There are many different levels of service that can be provided to our clients – from bare minimum to good exchange, all the way to giving more than the client expected. The latter, I hasten to add, does not mean, giving away free service. In fact, that just undervalues the work in terms of how it is perceived by the client. If the practice charges less than others, there must be a reason for it, – is the thought process of many clients.

What “giving more than is expected” means, is something that shows the practice went above and beyond for the client.
An example of this would be one CPA who when she provided financials to her clients, she put the past twelve months on a monthly graph so the business owner had a visual of how his business was doing. This was of course unexpected and thus differentiated her from others in the profession.

Ensure your core services are top notch first of course, as you can’t give more than expected if the main service itself is not of a very high standard.

Another example is a CPA I worked with who regularly sent clients articles or links to posts she knew directly applied to their business or current situation.

Have you ever experienced “more than expected levels of service” from companies you’ve done business with?

Examples from outside the profession are:

a) an Italian restaurant that would regularly give patrons small jars of their highly acclaimed olive oil to take home;

b) a very busy chiropractic office whose patrons had trouble finding parking, who provided valet at their busiest times of the day! Or;

c) a taxi company whose owner, had each driver give a rundown to their passengers of the must-see hot spots, in the area.

The real beauty of delivering more than expected levels of service to your clients – is that it gives them something to talk about. No one talks about adequate service, or getting just what they paid for. Being friendly, being prompt, saving a client tax dollars etc are all expected by clients – that’s what they should get from any practice. Sure, if asked, they would probably recommend the practice, but you want to go above and beyond to give your clients something to share with others, without any prompting whatsoever!
How do you go above and beyond for your clients? For ideas on how to incorporate this level of service, and other ways to get your practice to the next level, feel free to contact me.