By Tamara DeModica
For those of us in the PR profession who are dedicated to what we do, we know how important it is to be dedicated to servicing the client.
This holds true for independent practitioners as well as those who work in the corporate environment. An independent practitioner strives to accomplish for each individual
client what an entire team does in a large corporate office. This means loads of late hours sometimes because there's only one person required for completing projects for each
client. Added to this is maintaining knowledge of advanced technology, which is necessary to keeping a strong administrative focus.
Organization of our self-owned ventures is a requisite. This is all accomplished with time management and trying to perfect it because meeting deadlines is essential and vital
for establishing credibility as an independent practitioner. Handling three to four clients at the same time is challenging.
Our clients have come to us to provide knowledge, solve problems, and create challenges that make their products or services move forward.
The philosophy of servicing the client, I believe, is to borrow from the retail ideology, meaning, the principle that the "client is always right."
As an independent practitioner or corporate practitioner, it is important to follow these simple principles, or guidelines, that make the process successful and profitable.
Remember, a satisfied client is a happily paying client. All it takes is just an extra moment in this fast paced energy-driven profession that we are in to let your client know
how seriously you consider their needs.
- Return your client's calls as soon as possible. Be honest. If you're behind, a client will understand if it takes until the next business day. A voice mail message
immediately stating this fact is better than waiting until the next day to return the call.
- E-mail is nice, but there is nothing quite as nice as a letter or a personal visit - if time allows. This grand philosophy taught in graduate school called customer visits
really makes the client feel appreciated.
- Do not take a telephone call if your client is there in person to see you. If it's family you need to speak with, then call them before the client sees you. Otherwise,
everyone else needs to be patient.
- Show some client appreciation whenever budget allows. Whether it's lunch, small tokens of promotional products with your company name on them, or a note of thanks, clients
need to see how important they are.
- Always try to keep costs down for the client - this does not go unnoticed. If it means changing printers, reducing paper flow, or being more conscientious about office
supplies being ordered, the savings for the client is priceless. Spend budget wisely and accurately.
- Listen closely to all client feedback. If a client says anything regarding service or costs, or even office staff, do something about it. Make changes, if possible, to keep
things running smoothly. This will let the client know how significant they are and how you value their input. Then, communicate with the client about any changes being made until
the problems are solved.
- Be ethically responsible. Profitable results for clients rely on operating with ethical standards. This means keeping things confidential.
A client of mine was introducing a new product in the marketplace. Many people wanted to know what the product was, but I advised my client to remain silent about it because it
was vital for the company's image. I remained silent about it as well. As a result, the new product launch was a complete success and her tight-necked competition was not able to
reproduce the concept because everything was kept confidential.
Clients quickly learn that practitioners with ethical values service their accounts with the same manner. Trusting a practitioner is what makes a strong client/practitioner
relationship stronger.
It is our quality of service as independent PR practitioners and corporate PR practitioners that benefit the overall image for the world of PR. We are there to manage the PR
efforts of our clients, because that's what they have hired us to do. Sometimes they want something done in a specific way, and, of course, as long as it doesn't affect the
calculated outcome of a campaign, the result is ultimately what the client wants.
Contact: Tamara DeModica is president of TEC Communications Consulting, Crystal Lake, IL. She can be reached at [email protected].