How to Audit Your Service Team for Client Success in the New Year

A well-prepared service team is essential for meeting client needs and driving growth as you head into a new year. As you think about your client service goals for 2025, there are four aspects to consider as you continue building a client-centric culture.

First, Set Clear Goals for the Coming Year

If you don’t have established service-level goals, this is step one.  Establish specific, measurable goals for your service team, focusing on client satisfaction, efficiency, and overall support quality. Regularly track progress to ensure your team is on track to meet or exceed expectations, positioning them for success as client needs evolve.

If you have established service-level goals, ask yourself these questions:

• Would your customers agree the service level goals you are aiming for are contributing to their success? 
• When was the last time you challenged the status quo of your service metrics? 

 The end of the year is a great time to evaluate and adjust to ensure your standards are improving the client experience. Here are four ways to do that:

1. Focus on the Fundamentals

Assess response times and efficiency.  Audit response times across various communication channels (email, phone, chat). Ensure that your team meets or exceeds benchmarks, as quick and efficient responses are critical for client satisfaction. Identify and address any bottlenecks that could hinder timely service.

2. Gather Client Feedback

Voice of the customer is the most important information to gather and act on. Use surveys to systematically gather feedback trends, but make sure you’re also having direct conversations with clients to learn about their experiences, needs, and expectations. Surveys can’t give you the context of direct feedback; this is an important step and one that should involve leadership. 

 Analyze the survey data into themes and categories to support service and or product refinements. This process will identify trends, pain points and opportunities for improvement. Act on insights. Acting immediately creates a culture that understands a client-centric culture is a priority for your firm. 

Pro Tip:  Leverage a Relational NPS survey style to ensure you understand how your customers view their relationship with your company.  Getting this feedback quarterly or semi-annually from your customers is recommended. 

3. Examine Process Consistency

Consistent processes ensure that clients receive a uniform experience, regardless of who assists them. Make reviewing your team’s workflows a systematic process by analyzing current practices and gathering input from team members performing them.  This step will uncover areas for improvement. 

Count the steps in your service workflows and redesign to eliminate unnecessary steps while ensuring you are meeting business objectives for your clients. Roll out your optimized process and monitor progress by measuring efficiency and reviewing client feedback.  

4. Evaluate Skills and Knowledge

Review each team member’s current skill set and knowledge base, paying close attention to gaps related to client needs or industry changes. Consider investing in targeted training to ensure they’re well-prepared to tackle upcoming challenges.  Investing in training shows your team that they are valuable, and you are motivated to support their development as a professional. 

Conducting a thorough analysis of your service team’s readiness helps ensure they’re equipped to deliver exceptional support in the year ahead. If you’re looking for assistance evaluating your ability to meet client service needs, we’d love to help! Feel free to book some time with our team by clicking here.