A few years ago I read a great article by Parasuraman, Berry & Zeithaml called ‘Understanding Customer Expectations of Service’ from the Spring 1991 Sloan Management Review. The article looks at customers of service businesses and helps us understand what their expectations are. It stands to reason that if we want to provide great…
Monthly Archives: November 2008
It’s a Performance
I remember sitting in a lecture one night and my lecturer began to talk about service delivery as a performance. As a musician I was fascinated by the parallels between what I’d experienced as a musician, and what I did in my job. Have you ever been served by someone who was obviously having a…
The Hidden Cues of Value
The hidden cues of value Our financial planning business has an architectural firm as clients. I visited them in their office the other day and was impressed by what I saw. I guess if you’re an architect it could be hard to sell your value to some clients. A lot of what you’re selling is…
How Clients Decide
I was with my accountant recently and we were discussing how clients decide whether we’ve done a good job or not. I’ve heard clients speak about their accountants and say something like “My accountant is very good. I get a tax refund of around $1,000 each year”. Does this mean he’s done a good job? …
Watch Your Language
When I left school I worked with a bank for ten years – the last year was spent as a financial planner. My next job was with a small Adelaide-based financial planning business where I learnt a lot about financial planning and client service. One of my early lessons was when I referred to someone…
