The Client-Centric Selling Blog

Understanding Client Expectations and Establishing Service Standards

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Understanding client expectations and establishing service standards is a client-centric service tool that is so easy to implement and yet is so often overlooked!

Here's a question I receive often from my clients: My firm has a set of clearly established service standards – so why would I need to establish them with my clients?

Here's why! There are four main reasons why it is important to add understanding client expectations and establishing service standards to your relationship-building tool belt:

1. You can eliminate the frustration caused from breaking your back to get something done only to have little or no acknowledgement from your client – or worse – to find out after the fact that you had more time or what you worked on was not perceived to be of great value to your client.
2. You can get kudos for doing what you say you are going to do. Most of your efforts go unnoticed because you just do them and the client doesn’t know. This approach shines the light on what you do and how you do it by educating the client on your role.
3. You can actually control the flow of the matter more than you think and your clients will appreciate you taking that control. With everything they have to manage on their end, your clients will appreciate the ‘project-management’ discipline.
4. It is a differentiator and you will strengthen your relationships with your clients.

Don’t believe me? That’s ok. Below I provide some examples of how to understand client expectations and establish service standards. Just keep an open mind and be willing to try something different.

Understanding Client Expectations

Rule number one: If you’re not sure how a client operates or what their preferences are – ask. Do not assume anything here. That only leads to missed expectations and frustration on both ends.

Rule number two: Set out to understand client expectations on two levels: 

1. General (under usual or normal circumstances)

General client expectations relate to communication styles and preferences, including frequency, reason and medium; and to expectations around timelines, quality and outcomes. Know, don’t guess or assume what is important to your clients in these areas. How will you know? Ask them, observe them, and keep notes about how they like things done.

2.  Situation-Specific (when the situation or circumstance dictates a different set of expectations)

There are times in every relationship where the norm goes out the window in favour of a shift in expectations due to situation-specific circumstances. It’s important to identify at the outset of a matter which set of expectations the client is operating from. How will you know? Ask them.

Establishing Service Standards

Armed with knowledge about a client’s expectations (general or situation-specific) you are in a powerful position to establish service standards that are mutually beneficial. Inevitably you and your client will be in a symbiotic relationship, relying on each other to do your parts to complete the matter. And there is likely to be a natural order to these actions (i.e. this before that).

So as you set out to organize the file, ensure you have a ‘new matter’ process that takes the client through the matter from start to finish and highlights the key deliverables, who’s accountable for what and communication preferences. Then agree on timelines and caveats for missed deadlines.

Agreement becomes your strongest tool here. Without it, you have nothing to go back to. With it, you can better manage the flow of actions and tasks and hold others to account.

Note: These approaches work for new clients, new matters with existing clients and even for new tasks within an established framework.

Practice these approaches with every client and at the beginnign of every matter. Then feel free to add your comments to this dialogue!

I wish you good business success.

Catherine Mitchell