Golden Practices Blog

Trusted Advisors Don't "Surprise Bill" if They Want to Stay Trusted Advisors

Just had an interesting experience with my daughter and my "very highly trusted" dentist.

My phrase is in quotes because CPAs and lawyers frequently tell me their clients don't mind their surprise after-the-fact hourly bills because their "clients trust them." I'm sure they do. Just like I have always trusted my dentist.  

I've trusted my dentist because a) he's a really good guy, b) his office staff is nice, and c) he has always priced me fairly. Sound familiar?

He's not the cheapest in town, but he's reasonable, especially in light of my being a private-pay patient whereas other dentists sometimes charge inflated (as they would for insurance) prices even for private pays.

This recent experience has caused my past unquestioned level of trust to shift to a more skeptical trust. It's because I was surprised with a post-treatment bill that was about 50% higher than I thought the visit was worth.

I don't want this to be seen as one of those gripey, sour-grapes posts. Rather, I want to illustrate how someone whose bill I've never, ever questioned became someone whose prices I will now inquire about in advance—how someone who hasn't been a price-sensitive buyer, is now going to behave like one.

Knowing When (and How) to Say No

We all do it. We agree to do something that we immediately regret.

Sometimes we even propose on work we know we don't want. Part of it is not knowing where our next work is coming from. Part of it is knowing we have mouths to feed or payroll to make.

Part of taking on projects that we shouldn't comes from plain ol' guilt. Those of us in the USA who grew up in the sixties and before probably heard from our parents that we should clean our plates because of the starving children in [insert far-off place].

Turning away paying work can feel like brazenly defying the universe. Not accepting an opportunity to earn money, especially in this economy, can feel akin to passing up food that someone else would surely be grateful for. 

Difficulty in saying no definitely oozes over into volunteer activities and requests from people who'd like to pick our brains. Any time we are flattered to be asked to do something, it's especially hard to say no. And, believe me, the flatterer knows this! 

WRONG CLIENT, WRONG WORK, WRONG TIME

Not all work is good work. It's not all enjoyable. It's not all profitable. 

If we don't really want to do something, we probably don't do it very well—at least not compared to doing work we are passionate about (and for customers we actually do enjoy serving).

Bad customers suck us dry, deflating our team's morale, and taking more than their fair share of our energy. They leave too little of us for good customers. And if we really don't "feel it" with regard to working with someone, they definitely will sense it. 

Client or customer selection is a detailed topic unto itself that I won't go into here, but the fundamentals are the same as for evaluating your key clients if you want to check out that article.

If you're like me, sometimes you really do want to do the work, but know you'll be strapped for resources or time to achieve it, and yet you commit to it. We let that client down when we fall short. This happens all the time in firms I work with; overpromising and underdelivering.

A genuine desire to do something doesn't mean that it can miraculously happen. 

All of these scenarios threaten our service reputations. Plus they make us unhappy and bum out our teams. 

GO WITH YOUR GUT

When it comes to prospective clients, tune in to that not-a-fit vibe. A friend recently got a call to do a potentially sizable project and he fairly quickly developed a bad feeling about the company. 

Strike 1. The wrong person called: the inquiry for very strategic work was from a contractor, not even an employee, rather than the decision-maker. Not optimal, but forgivable.

Strike 2. Indications of a poor service culture: the company's regular receptionist was extremely obnoxious. Permitting someone like this to represent the company speaks volumes and is hard to overlook.

Strike 3. Bad manners: Eager to proceed on the time-sensitive project, the decision-maker promised to send a necessary document, but didn't. A handful of gentle prompts by phone and email went unanswered. Blow-offs are totally disrespectful.

A full month later, the decision-maker sent the document, "anxious" to get going. My friend politely declined to move ahead despite the potential to now tack on a rush charge. He'd become uneasy about the way the company does business. And he knew from past experience that good client relationships start with rapport and mutual respect; he had lost respect for them, and didn't trust them to do their end of the work for a successful project.

Many of us would have taken that work and grumbled about it. Which is the right decision?

KNOWING YOUR LIMITS

A very different scenario: I had a wonderful client with a project that we'd planned to do together ... a second phase following a successful first phase. But a handful of business and personal events were unfolding that, when I was completely honest with myself, meant I wouldn't be able to meet the timeframe and deliver the quality I require of myself.

I begged out. That was a year and a half ago. Last week, I ran into the firm's managing partner and he greeted me saying, "I have so much respect for you declining the project and knowing you couldn't do it to your standards."

I certainly never imagined that saying no to the work would have that effect; rather, I thought they'd be upset with me.

WAYS TO SAY NO

Short and sweet. No apologies or explanations are needed unless you dropped the ball or are inconveniencing someone by changing your mind. Justifying your decision can sound wimpy and might make it seem like there's still room for discussion. And excuses sound lame. Just say: "No thank you."

Honestly. Transparency has been a social-media buzzword for years and has moved into general business practice. Say, "I have to pass because I don't believe I can do it that fast" or "as well as I should." Say if you don't do that type of work or if you don't have the right people for it (and point them to someone who can help). And go ahead and tell them if you don't think you're a culture or personality fit. 

Artfully. Years ago, I told my good friend Ron Baker that I found it hard to say no to people. He told me that his mentor, an elegant lady in her 50s, would simply say: "I'd love to but I just don't want to."

How honest is that? Particularly good for the volunteer thing...

