As practitioners, it's important to have a clear understanding of your clients and their needs to know how to best support them. Though asking for feedback may not always be comfortable, for better or worst, the information you can gather directly from the people you work to help is invaluable. Just the act of asking, shows integrity in your business, that you care about your clients, and that you have a willingness to grow and improve.

Client feedback is an essential part of any successful business. In our case, it not only allows you to uplevel your client experience but also to help shape the next steps in your business and the services you offer.

Collecting Feedback

There are many factors at play when planning to ask for feedback in your business. Different scenarios can present unique needs when determining your strategy. Take some time to consider the ‘who, what, when, and how’ each time you’re ready to collect client input.

There are many factors at play when planning to ask for feedback in your business. Different scenarios can present unique needs when determining your strategy. Take some time to consider the ‘who, what, when, and how’ each time you’re ready to collect client input.

Who should you be reaching out to?

You should be asking all your clients, both past and present. Clients that have already completed working with you will be able to provide information regarding their health outcomes and overall experience with you. Clients that you're currently working with will be able to provide real-time input about their progress and experience to date.  Asking clients to identify where they are in their journey, can help you more effectively guide them through their challenges and next steps.

Are they receiving the support they need to achieve their goals? Are there enough communication touchpoints being offered? Their insight provided while working with you will allow you to pivot your direction if need be, to ensure a positive and successful end result.

As for prospective clients, although his group may not have already worked directly with you yet, they are a part of your community and likely find value in what you offer. Reach out to them as well via social media or your email list to learn more about who they are, what they need, and their pain points. Analyze their responses and create your next offering with their needs in mind.

What questions should you ask them?

The type of questions to ask and information to collect from your community will be determined by what you intend to do with the information. Are you looking to enhance your client experience, increase client compliance, and success rates? Or perhaps you have set new financial goals and need a tangible action plan on how to get there. There are a variety of situations where feedback will aid in your ability to make calculated decisions for your clients and in your business. Consider the following when determining what to ask:

• Checking in with your current clients: Consider asking for client input on delivered protocols and goals, current challenges, communication touchpoints, and general feedback on their experience to date.
• After a client’s final session: It is good practice to follow up after final sessions to ask about the client’s takeaways, their results, their expectations, their effort and for feedback on how you did. Ask where they are now in their health journey and where they want to go (this may have changed over the course of working together). This is also a great opportunity to ask for a testimonial from your clients.
• During content creation: This is where you get to learn what will best serve current and future clients. Ask your clients about their pain points and where they are struggling. Listen carefully to the language they use so that you're sure to be speaking their language as you develop your material.
• During business planning: Whether you do a quarterly audit or stick to a comprehensive annual review, feedback can take your business planning to the next level with a greater insight to help you better plan how to achieve your goals. This is a great time to check in with past clients to understand their experience working with you and the outcomes they received, as well as understanding what prospective clients are looking for so it can be incorporated into your planning process.

When is the ideal time to ask for feedback?
It's always a good time! Routinely asking for insight from clients will ensure you continue to evolve. Be open to learning and be open to critique. Moreover, take notice of trends and patterns taking place. As you apply learnings from the feedback given to you, positive changes will emerge!How can you collect feedback?There are many ways you can collect input from your clients and community. Essentially, anywhere you have a community is an ideal place to reach out! Oftentimes, your client and prospective client community may not always be a part of the same platforms, so you may want to consider selecting multiple places to collect input:

• Create a survey or form: There are plenty of options here like, Google Forms, Typeform, Survey Monkey, or use the form builder within Practice Better. Forms in Practice Better are accessible by both current clients and prospective clients, with the added convenience of client records and responses being in one place. Within Practice Better, automations can be set to send forms at certain milestones where you’d like to collect responses, such as after a client’s final session with you. Wherever you can share a link, you can share a survey or form.
• Use social media features to your advantage: Many platforms now have integrated options such as polls, Q & A boxes, and quizzes. These are a fun, casual way to promote engagement and collect valuable insight at the same time.
• Ask the client directly: Whether you are meeting with your client in-person, over video, on the phone, or utilizing the chat feature within Practice Better, asking a quick question directly to your client can be done in a conversational, casual way yet can still collect valuable insight.

Increase the quality of response and keep engagement high by simplifying the process and keeping your questions concise. Doing so will keep the time commitment short for the client so they are more likely to complete the survey, and the more direct the questions are, the more likely you are to get you the information you're seeking.

Utilizing The Feedback

Once you've received the responses, compile the information to analyze and apply your newfound insights. Over time, you will start noticing trends and patterns, including wins to celebrate and areas to improve. You can track feedback responses session after session, quarter after quarter, and year over year to see these trends and understand how your business is performing.

If choosing to collect responses through forms in Practice Better, the Form Response Summary Report will allow you to view and analyze multiple submissions for any form you’ve created within the platform, including those created to collect client input and survey your community. This makes it easy to compare results to notice trends and patterns.

How Feedback Benefits Your Business

Ultimately, feedback can serve as a conduit to attracting your ideal client and up-leveling your business.

• Client input will help shape content, services, and other offerings.
• Client responses will help determine where you should focus your time, energy, and financial resources within your business.
• Clients who have a great experience and positive results working with you will be far more likely to refer new business to you.
• Testimonials collected can become great marketing content. By reading real-time reviews and feedback from past clients, your future clients will be given a unique perspective about what it means to work with you. In turn, you’ll end up with more clients that are a better fit for you. They will know you and your offering is the right fit for their needs.

Client feedback can positively influence your business in a multitude of ways. Stop winging it and equip yourself with the information you need to approach your business in a more intentional and strategic manner.

Practice Better is the complete practice management platform for nutritionists, dietitians, and wellness professionals. Streamline your practice and begin your free trial today.