The best
way to find out what makes clients happy is to ask them. That's
why quality executive search firms use post-search audits. Some
firms handle the post-search audit process themselves; others
hire third parties to conduct the audits. Some use written forms,
others swear by telephone or face-to-face reviews.
Ed Sockwell,
managing partner of Sockwell & Associates, personally conducts
audits as soon as a candidate accepts a position. "We want to
do it quickly while it's still fresh in the client's mind," he
says. In cases where Sockwell led the search, another partner
at the firm conducts the audit.
Sockwell
discovered years ago that written audits didn't work well for
his firm. "They would never send it back," he says. Instead, face-to-face
or by telephone, "I try to find out what we do that 'wowed' them.
And what did we do that we can do better? Did we do anything that
seems like it didn't make sense?"
"They always
start out saying we did 'great,' but I tell them we can't get
better if we don't know." If they are not forthcoming, he draws
them out with more specific questions: "How did you feel about
the written product -- was there too much, could there have been
more? Did the information accurately depict the candidate?" Then
I might ask: "When you negotiated the final offer, were we helpful
or a hindrance?"
These questions
are directed to the person or persons most directly connected
with the search, perhaps the CEO and the head of human resources,
or in the case of a CEO search, several members of the board.
"We tried
for a little while to get clients to score us but I don't think
it worked," Sockwell says. "It was so subjective, we stopped doing
that."
After the
audit has been conducted, the firm holds a meeting of everyone
involved in that search. Over the years, changes have been made
as a result of the audits, but Sockwell adds a note of caution:
"Sometimes something is specific to a particular client. You have
to be careful you don't make changes for the whole company because
one CEO doesn't like this or that."
Patricia Cook, Ph.D., on the other hand, is a firm believer in the
written approach. Cook, Chairman and CEO of Cook & Company, has
long experience with post-search audits, having done them when she
was with A.T. Kearney, Inc., and later when she was with Heidrick
& Struggles International, Inc . She continued the process when
she founded Cook & Company in March 2000.
Cook
& Company sends out a two-page questionnaire to each client on
a completed search.
"It's
pretty straightforward. We ask them how the search went, whether
we met their expectations or exceeded them. We have open-ended
questions as well, with room to say whatever they want to say,"
says Cook. "It's just part of the search -- before we close the
process."
The Verriez
Group Inc., in London, Ontario, also conducts written audits, using
a template of approximately 60 questions. But Lynn Sveinbjornson
says Verriez prefers in-person audits whenever possible because
they allow for far more nuanced answers.
"It's especially
important for small firms to get it right," she says, and post-search
audits are a great aid in that process.
And she doesn't
worry that respondents will hold back: "In business people have
gotten over tending to be 'nice.' They understand we truly have
a need to improve."
A Complete
Perspective
At Heidrick
& Struggles, a third party conducts a written audit, called an
"office review," of every search that includes the perspective
not only of the client and the candidate, but of the person at
the firm who conducted the search.
"We want
the 360-dgree view. We want a complete perspective," says Marv
Berenblum, chairman of the firm's global quality council. In some
cases everyone is in agreement about how the process went. Sometimes,
"the client feels more positively than we do, ourselves. Sometimes
we do tend to underestimate and are pleasantly surprised. There
is a feeling that we want to do better even when the client and
candidate are satisfied. We want not just satisfied -- we want
client delight."
Heidrick
& Struggles had done post-search audits for some time in North
America, but began doing them globally three years ago.
The audits
lead to "actions plans" in each office, based upon things that
were identified as needing improvement, according to Berenblum.
The managing partner of the office, the regional and global quality
managers, and the members of the search team involved all receive
information from each audit.
"It's quite
individual. We have quality standards and we try to ensure we
are adhering to them on a consistent basis" in all of the firm's
more than 80 offices around the world, he says.
The
Scientific Approach
Korn/Ferry
International used to conduct internal surveys of client satisfaction,
but hired a third party about a year and a half ago, "to do statistically
valid surveys cut by region, sub-region and practice," says Gary
Hourihan, executive vice president, organizational development.
Hourihan swears by the scientific approach: The external firm
creates "randomly selected samples of completed searches for the
prior six months. It's statistically oriented: it has about 90
to 95 percent statistical accuracy. Then they write a fairly detailed
report" of the findings.
The process
started in North America and now is conducted around the world
in the language the client finds most comfortable.
Hourihan
had expected concern over the quality of candidates and the time
needed to complete the search. He's found that's not as important
to the client as continued communication throughout the search
process.
The audits
have found that client satisfaction for high-level searches is
extremely high, but "as you move down the search ladder, it's
less so. Where there have been concerns [they've been with] dialogue
and continual communication during the search," he says. As a
result, "We have certainly focused more on contact follow-up and
the ability to reach people."
The audits
indicate that clients are looking for a larger slate of candidates
than expected, Hourihan adds. "Search firms try to narrow it down
quickly, but clients came back and said,'you narrowed it down
to three, but maybe we need to see seven or eight.' They want
a broader slate of qualified candidates presented to them."
The length
of time needed for a search -- something Hourihan had expected
to be a top concern -- "was down in pecking order in the list."
The next
thing to do, he says, is to build this information into Korn/Ferry's
compensation and reward systems. "What drivers make for success
in our business? That's what we ought to be paying search consultants
on -- client satisfaction. Quality is a huge factor in repeat
business."
Cook
is a firm believer that audits improve quality and help with repeat
business. Clients "realize that I care very much how I did and
would look to correct anything if there was a problem," she says.
Plus, their copy of the audit "gives them a record of how the
search went and can be a reminder to them to always call Cook
& Company."
Sveinbjornson
agrees. During the audit, "there's nothing wrong with saying,
"down the road, how can we be of value again?"
