Sin #1 - Provide Inconsistent Service
One of your favorite clients calls with bad news. They've decided to take their business elsewhere. You ask the obvious question. "Fred, I thought we were friends. I think I'm doing a great job for you. Why have you made this decision?" After much cajoling, you finally get a straight answer. "Bill, two years ago I was hearing from you regularly. And when we spoke, it was obvious that you were intimately familiar with my needs. But we haven't spoken in more than 3 months now, and on the occasions when we do speak, it's because I call you."

No doubt you've been very busy growing your business. But from a client's perspective, reduced attention is a relationship killer. Touch each of your good clients regularly. Send them birthday cards every year. Nurture them every Christmas/Chanukah. And once you've established a level of service, maintain or increase that level of service…never reduce it.

Sin #2 - Demonstrate a Lack of Teamwork
Has this ever happened to you? You call the phone company with a question. They take your contact details and promise to get back to you. But they don't. So you call back and speak to someone else. They can't find a record of your previous call, so you start again from scratch.

How do you think a client feels if they spoke to your assistant yesterday and today you call them, blissfully unaware of yesterday's conversation? What's a client to think if they tell you their new baby's name today but when they call again next week your assistant is unaware that the baby has been born? When a client shares information with any member of your team, they expect that information to be shared. If that doesn't happen, the client will naturally wonder if critical information is getting to the right people and if everyone on your team is working with the same information.

Sin #3 - Get Names Wrong
To quote Dale Carnegie, "There is nothing sweeter to a person's ears than the sound of their own name." Names are special to all of us. Want to damage a relationship? Misspell a client's name. Or mispronounce their name. Or forget their spouse's name. Or their childrens' names. Or their dog's name. Or call a client Jim when they prefer James. Or how about this one (it happened to me) - don't bother to include pictures of your clients in their files - then meet with client Sam Smith, but have Jack Jones' file open in front of you, and call your client Jack until he corrects you.

Can't happen in your practice? I hope for your sake that's true. But unfortunately this type of mistake takes place in practices across North America every day. And each mistake erodes a client relationship. How much erosion can your relationships weather?

Sin #4 - Deliver Impersonal Communications
Have you ever received a mass mail piece offering a product or service that you've already purchased? Perhaps a mortgage from your bank. Or a selection of channels from your cable company. How does that make you feel? Do you find it disappointing that they don't know you're already a client?

How do you think a client feels if you send them a letter that doesn't include their name? Or if you include one of your financial planning clients in a mass electronic mailing that promotes your financial planning services? If you repeatedly demonstrate to your clients that you don't know them, they won't want to know you.

Sin #5 - Take a "Cookie Cutter" Approach to Service
Let's imagine that you just joined a tennis club. Your membership provides you with a monthly newsletter and an hour of court time every day. Your spouse is already a member, so you tell the membership coordinator that you don't need a second copy of the newsletter. But they reply that you'll receive one anyway because "that's how the system works". Then the coordinator asks what court time you'd like to reserve every day. You respond that the time will vary from one day to the next. The coordinator replies that most members book the same time every day and that you're only guaranteed your hour if you accept a predefined time slot. Are you regretting your decision yet?

Clients are people. They have unique needs. What works for one client doesn't necessarily work for another. Touch clients at a frequency of their choice, not yours. Offer them a range of nurturing services and allow them to pick just those that they find attractive. Make sure that your practice is flexible enough to offer a custom tailored approach to service, rather than treating each good client in exactly the same way.

Sin #6 - Keep Sloppy Records
Consider the following hypothetical situation. You met with your lawyer last month. Today you receive her invoice. You've been charged for two hours of her time, but the invoice includes no details of what services where provided during those two hours. You made your own notes during the meeting. According to your notes, the meeting only lasted an hour. And your notes tell you precisely what was discussed during that hour. So you call her and ask why you were charged two hours. But she has little recollection of the details.

Let's face it. Misunderstandings can happen. In the above scenario, perhaps your lawyer actually labored long into the night on your behalf, and would have been justified in billing three or four hours. But unfortunately she isn't in a position to explain that today because she didn't keep detailed records. So how will you resolve a misunderstanding with a client if you don't keep organized, detailed records of meetings and phone conversations? And why would a client assume that you can meet their financial needs if you don't seem to be recording those needs anywhere?

Sin #7 - Be Indiscrete
When you send the same electronic mail message to all of your best clients, can they see who else received that message? If so, how do you think that makes them feel? Not only does it eliminate any sense of "personal" attention. But it makes them wonder what other information about them you might be sharing with others.

It's absolutely essential that you respect a client's privacy. If they think you are being careless or indiscrete with their information, they will go elsewhere.

So how does your team rate? Are they guilty of any of these deadly sins? If so, your practice isn't achieving its true potential. But don't despair. There's a simple solution. The right contact management system will purge these sins from your practice and position you for greater success.