Designing IT Services With Clients In Mind (Questions/Answers)

What Are The Top 3 Qualities of Client-Focused Service?

What’s the true hallmark of IT services for Lakeland, Polk County, and Hillsborough County business? Low prices? Bleeding-edge solutions? Or maybe, is it simply services that have the client in mind?

Picture this: something goes wrong with a client’s tech at work. Maybe it’s a dead phone line, or maybe it’s a Microsoft update causing major lag. Whatever the problem may be, they call up their IT support team.

But about when that team answers the phone? They’re not speaking the client’s language. Maybe they know a little of the language is speaking, so, possibly, they could struggle through and get the details of their situation across?

Not likely.

What Are The Top 3 Qualities of Client-Focused Service?

The scenario above may seem a bit dramatic, but it’s not far off. Whether it’s technical jargon or literally a different language, it’s not uncommon for clients to have a less-than-perfect experience when dealing with their IT support team.

So what needs to change? Consider these three key facets to developing client-focused service:

1. Understand where they live.
   While for some this may just be a matter of addressing a remote area’s need for better Internet service, there’s a lot more to address the needs of a locality than you might think.

   Think about it in terms of demographics – what language(s) do they speak? 41 million people in the US speak Spanish, and the further south your business market is, the more likely you’ll encounter bilingual, or partial English speakers in your client base.

   For example, here in Lakeland, Polk County, and Hillsborough County, a vast portion of the local population speaks Spanish. If IT services are meant to be delivered in a fashion that best suits client here, shouldn’t they be in Spanish?

   So think about it for a minute: when someone in Lakeland, Polk County, or Hillsborough County calls about a spotty Wi-Fi connection, or server failure, or data loss during a power outage, they’ll likely be a little stressed. Don’t you think they’d rather talk about it in their first language? Wouldn’t you? That’s why bilingual support is an extremely valuable (not to mention, rare) asset for IT support companies to offer their clients.

   Also, don’t forget to take into account the medium in which your clients prefer to get in touch. More and more these days, when someone has to get in touch, they do so via text or email instead of over the phone. While in an immediate, emergency situation it’s certainly important to call and make contact right away, in other situations be sure to follow the client’s lead when it comes to communication. If they use email to send a question, use email to send an answer, simple as that.

2. Understand what they need.
   It sounds simple, right? Knowing what the client actually wants out of their service should be the first step to delivering those services, but often, the opposite is true.

   It can be easy to think that whatever services being offered are everything that a client could need. But the truth is that often a given client is really interested in one specific service or solution – an answer to their problem that got them looking for a new IT support provider in the first place.

   This is all to say that the first step should be a conversation about needs and expectations. Once established, a good move is to follow that up with a detailed analysis of the existing IT environment on premises, an examination of how it is used, what it is expected to do, and how it can be improved.

   It seems obvious, but it’s crucially important to good service: once you know what’s needed, you can ensure it’s provided.

3. Understand their goals.
   Lastly, for long-term success in service, you’ll want to know where the client is headed – or, at least, where they’re trying to get to.

   After all, no business can get stagnant. It’s vital that they continue to grow and improve, and their IT environment is a big part of that.

   In your preliminary discussions with the client, you want to be sure to find out what they’re plans are for the next year, 5 years, and so on, and what role their technology could play in that plan.

The fact is that there’s a huge difference between standard, one-size-fits-all services, and service that is truly client-focused. The Alltek team is proud to treat every client according to their needs, goals, and preferences. For example, we recently hired a fully bilingual employee in order to better service the Lakeland, Polk County and Hillsborough County areas. We know that’s the best way to ensure that our services really work for the clients we deal with.

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