10 things to include outside of your professional service. Customers hire you for your skills, qualifications and reputation, but customers also care about these ten important qualities. How many of them are you factoring into your interactions?
spelling - Cathryn, Catherine, Katherine, Cathy, Kathy, Kathi, Cath, which is it? Don't guess!
punctuality - calling ahead, planning for parking, getting address info in advance
professionalism - not sending passwords in email, "yes" instead of "yeah", keeping personal topics out of business discussions
appearance - a nice shirt, attractive shoes, clean appearance, grooming counts, as does hygiene
empathy - a simple "I'm sorry”, or "I can imagine how much time that took to do"
courtesy - "thank you", "excuse me”, ”forgive me"
follow-up - "did that work for you?", "can you try that for me before I leave?", "did we resolve everything to your satisfaction?"
consistency - “my colleague is moving out of state - so we're going to schedule 2 visits to ensure that everything is passed along thoroughly"
prompt invoices - "We’re not back for a few weeks, would you like us to invoice those items together or separately?"
no surprises - “Guacamole is $2 extra, is that ok with you?"
When customers leave, it’s often for issues unrelated to your professional qualification. It’s the interpersonal interactions, the delays, the annoyances that usually get them bothered. Focus on these quality attributes and you’ll find your customers will give you more room and understanding. And more referrals.