Million Signatures

Posts Tagged ‘Client’

Being of value to your client or your boss is invaluably important to job security. But how does one go about creating value? You become more knowledgeable and indispensable. Learn as much as you can about what your boss/client does.

Ask questions. Most people are flattered to know that you care enough to ask how they do what they do and why they do it.

By learning more and asking more, you will be able to answer questions about the client/boss to his or her potential clients. If you can help him or her along this is way, you will inevitably become indispensable.

Make suggestions. If you see ways to improve a particular process or task – whether it creates greater efficiency or saves money – you’ll look like the hero.

Offer to save the client/boss money. Everyone – I don’t care how rich or poor they are – likes to save money. Don’t recommend something you know to be a waste. Instead, offer a better, cheaper, more efficient option.

Practice good will. It goes a long way. A good example: This week a client asked about finding a particular list for him. No problem, I’d researched something similar for another client. I gave him the contact information so he could check it out and perhaps buy the list (from another vendor). He asked,
“Well, how are you going to make money on this?”
My response?
“I won’t and I don’t need to – all I did was refer you to someone who could help you out.”

He would have gladly paid me $100 for the referral – even offered to. But, my offer of good will in not accepting that $100 will net me a lot more in future business than just $100 one-time. I don’t want him to think that every time I do a favor he owes me money. I want to build up that favor bank so he owes me favors and has no other option but to pay those favors back in the way of referrals and/or future business. And, because he now knows I’m not going to rip him off, he’ll keep coming back forever!

Let the client/boss know what else you can do. Listen to him rattle on about his thoughts, ideas, and business philosophies. When you hear some little tidbit that you can help with – mention it! You’ll get more work and he’ll have more faith in your abilities.

Be willing to accept suggestions. Of course, this one’s a no-brainer.

Don’t whine! When a client/boss asks for something, don’t whine about it – just do it. If they think they have a whiner on their hands they won’t want anything to do with you.

If you work as an admin or assistant of any kind, you need to be able to enjoy serving other people. That’s the basis of your job – realize that use a corresponding attitude

Improve your skills. If you’re so-so at using Excel, being a whiz will carry you far. Most software programs have tutorials build right in. Use it! In your own time, run through the tutorials and practice, practice, practice. Join a chat group if you need to learn more of the software’s functions. Then let the client/boss know what you can do. It’s always impressive when someone says,
“I know how to do this now, and may I help you?”

A good share of being a good admin is putting yourself in the other person’s shoes. Ask yourself on a regular basis,
“How would I want this done and what response would I expect from someone working for me?”

Your answer to that question is exactly how you should handle the situation/request.

The idea of being customer service and customer satisfaction oriented is not a new paradigm in the business world.  Even in businesses that are not directly working with the public, the idea of structuring the company to satisfy the needs of the people that make it possible for the company to stay in business – it’s customers – is a core value for a large percentage of businesses, especially those that are successful.

But there are segments of every business that have no contact with customers so it is difficult for them to develop a customer service mentality.  And if the business itself is not structured to deal with the public or have conventional “customers”, that approach to the business world can be lacking in the workplace.  That is why a big business trend in all type of business settings is to change the work ethic internally so that workers view those who use their work as customers.

When properly implemented, each employee actually begins to view each other, their bosses and especially people who rely on their work in other departments as customers or clients. In theory, this approach has as its objective to build that customer service mentality even in workers for whom the outcome of their work is only for internal

departments or other workers in the company.

Its an innovate approach to changing the corporate culture of any business.  By altering the mindset especially of an office worker to that of someone who comes to work with that entrepreneurial or retail oriented outlook, the employee is freed to become more creative, more aggressive about completing quality work for their “customers” and get a greater feeling of satisfaction from satisfying their internal customers.

It’s a noble effort to try to alter the traditional culture of an office based business setting.  The traditional culture of a “cubicle farm” type of office setting often resembles the comic strip Dilbert.   That strip can be painful to read if you are a manager trying to keep a creative and proactive team moving forward in a business setting.  But Dilbert does point out some of the communication problems that are common in an office setting.  The distrust of management, the tendency by employees to drift toward unproductive attitudes and behavior and the low morale of many office settings is lampooned by the strip.

The client coworker business concept attempts to empower the employee to strive to perform to his or her best even when only performing duties for the department or another department internal to the company.  The client customer model calls for viewing that other department as a customer and providing customer service to that internal relationship with the same “eager to please” attitude that is necessary when serving external customers whose revenue drives the company.

There are some real values to be had by introducing a customer service attitude even to internal support functions within the company.  When combined with other empowering techniques such as process improvement and open communications with all levels of management, it can unify an office and put some real life into your staff.

However, the negatives of the client customer model have to be avoided.  This approach can create animosity between coworkers and hard feelings when one employee feels that he or she is not being treated like a customer by another.  The client customer model can create distance between peer employees and reduce comradery which has a great deal of value in a team oriented corporate culture.  But a wise manager can implement the client customer model to a business setting and harvest from it the productivity gains while skillfully avoiding the pitfalls.