Providing High Quality Service and Building Customer Loyalty: Creating Satisfied Customers

(This column was previously published on the DC Web Women website) It's a more common problem than you think. A client approaches you to do a job, but they know very little about what they want, or what it will entail. If this is the case, you can be sure that they know even less about what they need. Most of us, when we are clients, want what we want, when we want it (even if we don't know what "it" is), and we want it seamlessly, effortlessly and yesterday. And, not only that, and this is the kicker, we want it for free. So, how do you avoid the age old problem of having dissatisfied customers? Abe Lincoln said, "you can please some of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time but you can't please all of the people all of time". Old Abe was undoubtedly right. However, there are some steps that you can take to increase client satisfaction and to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings. These include: being clear about what you will and will not do for the client, creating a context for clarifying client goals, being explicit about your services and fees, anticipating contingencies and preparing for them. Each will be addressed in turn. Be clear about what you will and will not do for the client A first step is to be very clear, up front, about what you will do for the client, when you will do it and how much it will cost them. Of course, for those of us who work within professions that are not well understood, this is easier said than done. For example, a business person, in another city, contracted with a web architect to build a site for her business. She had devoted virtually no time on the web and knew very little about how it worked and what she wanted. She knew nothing of internet service providers. She knew nothing about how to load her site onto the server. In short, she was completely at the webmeister's mercy. Moreover, she had no idea that building a web site was a distinct and different activity from gaining visitors. She agreed to a quote of $10,000.00 for the site, and paid it. But, of course there were problems. Ultimately, the web architect wanted more money. And, if she didn't pay up, he would not complete the site. The client's ignorance of the web led her to be disappointed with the slow loading times that come with many fancy graphics, graphics about which she had initially been enthusiastic. In the end, she ended up feeling angry and disappointed. The web architect went partially unpaid and the business women had to start over from scratch. Moreover, the cycle ended with the business women expressing a great distrust of the industry. And, we can be certain the the web architect was not a happy camper, either. Often, this type of situation can be avoided. And, it is good for anyone in any industry to avoid it. Why? Because when these sorts of misunderstandings occur, it creates a basic distrust of the industry. Beyond that, when these things happen, it's bad for our individual business. It has been said that an unhappy customer is seven times as likely to talk about their experience than a happy customer. So, we all want "happy" or at least, "satisfied" customers. Creating a context for clarifying client goals Educate your clients If you are in an industry about which many people are ignorant, your first task is client education.  In the scenario described above, the web architect could have said, "you know, in my experience the more informed a customer is about what I do, the more likely I am to satisfy them. Therefore, before doing anyone's web site, I do a preparatory session with them just to teach them a bit about web sites and marketing or visibility on the web. It gives me a chance to get to know them a bit and to get to know what they want.  This is a two hour session and the fee is thus and such. At the end of the session you will know the answers to the following questions..." You can charge a moderate fee. The up side is that in a sense you will qualify the extent of the person's interest and their willingness to make a financial commitment. The downside is that you may alienate those customers who are taken aback by the fact that they have to pay a fee and they end up with "nothing". Alternatively, depending on your feelings about this, you might say, "I provide a complimentary initial two hour session free of charge. It gives me a chance to get to know you and you a chance to get to know me. I can learn more about what you want and whether and how I might be helpful. You can learn more about how I might be helpful and whether you feel that I can provide what you need. How does that sound?" The latter strategy is a good one if you are in an industry in which you work with clients over a long period of time. Your good faith effort to bring clarity to your work will increase the public trust in your industry. Potential clients will appreciate your forthrightness. Moreover, this approach provides a risk free context in which your potential client assess whether they think you can be helpful to them.  Also, you have created good will. If they decide to do business with you, you will be starting out on the "right foot". If they decide that you can not meet their needs, they will be appreciative that you have helped them to cut their losses. Even if you are able to refer them to someone else who is better suited to their needs, they will be most appreciative of your efforts. In fact, you will be building good will both with them and with the person to whom you refer them. Since you have not charged, they will not end up resenting the fact they paid for something that was not useful to them. Likely, they will appreciate your generosity and your candor. In fact, they may speak highly of you to others saying that you were not the one for their job but perhaps you might be helpful to someone else. Doing the initial session as a "professional courtesy" is a particularly good idea if you have any linkage to the person, professionally or through the community. That is, for example if you belong to the same business group, the same Women's organization, or the same religious organization. People will appreciate the fact that you are a good "community citizen". Also, it is a good idea if the referral source is a mutual friend or colleague. Consider for example, the situation in which a friend has referred someone to you. You assess that you are unable to meet the person's needs. A free consultation reduces the likelihood of bad feelings and provides you with an opportunity to make an appropriate referral. O.K., let us assume that you are providing a consultation.  The key thing here is to very explicitly and carefully help the prospective client to articulate exactly what they want. Ask them, if the outcome were the best that they could imagine, what would happen? What would it look like? How do they envision that your work will help them and their business? Also, ask them, what is the worst outcome they can imagine?" These questions are important because they will help reveal the person's hopes and expectations -- some of which may be realistic and some of which will be very unrealistic. Their responses will provide you with the opportunity to clarify and provide a more realistic appraisal of what you can and can not provide. Also, it will allow you to link them to colleagues in adjacent professions who may be better able to fulfil their needs. Take the case of our business women, if her web architect had clarified her goals with her, he probably would have have referred her to someone equipped to talk with her about marketing her site BEFORE designing it. This would have undoubtedly changed the outcome considerably. They both would have benefited, she would have gotten more of what she needed and the web architect could have forged a linkage with a colleague who might have referred reciprocally. Be explicit about services and fees Before opening your new business, it is important to be very clear about what services you do and do not provide. Be as explicit as you can about your fees and charges. Articulate what a particular job costs and be explicit about fees for revisions, alterations and changes. While it is impossible to anticipate every contingency, talk with others in the same business to learn about the kinds of issues, concerns and challenges that customers may pose. If your industry is very competitive, speak with colleagues working in comparable cities to learn more about their trials and tribulations. Anticipate customer concerns and preparing for them Once you begin your business, track customer concerns. In this way, you can ensure that you identify any customer concerns and you can develop strategies for improving your responsiveness.

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