To really meet and exceed client expectations in any assessment practice, the keys are:
- Communication (on process, experience, and timing)
- Delivery (what you commit to doing, the way you commit to doing it, and of course ensuring the product is properly delivered)
- Credibility (ensuring who you work with, and the way you conduct your assessments, are all done properly).
Communication:
In life, we all know that communication - or a lack of it - has a lot to do with poor decisions, failures, fights, break-ups and all of the results that come with them. In the medical world, we always ask our experts to use an AIDET when they are chatting with patients to ensure that patients understand what's happening and what to expect. The AIDET rules, however, should apply to every customer, client or retail experience we have. Here's a short video that explains how. While it's focused on a patient experience, it's very applicable for all of us when we are communicating...
When we do what we say, and we say what we are doing clearly, everyone is on the same page and the results can be much better and more clear.
Another great way we consider our experience is to consider how our behavior would look if it was done in a restaurant... Here's a great example of how hospital culture would look in that experience. We ALL need to remember how important it is to have some clarity and logic, and to consider how our is done properly, the experience is seamless and great for our client, and the patient... but when we put the healthcare barriers ahead of the experience, how challenging the experience can be for the patient and client...
Delivery
The experience of delivering what you say you will is so critical, and yet it's rarely recognized when it's done very well. People shouldn't notice how your packaging, your reports, your data, and your timelines are met... it should all be a comfortable and intuitive enough to them to not find any issues or have any issues pop out at them.
Reports (and ALL deliverables) should always be proofread by a second set of eyes, reports should be ready internally at least a day or two beforehand if possible, and of course, all should be sent with a smile and a thank you.
Think back to when you were in school... the reports that got the A+ were always the neatest looking, the most clearly written, and the best referenced. If you think about what the A+ kids would submit to get a mark like that - and the passion they have to over-achieve - the closer you'll be to having the kind of product clients expect.
Credibility
Such an important but overlooked consideration: the credibility of the people that you work with.
Allevio's always been about quality, and it's our quality that's driven the quantity of our reporting to grow over the years.
With every expert you work with, take time to check them out! Are the professional license(s) in good standing? Do they have reviews online? Are there judgements mentioning them filed on the decision database? Do you hear good things about them from others in the industry? It's a simple but important thing. High-performing jerks and industry "hired guns" may get you a good technical results on a one-off basis, but working with them can cause larger issues and damage over the long run.