client experience

Resolutions for Leading Your Team Better in 2023

Just as quickly as it came, 2022 is coming to an end, which means it is time to think about how we want next year to be different. When choosing your New Year’s resolutions, leave room on your list for ones that will help you become a better leader. Consider these suggestions to get you started.

Focus on Team Clarity

Your team consists of individuals who think for themselves; they do not share a common brain. This means that no matter how determined and capable your team members are, they may go in opposite directions if they do not have a common vision to follow. For example, if your mission is to dig a big hole, you may work for hours only to find that half of your team has been dumping their dirt into the other half’s side and vice-versa. The result is an exhausted team and nothing to show for it.

Every team needs a leader who defines and simplifies the vision and clearly communicates it to every team member. There is no such thing as too much clarity or too much communication of clarity. To help guide you in creating clarity for your team, focus on three key questions that should have the same answer for every team member:

  1. Why are you doing this work? (Purpose).
  2. How should you behave? (Values)
  3. What do we need to achieve? (Goals).

In addition, each team member should be able to answer another individual question: Where do I fit? (Roles).

Foster Input from Everyone

Leadership comes with great authority, meaning you can make decisions with virtually nothing in your way. The obvious danger of that is that almost every decision impacts everyone on your team, so if your team members have no say in the matter, they start to feel powerless, especially if it happens routinely. That’s why it’s crucial to offer your team opportunities to provide input.

There is another, arguably more important, benefit to getting everyone’s input. It is quite simple: the best team members have the best ideas. No leader (not even you) is capable of singlehandedly making the best decisions possible on behalf of the entire organization. Indeed, it is up to the leader, in the end, to distill the various inputs into one coherent decision. But foregoing this process simply because it’s easier (or worse, you just don’t care) will stifle your team. Done the right way, you will build a solidly loyal team that always finds the best possible answers.

Engage with All Levels of the Organization

We all only have so many hours a day, and leading a team is certainly time-consuming. Despite this, we as leaders should strive to interact with team members at all levels of the organization. If you are leading the entire organization, you likely work directly with your leadership team but might not come in contact with most people in your company. You should find creative ways to get in front of your entire team, like walking the halls, taking them out to lunch, and attending department meetings. Of course, when you have employees that work remotely, this may require a bit more creativity and thinking outside of the box, but it’s still possible.

You owe it to your team to create a human connection with them. This is not just about getting to know your people but also about your people having the opportunity to get to know you. I genuinely believe that if your team feels a stronger connection at a human level, they will be more dedicated and do better work.

There are other noteworthy benefits to having higher engagement in your organization. I discussed previously the importance of communicating clarity. Every time you make an effort to interact with different levels of the organization, you have yet another opportunity to help communicate clarity (remember, no such thing as too much communication). Also, when you get to know new employees, you may find hidden talent you didn’t even know existed. You may just wind up meeting the next great leader of your company.

Hone Your Nonverbal Communication

A statistic often shared in business and psychology classes states that somewhere between 70%-90% of all communication is nonverbal. So, when speaking to someone, the words you choose only account for a tiny fraction of the message the other person hears. I remember the first time I heard a professor share this statistic and ask if I believed him. I hesitated, raised an eyebrow, and in a puzzled tone, I replied, “Yes, I believe you.” Needless to say, the professor saw right through my words and could sense my evident skepticism.

My experience working with people has made this point crystal clear to me. Words are important, but your true intent and sentiment come through more authentically in your tone and body language (facial expressions, stance, hand movement). Tone and body language can so easily and subtly communicate how you truly feel. To be clear, I am not suggesting that you falsify your tone and body language to sell something you don’t really believe. Instead, you should reflect on your thoughts properly and speak from a place of truth because when you do respond, it will be obvious if your words do not reflect your true feelings. When you are a leader, all eyes and ears are on you, so you must be acutely aware of what you are communicating nonverbally. 

Conclusion

If you actively seek out reading materials and podcasts and other ways to learn about better leadership, it tells me that you are a great leader. But I believe that you still have room to grow. Your job as a leader is to look inward and find ways to make improvements continuously. This process never ends. While this may be a popular time of year to think about and make New Year’s resolutions, your journey of leadership growth should be year-long. With the right attitude and approach, I know that we can all end 2023 as better leaders than when we started.

Picture of Daniel Gilbert

Daniel Gilbert

Chief Operating Officer
Kite Technology Group

Case Study: Managed IT Services for Pennsylvania Independent Insurance Agency

An independent insurance agency using Applied Epic and located in York, Pennsylvania has been working with Kite Technology Group for Managed IT Services since January 2002. Kite Technology ongoing IT Management and technical support. 

Project Details

The Client

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of two owners of a full-service independent insurance agency in York, Pennsylvania.

The Challenge

What challenge were you trying to address with Kite
Technology Group?

