In order to successfully meet clients’ communications and business objectives, PR pros rely on ongoing feedback from a multitude of parties, and they need to be strategic at eliciting that feedback to refine their PR strategies and tactics.

I recently read an insightful article in the Harvard Business Review entitled “How to Get the Feedback You Need.” Though the piece, penned by Carolyn O’Hara, was focused primarily on individual employees soliciting feedback from their managers, the recommendations in the article can and should be a part of every PR pro’s toolbox.

Here are five steps you can implement now to solicit better feedback from clients:

1. Seek Feedback Often. Admittedly, receiving feedback—especially if it’s critical—can be stressful. According to Ed Batista, an executive coach and an instructor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, that’s exactly why people should do it often. It’s less stressful to initiate the conversation and hear the feedback if it’s done on an ongoing basis. Don’t just wait until the end of the quarter to ask your client how PR is going from their vantage; rather, engage them in an ongoing discussion about their perceptions of your work and how you can continue to refine your approach.
2. Don’t Wait. This recommendation piggybacks on of the former. The best feedback happens when it’s fresh. According to O’Hara, “You might … close a conversation with a client with a parting request for her reaction to your role on a recent project.” Rather than waiting until the quarter’s end or the budget is set to renew, be timely in your solicitation of feedback. The feedback you get will be better—and you’ll be proactive in requesting it.
3. Get Specific. If you ask for general feedback, the feedback you receive will likely be as vague as your question. Sheila Heen, author of Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well, suggests asking questions like, “What’s one thing we could improve?” or “What do you think we might have done differently?” The more specific your question, the better feedback your client will offer you.
4. Don’t be afraid to call. In our digital age, it can be particularly difficult to get regular feedback since “physical distance often prevents informal exchanges,” argues O’Hara. Rather than requesting feedback over email, where nuances can get lost, it’s important to solicit feedback over the phone. Picking up the phone to call also demonstrates that extra effort to show you value and honor your client’s feedback.
5. Seek feedback from multiple parties. Chances are you have one client contact with whom you interface the most, but O’Hara argues you should be seeking feedback from multiple perspectives. “Don’t just look up the organizational chart, but also left, right, and occasionally down,” she writes. Soliciting feedback from your main contact as well as his/her boss and direct reports provides you with even more data points around how PR and your work are perceived within the organization, arming you with the right information to improve your work.

The main takeaway? Feedback can be awkward to solicit, but the more regularly you seek feedback and refine your approach accordingly, the better off your client relationships will be.