Perfect and good - real enemies?
In addition to having a discussion with a customer about value, scope and price, we must talk to the customer about the standard of service or quality that she wants because, not only is quality relevant to price, it will also inform her experience.
By quality, we mean not simply accurate well researched advice, but a host of prosaic matters, e.g.
How quickly do you want us to return your calls?
Do you want the advice in writing or orally?
Do you want a detailed letter with all the authorities referred to or simply an executive summary?
Do you want to have consistent partner contact or are you content to liaise with a junior professional from our practice?
All of these things have a bearing on the level of customer satisfaction.
If we fail to have the quality conversation with the customer upfront, her expectation will be that the standard of service we will provide will be “Perfect”. Perfect is often difficult to achieve.
Good or good enough, is not the same as perfect. While perfect may be the enemy of good, in some contexts, this does not mean that one or the other is right. It all depends on what the customer is hoping for. What she is hoping for may not be easily or quickly uncovered.
Perhaps the customer is prepared to pay a very high price for a piece of advice that has been impeccably researched by three partners with references to all of the relevant legislation, case law, findings, options and a recommendation so that the customer’s risk in making a decision about which way to proceed is almost totally mitigated. Alternatively, she may be content with a good advice that is confined to an executive summary of the issues with some options for consideration and which comes at a lower price.
A professional who understands value will also recognise that, unless there is perfect knowledge of the customer, making assumptions about whether the customer wants perfect or good or something in between may be fraught. The professional will perhaps be astute enough to offer the customer a range of options for scope and price and quality. Those options may range from the minimum necessary to achieve the customer’s objectives (good) to the full blown advice with all of the bells and whistles (near to perfect).
The experienced professional who understands value and still lacks perfect knowledge of the customer will try to avoid being too prescriptive when it comes to how the customer might solve her problem or realise her opportunity.
When we give customers options in a range from good to perfect, we demonstrate our experience and our expertise, we empower customers with choices and we permit them to make decisions about what constitutes value. These are the things that breed trust, relationship and loyalty. For customers who are the right fit, those by-products may be more important than accolades for “perfect”.