Delivering the Branded Experience

At the core of your firm's brand is what the client experiences working with your firm. So how much time and money do you spend on enhancing the quality of the client experiences you deliver? If you're like the overwhelming majority of firms in this business, it pales in comparison to the investment made in your technical capabilities. So here's a golden opportunity to differentiate your firm: Deliver what is known as the "branded experience."

What is the branded experience? The most helpful definition I've found comes from the Forum Corporation. They describe the branded experience as one characterized by four basic qualities: (1) consistent, (2) intentional, (3) differentiated, and (4) valued. Notice that the first two characteristics are dependent on the provider; the second two are discerned by the customer. The branded experience involves a partnership of a sort between the two parties.

Accenture conducted a study to determine what separates the companies that deliver the branded experience from the rest. The study found that the best companies consistently did two important things:

• They had a deliberate process for consistently delivering the branded experience.
• They rigorously solicited customer feedback to determine what customers want.

The aforementioned partnership is evident in these results. The customer provides feedback about what he or she really wants. The provider takes the necessary steps to ensure that it is delivered to the customer. Pretty simple, but pretty rare--especially in our profession.

Over the years, I've polled hundreds of firms at events where I've spoken, asking how many formally solicit performance feedback from their clients. Only about 25% respond afirmatively. Despite the common claim, "We provide great client service," most firms don't ask for verification of that claim. They assume they know without asking.

But when I've conducted client surveys for A/E firms, it's not uncommon to be surprised by clients' dissatisfaction. BTI Consulting has found that despite repeat business rates of 80% among professional service firms, less than 25% of their clients would recommend them. And RainToday.com found that 88% of A/E firm clients were open to changing providers. Apparently our clients aren't as happy as we have been prone to think.

I've also asked how many firms have a formal service (i.e., client experience) delivery process. I've yet to have anyone raise their hand, although I have read of a handful of firms that have done something similar. If consistency and intentionality are key to offering the branded experience, is not some kind of formal process necessary? That's what the Accenture study found. But in our industry, we rely predominantly on "good people doing the right thing for the client." Unfortunately, most firms don't have enough of those "good people" to do the "right thing" consistently.

So how is your firm doing in delivering the branded experience? The graphic below, adopted from The Forum Corporation, is a handy way to assess where you stand in the service-level progression leading to the branded experience:

Random experience. At this level, the customer experience is neither consistent or intentional. It varies from one time to another depending on which individual service provider you work with, which office, or what service or product you received. In other words, it's like working with most A/E firms. One project manager is very attentive, the next indifferent. One office provides great quality work products, another not so good.

Predictable experience. At this level, the experience is pretty consistent because the provider has taken steps to make it so. But it is either not significantly different from what you could get from another provider or the difference isn't that important to the customer, or both. I call this the Golden Arches Experience. The one thing MacDonalds has going for it is that the food, service, and atmosphere is pretty consistent whichever restaurant you visit. But that's also what's working against them!

Branded experience. When you reach this level, you're consistently delivering an experience that customers value. You don't get here simply because you've got good people working for you. It requires intentional effort. It requires a reliable experience delivery process. And it requires regularly asking clients what they really want.

Can you really package the delivery of professional services into some kind of consistent process? That's the question I hope to answer in my next post.