Client Care Flashcards
What contents would you find in a project brief?
Project Description Client’s objectives, time, cost, quality and risk Budget Key milestones End users / stakeholders Procurement route Constraints
Why is good client care important? Give me some key characteristics?
Practising good client care is in important for building and maintaining good working relationships, this can benefit project delivery and there also may be a potential for repeat business.
Client Feedback Forms – what are the informal ways of getting feedback?
You could have a call or a meeting your client to discuss feedback for a project or a particular exercise
Can you explain your company’s Complaints Handling Procedure?
Direct them to my company’s complaints handling procedure which can be located in our appointment document. F+G have a 2 stage policy in place where there is a designated
person assigned to dealing with complaints in the first instance. If this is not resolved then it can be directed to independent redress, like the ombudsman. If this was still not resolved
then it could be referred to the RICS who would acknowledge within 7 days and issue a full response in 21 days. If this still was not satisfactory you can ask for it to be referred to head of regulations who will respond in 21 days.
If you were to set up in practice as a sole practitioner, how would you operate an effective Complaints Handling Procedure?
Rule 7 of the Rules of Conduct for Firms requires all firms to operate a complaints handling procedure (CHP). The CHP must include an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism that is approved by the RICS Regulatory Board.
An effective complaints handling procedure for a sole practitioner could be the following:
Stage 1 - Internal
Involving written complaint to firm
Stage 2 - External
Chance to take complaint to independent redress provider, as approved by RICS Regulatory Board.
The Regulatory Board has approved a range of ADR mechanisms available for firms to use.
The ADR mechanism(s) a firm uses will depend upon the services the firm provides and to whom.
ADR mechanisms fall into two main categories:
1. Consumer redress mechanisms – for business-to-consumer transactions (customer complaints); and 2. Business-to-business ADR
What sort of information is contained in the RICS Standard Form of Consultants Appointment?
- Details of appointment
- Consultant obligations
- H&S, statutory requirements
- Limitations of Liability
- Collateral warranties
- Consultant’s personnel
- Client’s obligations
- Payment details
- Additional services
- Consultant’s authority
- Insurance
- Copyright and confidentiality
- Assignment, Transfer of rights and obligations and sub-contracting
- Termination and suspension
- Dispute resolution
- Notices
- Entire Agreement
- Governing Law
- Appendices
Services
Fees and payment
Client’s brief
How do you establish that you’ve performed well on a project?
close out meetings, close out reports, lessons learned workshops, feedback questionnaires, KPIs
What would you class as a strong client relationship?
A strong client relationship is one based respect and a level of trust that I will act with integrity and provide a high standard of service
How do you ensure you deliver a high quality of service to your clients?
By meeting my deliverables on time and to a high standard of service. Working within my scope of service and maintaining
RICS Complaints Handling Procedure – what are the time scales involved with this? If the complaint is still not resolved or if you receive no response, what is the next course of action?
“At this initial notification stage, the only obligation on the defendant is to:
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“• inform their own broker/insurer straight away and
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“• provide an acknowledgement letter within 21 days of the date of the preliminary notice, if necessary enclosing a copy of the professional negligence preaction protocol. The requirement to acknowledge the
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preliminary notice is mandatory, but the defendant should still seek the approval of its broker/insurer before entering into any correspondence.
RICS will acknowledge your complaint within 7 days and issue a full response within 21 days. If this is still not resolved you can request for it to be referred to Head of Regulation who will acknowledge again within 21 days.
Is project financial control only important if there is no contingency?
No, Clients need to have a full understanding on the financial status of their project
Do you only meet with clients if there is an issue?
By exception, or in advance of progress meetings to discuss the status of actions from previous meetings and any new business they would like raised