We needed a Managed IT Service provider to handle all of our IT needs.

The Approach

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kite Technology Group has provided on- and off-site IT services since January 2002. Over the years, they’ve purchased hardware and software solutions to improve our IT infrastructure. Kite Technology Group’s team has helped us implement Microsoft Teams into our phone system.  When necessary, Kite Technology Group comes on-site to execute projects. I’d estimate that they come into our office three times a year. 

How did you come to work with Kite Technology Group?

We’ve been working with Kite Technology Group for quite some time, so I’m not sure how the relationship started because I wasn’t with the company at the start of the partnership. However, I believe they had a relationship with the previous owner. I assume their geographical location and existence as one of the few insurance-based IT companies on the market influenced the decision to hire them.

What is the status of this engagement? 

We started working together in January 2002 and the engagement is ongoing. 

The Outcome 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?  

Since Kite Technology Group provides us with weekly and monthly reports on the type and quantity of service calls and solutions they provide, I can report that all of those metrics are very good. The entire relationship with them has been fantastic. We trust them completely when it comes to IT management. 

How did Kite Technology Group perform from a project management standpoint? 

Their team has excellent project management. They use an emailbased management tool to create and track service tickets. From that management portal, their teammates can respond to our service tickets. We communicate with them through phone calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

We trust Kite Technology Group. Their team is responsive to our needs and understands that we’re in a time-sensitive industry and do their best to respond to us promptly and efficiently. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

There is nothing for them to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to give Kite Technology Group the time to learn about your business — meet with them and give them the opportunity to win your business. 

Summary of Project Feedback

Clutch Client Rating

“The entire relationship with them has been fantastic. We trust them completely when it comes to IT management.”

 To check out the live review on Clutch click here. If you are currently working with Kite Technology and would like to leave a review on Clutch, please click here.

Interested in Learning if Kite Technology is the Right IT Partner for Your Business?

We would love the opportunity to meet with you and learn more about your organization’s objectives and goals. To schedule a conversation, please contact us and a member of our team will reach out to you. 

Case Study: Managed IT Services for California Independent Insurance Agency

An independent insurance agency using AMS360 and located in San Fransisco, California hired Kite Technology Group for managed IT services. They handle the server, provide support, and modernize security procedures.  Currently, they’re migrating the system to Microsoft 365.

Project Details

The Client

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Operations and Marketing Manager at an independent insurance agency in San Fransisco, California.

The Challenge

What challenge were you trying to address with Kite
Technology Group?

We needed a new managed IT service partner to handle our IT needs because our previous provider wasn’t performing as they should have been.

The Approach

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kite Technology Group is our IT managed service provider. They manage our server, provide day-to-day technical support for our computers, and modernize our security procedures and setups. First, they completed a network assessment, analyzing where we were; they poked around the server and asked questions. From there, they developed a comprehensive outline of our system’s status and created an action plan with items in red, yellow, and green according to urgency. They shipped new equipment to us, and then one of their teammates flew in to install it. The team has also upgraded our firewall and made other necessary security upgrades. 

They work with Vertafore, which is our agency management system. The team has also helped with our new phone system. Kite Technology Group has completed all critical items, and they’re currently migrating us to Microsoft 365. The goal is for us not to rely on the physical server and be able to access everything needed for day-to-day business through Microsoft 365 directly.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with at least five different people from Kite Technology Group. In the beginning, I worked with the VP of Business Development and their CSO did our network assessment. Since then, we’ve worked with a project engineer, a client experience manager and a security engineer. We’ve also been in contact with different day-to-day tech support representatives.

How did you come to work with Kite Technology Group?

I discovered them on NetVU, which is a community of Vertafore users. I interviewed several vendors both local and around the country. Kite Technology Group was the provider I felt most comfortable with and the best match.

What is the status of this engagement? 

We started working together in January 2022 and the engagement is ongoing. 

The Outcome 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?  

Everyone in our company has been so much happier since we started working with Kite Technology Group. Our previous provider wasn’t giving us adequate support; we’d go around in circles with them and their techs weren’t the most knowledgeable. That engagement got to the point where I stopped reaching out for support, and I was wasting time researching how to fix issues on my own. Meanwhile, Kite Technology Group is capable, helpful, and knowledgeable. Our office has daily conversations about how much we love their service.  The team resolves issues quickly once we submit a ticket. Although we don’t have the exact data showing how much time we save, office morale has improved; we no longer dread reaching out for support when there’s an issue. 

Kite Technology Group has also improved our efficiency, and we don’t have potential security issues like before. They give us peace of mind because we’re confident in their ability to fix things and in them as advisors. Moreover, the team is pleasant to work with; they’re positive and encouraging. I can’t say enough good things about them; I only regret that I didn’t go to them sooner. 

How did Kite Technology Group perform from a project management standpoint? 

