After nearly 14 years of writing this blog, I’ve changed it’s name. For a long time, client service (In Search of Perfect Client Service) was the right place to focus attention. But as with other trends, everyone now claims to be great at it. The notion of customer service has lost any meaning: if everyone claims to excel at providing great customer service, well, it is time to shift focus.
As I thought about it, I realized that client service was about me and us, the service providers. I’ve been slow applying a lesson to customer service that my partner Nicole Auerbach and I applied to Valorem Law Group’s billing practice since its inception. Clients judge the value of what we deliver, not us. It’s about what value clients think we delivered, not our belief. The same is true for service. We can think we’re providing great service, but if the client doesn’t feel the same way, we’re wrong. And then there’s that word–client, and seems to go with it: “my client,” implying ownership, which is the wrong dynamic, or “the client.” Could we be any more impersonal in describing a relationship that should be very personal? And finally, there’s that word “perfect.” The search for perfect hinders improvement. So I decided to focus on great. Great is worthy, its achievable, and it can always be improved upon.
And so, today, I announce the name change for this blog–In Search of Great Customer Experiences. I hope you agree the change fits the times.