Quality work doesn’t mean quality service

I have been using and working with professional service firms (PSFs) for over 30 years and I am amazed at how little attention they pay to client care.

I use a practical demonstration in the client care workshops I run. I ask the audience if they have used a solicitor for a house conveyance. Usually 90% say yes. I then ask if anyone’s solicitor has got the transaction wrong and they have lost their house. Always 0% say no. The third question is using a scale of 0-10 how many of you would score your solicitor 9 or 10 for the likelihood of recommending him or her? Usually 30% say 9 or 10. So what did the others want? After all they own their houses don’t they!

Turns out the others wanted not to have to chase their solicitor, for their solicitor to be accessible and not to have to pay for every single letter, email or phone call.

In other words quality work didn’t mean quality service!

There are five critical service factors for PSFs:

• Responsiveness - the willingness to provide appropriate service and generally help clients
• Assurance - the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence
• Tangibles - physical facilities, equipment, dress, communication materials
• Empathy - the caring, individual attention provided to clients
• Reliability - the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately

These are a mixture of what the professional does and how it’s done. So called technical quality and functional quality. While continuing professional development is compulsory in the major professions it only covers one of these five factors. There is no requirement for PSFs to develop or improve customer care skills. 

Strange when you think about it. Not only do clients rate functional quality as highly as technical quality; repeat work and recommendations are the lifeblood of PSFs.

If you work in a PSF do you recognise the importance of functional quality? Do you regularly sharpen your client care skills? Do you measure client satisfaction?

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