How Client Experience Has Become the Focus of Professional Firms

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Professional firms have had to transition to meet their customers’ needs. There was a time when delivering a quality product or service was all that mattered. But the world has changed, and we’ve seen a shift in customer service.
There was a time when a business’ customer service could shine, overshadowing a poor product in the process.
Then, customers focused more on the quality of a product or service, and now, customers want both quality products and customer service. In today’s business world, we’re hearing “customer experience,” and this is the entire experience, from the product or service to the customer support, that the client will have to go through.
Statistics show that 89% of businesses expect to have to compete on customer experience.
If you go back a few years, this figure would have been at 36%. There are lot of ways that firms are able to meet the experience:

Personalized is Key

Clients want to feel special, and one way to feel special is to have the entire experience personalized. A lot of professional firms forget to personalize the experience for their clients, and this leads to poor client retention.
CRM allows for professional firms to offer a personalized approach that leads to a better overall customer experience.
This means:

  • Remembering customer preferences
  • Remembering customer names
  • Remembering previous discussions or orders

When putting the focus on the customer, it’s possible to learn the behaviors and needs of your clients, offering new products or services that may benefit your client as their needs change over time.

Transparency is Essential

Transparency in business is on the rise, and it’s important for all businesses to recognize the need to be transparent. What does it mean for a business to be transparent? It depends. Buffer has its own transparency reports that list where every last cent you spend with the company goes.
But transparency can also mean:

  • Communicating when a product or service is going to be late
  • Acknowledging errors and correcting them
  • Offering realistic timeframes and solutions to problems

If wrongdoing was caused by an employee, bring it to the client’s attention and correct the issue. This is a hard one for a business to swallow, but let’s say an accountant was negligent and trying to cover up errors they caused. As a firm’s audit was done, these errors were found. Continuing to hide these errors is not being transparent.
Action must be made to correct these wrongdoings. This may include firing the employee and also alerting the client as to what steps are being made to rectify the issue.
Features that can also help a firm increase the experience of their clients include:

  • Easy payment options, offering multiple payment methods and online payment.
  • Appointment scheduling online to make it easier for clients to schedule an appointment.
  • Notifications when an action is required or a service is rendered.
  • Document exchanges over the Internet to allow for the fast transfer of data.

When a firm can offer an easier solution for clients, it will help increase the customer experience and boost customer satisfaction.

Philip Piletic
Techloot
I have several years of experience in marketing and startups, and regularly contribute to a number of online platforms related to technology, marketing and small business. I closely follow how Big Data, Internet of Things, Cloud and other rising technologies grew to shape our everyday lives. Currently working as managing editor for a UK tech site.

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