Softly. Maybe you want to buy some time to give an opportunity more consideration. Or let someone down easy. An article called "The Art of Saying No" proposes we try the answer: "We'll see" just as we tell kids when we really mean no, but we aren't interested in hearing their protests.

Whether it's the wrong work, the wrong customer, bad timing, or simply another thing you can't take on, free yourself from regret and discover how liberating it is to say no. 

Retraining Clients When You've Taught Them to Abuse You (aka Preventing Costly Schedule Disruptions)

Rogue 24 is a new DC restaurant that is apparently so worried about no-shows that it has a two-page contract for would-be patrons. Their terms require payment for cancellations within 72 hours among other (obnoxious) things.

For some, the sense of exclusivity (and jerkiness) might actually be a draw, but last time I checked, restaurants were considered part of the "hospitality" industry and there is nothing hospitable about their approach.

I know a lot of CPA firms who are sick to death of clients not being ready for them when they show up for audit fieldwork. (This post uses audit as an example, but the concepts apply to consulting, website development, and a zillion other types of projects.) 

I can't blame a firm for being frustrated when the audit team appears at a company and the advance PBC (prepared-by-client) list has not been completed. It sucks. It's expensive and it's disruptive.

The auditors either leave with unanticipated open time in the middle of what is typically a jam-packed audit season, or they simply begin to "help" the client get ready. But in doing so without a signed change order, the firm will likely end up writing off the work. Or worse, the firm will later "bill and duck" for this work at high risk of angering the client. 

And next year, when the client is not ready again, the firm is ... wait for it ... surprised. And annoyed.

Parents who are reading this may be able to recognize what the firm has just done.

The firm has successfully trained the client that the PBC list and the work schedule just aren't that important and don't need to be respected or adhered to. 

Feeling taken advantage of, and still not realizing it's partly their own fault, some firms contemplate "policies" that penalize a client for not abiding by the schedule. Perhaps Rogue 24's policy is a good model to follow, eh? Nuh-uh.

There are much better ways to set expectations and prevent major disruptions to scheduling for audits or similar work that needs to be organized well in advance with appropriately skilled people during very specific time periods.

Sit on the same side of the table as your customer.

I'm not the least bit against a monetary penalty for lack of readiness. In fact, I believe timing of work should play a huge role in determining your prices. Timing is usually critical to the client and duration (a maximum) is nearly always going to be essential to your profitability. 

But it's not hospitable to shove an ugly contract in your current or prospective customer's face demanding compliance with your unilaterally decided terms. Doing so creates an adversarial relationship with the customer. (Sorta like billing and ducking does.)

Instead, put some energy into learning details about your customer's exact needs, educating them where it is helpful to both of you, and doing everything possible to help them be ready for you on the day you are going to show up to begin that work.

The best tone to take is "help us help you."

1. Give exact dates.

Be very, very clear about timing in your project quotes (or proposals or statements of work or customer-service agreements — whatever you choose to call them). Many firms take a lazy approach and simply say "30 days before the reporting date" or "30 days after fiscal year end."

Egads, if you don't care enough about the dates to list them, why would you think your client will care enough to honor them?

Don't ever make the customer calculate any due dates!

Do the legwork and tell them the actual dates. Better yet, include a visual. Show them key dates, don't just bury them in text.

Say what is needed, when, by whom, and delivered to whom.

2. Teach them how.

Do you want to win some points for being extra helpful? And do have you have an ulterior motive to make sure it's done right? Of course you do! And that's all right.

Informally talk with them. Show them samples. Provide templates.

Maybe you can offer some formal classes on preparing PBC list items. Education is a terrific complimentary service that you could offer as part of the engagement or charge extra for it. Perhaps new clients get to attend the first one free. Or every client gets one admission included and additional people are extra. 

3. Provide reminders. Early and often. 

Customers appreciate your reminder postcards, phone calls, and emails. They show you care and they emphasize that you're serious about timing and readiness.

This can be done by your admin team on a systematic schedule: a week before fieldwork, two weeks before, 30 days before, 60 days before, etc.

"How's your PBC list coming along?" "Do you have any questions for us?" "Don't forget, we'll be there Monday the 23rd." "Call us ASAP if you have any concerns about being ready two weeks from tomorrow. Now's the time to let us know!"

4. Show you're serious.

Of course there can and should be a stated consequence to lack of readiness if that should occur after all the education and reminders. 

In your project quotes, describe how you'll do everything in your power to help them be ready. Show you are committed to helping them help you help them (did you follow that?). Tell them you share their goal for a successful project and that in order to meet their desired delivery timing, these [list] things need to happen on these [list] dates. 

Tell them that in the unfortunate event that you don't get adequate notice about a date change (two weeks might be reasonable for adjusting an audit schedule) that there will be a $1,000 (or $5,000 or $10,000) rescheduling charge and that their audit would then need to be bumped back to the end of the month (or quarter or year).

And be very clear, in advance, about extra charges (state how much they'll pay for commonly delayed items) for assisting onsite with incomplete PBC work if you even have the time available to perform the work and still meet the agreed-upon delivery timing. This makes obtaining approved change requests a lot easier because the pricing was already spelled out.

When you provide your reminders, remind them that you don't want them to incur these charges or delay their audit and that's why you're being such a stickler about timing.

You can also consider offering rewards for readiness such as "clients who are ready for us will get priority scheduling next year" with first pick of dates which, of course, implies the opposite as a consequence for lack of readiness. 

