An interview with Doug Johnson, Managing Director New Zealand, Tonkin + Taylor , by Ben Paul

Each year, professional services firms across Australia and New Zealand battle it out for the Beaton Client Choice Awards. These awards, as nominated by their clients, name the best of the best when it comes to client service. And each year, after the awards are announced, and while the winners are still sipping champagne, the rest of us are left wondering ……how did they do it?

I decided to find out more about that client service secret sauce by interviewing Doug Johnson, Managing Director of Tonkin + Taylor, winner of the New Zealand Client Choice Award for 2016. I met Doug at their offices in Auckland, where I was greeted by many smiling faces (still celebrating their win?) and discovered what sets T+T apart when it comes to client service. Here are some of the highlights.

Ben: Congratulations on winning the award, you must be really pleased?

Doug: It was very humbling. It’s great to get the acknowledgement from clients that the work you do is recognised. I also think that it’s really good for the staff to know that the work they’re doing is recognised in an independent way.

Ben:  Can you tell me a bit about the company’s background and how you got to where you are today?

Doug: The Company started in 1959, founded by Ralph Tonkin and Don Taylor. They were actually very good friends and had a strong relationship. Ralph was an engineer and an entrepreneur, a guy who could walk in a room and make friends with everybody, but also someone who understood what solutions people needed. Don was more of a classic engineer, very hard working, and made sure the answer was right. It was often said that ‘Ralph said yes and Don made sure it was done properly’. Their primary focus was work hard, do good work and make sure you deliver the client’s need. If you do that, the chance of getting repeat work is high and the chance of getting work you’ll enjoy increases. That core philosophy still sits in the culture of the business today.

Ben: What do you think is behind your success in client service?

Doug: The passion of the staff to do a good job. Getting it right is important, but making sure it’s right for the client is critical. There’s no point producing a gold plated Rolls-Royce if the client wants a Mini. Conversely, if the client needs a gold plated Rolls-Royce, having the staff to deliver that is really important and then you need to be able to charge for it.  That’s sometimes the hard part.

Ben: Why do you think that is?

Doug: I think procurement and the way people are running cost structures is becoming more challenging in an environment where people have lost a desire to drive for value. People are seeing dollar figures as more important than the relationship, but it’s the relationship that will deliver a much more cost effective outcome in the long term than any price driven bid process.

A lot of our clients are long serving. Essentially we become part of the client’s team. I think that’s a key part in keeping clients, you become a trusted part of their team. As opposed to the consultant who comes in and does a bit of work then walks away. You live with the consequences of your decisions with the client for many, many years. So you want to get it right.

Ben: If you were to name the three most important things to you personally, when it comes to building strong client relationships or delivering great client service, what would they be?

Doug: Personally, I’ve always done best with clients I like and that I get on well with personally. I think that’s important. If there is someone I don’t get on with, I try to send somebody else who is more likely to get on with them. Then you can have the right conversations. The second thing is knowing you’re making a difference and delivering to achieve your client’s outcome.  The third thing is actually just being attentive and listening. You need to take a bit of time to reflect on the real issues and build your client’s trust.

Ben: What impact do you think your company culture and ethos around clients and client relationships has had on the business?

Doug: Huge. We are not a business that suits everybody. We attract people that value a degree of independence with the ability to be technically good. The culture of the business reinforces long term relationships and long term tenure for both staff and client.

Ben: How important is it for the senior people in the firm to take a leadership role in establishing a strong client service focus? And how do you do this?

Doug: It’s critical, but I suppose I challenge the statement a bit. I think it’s important that all staff take a leadership role. For example, we encourage our graduates to take the lead in client discussions. They may not be in decision making positions but they are certainly able to influence clients and we encourage our junior staff to interact with clients. In fact, that is one of the things that probably sets us apart from our competition.

Ben: When it comes to your hiring process, how important are qualifications and technical knowledge compared to behaviour or personality traits, and how do you distinguish between the two?

Doug: At a graduate level, we generally hire from the top of the pool, so we do look for that ability to deliver technical excellence. Essentially I look for what we call ‘fit’.  We look at people and say ‘are they a T& T person?’ while keeping in mind we don’t want a homogenous culture, we need to continue building a diverse workplace.

Part of that hiring decision is to ask ourselves ‘will this person get on with this client or that client if I employ them?’ Do they have the potential to create relationships easily or are they people we will have to manage the relationships for? Again, we need a mix of personality types – some are good at grinding the handle, others are technically excellent. We do need as many as possible to be good with clients.  Ultimately, you want everybody to understand that the work they’re all doing influences the outcome for a client.

Although we are delighted by the success we had at the Beaton Awards we are still only as good as our last job, I still see occasions when we don’t get it right. I get the odd e-mail or phone call that indicates we haven’t kept a client satisfied.

Ben: It strikes me from the short time with chatted already that if you had one dissatisfied client a year, it would be too many for you?

Doug: Sometimes you get one because you’re busy and have been unable to deliver.  It has been a deliberate choice to let something slide and that’s only OK if you’re managing that conversation. But to answer your question, yes, one’s too many.

Ben: What is trust to you, and how important do you think it is in business?

Doug: I think it’s paramount in business, in everything. What is it to me? It’s such a basic term it’s quite hard to describe. Certainly when I look to relationships I have with staff, I trust them to keep me informed, to do what is right, have courageous conversations and to deliver in the context of what they said they would do. I also trust them that if things are going wrong to take the appropriate action or escalation. It’s about knowing people are doing things right and that they’ve got your back and vice versa. Our staff know I trust them and in return, I think they trust me to back them.

I think clients look for that same relationship. T+T stands by the work that it does and if it goes wrong we will fix it, if they have a problem we will address it. And if we think they are doing the wrong thing we believe it’s our job to share our concerns with them too. We’ve had a couple of instances where we have lost projects doing this, only to have those same clients come back and say ‘we should’ve listened to you’.  We have won their work again and it actually has ended up in a much better place, with the client trusting us because we did the right thing.

Ben: If you could pass on one piece of advice to professionals in your industry on how to deliver great client service, what would it be?

Doug: I would go back to where our conversation started with Ralph Tonkin and Don Taylor saying, “listen to your client and deliver what they expect and, if you can, a bit more than that”.

An abridged version of this post first appeared on Ben’s LinkedIn page. If you’d like to comment or join in this conversation, please visit the post here.