Is Your Support Staff Hitting the Right Notes?

Source: Service Minded

In this blog post, Debra Helwig observes that “A rock star ain't a rock star if the backup band stinks.” In other words, no matter how talented your professionals are, you will lose clients if your “gatekeepers” make the process of getting to those professionals a painful one. If your doctor consistently keeps you waiting in the exam room for three hours and his or her staff is rude, eventually you'll look elsewhere no matter how good the doctor is.

Similarly, a professional service firm's clients eventually reach a breaking point, “where the pain of getting to the great provider is greater than the benefit derived from their counsel.”

Helwig recommends that firms look at all of the “entry points” to evaluate how easy or difficult it is for clients to get to the people they want to reach and otherwise get what they need. What truly differentiates great firms, she says, is “the honest care and sweat equity of a brilliant support staff for your geniuses.”

To read the complete post, click here.

From Service Minded — Debra Helwig on Marketing & Leadership in Professional Services, http://debrahelwig.wordpress.com, August 20, 2009, “A Rock Star Ain't a Rock Star if the Backup Band Stinks.”