Training is hard and retraining is harder.

What you are trying to do with all of this is to gain advance knowledge about lack of readiness so you can properly manage and adjust your clients' expectations about price and delivery. And, of course, manage your own scheduling (second to managing client expectations).

Don't budge on your extra charges or rescheduling. Just like parenting, it takes confidence and guts to stick to our guns during the retraining process, but we have to do it to correct the problems we have created and to be taken seriously. The very first time you are inconsistent, you defeat your purpose and have to start all over again.

If you apply these principles with "love" and care (e.g., it's for your own good ... "help us help you") by sitting on the same side of the table rather than coming across as though they work for you, clients can respect and appreciate you in the process of following your approach to serving them.

And they might even prefer to dine with you.

Really. How Committed Are you to Caring About Your Customers?

I hate to talk about how amazing Zappos is, because everyone does it and, as David Meerman Scott wrote the other day in "The Trouble with Zappos," doing so frequently elicits eye-rolls from those of us who hear about them over and over and over. David's right. I've seen this myself in front of live audiences.

A lot of people, especially professional service providers, either think Zappos is an anomaly, or that their culture and attitudes don't apply to their firms.

Okay, fine. But please keep reading because this is important.

Last night, I was on the Zappos Facebook page and a few posts down, a customer of Zappos posted a photo of a bouquet and wrote this:

(Rosandra kindly granted me permission to share this)

So. I ask you. Does your firm do stuff like this for your customers?  

I don't mean the occasional congratulatory bouquet or funeral arrangement to the decision-maker at a client's office, but generously and sincerely caring about the people who buy from you and work with you to make the engagement a success? The bookkeeper? The GC's admin assistant? The receptionist?

Yeah, maybe it does cost too much money. Let's think about that. Zappos sells SHOES. Their average sale is probably less than $100. An average customer might buy a pair a quarter or spend, say, $400/year. So, how much is your average sale, again? 

Yeah, it does take extra time. That's the point. Caring takes a little time. No time. No care. How committed are you to the success of your firm? 

NEWSFLASH: YOU DO COMPETE WITH ZAPPOS

Just because Zappos is not a professional firm competitor, they are setting the bar very high among the same, exact people YOU sell to.

Just like Disney, Apple, The Ritz, FedEx, Nordstrom and all the examples we are "tired" of hearing about.

You/we HAVE to pay attention to this and learn from loyalty-creating behaviors they exhibit. We have to become committed to caring if we want to keep our customers. Both law and accounting professionals report that "client retention" is a top issue or concern for them now and in the short term. 

Keep rolling your eyes at companies like Zappos and client retention isn't going to improve.

Building Trust

Super quick blog post for firm owners, mangers and employees. And, well, everyone, really.

Please buy and read this book. 

Buy it for all your partners and managers. Read it before your next retreat or meeting. In fact, you should create a retreat specifically to discuss it.

The Thin Book of Trust: An Essential Primer for Building Trust at Work 

by Charles Feltman

It's 68 pages of brilliance and life-changing perspective from a wise man who claims "there are no new ideas in this book." Well, he does a beautiful job, then, of taking nuggets we need to know and putting them into a form we can apply to our business and personal lives. 

I met Charles when I took his full day session in April at the International Association of Facilitator's conference. It was a day of learning that changed my thinking significantly. But more importantly, it struck me how absolutely helpful this book will be for professional firms.

It's as applicable to customer relationships as it is to firm management. 

After you read it, please let me know what you thought of it. 

Vote Clients "Off the Island" To Make Room for New Ones

 I had made a post to my AccountingWEB blog a few months ago entitled, "Why Do We Need to Market When We Can Barely Staff the Work We Have?"  

Admittedly, capacity isn't as big a problem now as it was just a year or two or three ago. But client quality and profitability are ongoing issues. Here's the whole post:

Why do you need to market? Perhaps you don’t.

Marketing to increase business volume so you can work harder doesn’t sound appealing if you’re already at capacity. However, even if you don’t want more work, you may still want to increase your firm’s health and improve morale. Beefing up the marketing function can help you do these things.

One way to tell if marketing will benefit your firm is to ask yourself these questions:

• Are we meeting our profitability goals? 
• Are we in heaviest demand by our ideal client-types? 
• Do we receive frequent referrals from our clients? 
• Is the work that we do stimulating and enjoyable? 
• Is our personnel retention above average? 
• Are we attracting personnel whom we trust to succeed us? 
• Are we attractively positioned for acquisition?

If you answered “no” to any of the above, marketing can help.

• Do we serve too many problem clients? 
• Are we doing too much low realization work and not enough high realization work? 
• Do we ever set (or reduce) the price after we’ve done the work? 
• Are some partners eager to market while others are content, or even complacent?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, marketing can help.

I just love the comment that fellow blogger Bill Kennedy posted. He wrote (emphasis mine):

Great blog, particularly that comment about too many problem clients. A friend told me about a practice at their firm:  they would get the staff together once a quarter and vote one client "off the island." It didn't mean necessarily severing relations with that client, but it told the partners that they needed to pay some attention to that relationship.

I would absolutely let my team help choose which clients "go." 

Years ago, I attended the Results Accountants Systems 4-day Bootcamp then led by the brilliant Paul Dunn and Ric Payne. And they talked about firms who pass the client list around letting team members "red circle" clients they thought weren't so great to work with. Sometimes the partners had no idea that clients treated team members poorly or failed to be prepared, etc. 

