How close do you get to your customers and clients?

Building a framework for authentic service.

Good client service will cement a relationship with a client. Good client service will build political capital with the client for you and your company. Political capital is a goodwill reservoir that will help any client to overlook an occasional error on your part, even if the mistake was somewhat significant. This circumstance is especially true if you first detect the problem and tell your client about it before they are otherwise aware. You must apologize wholly and without qualifiers. Political capital will also cause an excellent client to dismiss out-of-hand any approaches from competitors. Good client service is essential—and it is rare.

At the very heart of client service is client perspective. Without client perspective, it is impossible to provide good service.

Client perspective comes at two levels—the general and the specific. Most firms and companies do not recognize these two levels and comprehend only the general level. They conclude that the general level is what client service is all about. Furthermore, almost everybody professes to believe in and possess the general level, but they miss the point.

The general level has to do with treating a client/customer the way that you would like to be treated as a client/customer. I believe that a sure sign of a decline in customer service and perspective is a business’ creation of a customer service department, desk, or toll-free number. That too often means that the salesperson or service provider you have been dealing with will abandon you now that you have a problem. Oddly, it is this general level that I believe every client/customer assumes to be a given.

The specific level of a client perspective is getting inside your client’s head—understand them, their personal needs and goals, and the needs and goals for their business. You must see the world through their eyes and know what makes them tick. The successful combination of specific and general client perspective is an unbeatable combination that will yield a happy paying client, lots of political capital, and referrals!

 

The Magic and the Mystique

Client Service Is the Fun Part of Our Accounting Services

1. Accounting services are the vehicle that establishes the trust, confidence, and objectivity that are the key to client service.
2. Accounting work is the competitive edge that allows us to be at the front line of real fun—client service.

The Core Precepts of Client Service

1. Empathy
2. Being Proactive
3. Honesty
4. Objectivity
5. Candidness
6. Timeliness

Client Service Is

1. Being a business friend
2. Helping people and or making them happier in their business
3. Solving a problem
4. Meeting a need
5. Making them more profitable
6. The art of listening
7. Not overselling
8. Asking how they are doing and mean it

In Addition to Doing Good Work

1. Referring them to other clients
2. Referring them to other professionals
3. Networking lunches
4. Getting them involved is flattering
   • Involvement in social and civic causes
   • Participation in helping other clients
5. Providing them with public recognition
6. Paying attention to the personal side of their lives