True story: I once had to chase a client for payment. The due date was missed, so I emailed. I was told the same day that the project manager had emailed their manager and accountant to find out what was going on and to chase payment. Six days later I emailed again. That email was ignored. I waited five more days and emailed a third time, adding ‘3rd reminder’ to the subject line.
The manager hadn’t authorised my payment before going on a business trip to China, and his staff were having difficulty reaching him. Someone else in the company would now be responsible for pursuing this. Sorry. And that was it. I wasn’t told how long it would be before the manager was back in the UK, or at least in a country where they could expect to reach him. I wasn’t told how soon after the payment was authorised that I could expect the money to land in my bank account.
It had taken nearly two weeks to get this far, which, as far as customer service goes, is pretty sucky (happy ending – I was paid three days later; unhappy ending – this wasn’t the end of the problems with timely payment and being given the runaround, so the client got fired).
I’ve worked in customer service, one way or another, since I was 14 (and that’s a loooong time). I’ve handled complaints from the public, from colleagues, from MPs. I’ve held senior customer-facing posts in a major government department, and in the private sector. I’ve handled complaints face-to-face over a counter, in writing, by phone, in large meetings and by parliamentary question. And here’s what I’ve learned.
In a nutshell, good customer service comes down to an active imagination. Imagine – if I were the customer, what would I want? And then do that.
Here’s what that means for me:
1 Manage customer expectation
This is something my client signally failed to do. What does it mean, to manage customer expectation? Simple! Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Remember Rudyard Kipling? This comes from The Elephant’s Child:
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
That’s a great bit of advice for any undertaking with another person. Set out your who, how, what, why, when and where. That should be in your contract, and it should be in your email or phone communication. Don’t be above issuing a gentle reminder on due dates, both yours and theirs, for things like sending out and getting back author queries and checking jobs are running to time. Talk to your client or your freelancer!
2 Make sure you’re on the same page as your client or freelancer
Ensure they understand precisely what’s being paid for – what won’t be done as well as what will. If you’re the freelancer, make sure your client understands how well you will do the work, when you’ll do it by, and how many rounds of editing the price covers. Novice indie clients may need a lot more hand-holding with regard to the terminology of editing – we’ve all had people say they want a proofread when they need a developmental edit.
On the other hand, publisher clients will occasionally call things by weird names. If in doubt, ask. Ensure you understand precisely what you’re being paid for.
If you’re the client, make sure you are clear about your expectations (and do keep them realistic for your time and money budgets). Provide a style guide, write up an informed and usable brief but expect questions from your freelancer who will want to clarify they have understood correctly, or flag issues with the job that look like trouble.
3 Underpromise and overdeliver
As a freelancer don’t be too far out of whack or your client will think you’re either taking the mickey or are really, really bad at estimating.
Well, my client had managed to underpromise by one definition, but that’s not what I mean. If they’d said ‘We’re so sorry about that; there was an internal breakdown in communication. But you’ll be paid by next Thursday’ and then paid me on Tuesday, that’s underpromising and overdelivering.
There’s another aspect of this I’d like to sound a dire warning about: I just wish we could ban editorial folks from claiming to ‘perfect’ text. Some people even have it in their business name! With so much of English being subjective, how can you ever deliver perfection? Your perfect may not be your client’s perfect. But with some folks persisting in waving their ‘perfection’ banner, it makes clients think you’ve messed up even when you really, really haven’t.
As a client, bear in mind that you are not the freelancer’s only iron in the fire. They will frequently be juggling multiple jobs at the same time, or have the job after yours already scheduled. That means you do need to stick to the timetable that was agreed for file delivery and if you’re running late, make early contact with the freelancer so they can try to accommodate you.
Remember: if you have agreed that an edit will take four weeks, but you deliver the files a week late – that edit is still going to take four weeks, so don’t think of imposing the original deadline! It won’t hurt to ask if it’s possible for the editor to return files a little faster – and perhaps ask if a rush fee would help.
Customer service to develop and maintain
relationships
Freelancers: If you do these three things, and the quality of your work is up to snuff, then you become one of you your client’s go-to editors. A company isn’t hiring you – a person at that company is, so cherish and build the relationship.
Clients: If you do these three things and you’re pleasant and easy to work for, and pay decent rates, you will build up a loyal cadre of freelancers you can call on. If you don’t, you may find that freelancers have perpetually full schedules, and some may even just fire you and refuse to work with you again.
It’s easy to give good customer service when everything is running smoothly. But we’re all human, which means we all make mistakes. It’s how we deal with those mistakes that really spells out the quality of our customer service – as do the preventive steps we take in the first place. Anticipate where trouble is most likely to arise, and do what you can to circumvent it. Everyone benefits.
I’ll finish up with a favourite quote from Henry Ford, who knew a thing or two about customer service. When checking the exact wording, I was delighted to see it included the I-word!
The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.
Henry Ford
And that cuts both ways in the client–freelancer relationship.
This is a heavily revised version of a post published on the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading blog on 19 June 2019.