Similarly, in his book True Professionalism, David Maister has a chapter called "Are We Having Fun Yet?" A blog post of his refers to it describing that 20 years of surveying professionals across varying fields shows alarmingly consistent results: only 20-30% of the work we do is work we enjoy, and only 10-20% of clients we serve are clients we really enjoy working with. That's equivalent to about one day of our work week. Life's too short for that!

Also, do you think these other clients can't tell you don't enjoy them and their work? Of course they can! And in this climate of "sharing" on the social web, we simply cannot afford to be mediocre. 

These are great conversations to have in your firm.

Help make room for more clients you enjoy and who appreciate you back.

Photo credit: Craig Anderson, Hamilton Island 2005 on Flickr

I'm Afraid it's a Terribly Unfortunate Problem When We're Negative

Got an unsolicited email about negativity in speech. Don't normally read my junk mail, but SO glad this item escaped my ruthless delete stroke so that I could share the gem with you:

Negative Vocabulary: Say what you will do, not what you can't do.

We can change people's perceptions of a situation by changing the words we use to tell them. Being negative is one of the most common bad habits we all seem to have! Why are we so negative and specialise in looking on the dark side?

We seem to specialise in telling people what we can’t do, not what we are able to do, however small.

Many people go through life pointing out things about themselves, their houses, [and] their cars that they do not like and then telling people not to take any notice of them. Notice is only taken because we point them out.

We then compound this with using negative vocabulary.

Negative words like "unfortunately" "I'm afraid" "The problem is..." "I'm sorry but..."

The situation doesn’t change, but the way the other person feels about it, changes totally. For example, which is better received?

"Unfortunately we close at 7.00pm"
OR
"We are open every day until 7.00pm"

"Unfortunately we’re going to disconnect/repossess if you don't pay"
OR
"Mr Smith, we need a payment today to prevent disconnection/repossession"

In my many years of experience the negative is the most widely used! If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you're absolutely right.

This Marketing Tip of the Week was provided by Ann Nobbs of Telmark Training who concentrates on working with people to improving telemarketing results.

With her negative example of "I'm sorry but..." ... the simple change to "I'm sorry and..." makes all the difference in the world.

This "and/but" thing is VERY helpful, too, if you are disagreeing with a colleague -- especially in a meeting where you don't want to come across as a jerk. After someone says something you wish to counter, or add a differing opinion on, try, "I hear what John is saying AND I'd like to add..." as opposed to "John thinks that BUT I..." 

This simple change is far more respectful and far less confrontational.

The word "but" should pretty much be removed from any customer relations conversation. It will only get you in trouble.

Monitoring Yourself or Your Company Online

There are a lot of ways to find out if you or your business are being mentioned online which will include many print media outlets that also publish on the web such as business journals and more.

It used to be that you had to read a lot of magazines or newspapers yourself, or better yet, subscribe to an expensive media clipping service, in order to find out about any mentions. Not anymore.

In fact, since you can monitor for free, you should be following yourself, your company, your most important clients, and your competitors, too.

TOOLS FOR MONITORING

The three top tools to monitor are:

1. Google Alerts
2. Bloglines (run a search for your key term, then "subscribe" to it)
3. Twitter Search

Google Alerts sends you emails containing excerpts and links to any new webpages containing the search terms youset up with them. You can manage your search tems very easily.

Bloglines is a great and easy to use blog aggregator with powerful search capabilities. Any search term at all can be "subscribed to" so that all future blog posts on containing your term will pull into your Bloglines feeds. I like to use it to search for industry news and other hot topics, too, because it is so easy to manage my searches and it's really easy to email a story to myself or someone else.

Twitter is a microblogging tool that is literally exploding. Microblogging means that when posts are made, they are 140 characters or less. There is a LOT of commentary about companies on twitter--the forum just lends itself to it. You can bookmark your search so you don't have to reenter search terms again next time. You can also use Twilert.com to receive email notification of search results much like Google Alerts.

ACTING ON MENTIONS

So if you do find mentions of your company, product or about working with you, it's a really good idea to NOT ignore it. Regardless of where you find mentions about your company, there are, in the elegantly short words of Guy Kawasaki (in a post about how to use twitter), some actions you should take:

• People are pissed: help them out

• People are confused: help them out

• People who have questions: help them out

• People are happy: ask them to spread the word

You will find that people are delighted by contact with the company and that no matter how rocky the relationship started out, they usually become fans and evangelists. By simply monitoring what people are saying about you, you’re using Twitter better than 95% of the companies out there.

And I expand that to say that by acting on mentions of your company you're using ALL your tools better than 95% of the companies out there.

And don't forget to apply these four "help them/ask them" strategies when people tell you, directly, about their experiences working with you!

New Year's Marketing Resolutions

Lyne Noella is a wise lady whom I've long admired and known through the accounting marketing circles. Lucky for us, she has a blog called Relationship Marketing Program.

She posted yesterday her Top 5 New Year's Resolutions (all about marketing).

Make Every Date a First Date

Did you see Seth Godin's recent post, The Last Interaction?  Great stuff!

The last interaction Marketers (and high school kids) focus a lot on the first date. After all, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

I recently had some waterproofing done in the basement. The first date was great. The company was professional and had every single element down, from their AdWords to the web site to the way they interacted on the phone and in person. I think that stuff is pretty important, but I'm way more interested in the last interaction than I am in the first (and if you care about word of mouth, you should be too).

