Last week we saw what happens when service providers fail to actively manage client expectations.\u00a0 Client satisfaction suffers, and ultimately the relationship can become at risk.We explored the notion that client expectations are frequently mishandled during the sales cycle, but this week I\u2019d like to talk about how the ongoing relationship is often set up for failure due to what I call the culture of accommodation.<\/p>\n
In any administrative environment there is always plenty to be done.\u00a0 Almost daily, individuals can think of better ways to do things, can find problems that need fixing, can see technology they want deployed.\u00a0 It is a constant source of projects which can provide a handsome revenue stream for the service provider.<\/p>\n
Clients barrage their service providers with constant requests for change.\u00a0 So many times without regard for the reasonableness, appropriateness or utility of the request, vendors will agree to provide the changes; often agreeing to things they have no capability or capacity to provide.\u00a0 To make matters worse, the vendors themselves provide the timeline in which the changes will be completed, and miss the deadlines. (We will talk about project management next week).<\/p>\n
In the world of administrative services, it often seems the guiding principle is the retail-oriented \u201cthe customer is always right.\u201d\u00a0 Any professional consultant will tell you that the customer is most assuredly not always right.\u00a0 In reality, the reason they hired you is because they frequently don\u2019t know, and don\u2019t have a hope of getting it right on their own.\u00a0 A consultant will tell you that their first job is to protect the client, and make them look great!<\/p>\n
How has this gone so terribly wrong in the administrative services area?\u00a0 How have vendors moved to the model in which the \u201ccustomer is always right?\u201d\u00a0 Why do they have the \u201cyes\u201d mentality, the desire to please, and the \u201cculture of accommodation?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I would submit that it is a result of the commoditization of administrative services. Vendor or client \u2013 whose fault is it?\u00a0 Both are at fault for this.\u00a0 Clients say they look to the service provider to provide knowledge, advice, best practices, risk management etc., and yet balk when service providers push back against a service request.<\/p>\n
Service providers boast about providing specialized expertise, yet become order takers to the requests, outlandish as they might be without asking the simple question \u2013 \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
As in why do you want to make this change? \u00a0What are your goals?\u00a0 Is there a better way to accomplish this?<\/p>\n
Service providers believe that the more they give to the clients, the more complicated the administrative environment becomes and the harder it will become for the clients to make a change.\u00a0 They believe that the clients become, in essence, \u201ccaptive.\u201d\u00a0 The reality differs, of course.\u00a0 The very act of agreeing to everything heightens the risk of failure and undermines effective risk management.\u00a0 It provides reason for the churning of service providers from one to the next in search of quality service (all the while, pounding on fees.)<\/p>\n
Recognize this cycle, and you can become a more effective partner.\u00a0 You can break the commodity mentality and the culture of accommodation.\u00a0 Service levels will improve, satisfaction will increase, and everyone will benefit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Believe it or not, it can happen!<\/p>\n