Standards Australia joins the Client Choice Awards

Standards Australia has joined the Client Choice Awards in recognition of those professional services firms that enter the Awards and to encourage others to do the same.

Entrants receive benefits in all of the universally-recognised quality management principles, contributing directly to their eligibility for AS/NZS ISO 9001 accreditation.

The seven quality management principles are Evidence-based decision-making, Client focus, Relationship management, Process approach, Improvement, Engagement of people, and Leadership – all of which are critical to the success of professional services firms.

---

For medium-small firms with limited resources, entering the Client Choice Awards is by far the easiest and lowest cost way to gather the feedback required in these section of the ISO 9001 Standard:

• 8.5.5 (e) Customer feedback in the post-delivery phase, and

• 9.1.2 Monitoring customers' perceptions of the degree to which their needs and expectations have been fulfilled.

How quality client feedback drives…

1. Evidence-based decision-making. Gathering and using feedback from clients is a sure-fire way to grow and be more profitable. And, it's really the only way to inform decisions about investment in and management of the firm's products, people and processes.

2. Client focus and 3. Relationship management. When clients rate service and their overall client experience (CX) as excellent they tell us they are prepared to pay more for it. Read the evidence here.

4. Process approach and 5. Improvement are two-sides of the same coin. Whether to increase efficiency (do work faster and cheaper) or effectiveness (do work better in the interests of clients), continuous improvement of processes is required. Read more about this here.

6. Engagement of people and 7. Leadership. People are the key resource in a professional services firm. Evidence shows that leaders are more effective when they use client feedback to inform and motivate a firm's people in their quest to do the best they can for their clients. Read more about this here.

Even if your clients don't require your firm to be ISO 9001 accredited…

Irrespective of ISO 9001 accreditation, all medium-small firms that enter the Client Choice Awards receive:

• First-class, actionable feedback from their clients, and

• Have the chance of reaching the finals and perhaps winning one of the coveted awards.

Check out the very happy 2020 winners!

Resource

The Association of Accredited Certification Bodies is a handy resource for those starting on the ISO 9001 accreditation journey.