Decideware

I laughed in agreement at the points made by our UK consulting partner Agency Assessments International in an article they wrote called "FIVE TRUTHS ABOUT CLIENTS" 

One particular anecdote caught my eye.

It was about an agency customer satisfaction survey where the client respondent answered: "They should know I haven't got time to do this at the moment".

The bigger the fish

How many of you running formal evaluation programs have received similar responses to your surveys?

May I offer the comment that in our experience there is often a direct relationship between seniority and the number of times the "But I haven't got time..." answer is received.

Carrot and the stick

So how do you increase the response rate from senior people?

It obviously depends on the culture of the organization. Some organizations can simply mandate that executives complete a survey and that will work. Other have to use more subtle methods - perhaps cajoling senior managers using a variety of methods. Sound familiar?

What's in it for me?

One tactic that is guaranteed to help is early and frequent communication about why a survey is being conducted, and more importantly what is in it for the respondents. And many people make the mistake of using 'Organizational Benefits' as the reason for doing it. This just does not do the job!!! You need to sell them on the 'user benefit' i.e. how completing the survey will directly benefit them.

So as an example it may be that it will improve communication with the agency/supplier -> which in turn will make for a more productive working environment -> and thus lead to less friction in the day to day working relationship.

We're all being asked to do more and more in our daily roles and I can assure you that no-one wakes up on Monday morning thinking "Wow, today's evaluation is the most important thing on my plate".

Our sales director Derek Groom (who headed FCB in Japan) often hits me with the old pitch adage "Tell what you are going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what you told them". Use this same philosophy in your internal communication strategy and it will pay dividends.

Author: Richard Benyon with thanks to David Whethey of Agency Assessments International

World Clock Image © Jenny Rollo