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Who Are My Clients?
A client profiling worksheet for service excellence planning.
- You can’t apply the Platinum Rule — treating clients the way they want to be treated — without knowing who they are
- A clear client profile prevents wasted effort: you stop solving the problems you assume they have and start solving the ones they actually do
- This worksheet is a starting point. Revisit it when your client group shifts, when complaints cluster, or when a new service launches
Who are they?
Describe your primary client group as specifically as possible — not “students” but which students, in what circumstances.
Typical age range / career stage — capture in your own notes.
Primary language(s)
Familiarity with university systems (new / some / experienced)
Common stress factors they carry into interactions
What do they need?
Top three things clients come to you for (be specific — not “help” but what kind of help), and what they usually need beyond what they ask for.
Consider these dimensions of their experience, then capture your notes below:
When in the academic year / lifecycle are they most likely to contact you — and in what emotional state?
What do they understand well about your service — and what do they consistently misunderstand?
What do they fear when they come to you? What worries them most about the interaction?
How do they prefer to be communicated with — in person, by email, by phone, online self-service?
What does their journey look like?
Map your client’s typical cycle of service — from first awareness to the point they consider their need fully resolved.
List each touchpoint on the left with what happens there on the right, in order, in your own notes.
Touchpoint quality check:
Which touchpoint is most likely to be a moment of misery?
Which is most likely to be a moment of magic?
Which touchpoints involve other units — and do those handoffs work?
Where do clients most often get stuck, confused, or lost?
How should you adapt your approach?
Based on what you know about this client group, what adjustments should you make to how you communicate with them? (language level, formality, pace, channel, cultural awareness)
What don’t you know about your clients that you’d most benefit from learning? How could you find out? (surveys, exit interviews, FAQ analysis, focus groups)
If you could change one thing about how your team currently serves this client group — what would it be?
Applying the Platinum Rule
The Platinum Rule: treat clients the way THEY want to be treated — not the way you’d want to be treated.
Write two or three specific ways you could personalise your service delivery based on this client profile.
What question could you ask at the start of an interaction to understand this client’s specific preferences? (e.g. “What are you hoping we’ll be able to do today?”)
Share this — don’t keep it to yourself
- Client profiles are most useful as team documents, not individual ones — share your answers and compare with colleagues
- A new team member completing this worksheet is a fast path to service consistency
- Revisit when: your client mix changes, complaints cluster around a pattern, a new service or policy launches, or annually as a team exercise
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