Beaton Benchmarks

The largest, most comprehensive client sentiment industry benchmarking study for professional services.

Benchmark client feedback for a true measure of future success

Understanding the market you operate in and how clients value your services is essential for business. But in a competitive market, knowing exactly where to focus your efforts for sustainable growth and profit can be difficult.

That’s why Beaton conducts Beaton Benchmarks, the most comprehensive annual client perception and benchmarking survey conducted industry-wide for professional services. 

We ask clients to rate firms in all aspects of their client experience, then analyse their responses to benchmark your results against similar firms and provide insights into the following.

  • Client experience of your services
  • The strength of your brand compared to other firms
  • Your performance against similar-sized firms in your industry
  • Key purchasing drivers for clients
  • Your firm’s pricing compared to value perceptions
  • Long-term industry trends
  • Opportunities to beat competitors, improve your offering and generate more revenue

Free to participate

Registration now open for a limited time

Register your firm in the largest client satisfaction market study in professional services. 

All participating firms that register by the 25th August receive a free temperature check of your client experience and how you are performing relative to competitors.

Beaton Benchmarks research reports

Beaton has been surveying clients, including yours and your competitors, every year for the past two decades to inform Beaton Benchmarks reports.  

Our unique research can identify what is driving the success of top-performing firms, illustrate trends and highlight insights for your growth strategy. Importantly, this evidence can show you how to win work in today’s highly competitive market.

Findings are presented in a client feedback score card with the option to purchase a comprehensive benchmarking report.

Free client feedback score card

All participating firms that register by the 25th August receive a free temperature check of your client experience and how you are performing relative to competitors.
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Access to a competitor benchmarking report

Opportunity to purchase a deep dive into your client feedback, benchmarked against competitors, including insights on NPS, client experience (CX) and price positioning.
Download Sample

Participate in the largest benchmarking research for professional services

 Beaton surveys tens of thousands of clients every year and has been doing so for 20 years. This makes Beaton Benchmarks the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind.

pieces of feedback collected
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firms' data measured
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Three layers of insights to guide your strategy

Beaton Benchmarks is an easy and cost-effective way of gathering three types of research in one: insights on your clients, your competitive position in the market and the industry-wide changes in your profession.

Beaton Benchmarks is:

A client survey

Gather feedback and get an outside-looking-in perspective of your firm.

  • Measure satisfaction
  • Track NPS scores
  • Make and validate strategic decisions
  • Discover unmet client needs
  • Diagnose and action negative client experiences

Competitor research

Gauge your areas of strengths and weaknesses relative to competitors.

  • Access industry standards
  • Benchmark your performance
  • Compare price vs. value perceptions
  • Prioritise areas to differentiate your firm

An industry study

Identify the key trends and forces in your market.

  • Detect evolution in client buyer behaviour
  • Explore how firms are responding to change
  • Assess effective strategies
  • Future-proof your firm
  • Answer your strategic questions

Beaton Benchmarks success stories

How you can use this research

Inform your strategies

Beaton Benchmarks gives you a clear picture of what your clients think about you and your place in the market. With actionable insights, this data can be used to help you improve your services, differentiate from competitors and identify opportunities to increase profits.

Evaluate your investments

Our data helps you assess the effectiveness of your strategies. Track your performance and see how client experience has changed before and after you make a change to evaluate the ROI. Prioritise the most important activities that will have the biggest impact on clients.

Find a mandate for change

Rather than gut feel, use the objectivity of the Beaton Benchmarks data to bring your team with you on a change journey. Make evidence-based decisions with data that is independently sourced from your clients and the market.

Get ISO-9001 certified

To meet ISO requirements and get their quality management system accredited, many firms use our feedback surveys to evaluate their clients’ satisfaction.

“We used the feedback for our QA certification (ISO 9001) and passed with flying colours. The survey helped achieve this.”
Michael Fasullo, Director, Reid Campbell

How to take part in Beaton Benchmarks

If you’re a professional services firm and you would like to take part in the biggest client sentiment benchmarking study in professional services, you can register to participate for free by doing the following:

That’s it!

There are limited spots available for this research and will be filled on a first-come first-served basis so we encourage you to enter now. If you do not participate we may not be able to collect feedback data on your firm and you will miss out on fast-tracked access to a full Beaton Benchmarks report.

