Dear Service Partners, what kind of Clients do you want to work with?
Last week I ran this quick poll on my LinkedIn profile. Below are the results of the same.
In the servicing industry, a lot depends on how well your client perceives your work. Standards in excellence in service sectors are few. We worship scale and problem-solving capability of the product industry, but the service industry is the backbone of it all.
Having spent more than a decade in the servicing industry each client has taught a thing or two, with each loss I have learned more. Different scales and sizes of clients are handled better with matured practices and the right expectation setting. Also, the predictability and proactive approach isn’t a mundane servicing aspect rather a key parameter of achieving excellence.
Let’s look at another side, the client-side. There are numerous types of clients, but let’s take the two most popular types.
- Very picky client
The client who rejects everything at first go, demands a lot of iteration from service partners. Here the trick is to understand pickiness and need for iteration due to absolute clarity on what is needed in the end product or absolute clarity on what it shouldn’t be.
Usually, people avoid such clients, but I have always found it excited to work with such clients because they challenge you the most. There is a journey to take with the client. And when we reach the destination or goal product, it brings a learning curve along with the simple joy of good work.
Like I said the trick here is knowing the difference between client pickiness.
2. Easily agreeable client
Imagine no idea or campaign pitched by you ever gets challenged by the client, small feedback here, and there you sail the boat smoothly out. If this is the usual drill, there is something very wrong in this working relationship, or it means you have matured in this partnership so much that room of challenge is eased but by predictability.
Whichever be the case, it is not the growth scenario for The client as well as the partner.
Why this question?
Shouldn’t we, as servicing company work with anyone and everyone who comes along, ask for our services and ready to pay the price?
The answer is Time is infinite, but our Time on this earth is limited. Choose the client worth your Time and effort. As simple as it can be, a good client will grow with the right partner, which links to service partner growth too. With each client, we mature as a service company, learn, and that comes handy to the next one. Unless you see an increase in overall revenue, per-client revenue, per employee revenue, or the type of clients, it is not service excellence but just mere existence.
The business world talks about products and ideas that scale and companies that jump valuations over a short period. There is glamour to it.
On the other side, Service companies are non-glamour, demanding as a job but an underlying support system that allows product companies and brands to flourish.
So, choose wisely whom do you want to work for as a service partner.
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