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October Program Recap: How to Keep Clients (And Employees) Happy When Understaffed

Posted by [email protected] on Oct. 13, 2022  /  Program Recap  /  Subscribe 0

As the grip of the pandemic has lessened, the latest squeeze on our industry comes from the talent war that has left many firms understaffed. The shortage of incoming talent is making growth an increasingly difficult goal. With another recession likely on our horizon, we should all think ahead on how we can continue to help our firms grow, even if our team’s capacity hasn’t. Fortunately, Ryan Suydam, CXMP of Client Savvy shared plenty of guidance during our October Program on how to manage the situation and maximize your team’s talent.

Four Responses to a Talent War:

1. Create More A-teams

We all have at least one client that will only work with our firm if they can work with [insert engineer or architect’s name]. However, when [insert engineer or architect’s name] doesn’t have the capacity, or they’re no longer with your company, you may lose the client or at least a share of their wallet.

To avoid this situation, we can create more A-players. We do this by first listening to our clients to find out what they think makes an individual an A-player. We can then step back to assess our talent and see what they excel at and utilize them accordingly. Are they best as a producer, a designer, or in a client-facing capacity? And finally, use reviews, surveys, and general customer feedback to show that your staff comes highly recommended. Displaying this information within proposals and your website will lead clients directly to your A-team.

2. Create More Time

The goal is to free up more of our time by limiting instances in which we overdeliver and stretch ourselves too thin for our clients. Of course, we should always offer excellent service to our clients to keep their business and maintain our firm’s reputation. We have high standards for ourselves and the work we produce, but surveys show that companies in our industry are overdelivering 27% of the time. That’s wasted labor that isn’t getting the return that it would if it was used elsewhere.

Ryan emphasized the importance of understanding expectations and exceeding them by just enough. Ask yourself, is this extra work adding value and serving the client, or is it satisfying my ego? If you continue to overdeliver, expectations will only inflate further. Simply put, don’t tire your team out always going the extra mile. There’s no shame in stopping after an extra quarter mile or so.

3. Create Focus

This method of riding out the talent war requires us to prioritize clients and pursuits. This is possible when we evaluate the profit efficiency of the project and how much our team enjoys working for the client, among other things. Talk with your team to make an ideal client profile, and only pursue clients that align with that vision. It is also important to resist the urge to jump at high revenue opportunities, and instead carefully analyze which ones offer quality profits for the work required. After evaluation, you should be able to divide clients into four categories for prioritization: Win, Nurture, Keep, and Shed.

There are several benefits to prioritizing your pursuits. Your win rate will increase if your firm focuses on fewer proposals and those that your team is truly excited about. Working with clients that are a poor fit hurts staff morale and increases employee turnover. Shed the clients your team doesn’t like working for, and you’ll build a stronger culture among your team, and more trust in you as a leader.

4. Create Resilience for Tomorrow

In our industry, 17% of employees are laid off when a recession strikes. With the responses to a talent war listed above, you should be on your way to becoming a more resilient firm, capable of withstanding a potential recession, and even thriving. Some components of a resilient firm include:

• Great projects
• Well-aligned teams
• Work efficiently on value delivery
• High-margin, sticky clients
• Capable of growth when others contract

With Ryan’s four strategies for maximizing your talent during a shortage, you can strengthen the team you have and work more efficiently. While new talent may be hard to come by, maximizing the talent you already have in your organization can carry you through the talent war and a potential recession.

Peyton Collette, Marketing Coordinator
Summit Design and Engineering Services

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