Lots of folk like to think customer service is all about saying "yes" to anything and everything. That’s a recipe for not only unhappy business ownership, but poor customer satisfaction as well.
If you’ve followed my writings for any length of time, you know I talk a lot about the importance of making sure you take care of your needs first in business. That you’re working with people you like. That you’re doing work you love. That you’re charging a profitable rate, and getting paid on time and fairly for the value you provide.
Having those needs met is vitally important to service delivery. A miserable service provider will inevitably become surly and resentful, do sloppy work, drag their feet and miss deadlines. That’s definitely not good for business, and makes for very unhappy customers.
Setting clear boundaries and policies sets the foundation for providing excellent customer service and creating a happy client experience.
A client who doesn’t know what the boundaries are is bound to step over a line they don’t even know exists. Likewise, if the protocols and policies in your business haven’t been clearly outlined, you leave clients to make their own way. Invariably, this leads to them doing or expecting something that doesn’t jibe in some way with how you do things in your business. And us being human, we end up getting irritated with these clients.
But why? They aren’t mind readers. You have no business feeling frustrated with clients (which, by the way, they will sense no matter how well you think you are hiding it) if you haven’t clearly communicated your standards.
No one likes to step falteringly or feel their way forward in the dark. Your policies are the road map clients need to do business with you. Clearly articulated policies put clients at ease because they then know how things will proceed. They know what to expect and when. In turn, they will feel more confident in you and find working with you easier and more pleasant.
The purpose of your policies is to create the optimum conditions that allow you to deliver on your promises and create the very best client experience that you can. Don’t hem and haw and expect people to read your mind–tell clients what you need. Find out what they need and want. Then share with them the polices and standards you have set in your business that allow you to achieve those desired outcomes.
Thanks for commenting. Yeah, the virtual assistant term is really completely idiotic to...
