Number of Words: 676

There is a danger that in a vigorous attempt to win new clients, excessive promises may be made, creating expectations that cannot be fulfilled. One professional I know describes the syndrome this way: The most depressing day in the office is the day after we have won a new client. We all look at each other and say, “How on earth are we going to deliver all we promised for the budget we agreed to?”

Client expectations can also be managed by vigorous efforts at keeping the client informed as to developments, progress, and discretionary decisions. One professional I spoke with describes his techniques as follows: “Whenever I reach a decision point, I call the client, lay out the alternatives, make a recommendation, then ask for his opinion and instructions. Ninety-nine percent of the time, he tells me to do what I was going to do anyway. But it makes him feel good to be consulted, and he is taking direct responsibility for specific expenditures and time-consuming activities. He is never surprised by what I got up to on his behalf, and he is constantly informed as to what I’m doing for him. If I don’t have a decision for him to make, I call him anyway just to let him know what the status is. And every conversation ends with two sentences: I ask if there’s anything else he wants me to do, and I tell him when I’ll next call him.”  This may not be an appropriate strategy in all cases: Some clients may interpret constant telephone calls as harassment rather than good service. But it is the preferences of the client, not of the professional, that should determine the manner in which the professional behaves. The professional must discover each client’s style preferences and work to communicate the appropriate attitude. The individual quoted above is concerned that he be perceived as responsive: His telephone calls are but a way to symbolize that.

Steven Brill, publisher of The American Lawyer, tells how pleasantly surprised he was on receiving a letter acknowledging payment of a legal bill and thanking him for his business: an attitude conveyed through a simple, trivial action. The business world is filled with creative examples of this. For example, the hotel room that places a paper strip across the toilet bowl to symbolize that the bathroom has been sanitized-a reassuring touch. Another example: The car-repair shop that hands back the burned-out part that was replaced. Useless, but comforting to know that the part was indeed in need of replacement. Or consider the financial services company that sends a client a clipping from some obscure financial journal about his or her business: The clipping may or may not be useful, but the gesture tells the client that the company cares. Such trivial actions create the experience of client satisfaction.

Examples in the professional service sector can be found: The firm that consistently follows up client meetings with brief memoranda summarizing the discussion and points agreed to, with a request to the client to call if any misinterpretation has taken place. The firm that routinely explains in advance the format of its complex bills so that the client knows what to expect when it arrives. The firm that ensures that all referrals from clients are followed up with a thank-you note, whether or not any new business resulted. The firm that makes the effort to find out the client’s real deadlines, and works hard to meet them. The firm that demonstrates its trustworthiness by advising clients on how to avoid fees by doing some things themselves, or that demonstrates its integrity, either by admitting areas of weakness and recommending other professionals or by refusing work when it knows it is too busy. Such actions are not matters to be dealt with only by systems and procedures, although these can help. Fundamentally, they are the result of an appropriate firm-wide attitude toward clients – an attitude that must be created by the senior professionals of the firm through exemplary personal behavior and role modeling.

Excerpted from ‘Managing the Professional Service Firm’ by David Maister, pages 75 to 76