After they finished the job, they left my basement a mess. Forever, my only memory of the job is going to be the mess. Forever, the only thing I'll talk about is the mess.

The last interaction, in my experience, is responsible for virtually all of the word of mouth you're going to get, positive or negative.

That free muffin at the restaurant or the lollipop at the barber or the call from the Realtor a week after the house is sold and contracts are signed and the movers have left... believe it or not, it matters.

PS - The waterproofing guys took the time to call me before I did this post, and that call led to a new last interaction... my bad feelings are already fading, because they stepped up and took action. More proof that it matters.

As much as we pay attention to that "elevator speech" and how we are going to introduce or describe ourselves, we seldom spend much time preparing our closing remarks, or that last brilliant tidbit we are going to leave behind...

So many times, as Seth describes, we do whatever it takes to win that new business, meanwhile long-time, loyal customers may be underserved or even downright neglected. It's true that there is a thrill of the chase, and a definite "high" in landing that new customer.

It might seem less exciting to keep that romance going with the long-time client. But never take them for granted! This is not the era of my grandparents who would never change a doctor, dentist, lawyer or accountant...even if they complained about them mercilessly (and they did!).

Today, there are far too many others out there getting a thrill out of chasing YOUR clients. Don't let your guard down! Don't stop wooing that once hot prospect. Don't forget to do the courteous "little things" that attracted them to you in the first place.

Sound like marriage counseling? Maybe so. Suffice to say, in business, the same rules apply...well, most of them, anyway!

Gift Cards - the Gifts that Stop Giving

What's all the hype around giving gift cards? Of course it saves time (and thought). And receiving one can be a lot better than getting a hideous sweater from Aunt Nellie.

A spot on the news this morning defended, "Oh no, gift cards are NOT impersonal. But don't give cash anymore, because cash is impersonal."

Huh?? 

Gift cards, on the surface, seem harmless enough. But c'mon, it's a racket.

My 13 year-old son received a $40 gift card last December and he noted that the card's expiration date was a year away. He, unlike my other kids, likes to take his time deciding what to spend his money on.

So on a recent trip to the mall, he popped into the researched store of his choice to buy the researched item of choice and, low and behold, the store clerk informed him that his "gift" value had decreased by $12 due to the time elapsed since purchase.

Are you kidding me? I understand it dropping to zero on the expiration date, but depreciating its value during its valid period is lousy. Try cheering up a broken-hearted 13 year-old who cannot see how this is fair (hint: it isn't).

For family, cash is possibly still a better gift than a gift card with a squirrely policy.

Definitely, before sending your clients a gift card, check the policy!  Do you want them to have this sort of experience when they cash in your gift?

Maybe just send them a good old-fashioned bottle of wine or a great book, instead...

Marston's On Fire With 'Why Professionals Don't Get It'

My always controversial friend (and fellow VeraSage fellow) Chris Marston musta had an extra shot of espresso on Thursday...he was heated!

30-something Christopher Marston runs Exemplar Law Partners, the Boston law firm touting "no hourly bill, no hourly bull--law practice the way it should be."

He not only graduated from the relatively new schools of value pricing and blowing up the partnership model, he is breaking new ground daily in both of these areas. He shares his thoughts regularly on his Inside the Firm of the Future blog.

In keeping with his 'take no prisoners' blogging style, Chris' latest post, "Top 10 Reasons Why Professionals Don't 'Get It' When it Comes to Pricing and Service" doesn't sugarcoat how he really feels about most of the legal profession (much applies to accounting, too).

Abrasive? Yup. But well worth the read. Chris makes several valid points.

Airlines, Mushrooms, and Apologies

I don't mean to pick on JetBlue. I've never flown them (not a big presence here in St. Louis) but I have a lot o f friends who do and they swear by the airline despite the unfortunate weather debacle in NY. My biggest issue with that situation was the lack of a fast and dramatic "making up for it" action (like Intuit re Turbo Tax problems).

I don't fly Northwest Airlines very often. I flew them recently, though. Today, I opened a letter that said:

"I personally want to apologize to you for the delay in your travel plans. To show you my commitment to quality service, I am adding 1000 bonus miles to your WorldPerks account....I hope you will give us an opportunity to restore your confidence..."

I fly frequently enough (usually American and United) that I usually don't even notice an hour delay. I had to think back and try hard to remember this particular delay. Wow, my usual airlines don't do anything like this. Hmmm. Too bad NWA doesn't go (conveniently) from St Louis to most of my destinations.

Does your firm do something like this for what might be minor inconveniences where your customer hasn't even squawked??

Or does your firm do what Romano's Macaroni Grill (on Brentwood) did the other night when our family went out for my son's 15th birthday?

The restaurant served my eldest son's girlfriend a dish containing mushrooms despite very clear instructions to omit them because she is extremely allergic. The mushrooms were discovered after the dish was partially eaten which caused a lot of anxiety for everyone, especially the girl, who was visibly shaking with fear of her throat swelling up.

The waitress 'reassured' us that "It isn't my fault, the kitchen messed up." Of course, this blame avoidance only served to infuriate all of us. (See my post Blame Avoidance: Why It's a Fatal Error).

Recognizing that mistakes happen and you sure can't please everyone all of the time, isn't it awesome when people who work for companies do and say the right thing!?

Does your company have high standards and train your people to do and say the right thing? Do the leaders in your organization emulate optimal service or do they teach others, by their example, that something less is acceptable?

