It’s been said that if you own your own business that you aren’t a web designer, accountant, or a baker, but rather you’re a salesperson selling that service. This is true, but what is rarely talked about after that statement is that customer service is how you sell that product or service. We sell web solutions. Web design, web development, search engine optimization and marketing. How we sell those services is with customer service.

From my years of experience in web related fields I’ve found a consistent lack of customer service. Most companies have technical or service related departments with highly trained staff, but still, somehow, the ball keeps getting dropped. I talk to potential clients everyday who call and say that their web designer or programmer doesn’t understand them, talks over their head or ignores their needs.

Why is this lack of customer service so prevalent in the web world? I believe it has to do with a fundamental misunderstanding of what the client’s needs are. Many times web professionals get so wrapped up in the technical details of our jobs that we forget that our client’s needs are more specific to their business instead of those technical details. Their goals are to increase sales, create more opportunities to sell, partner with others who can help them sell and provide valuable information about their company to potential buyers. If our work isn’t aligned with the goals of our clients then our client’s our flushing away money on that great looking website we built that doesn’t achieve one of these goals. I believe that because of this typical divide between technical and non-technical people many web professionals believe that their clients just don’t “get it” and communicate accordingly.

As a community of web professionals we have so much to offer our clients with regards to our various areas of expertise. It’s our job to be teachers to our client’s in a professional manner and to keep their goals in mind while working on a project.