We had a couple of initial Teams meetings with the CSO and VP of Business Development, where we went over the project’s priorities, our concerns, and availability. Then, we scheduled the day when they came down to install new equipment. Now, we primarily keep in touch through email and phone, and they always communicate well

What did you find most impressive about them? 

Sometimes during a sale, providers promise certain things that, as clients, we doubt will be the reality. Kite Technology Group has gone above and beyond all their promises in that initial sales process. They’ve been helpful and willing to fix anything. In the beginning, when we had many questions, they worked after hours to address all of them and figure things out. Overall, Kite Technology Group has been fantastic. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

I can’t think of anything they need to do better. Of course, not everything is perfect since we’re dealing with technology. Although we’ve had some bumps in the road, we can tell that they’re trying to work on it. Besides, I blame those bumps on being behind the times due to our previous provider.

Summary of Project Feedback

Clutch Client RatingKite Technology Group’s work is fantastic; they’re knowledgeable, efficient, helpful, and encouraging, giving the client peace of mind. The team is organized and communicates effectively via email and phone calls. Moreover, they’re easy to work with, and they’ve gone above and beyond every promise.

 To check out the live review on Clutch click here. If you are currently working with Kite Technology and would like to leave a review on Clutch, please click here.

 

 

Interested in Learning if Kite Technology is the Right IT Partner for Your Business?

We would love the opportunity to meet with you and learn more about your organization’s objectives and goals. To schedule a conversation, please contact us and a member of our team will reach out to you. 

Delivering Extraordinary Client Service

Delivering extraordinary client service is a truly noble pursuit and the cornerstone of every successful business. It is certainly more art than science, but I believe you can follow some simple principles to help you build a company with a legacy of providing your clients with an experience they will remember.  

Phase 1: Build the Foundation 

Before doing anything else, you need to build the foundation in your company that supports consistently delivering extraordinary client service. There are three essential steps in this building phase. 

Establish Core Values 

In my observations, most business outcomes can be traced back to a business’s core value. Customer service is perhaps the closest example of this rule. If you want your company to be known for delivering excellent client service, you need to cultivate this value as part of your team culture. Design your core values to act as the playbook that helps your team know what to focus on even if they forget the exact script, like actors in a play who forget their lines but fill in the blanks because they know the scene’s purpose. For core values to make a difference, they should become second nature and a defining part of your company culture. Then they will guide your team to demonstrate the behaviors your company finds most important.  

At KiteTech, we consistently remind each other that customer service is central to everything we do because “Deliver Extraordinary Client Service” is one of our company’s core values. 

Build a Customer-Focused Team  

Once you establish providing excellent customer service as one of your company’s core values, you are ready to build the team to bring it to life. For your core values to be effective, you need all team members to connect intimately with them. Not only will this ensure that your team builds the reputation you want, but when each of your team members holds the same core values, they will work better together, bring more energy to their work, and ultimately love their jobs more. Your employees will be happier, which will, in turn, show up and be evident in how they interact with your clients.  

Have you ever interviewed a candidate with excellent experience and hard skills but cannot shake the feeling that their people skills or regard for customer service don’t stack up? It can be gut-wrenching to pass over a highly qualified candidate, especially if your team is in dire need. Still, making tough personnel decisions like this is necessary if you want to build a team that focuses on delivering extraordinary client service. Most often, your clients will more easily forgive someone who doesn’t have an answer than someone who doesn’t treat them well.  

Develop Feedback Systems  

The final step of the foundation phase is more tangible: you need to provide your clients with opportunities to give you feedback. If you have built a culture around customer service, feedback systems invite your clients to grade your performance in that commitment. Examples of feedback systems are satisfaction surveys, net promoter scores, and online reviews. The best feedback systems strike the right balance between asking for input often enough that your clients feel you are always listening, but not too often that it becomes annoying. You should consider using internal and external methods for your company, which serve different purposes, and I will cover them in greater detail later.  

For example, each time a KiteTech help desk technician finishes helping a client with an issue, the client receives an email with a simple satisfaction survey. We purposely make it easy and simply ask them to rate their experience as positive, neutral, or negative. They also have the option to provide additional comments if they would like.  

Phase 2: Put it into Action 

Building customer service into your company’s foundation is the easy part of creating a culture that focuses on delivering extraordinary client service. It takes considerable hard work and intentional effort day in and day out to take what you’ve built and get your entire team to put it into practice. Let’s look at what’s involved in the action phase.  

Client-Focused Leadership  

If core values and a customer-focused team are the vehicles, then leadership focused on customer service is the gas. Even when your core values clearly define what’s important and you hire the right people, successful teams still need consistent reminders to stay aligned and focused on providing extraordinary client service. Many companies get hung up on feeling like they need to create catchy phrases or sophisticated team initiatives. However, the best way to keep the team centered on what’s important is to repeat it daily, even several times a day. Your leadership should absolutely obsess over giving these reminders and setting excellent examples for the team. This model set forth by leaders will permeate through the entire team. If you are going to expect extraordinary customer service from your team, you must first expect it from the leaders you appoint. If you say customer service is one of your most important values, your leaders must demonstrate it every single day in all that they do. Otherwise, the spirit of the team will deteriorate over time. Finally, leaders can reinforce a strong client focus by calling attention to good examples of it in action. Providing meaningful recognition and praise when team members deliver extraordinary client service goes a long way in affirming that individual and is an excellent example for the rest of the team. 

Set and Exceed Client Expectations  

Your clients have every right to expect that you will deliver on the promises you made them and will be able to effectively solve the problems that they’ve hired you to solve. But as much as you might try, no one is perfect. Early in my career, a mentor of mine always liked to say, “People just don’t like to be surprised.” It is critical to ensure that the expectations you are setting for your clients are clear and well within your ability to deliver.” 

Let me be clear: I am not advocating for intentionally setting rock-bottom expectations just to ensure you always meet them. In fact, if you are proficient in your job and consistently deliver high results, your clients will probably come to expect a lot from you. This is a good thing! But you need to persistently set expectations in each interaction, or else your clients may come with an expectation of their own. When this happens, you surrender your opportunity to control the experience and leave too much room for misunderstandings or missed expectations. The trick is to set an expectation high enough to instill confidence and allow you to do the job well, but with some breathing room so that you don’t have to backtrack. This should also allow you to often deliver more than you promise.  

Practice Transparency  

I indirectly touched on this concept when discussing setting expectations, but it is so crucial to excellent customer service that it is worthy of more emphasis. Just as your clients have the right to expect excellent work from you, they have the right to expect that you will be honest along the way. Remember this: being open and transparent should always outweigh trying to maintain a perfect image for your clients. If you make a mistake or run behind schedule, the best thing to do is come clean right away. While it may be a difficult conversation that comes with some disappointment, it helps set realistic expectations, avoid surprises, and develop trust. The alternative would be to hide the truth and hopefully go unnoticed (dangerous and deceitful), or worse yet, to outright lie (a despicable way to treat your clients).  

While transparency is vital, you must maintain a sense of accountability to deliver superior results. Practicing transparency is not an excuse to constantly fail your customers. Be humble enough to admit your mistakes and critical enough of yourself to ensure you continue to do good work that you can be proud of, and your customers will appreciate.  

Give Your Clients a Voice  

Building a system for your clients to give feedback makes a statement that you value their input. But this goodwill is quickly squandered if you don’t do something noticeable with the feedback you receive. Thank your clients when they provide you feedback, and most importantly, take action, and do it quickly. You should have one or more people responsible for reviewing all client feedback. When something needs attention, these individuals should be well equipped to either resolve the issues themselves or ensure they get the feedback into the right hands. The hardest part is that it is natural sometimes to feel defensive when receiving critical or constructive feedback. Making the best of critical feedback starts with a genuine commitment to constant improvement and requires the humility to accept criticism and be willing to learn from it.  

This does not mean that you need to take every single recommendation your customers make; that would not be realistic at all. You should, however, close the loop every time you get critical feedback by following up and at least setting the proper expectation. Done well, even if you don’t 100% satisfy every request your customers make, you at least show a strong effort to let them know that they were heard.  

It is also worth mentioning that a feedback loop is important in positive feedback as well. Hearing from your customers about what your team is doing well reinforces the value of the services that you provide and serves as powerful motivation for your team members to continue doing that good work. Nothing makes a stronger impact on a customer’s experience than when they feel like their voice is heard. Your feedback system is your prime opportunity to do just that.  

Conclusion

If your business serves clients, you owe it to them to deliver the very best experience possible with every interaction. If you don’t work with clients directly, that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. The principles of customer service can easily be applied to internal peer-to-peer interactions or those with your vendors.  

Follow the steps laid out here to build the foundation of these principles in your business. They will set you up to deliver the best client experience possible. And keep in mind that the pursuit of delivering an extraordinary client service is never finished. It is something that you and your team should always be focusing on. 

I hope that this article can serve as inspiration for elevating the experience you offer your clients when they work with you. If you are interested in learning more about KiteTech’s other core values, take a look at Our Flight Plan to get a glimpse of what is important to us. You can also check out Our Client Experience page to see what our clients have to say about the services our team provides. and

Picture of Daniel Gilbert

Daniel Gilbert

Chief Operating Officer
Kite Technology Group

adam atwell

Adam Atwell

Cloud solutions architect

Adam is passionate about consulting with organizations across the country to help them develop and execute a cloud adoption strategy that meets their business needs and future objectives. Adam oversees and manages our company strategy for Microsoft 365 adoption and is responsible for future growth and development inside Microsoft 365 and other cloud technologies.