Tip 132) Every small business needs a personal SLA (Even sole traders)

In case you are wondering what SLA stands for, it means 'Service Level Agreement'. In other words, the level of service that you will commit to when dealing with your clients or customers. It doesn't need to be a long document, and you don't even need to send it to your clients.

It's your promise of service. 

Your personal SLA could contain things like:

• Response times. For example, I will always respond to a query within 24 hours, even if it is just a holding email to say 'I'm on it'.  Nine times out of ten, I'll get back to them on the same day. Same with phone calls. I always strive to overdeliver. 

• Confidentiality. While I often discuss scenarios and non-client specific case studies, I never discuss a client's business.
• Delivery/turnaround times. 
• Quality. 
• Payment. I always pay on receipt of invoice and expect my clients to do the same.
• Results. I am always happy to guarantee the results I will deliver as long as my clients keep their end of the deal by doing what they say they will do.

 
What should go in your SLA? Your response time should be one of the most important ones, regardless of your business type. If you want to keep your clients happy, communication is key. I sent a few email queries via websites last week and only one got a response. And that was five days later! That is simply not good enough in today's market. I was left asking myself what kind of service could I expect if it took five days to answer an email. Needless to say, they didn't get my business :-)

Helping you to up your game!

​Jo 

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