Notes from 54th International STC Conference
Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 13-16, 2007

How to Deliver Outstanding Client Service

Lola Frederickson and Susan Borowick

Frederickson Communications is a Minneapolis-based training and consulting company.

Session Description: Creating quality deliverables is only part of being an excellent technical communicator. Just as important to success is outstanding customer service, whether the clients are internal or external. This session explored the role of client service in the current business environment by identifying customer expectations, selecting key service activities, building processes to meet or exceed expectations, and recovering when things go awry.

• Top ten keys of outstanding client service were covered, followed by a workshop.
• Handouts included a presentation providing guidance on estimating and monitoring a project's budget, including sample metrics, assumptions, and budget busters; and an annotated bibliography of books on client service (pages 6-8).
• Keeping a client is much less expensive than getting a new one (external clients).
• A client is somebody you work with on a long-time basis. A customer is a one-time user. However, the two terms are typically used interchangeably.
• Productivity and morale improve considerably within an organization if everyone treats coworkers like clients.
• A major aspect of client service is recovering when something goes wrong.
• Tip 10: Define your client (bill-payer, stakeholder, user, new/repeat, etc.) A change in leadership in a client organization can make a major difference.
• Tip 9: Establish expectations (define requirements as a way of ensuring a quality product). This includes the client's priorities on cost/schedule/performance. Sometimes the client doesn't really know what he/she wants or needs... you have to help define it.
• Tip 8: Treat each client individually. Don't lose sight of the human dimension. This is very important in building trust.
• Tip 7: Examine your communication. Status, deadlines, issues, priorities, what's "going on under the hood." Major channels are face-to-face, telephone, e-mail, and documents. Remember the importance of body language and tone of voice. Use active listening. Be sensitive to client feedback.
• Tip 6: Always tell the truth... no matter how much it hurts. Long-term trust is more important than short-term business outcomes.
• Tip 5: Be proactive. Don’t wait for the client to come to you for a status report, especially if there is an issue. No surprises!
• Tip 4: Track progress compared to expectations. Exercise project management.
• Tip 3: Report in writing. This is true even when the relationship with the client is fairly informal, because you need a record of milestones, issues identification/resolution, scope change or growth, etc. Verbal communication is also important, especially on bad news. Don’t bury it in a written status report; be sure the client understands the problem and knows about the corrective action that is being taken. Share status reports with the project team as well as the client. Praise progress; encourage team ownership of problem-solving.
• Tip 2: Design your own customer service "clues." These include functional, mechanic, and humanic clues. Functional = technical performance. Mechanic = tangibles (sensory) associated with performance. Humanic = behavior and appearance of the provider. First impressions are very important (this includes the packaging – i.e., appearance – of the product as well as of the provider). Example: Barnes and Nobles added sitting areas with comfortable chairs and coffee shops to increase the time customers spend in the store. That, in turn, increased sales.
• Tip 1: Create and use a service recovery model. Recovering fully and fairly from a problem can actually result in even better client retention than simply delivering when there isn't a problem. Start by listening fully to the client's complaint, showing you understand it, and then sincerely apologize for it. Don’t cut clients off; they need to ventilate. If you don't let them do this, then they won't be receptive to your explanations and to your proposed recovery plan. Don't be defensive. Focus on showing the customer you genuinely care; then back that up with specific, visible, and effective corrective action (with total client visibility into the process). Be especially careful in handling situations where customer actions have either caused the problem or at least contributed to it.
   
• Axiom 1: Customers have specific recovery expectations.
• Axiom 2: Successful recovery is psychological as well as physical; fix the person, then the problem.
• Axiom 3: Work in spirit of partnership.
• Axiom 4: Customers react more strongly to "fairness" failures than to "honest mistakes."
• Axiom 5: Effective recovery is a planned process.
• Zemke's Service Recovery Process:
   
• Apologize/acknowledge
• Listen, empathize, and ask open questions
• Fix the problem, quickly and fairly (offer atonement: customer good will can justify a discount, an extra deliverable, etc.)
• Follow up
• Keep your promises