Research timeline

Now
Now
Register to enter

Sign-up now to participate for free. Contact us if you have any questions.

February 2
25 August
Finalise your entry

Provide us with required details to begin the research process. See FAQs for more details.

March 30
24 February
Data analysis begins

Research fieldwork ends and your client feedback results start being analysed.

March 30
25 March
Insights available

Free score card is made available and in-depth report is ready for purchase.

April-May 2024
April-May 2024
Research presentations

Our consultants are available to present your results internally with advice.

Register to participate for free

Firms that register before 25 August 2023 participate for free. Every participant receives a free summary client feedback score card for their firm. At the end of the research, firms will have the option to purchase a detailed Beaton Benchmarks report.

Research trusted by more than 700 participanting firms

FAQs

Beaton Benchmarks covers the following firms in Australia and/or New Zealand:

  • Accounting and consulting services
  • Built and natural environment consulting services
  • Law and related services
  • Specialist IP and related services

How feedback data is collected will change depending on the size of your firm. This is because of the size of client list, likelihood of this list overlapping with other firms and the type of client feedback data we collect.

Irrespective of size, your client data will be held securely with the highest levels of confidentiality. We keep this data for only as long as is necessary to complete the research. For more information, please consult our Privacy Policy.

Smaller firms

If you are a smaller firm by revenue, you will be sent a unique survey link to send to your clients directly. Using this link, clients can provide feedback on the services you have provided.

Larger firms

If you are a larger firm by revenue, you will need provide us with a list of your client contacts before 25 August. We will clean this list, de-duplicate the list with other participating firms and Beaton will send the survey to all clients.

Security

Beaton takes its obligations under Australian and New Zealand privacy law very seriously. Any data collected is stored in on-shore servers. We pseudonymise (i.e. remove all identifying information) feedback data as soon as is practicable. For more information, please consult our Privacy Policy.

Confidentiality

By participating in Beaton Benchmarks, you are engaging Beaton to act as your research agents to collect client feedback. Any disclosure to Beaton of client information is for the secondary purpose of collecting feedback, which is directly related to the primary purpose of providing services to your clients.

If you miss the cut-off for research and database submission, it’s okay: you can still participate in the study, however, commitment to purchase the final report is needed to do so.

The cut-off dates listed are for free participation only.

No! All firms that participate will receive a complimentary summary client feedback score card. There is no obligation on any participating firm to purchase any of the in-depth Beaton Benchmarks reports.

We strongly encourage all professional services firms to participate each year, even if they have no intention of purchasing a report that year. It is better to have collected the data than to realise you need the data later and not have it readily available.

Annual participation will also mean we will have robust tracking data available that will allow you to assess change on a long-term basis.

Due to the way in which our surveys are constructed, brand data is only available where Beaton sends the survey out to a contact list provided by the firm to Beaton. Typically, the only firms in this category are larger firms by revenue.

If you are a smaller firm by revenue and are interested in collecting brand health data (e.g. seeing how non-clients perceive your firm, whether non-clients would consider using you), please reach out to us and we will see if we can accommodate.

Beaton Benchmarks is the research behind the Client Choice Awards: it is essentially the same thing.

All firms that participate in Beaton Benchmarks will automatically be considered for the Client Choice Awards. You will have the option to exclude your firm from consideration in the registration form.

Still have questions? Please contact us and one of our team will be in touch to help.

Register to participate

Be part of the largest client feedback industry study in Australia and New Zealand for professional services firms. Complete the form to register.

 

What you get

Participation gets you a free benchmarking score card so you can see how your firm is performing. You will also have the opportunity to purchase an in-depth report of your clients’ feedback including:

  • Client experience of your services
  • Your performance vs. similar-sized firms in your industry
  • Key drivers of client satisfaction
  • Pricing vs. value perceptions
  • Long-term trends in your market
  • Opportunities to improve your offering and generate more revenue.

Research Open

Free to Participate

Participate in the largest client perception and benchmarking survey for professional services firms.It’s free to participate.

Registrations need to be complete before 25 August 2024 for free participation. Registrations after this date must commit to purchasing a full report to participate.