Don't Treat All Your Clients the Same

In creating a great organization, we'd all like to assure that every person in the company or firm provides consistently excellent service.

But, in reality, do you find that, within your firm, different professionals render different levels or quality of service? This is pretty common, I think.

We find that people within a firm are pretty consistent overall but out of every 10 or so, there seems to be at least one person that seems more exceptional and one that seems sub-par.

Your firm or company should have base-line service standards that are applied to all customers across the board. All customers should be able to rely on treatment that is prompt, fair, respectful, and pleasant--even if the 'news' or 'deliverable' is unpleasant. This is reputation insurance if nothing else.

The base-line standards should hold true no matter who is communicating with the client or who is responsible for them--whether the "lead" partner or manager, an assisting partner, a first year associate, a file clerk or the janitor.

If you have people who are sub-par at service, without a doubt, this needs to be fixed. Your reputation is vulnerable.

But it might surprise you that now I'm going to state that not all customers should be treated equally.

Above your base-line standards (about which many firms don't even have documentation or training, much less accountability...) it's just not physically possible to treat all customers the same (silly little barriers like 'not enough time in the day' seem to prohibit this).

It's actually okay to give super-deluxe service to your very best customers, to give some extras to good customers, and to give your base-line (which I'd hope is still at least slightly above average) to all the rest.

Think of it like an airplane--but it's not just about how much someone is paying you (revenue) for the one ticket, it's how important their overall continued patronage is to you. Loyalty works both ways. Think about hierarchy in standby, upgrades, legroom (United has 'Economy Plus'), club access, and more. This doesn't mean an airline should be rude to coach passengers, but that each step up gets a little better.

Make sure your base-line standards are better than average. And make sure you know exactly who your "good" and "very best" are above that. (See my recent post Who ARE Your Best Clients? for exactly how to evaluate customers.) 

Make sure everyone in your firm knows who's who, too, so that the right level of service can be delivered consistently from person to person. When anyone pulls up a customer in your database, shouldn't they immediately know if they are "gold" "platinum" or "executive platinum" so they can act accordingly?

Stellar Apology from Intuit: Service in a Box

Appended 7:27pm. How many thousands of 200,000 customers were affected by the inability to E-file their Turbo Tax returns on time last Tuesday night?. I was one of them.

The return was pretty much done a week or two earlier but I wanted to check one or two more things before I sent it in. So, after I got home from a dinner meeting, way too close to the stroke of midnight, I opened my return, checked a couple figures, and hit "submit."

To my horror, I received a message that said servers were overloaded, try again in 2 hours. Um it's 11:40. Uh oh.

I tried over and over again to no avail. Then I checked the Turbo Tax website and found a somewhat comforting message that told me there were problems, recommended we "keep trying...you might get through" and most impressively said that their biggest priority is to protect tax payers so they were working with the IRS to would assure returns would be considered filed timely.

Wow. Okay, cool. But how much hassle would it be to deal with the IRS to "prove" I'd tried to file on time and that "technology" hindered my efforts? Ugh.

I still kept trying and, miraculously, at the stroke of midnight, my return seemed to be submitting, but a message afterward said successful transmission couldn't be confirmed, check back in 24-48 hours.

Thankfully, as I get older, I am a lot more relaxed than I used to be about things I cannot control. I shrugged my shoulders, thought "I did what I could...I'll deal with this tomorrow..." and went to bed. Slept fine.

Here's where Intuit has blown me away. Jet Blue should take note!

Even before I confirmed whether my return actually went through (which it did), I received this (emphasis by me):

Dear TurboTax Customer,

We want to let you know that Intuit will be refunding any TurboTax credit card charges that were charged to your credit or debit card between 3 p.m. PDT Tuesday, April 17 and 4 a.m. PDT Wednesday, April 18.

We deeply regret the frustration and anxiety you may have experienced trying to e-file your return on April 17.

We worked closely with the IRS to allow taxpayers who were affected by the delay to file their returns until midnight tonight, Thursday, April 19, without penalty. Intuit will also pay any other penalties that customers incur as a result of the delay, although none are anticipated. We will be contacting you early next week with additional details about this refund. We value your business and appreciate your patience.

Sincerely,

Bob Meighan Vice President, TurboTax Customer Advocacy Intuit, Inc.

So, what did Intuit do right?

1. Got the word out on their website that their first priority was to PROTECT CUSTOMERS (even moreso than to fix the server problem!)
2. They IMMEDIATELY COMMUNICATED with customers by email that they were all over the problem and again reassured us, in writing, that we'd be okay with the IRS and that if, for some reason, the IRS would penalize us, they would cover those charges.
3. Sure they said they regretted customers' frustrations and anxiety, but ten times better, they PROVED THEIR SINCERITY by refunding all filing fees before most customers even thought to ask.
4. Intuit took steps to ensure no inconvenienced customer would be missed by blanket refunding every filer during affected hours, even those who filed successfully!

How much money did Intuit spend by this broad action? ($15 million BTW) Does it even matter?

Think of the risk to them of having however many thousands or tens hundreds of thousands of current and future customers FEARFUL of using their product. Now think of the loyalty they literally CEMENTED by their prompt, decisive action. Was the cost a drop in the bucket compared to future sales? I'd say so.

This is a fantastic example of a customer service situation handled beautifully. Sure, some customers were certainly very upset. But as I'm always saying, things happen! It's not whether or not you'll make a mistake, it's what you do when it happens.

