Survey shows consultants can’t be complacent about client loyalty

While most of those who use environmental consultants are happy with the services they receive, most clients are more than prepared to shop around for a better deal or better customer care.


edie commissioned a survey of over 400 consultants’ clients to quiz them on their views about the strengths of particular companies and to gauge the overall levels of satisfaction.

Getting your foot in the door remains of paramount importance for consultancies – with almost 39% of respondents taking the ‘if it ain’t broken, why fix it?’ approach and saying they would always use their current consultants in the future.

This is good news for the well-established players who can count on return custom if they keep up the good work, but what of the remaining 61% of clients willing to take a punt on other consultancies?

Are they dissatisfied with the services they are receiving or just keeping their options open?

Well, the sector as a whole can breathe a sigh of relief – of all those who took part in the telephone interview, just two, or less than 0.5%, said their experiences with environmental consultants had been unsatisfactory and that they would definitely be looking elsewhere in the future.

One in eight, however, said that while they were happy enough with the job their previous consultants had carried out, they were not so impressed that they wouldn’t effectively offer future jobs to open tender, with 12.5% saying work was good enough but they had no real loyalty to that firm.

Almost half, however, took a pragmatic approach to their outlook on future dealings with environmental consultants, saying they were very happy that they had got the services they had paid for, but that would not preclude them from shopping around when new jobs arose.

How do you rate the service from the current consultants you are using? results at a glance

  • Will only use them in future 39%
  • Very good, but would consider using others 48%
  • Good enough but no real loyalty 12.5%
  • Unsatisfactory, will be looking for improved services 0.5%
  • Sam Bond

    Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

    Subscribe