“Doing the 101 and having the care factor” seem like logical rules to live by in professional services. According to SCT Consulting, focusing on these two unsung basics have set the firm up for impressive client approval, leading to stronger relationships and repeat business.

The team recently won Best Traffic & Transport Consulting Firm (<$30M revenue) at the 2023 Client Choice Awards. Beaton was keen to understand how the firm achieved the highest client ratings in its category. So, we quizzed directors Seamus Christley and Andy Yung, as well as Marketing Director Kim Logan, about the firm’s main areas of strategic focus.

“Our strong relationships and high level of communication are the keys to our success,” the team said.

“We pride ourselves on providing collaborative, engaging and timely technical advice. Integrity is the basis on which our professional and personal interactions are built. We promote mutual respect and trust between our team and our clients.”

The Client Choice Awards have measured the client approval ratings of hundreds of professional services firms across Australia and New Zealand for the past 18 years. They are the only client-judged professional services awards in the world, which benchmark firms against their competitors based on client feedback collected and analysed independently by Beaton.

This year, 276 firms from across Australia and New Zealand entered the awards, and Beaton analysed more than 17,000 pieces of individual client feedback to determine the winners.

SCT Consulting said winning a Client Choice Award was vindication that the firm’s strategy of “care” in fostering strong relationships with clients was working.

“It shows our business is doing something right and our clients have a high level of trust in us,” the directors said.

The award is the first professional award the firm has collected since establishing in 2016, and they were excited to see their team’s hard work reflected in the achievement. They also hinted it would not be the last – with plenty of lofty goals to continually improve client service over the next year. Those goals include becoming trusted advisors to all clients, providing more value to client businesses, increasing repeat business and client referrals, and encouraging team members to attend client networking events or connect beyond specific projects.

The team also emphasised the importance of consistently collecting and acting on client feedback to continue improving our service offering.

“As part of SCT Consulting’s management systems we are consistently striving to improve the quality of deliverables and the experience that we provide to our clients,” they said.

“Responding to client feedback sets an example across the business of the importance of listening to multiple perspectives whilst we seek to continually improve. This creates a culture of understanding, ensuring that decision making considers our client’s needs as well as our own.”

SCT Consulting was named winner of Best Traffic and Transport Consulting Firm (<$30m revenue) at the 2023 Client Choice Awards. This awards is presented in partnership with ICON, and association partners ACE and Association of Consulting Architects.

Enter your firm for the 2024 Awards here.