People make mistakes. Companies do, too. And the more external factors we rely upon (suppliers, subcontractors, etc) the greater the risk of service foul-ups.

What's your company's reaction when something goes wrong? How about when a customer is frustrated or anxious--even if you DO come through in the end and deliver? Do you make up for the stress they might have in dealing with your organization?

My final thought on this...  let's reflect on what TurboTax sells. Is it a product? A "commodity" as some would say? A packaged "do it yourself" item? Well then, tell me this: How many product companies would refund for stress??

I think Intuit just proved they sell a service much more than they sell product. They sell the ability for people to be self-sufficient in preparing and submitting their taxes. They sell the ability for people to trust their product to let them do just that.

If Intuit can sell 'service: self-sufficiency and trust' in a bar-coded box, why do accountants and lawyers assert that they sell "hours" instead of peace of mind, solutions, and knowledge?

________
Here's a story from Computer World on the problem and the refunds.

Tax Season Horror Story

I've written about bad service attitudes before.

Did you catch this Dear Abby letter?  A Texas accountant writes in whining about what an inconvenience clients are and how put out the people in his firm are with it all!

Here's his beef as he anonymously chides clients:

• Do not just "drop in"....Being distracted from our work for a visit can be very disruptive.
• ...clients feel the need to share how their children are doing. We try to be polite and listen. But....Multiply that by how many clients come through our doors, and it's overwhelming.
• ...do not call your accountant and ask a question for...anyone else other than yourself....it is not billable time for our firm.
• ...if you call...requesting information about the tax consequences of a decision you are trying to make, please do not have a fit when you receive a bill for the time spent doing this research....

Thank goodness there are accountants out there who are mortified that this person represents their profession. Brenda Richter, for instance, an admitted VeraSage groupie, felt moved to reply to this offensive complaining.

I agree with Brenda. If the crabby, weary accountant who wrote that sounds at all familiar to you, I know hundreds that don't have lousy attitudes about their chosen profession and I'll be happy to recommend some in your area!

Clearly, the short-sighted CPA doesn't see client interaction as an important way to serve the client better and maybe even address some additional needs. And apparently s/he is too busy to care that some of these interactions might be a great referral opportunity.

I'm amazed people get away with this really crappy attitude and some even achieve success despite themselves.

Sorry? Sorry. Sorry!

Do you know how to apologize? Anybody who's read my blog for awhile will know that I consider the art of apology to be an essential song in any business person's repertoire.

As I've said in past posts, it's not IF you'll make a mistake, it's how you handle it when you do...

• See Blame Avoidance. Why It's a Fatal Error.
• See Lost Clients? "Reasons" Are Symptoms, Not Cause

I even described in my post about what not to put on your website that instead of just touting your accuracy, a real differentiator would be to say what you do when a mistake does occur. It's particularly engaging these days when we acknowledge that we *are* human, after all--especially in our immensely digital world.

But more on apologies...a post the other day by Seth Godin (he so consistently has gems on his blog, please subscribe if you don't already!) describes apologies that just don't cut it and built up to apologies that do work. He ranks them on a scale of 1-10, 10 being best:

• "You can always take your business elsewhere." (1): Thank you, I will, and so will all of my friends.
• "It's not our fault." (2): This is a non-apology, where you are not seeking to redress the issue, nor evincing any sort of sympathy for the injured.
• "We're sorry that you feel that way." (3): This is also a non-apology, which roughly translates into "It pisses us off that you feel that way. If you didn't feel that way, we would be happy." It also doesn't take any responsibility for the problem, and places all of it onto the injured party. Be careful of any apology that starts "I'm sorry that you..."
• "We're sorry if we did something wrong." (6): This is getting there, but doesn't really accept responsibility either. You are not acknowledging that you did anything wrong; you're still hoping that you haven't. You are offering an apology for appearances sake.
• "We're sorry that this occurred." (7): You are sorry, but as a matter of principle you're still trying to insist that it wasn't really your fault.

(oops, the last one was one way I suggested to apologize...I definitely like the next two better!!)

• "We're sorry that we caused this problem." or "We're sorry that we have let this happen." (9): This is a full apology, and is what the customer needs to hear. Frankly, it doesn't matter that it was really the post office's fault, and not yours; the customer doesn't care. Most people hearing this cannot help but respond with some sort of graciousness, such as "Well, all right then, these things happen. What are you going to do to fix it?" This is the target level that you want to hit for your customer service. But for the record, there is still one level to go. The complete apology is:
• "We're so sorry that we caused this problem; we are really distressed over this. Please know that we take this very seriously. This is a huge oversight on our part. I will immediately notify my supervisor, and we will review our procedures to ensure that this cannot happen again. In the meantime, that is no consolation to you for our lack of service! What can we do to regain your trust? We will be sending you a little surprise as a token of our appreciation of having you as a customer." (10) In truth, this little speech goes on until the customer interrupts. And it is followed by a few more apologies as the conversation closes, as well.

As usual, Seth is on target. The only improvement that can be made to his advice is to replace all the "we" references to "I" -- as in "I'm sorry" is a lot more potent, and personal, than "we are sorry."

