Are You Paying for Results or an Experience?

2. Don't Waste a Client's Time

This is undoubtedly a no-brainer. But if that's true, then why are there so many repeat offenders? The vet gave me a late pick-up time when my cat was ready to go home. What should've been a 10-minute wait in the lobby turned into 45 minutes, which then turned into another 15 minutes in the back room. The initial wait can be chalked up to an unrelated emergency that disrupted the vet's schedule. But there weren't any updates, my husband had to keep leaving the area due to dog allergies, and there certainly wasn't an apology or a "thanks for waiting" when the vet finally brought us our cat. Let's turn it back to you. When your client has been anxiously waiting to see the final results, and the delivery day has finally arrived, be sure to do just that-deliver. If life somehow gets in the way, which it often does, make sure your apology (at the very least) is ready. How you handle the unexpected speaks volumes.

3. Be Clear with Instructions

The vet was going to show us how to administer medicine to our cat. She called in a prescription to be used at home in the coming months, but forgot to mention that we should bring said prescription to our appointment. Needless to say, I was rather annoyed to hear this-especially after my hour-long wait. I got excuses instead of an apology. "Oh, they didn't tell you to bring that here?" Obviously not. "Okay, well, hmm, I guess I can just use what we have in the back." You know, because it wasn't bad enough that my cat was gone for days, and his feeding schedule was completely thrown off thanks to the vet's schedule. Tell your customers what you require of them at the start of a project to reduce the risk of miscommunication. You're certainly not doing them any favors if you failed to provide instructions in the first place.