The importance of good relationship management (in the sense intended here) is borne out by another question in the study referred to above, in which we asked corporate executives about referrals. Only 10 percent of all referrals were found to be cases where technical considerations or “results” were given as the reason for the referral. Fully 90 percent of all the reasons given for referrals were related to the relationship issues discussed above.

Most clients say that if they could find a provider who reliably behaved in the ways described above, they would be

a. More likely to return to that provider

b. More willing to refer that provider

c. Less fee-sensitive about that provider’s services

There is a paradox here. Service quality is widely acknowledged to be important, yet the typical firm does not perform well in this area. What is the explanation?

The answer is that few firms have any systematic program for ensuring and improving the experience the client has with the firm. In most firms, client service is a matter for speeches at annual meetings, and the occasional training program.

It cannot be stressed enough that achieving excellence in client service is not an “educational” issue (i.e., enlightening staff and training them). Almost all client service training programs, taken by themselves, fail to be implemented in the press of daily business. Most firm personnel, if asked, could easily describe most of the activities that would represent good service. We must ask why they don’t already do these things.

Look again at the list of behaviors described above. Do any of those items take great skill to perform? Are any of them intellectually challenging? I think the answer is no.

But there are so many items! The bad news about achieving excellence in client service is that it is made up of hundreds of little, trivial actions, not a few grand gestures. It means rethinking every communication and interaction with clients, no matter how mundane. It takes an attention to detail, an attitude, that is essential if individuals are to find the self-discipline to handle all of their client-contact activities with empathy.

Excerpted from ‘Managing the Professional Service Firm’ by David Maister, pages 81 to 82