As a consultant you will be expected me meet the needs of your customers in a timely and efficient manner. But who are your customers?

• patients
• family members
• healthcare workers
• doctors
• administrators
• account payable or finance department staff
• colleagues
• others inquiring about your services
• and any number of others that you will come in contact with, talk to and negotiate with   
• In many ways you have to also consider your own family and personal relationships in the same way since work can often comingle with personal time 

I like to tell the story about a job I had as a clinical dietitian in a small rural hospital. As I would arrive on the medical unit I usually had a plan of what I wanted to accomplish. Most of the time I also was approached by one nurse or another informing me of a concern they had about a patient that needed help, was not doing well or that had complaints that they were not able to address satisfactorily. You might guess that my first task was always to jump right in and check out the patient they told me about.

As a consultant you are usually left to do a multitude of tasks, but the ones to focus on immediately are the ones others are also paying most attention to. They see that you care about what they say and you value their judgment as a professional. Being a willing partner is what they value most.

The following are some god resources for improving customer service:

• There are certain customer service skills  that every employee must master if they are forward-facing with customers.
• The Ten Commandments of Customer Service
• My favorite – Give Them The Pickle! (You Tube Video)

•         Word-of-mouth

•         Networking

•         Business cards

•         Targeted exposure

•         Find a…(dietitian, diabetes educator, etc)

•         Social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn)