White Glove Service and Client Retention

WHITE Glove Service and Client RETENTION

How to retain top
clients and achieve excellence

August, 2016

This article has been approved to be published
as an exemplary article for the ‘Panel of Influencers’ for the National
Association of Sales Professionals — An Invitational Panel that Ms. Simons is
an Elite Member of since 2011. As an
Elite Member on the Panel of Influencers Simons’ judges the work of others and
is a Certified Invitational Member of the Panel. National Association of Sales
Professionals (NASP) — An organization that consists of outstanding Leading
Professionals who rank in the top 10% of their respective field or industry in
terms of outstanding Executive Performance on a National scale.

Marked by special care
or attention is the definition of “white glove service” in the Merriam Webster
Dictionary. It takes decades of industry experience, surrounding yourself with
fellow leaders and providing ultimate care and attention to Clients to get to
the ‘club of excellence’ in being able to attract and retain top Clients in the
billion dollar category.

White Glove service is
the philosophy of not just servicing the Client’s wants and needs but exceeding
their expectations and going the extra mile or two. Simply put ‘raising the
bar’ and separating yourself from the rest of the pack.

What are some of the key drivers of excellence to retain top
Clients

Is One More Mile Enough?: Going the
extra mile is NOT a one-time awesome experience for the Client. It’s a daily
exercise. There is something to be said for going above and beyond the Client’s
expectations. It’s called reciprocity. It must be part of your corporate
culture. It needs to ruminate to the Client in your daily energy and passion.
You need to show them that you are always delivering the best experience on
each and every task and that you care about them more than just the average.

In Real Estate, for
example, it is not just about servicing the Client’s acquisition needs and
acting as a Broker to conduct the ‘routine’ tasks that will close the deal,
This doesn’t set you apart and make the Client feel valued or extra special.
It’s about researching the asset and providing a detailed business plan and
evaluation of where the current and future value lies in the asset for the
Client. Unlocking the true investment potential of the Asset and provisioning
an engaging, ‘outside the box’, value-added business plan with the alignment of
an outstanding team of professionals who will accompany you and the Client to
take the acquisition to a new heightened level of appreciation and investment
return. This distinguished and resourceful approach takes acquisition to a
dynamic, sustainable and profitable overall investment opportunity for the
Client and set’s you apart from the “competition”.

The Art of Listening: Being tuned
into the Client and listening to their wants and needs will result in a more
communicative and impactful long-term relationship. Listening increases trust
and inspires a higher level of commitment in the Clients you service. When
trying to attract and retain VIP Clients it is of paramount importance to tune
into the Client and understand how they ‘tic’ and operate. Additionally,
understanding the fears and ‘stuff’ that Clients are not comfortable with on
projects can be distilled by intuitive listening, answering questions and providing practical solutions that pinpoint
problems and produce satisfactory results so Clients feel a strong sense of
comfort.. Being extremely attentive and listening to the Client’s needs will
help articulate the best ‘win win’ strategy that will drive Clients’ to reach
their respective goals and beyond.

Can you do it Faster and Better?: A key ingredient to keeping Clients happy and
satisfied is excellence and timely delivery of promised services. It is always
better to under promise and over deliver and exceed the Clients expectations.
Leaving a customer just satisfied is synonymous with average. There is no
lasting impression. Getting a product or service to your Client ahead of
schedule, provides a more lasting impression and delivers a WOW emotion to the
Client. When a Client receives unexpected quality and performance standards
this creates loyalty and perceived value that drives the task you just
completed ‘up a notch’ in customer satisfaction and puts you ahead of the
‘competition’.

How is your Service Etiquette?: One of the
most important and effective business etiquettes with attracting and retaining
high profile Clients is to get to know the Client on a much more intimate level
and provide a customized approach with personalized services that adjust to the
Client’s preferences. Providing turnkey solutions with value-add optimization
to the overall economics of the project, incorporating key drivers of dynamic
and sustainable growth will enable you to service the Client above and beyond
their ‘standard’ expectations. Providing exceptional deliverables and follow
through which garner the competitive edge over larger Firms will establish why
the Client chooses to retain you to service them.

Why Project Management Matters: In
attracting top Clients in today’s chaotic economy it is intrinsically important
to consistently deliver outstanding business results. Disciplined project
management with execution at every level of the deliverable, adds value to the
overall strategic investment program and provides for measureable success of
projects and organizational excellence for the Client. The agility and
practiced ability to move smoothly from big idea to big idea with opacity,
framework, resources, greater efficiencies, lower costs and ultimate
stakeholder satisfaction — all dictates increased value contributors amongst
Clients’ project satisfaction and are often the chief determining factors on
whether you will get retained for the next job.

Who is your Company?: You are
only as good as who you surround yourself with. Accompanying yourself with
people who are positive, successful leaders in their respective industry and
profession will set you apart as you define your Company’s expertise to your
Client and your ability to get the job done. You are a product of your
environment and if you interact with like-minded people who are established and
equally as passionate as you are and share the same drive to achieve excellence
and go the extra mile for the Client – Then the TEAM will be engaged to work
together with their respective skills and talents and will divide and conquer
through the strategic project path, results will shine through and excellence
will be achieved for the Client and your Company will be rewarded for its
productivity.

Consistency is key: One of the
key drivers that ‘checks the boxes’ of a Client’s satisfaction is consistency.
One of the most powerful triggers that emits a measurement of overall trust,
satisfaction and loyalty as Clients’ embark on their relationship journey is
Consistency. It is the emotional connection and differentiator for the Client
to select you vs A.N.OTHER for the job at hand. Superior consistency in your
deliverables and execution, engages trust and credibility with respect to how
Clients’ feel about you. It is important for Clients to feel that they are in
safe hands and this is represented with your consistent ability to organize
project tasks with ease, attention to details and to be error free. Knowing how
to think before you do the task will distinguish you from the ‘others’ and
showcase your ability to focus not only on the task at hand but also to
critically think about the scope of work. A Client may be asking you for cost
savings, but first understand why and how this can be critical to the immediate
task, as well as the overall business plan. Thinking things through this way
will help develop consistent, insightful solutions for your clients without
jumping the gun and making mistakes along the way. Top Clients have less
patience than the ‘average’ and don’t want to see variability in delivery.
Consistency not only maximizes customer satisfaction but gets the Client to
spend more money with you as they believe in you and are ultimately happy.

Entrepreneurial
Content: Focusing on being a “Generation X” leader will enable you to
flourish with your Client, discover invaluable opportunities, and stay focused
on what matters most. How you can ‘stand-alone’ in the crowd and make a
difference in your engaged deliverables will be key in Client retention. Taking
on a project that embraces ‘outside the box’ opportunities for the Client will
open you up in the playing field of innovation, open-mindedness and
cutting-edge entrepreneurial spirit. Being hands-on with the Client, staying
focused with the respective tasks at hand, while surrounding yourself with
like-minded leaders on your Team, will provide the Client with confidence that
performance goals are being met and projects are staying on point to meet
deadlines and exceed expectations.

There
are many elements to offering “White Glove Services” to retain top Clients and
enable you to be a trusted source and advisor to your Client. It is ultimately important not only provide
all the tools in the customer service box but to deliver a consistent
experience at a very high level of engagement so that your Client trusts you to
be an integral part of their business and Team that will lead each and every
project to be a success.