satisfaction surveys from a different angle.

How Conbit performs client satisfaction surveys?

You hear things about survey fatigue and online “spamdemic”, but this is not the reason why Conbit performs client satisfaction surveys. Conbit feels that the outcome of personal conversation outperforms any form of standardized surveys.

This article provides five main reasons why Conbit adopts a seemingly unconventional way of gathering a client’s feedback. First, I will describe how the client satisfaction process is setup within Conbit.

Gather client feedback as we did in the last century.

Conbit uses the ancient technique of personal conversation. Due to all the tools we have at our disposal, the technique of picking up the phone to have a human to human conversation seems unconventional.

The sales team conducts these conversations. They will reach out to the contact person who is named by the project manager, schedule the conversation and hop onto a 15-minute call. They put the contact person at ease and are focused on creating an open environment in which all aspects of a job can be discussed.

After the conversation, the salesperson stores his notes in the CRM system and sends the abstract to the Project Management and QHSE. The results are discussed in a periodic Lesson’s Learned meeting and further processed in our QHSE software.

Main Reasons of Conbit’s client satisfaction surveying approach.

At Conbit, we believe that you can only get to the essence of an experience, during personal conversations. It is necessary to keep questioning until you reach to the core of the client’s experience. In general, the client is satisfied. They do not want to mention small points for improvement or their lost memory of them. During a personal conversation, the informal setting will put the client at ease to share his findings.

Human interactions matter in a rational world.

We are proud of the way we perform our projects. We are engineers and so are our clients. Decisions about projects are well-considered and we think we believe that we make rational decisions. We let systems, data, and computers provide us with direction, but it is the human interaction that makes the projects run smoothly.

Why not leverage the unique ability of humans to improve the quality of our operations?

Opportunities to strengthen client relationships

Once a project is awarded to Conbit, sales hands the project-to-project management. Sales takes a supporting role. The project is completed by the project manager in cooperation with his peer at the client’s organization. After the project is completed, paths may separate. All parties go their separate ways.

By getting sales back into the conversation, the relationship can be extended into the next project. We like to remain in contact with the project teams of our former clients. Sales can play a vital role in maintaining the relationships.

When the salesperson is conducting the client satisfaction survey, he can re-establish contact and look for new opportunities how Conbit can add value.

Small notices can make a difference.

During a recent survey, our client indicated that they experienced an unforeseen event during training. They were using Conbit’s flare tip replacement system in a training setting and accidentally overloaded the system. This was not a part of Conbit’s training manual but provided a good experience to the client’s rigging team.

During the client satisfaction conversation, this was mentioned. At first, it did not seem relevant, but there was a lesson in it. After the survey was completed, Conbit discussed the incident in the Lesson’s Learned meeting. We discussed how this educational experience could be integrated into a training manual.

With a formal client satisfaction survey (e.g. an online form), this feedback would not have been obtained leaving a chance for improvement unknown.

Sales is like a third party.

During client satisfaction conversations, you would like to create an open atmosphere. You do not want to make people feel bad. People who are too involved, might be reluctant to receive criticism. Sales is only involved from the side-lines and might be the least judgmental party.

Sales is likely to initiate follow-up.

The improvement points taking from the client’s feedback might increase the chance of future business with this same client. The salesperson becomes personally committed to process the feedback through the organization and revert the output back to the client.

The salesperson regards the feedback as an opportunity to secure future and recurring projects with the client.

What others say of Conbit’s client satisfaction survey approach.

You might think that third-party certification companies would object to Conbit’s way of performing client satisfaction surveys. And, indeed we have discussed this with our auditors. Their reaction: “It is your responsibility to continuously improve the quality of your operations. How you do it is up to you. Make sure you have a clear process to support.” The auditor is in agreement with the above process and welcomes our reasoning.

Clients appreciate this way of gathering their feedback. They feel heard and do not feel the administrative burden of yet another automated form popping up within seconds of closing the project. They feel the personal touch that comes with the Conbit way of performing client satisfaction.

“Conbit’s way of performing client satisfaction surveys is more friendly and does not feel like an administrative ticking-the-box exercise. The output of the conversations is probably more useful to increase quality in the industry.” -  Kieran Derbyshire.

Conclusion.

Yes, we like to do things differently. We do not like the status quo. We do not like to do things because everyone else does it. We take all our processes seriously, discuss them, and then create our own.

We pride ourselves on how we execute to the highest safety standards effectively and efficiently. All our processes are designed to support this cause.

We look forward to taking you on a journey and use the client satisfactions conversations as bus stops during the ride to perfection.

The Author.

This article is written by Conbit’s manager of the sales team, Bram van Oirschot. Bram is committed to grow Conbit in quality and size. He enjoys bringing value to our client’s all over the world. He breathes the “The Power of Preparation” in everything he does and likes to share his ideas on perfecting the sales process.