I was talking with my friend Ed Kless yesterday about my post the other day where I described how impressed I was with a Lt. Col. who took "full responsibility" for a problem with recruiters that report to him.  Ed e-mailed me afterward saying apologies seemed to be big news yesterday:

From the front page of MSNBC

è  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17136318/ (Daytona apology)

è  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17166299/ (JetBlue apology)

è  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17160685/ (Hardaway apology)

Maybe, as a society, we're all ready to be more accountable and to accept others who show proper remorse when they goof up? I sure hope so!

Can Business Learn From the Military?

I saw something last night that I don't see very often. It was moving and impressive.

Last night, a St Louis news channel ran a story exposing various instances of military recruiters (several branches) who were misleading potential recruits or saying inappropriate things.

Most of the incidents picked up on the 'secret cameras' used by undercover reporters regarded the downplay of danger in serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Certainly, these techniques aren't acceptable and no one in their right mind would try to defend what was blatant misinformation caught on camera.

Or would they? In the corporate and business world, it seems that we often see footage or photos and hear spoken words, yet corporate representatives stand up and make statements that refute what we've seen and heard with our own eyes. Sometimes it's blatant denial and sometimes it's fuzzy logic attempting to explain or justify away what observation or logic tells us is so. 

But do you know what the military did upon being confronted with this troubling news story?

One human, one man, took complete responsibility for the whole thing and took immediate action to correct it. I quote the news:

Lt. Col. Junio-Omaru Barber is the Army recruiting commander for Missouri and southern Illinois....After learning about the I-Team's findings, Barber ordered retraining of all 180 recruiters under his command.

"I'm responsible. I take full responsibility for everything that happens in the St. Louis recruiting battalion," said Barber.

I commend Col. Barber and admire the accountability he demonstrates. Wouldn't the business world do well to emulate this level of responsibility more often?

Asking Means Acting

Whenever a prospective client asks me if I can help them implement a customer satisfaction survey, be it written, by telephone, or via face-to-face interviews, I respond with a question:

Are you prepared to act on the information you receive?

I know it sounds like a no-brainer, but it's not. We get busy. We mean well. But we screw up. Then we end up with customers who feel like Seth Goldin who posted this about his recent car maintenance experience:

The last time I took it in [for an oil change] I picked up a freshly washed car, it was a new free service they offered. Cool I thought....They also started giving a follow up phone call to make sure customers were happy with the service.

I wondered if they would wash my car this time, I assumed not. Not in January, too cold. I was right, the car was not washed when I picked it up. I understood. But the next day I did get the follow up phone call.

I said I was happy with the service, but...mentioned that after my "30 point inspection" my windshield washer was still bone dry and one front tire was still visibly low. "Well I guess we messed up" was the response "I'll have Paul call you back so we can make it right". Well that was Monday, today is Friday and I'm still waiting for the call back.

I guess my point is that if they hadn't washed my car the first time, and hadn't phoned me to see if I was happy with the service I would have more impressed than I am now. To raise someone's expectations then not fulfill them is worse than mediocrity.

I write often about the importance of managing customer's expectations. If you're not likely to act when people talk about what they don't like, I'm not suggesting at all that you don't ask.

Instead, I'm suggesting to ask often and make it a priority to act promptly. It really is the only way to safeguard your reputation.

After all, not asking doesn't mean the customer isn't unhappy, it just means you might not know in time to do something to reverse it!

Also, let me ask you, which was the worse offense in Seth's story?

Going the extra mile once and not doing it again? Or messing up the basics?

I've Been Wrong All Along. Service Doesn't Matter.

Everything I've believed and taught about marketing has been based on great service as a differentiator. Things like listening, caring, being accessible and available when your customers (clients if you prefer to call them) need you. Being friendly, returning calls, making people feel like they are important. That kind of stuff.

Nevermind. Don't waste your time. You can make enough money without doing any of it.

Here's a successful CPA's tax preparer's approach described on his website:

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:

1) Every Wednesday in February and March is BEHIND CLOSED DOORS WEDNESDAY. I will be unavailable and inaccessible on Wednesdays during the tax season. My phone and fax will be unplugged on Wednesdays and I will not be checking my email.

2) I never answer the telephone without first screening the call via my answering machine - so don't hang up because I may be listening (except on Wednesdays)!

3) Do not attempt to contact me at any other phone number other than....This is my only telephone number!

4) Returns than are not literally in my hands, with all the necessary information, by March 31, 2007 will be automatically extended.

5) I will not be responsible for any late payment penalties on returns that were not literally in my hands, with all the necessary information, by March 31, 2007.

6) Before you send me your "stuff" be sure to make and keep a photocopy of all your 2006 Form W-2s.

7) When sending me an email be very specific in the "Subject" line. If you need a copy of your W-2 - write "Need Copy of W-2". If you have received additional info - write "Additional Info".

If you have a question on a completed return - write "Question on Finished Return".

I do not have the time during the season to read and respond to "Are We There Yet" emails.

I will not open or read emails for returns I have not yet started until I am working on the returns - unless your "Subject" indicates a timely response is needed. Do not just write "URGENT" - note why it is urgent!

I retract my previous marketing advice because, if this guy has clients (and apparently he has quite a lot—too many perhaps) then people will apparently work with anyone regardless of how inaccessible, unresponsive, and impersonal they might be to work with—thus my advice is all for naught.

I will say that he's definitely doing a great job setting client expectations!

Oh, if you thought the above was a joke—fabricated for entertainment—it's not. This is on the homepage of Robert Flach who also has two blogs: The Wandering Tax Pro and NJ Tax Practice Blog.