Client Service Mindset - “The 22nd Thing”

Friday, Feb. 1, 2008 | 1 p.m.

As many of you know, I wrote a book in 2005 entitled “Admit it! - 21 things you already know but apparently have forgotten regarding client service.” While client service is still very important to me, I haven’t thought about the book very much lately. But recently, Mark Buckshon of Construction Marketing Ideas posted a review of the book on his blog.¹ It was picked up by another source, JLC Online, where several people posted thoughts regarding customer service.²

Watching this discussion peaked my enthusiasm once again about the topic and got me contemplating which was the most important message from “Admit it!” After some reflection and re-reading the book, I believe that all of the chapters point to one central theme, which I will call Client Service Mindset or the “22nd Thing” (if Steven Covey can have an 8th Habit, then I get a 22nd Thing.)

A Client Service Mindset occurs when client service becomes ingrained within a person. It becomes a part of who you are and how you work. As Sonny Lykos says in a post on JCL Online, client service is “living per the Golden Rule.”

Too many professionals take client service for granted, but I believe it is the hallmark of a great company and that it is the single most important thing you can do to increase your marketing effort. I spoke recently at a monthly meeting for the Society for Marketing Professional Services where I asked the marketing staff present how many of them monitored the performance of the work to ensure that the marketing promise was delivered. The answers were unsurprisingly dismal.

Marketers are in a unique position. They make the promise but few actually perform the work. Yet they could follow the project and ensure that the promise is delivered. Promises are important–but delivering those promises are critical to the success and future success of our companies. Making the promise may close today’s deal, but delivering the promise will close future deals.

Here are a few things to ponder as you develop a Client Service Mindset:

Clients talk about their experiences. If a client has a good experience, he’ll tell a few friends if asked, but if a client has a bad experience, he will go out of his way to tell everyone he meets. Bad experiences make people do crazy things–ever see someone wearing a lemon costume at an auto dealer? A bad client experience is hard for a business to overcome and in today’s age of rapid information transfer could be devastating to the business.

The client is always right. Absolutely not, but no matter how much you argue with him, you will not change his mind. Clients have expectations when they interact with a business. Our job is to understand these expectations and meet or exceed them. To know the client’s expectations, we must ask. If we find out that we cannot meet a client’s expectations, it is incumbent upon us to tell him and either negotiate the expectations or not take the business.

It takes great service to build a great experience. A great client experience is built upon two factors: the service must be convenient and it must meet the client’s expectations. Meeting these two factors gives you an opportunity to deliver an experience; something unexpected that truly delights your client and builds loyalty between him and your company.

The little things matter. I’ve found that most of the time, when I ask what a client’s expectations are, they are pretty small things that are easy to deliver. This point is made very eloquently by Michael Levine in his book, “Broken Windows, Broken Business.” What may seem small to us often is very important to your client.

I’d like to hear from you:

• Do you have an exceptional client service story?

• Can you remember a time when you knew you delivered the promise but missed the expectation?

• How do you develop a Client Service Mindset in your company?

Until next time…

Craig

¹ http://constructionmarketingideas.blogspot.com/2008/01/admit-it.html

² http://forums.jlconline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=356773