The Practitioner: Calls waiting

The Practitioner: Calls waiting

With The Practitioner's firm on the receiving end of less-than-desirable telephony service, thoughts move to maintaining the best client dealings through new staffers

WHEN DID BT get too big to care about the service it provides?

Having been tasked with changing over the phone and broadband for our recent office move I have been unfortunate to see the total lack of customer care from BT at first hand.

One thing is for certain if our company acted like that towards its customers we would be losing clients at a rapid rate.

The annoying thing about our recent experience was that every person we spoke to assured us that things were being dealt with, and they had no issues. It was only after checking up on them nearer the time of the move that it came to light that no order had ever been placed. The sales team had not passed on the order to the technical team.

One hand not knowing what the other was doing? Or, one massive hand with lots of lazy little fingers that don’t want to work?

Keeping a grasp on quality

It does make me think about growth, and how important it is to retain the quality of service that is so important.

We are moving offices, gaining more space, and expanding the team. The next phase for us would be to take on another partner with fees, or possible merge or acquire. At that point I can soon see how things then spiral out of control. Not on the level of BT granted, but enough slippage for it to be noticeable to clients.

Even the small steps in the growth chain need to be managed. For example we have recently taken on a senior member of staff to assist the senior partner with client work. How this is handled is absolutely vital, we don’t want clients to think the are being removed from the partner they have dealt with for years, but at the same time they need to know that the Senior is there for them to contact, and will probably be responsible for a large portion of work done on their account going forward.

Unlike BT we are not in a near monopoly and therefore client care is top of out list. Long may that continue!

The Practitioner’s uncensored thoughts come from within their own practice – having left a regional firm in the heart of England

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