CX Fireside Chat: Top 10 Q&A

At a recent fireside chat on client experience in AEC with North Texas SMPS, Chance Medlock (Parkhill), Sarah Kinard (SMPS Foundation President) and I got some sharp, practical questions from the audience.

Not theory. Not fluff. The real stuff firms are wrestling with right now.

But what made the conversation especially interesting was this:

Parkhill isn’t just talking about CX. They’re measuring the impact.

In roughly a year and a half, they’ve seen:

• NPS rise from ~68 to 78 (about 8 points above industry average) • Complaint rates on a major delivery process drop ~33% • Revenue increase ~10% tied to operational improvements uncovered through feedback • Significant improvements in client retention, collaboration, and internal performance • Accounts receivable days drop dramatically as frustrated clients stopped delaying payment

Those results didn’t come from sending surveys.

They came from listening and acting on what clients said.

During the Q&A, the audience asked some excellent questions.

Here were the 10 that sparked the best discussion.

10 questions the audience asked about Client Experience

1. What exactly is client experience?

Client experience is the emotional reaction a prospective or active client has to every interaction with your brand.

That starts long before project delivery.

Website → proposal → kickoff → communication → invoice → closeout.

It’s not just “being client-focused.” It’s a measurable business system.

And the firms that treat it that way consistently outperform peers on growth, profitability, and win rates.

2. How do you ask clients for feedback without annoying them?

You earn the right to ask.

The best firms set expectations early:

“We’ll ask for feedback at key milestones because we’d rather find out we’re 2% off today than 20% off three months from now.”

Here’s the counterintuitive data:

Response rates are strongest when firms ask 6–8 times per year — assuming they close the loop.

Companies don’t get survey fatigue.

People get survey fatigue when nothing changes.

3. What do you do when a client doesn’t respond?

Don’t force it.

Sometimes silence simply means:

“Nothing is wrong enough for me to say something.”

At Parkhill the response strategy depends on the relationship:

• Sometimes the PM follows up personally • Sometimes they review feedback together in person • Sometimes they leave it alone

The goal isn’t more responses.

The goal is honest responses.

4. What do you do with the data once you collect it?

This is where most firms fall short.

Feedback should drive decisions across the business:

• pursuit strategy • proposal messaging • project delivery improvements • training programs • marketing testimonials • client follow-up conversations

At Parkhill, marketing coordinators now tag approved feedback as testimonials, creating a living library of client quotes for proposals, marketing, and social media.

5. Can feedback actually improve proposal win rates?

Yes.

When firms gather feedback before and during pursuits, prospects often tell you exactly what they need next.

Examples include:

• integration concerns • communication expectations • implementation details • decision criteria

Prospects will often tell you how to sell to them — if you ask.

6. Who should own the client feedback program?

Three levels of ownership:

• Client managers own the follow-up • Leadership owns the culture • The firm owns the system

If feedback lives only in marketing, it becomes content.

If it lives across the business, it becomes change.

7. What do you do with brutal feedback?

First, don’t panic.

Second, don’t get defensive.

Ask one simple question:

“Interesting… I wonder why they said that.”

That shift toward curiosity unlocks real understanding.

At Parkhill, tough feedback doesn’t automatically trigger punishment. It triggers investigation, support, and improvement.

That’s how trust grows.

8. What happens if someone ignores the feedback?

That’s where accountability belongs.

Nobody should get punished for receiving difficult feedback.

But ignoring it?

That’s different.

The problem isn’t the score. The problem is refusing to listen.

9. Can CX lead to real business decisions?

Yes — and it should.

One Parkhill example:

Clients repeatedly complained about delays between project closeout and final deliverables.

The feedback revealed it wasn’t universal — it was concentrated in specific pockets.

That insight exposed broken internal processes.

After redesigning workflows and implementing a PM training boot camp, the firm saw:

• complaint rates drop ~33% • improved payment behavior • measurable revenue growth tied to process improvements

Listening changed how the business operated.

10. What advice would you give new project managers who are suddenly client-facing?

Remember:

You’re not just delivering a design.

You’re delivering an experience.

Yes, there’s math. Yes, there’s engineering. Yes, there’s technical complexity.

But at the end of the day:

A person is accountable for the project. A person has to explain it to their community. A person chose your firm.

When PMs start thinking about how clients experience delivery — not just what they deliver — everything changes.

The biggest takeaway

The room didn’t ask abstract questions.

They asked:

How do we avoid survey fatigue? How do we handle silence? How do we use the data? Who owns it? What do we do with negative feedback?

That tells me something important.

AEC firms are past the “Is CX real?” stage.

They’re now in the “How do we operationalize it?” stage.

And firms like Parkhill are showing that when you do:

Better experience → better operations → better growth.

Turns out listening isn’t just polite.

It’s profitable.