Let’s be honest, ‘client service’ is one of the most lifeless phrases in our industry. It confines people to their accounts and frames relationships as transactions. In healthcare communications, where the stakes involve patient lives, system change and medical breakthroughs, it is no longer enough.
Yet the term still lingers in pitch decks, job descriptions and performance reviews. It’s treated like a measure of quality, when it often signals the bare minimum: polite emails, punctual calls and work delivered on time. Necessary, yes. Transformational, no.
The truth? What our industry needs now isn’t ‘client service’. It’s partnership that’s rooted in humanity, fuelled by trust and sustained by behaviours that technology can’t replicate. That’s why at POP Health, we’ve stopped using the term altogether.
We don’t ‘service clients’. We work with people. We start with a spark. And we focus on keeping that spark alive.
Why ‘client service’ no longer fits
In a world where AI can schedule the meeting, summarise the call and generate the follow-up, efficiency is no longer the competitive edge it once was.
What can’t be automated is empathy; the ability to listen beyond the words, to understand nuance and to read when a conversation is really about something else entirely. Nor can you automate creativity – the human spark that turns a brief into a breakthrough.
If the industry keeps defining client service as a checklist of tasks, it will continue to develop transactional relationships. The real question is: how do we centre people – their ambitions, their challenges, their personalities – in the work we do?
It starts with a spark
Every enduring relationship has an ignition moment, the first flicker of chemistry, trust and potential. At POP Health, we see that spark as more than an accident of timing – it’s the foundation of the partnership.
Our Power Of Partnerships Sparkbook distils the principles and behaviours that protect and grow that initial connection. In practice, it is the operational blueprint that fuels every aspect of life at POP – from induction and objective setting to ongoing training, senior support and the templates and resources our teams use with clients every day. But it’s more than just a rulebook. For a team that truly understands people, the Sparkbook features daily as a constant reminder that how we work is every bit as important as what we deliver.
Culture over contracts
Processes keep things moving, but they don’t create trust. Underpinning the Sparkbook are our consistent behaviours, lived every day.
At POP Health, those behaviours are explicit:
- Actively listen – tuning into what’s said and what’s left unsaid
- Follow the chemistry – recognising and building on authentic connections
- Have it covered – anticipating needs before they become issues
- Be ready for anything – staying agile in a fast-moving healthcare landscape
- Go further – exceeding expectations when it matters most
- Say it like we see it – speaking with honesty, even when it’s hard.
These aren’t ‘nice to haves’. They’re embedded from day one, reinforced in every interaction and designed to ensure that a spark matures into a strong, resilient partnership.
Digital first, human always
Where sparks used to be lit in coffee shops or conference corridors, today they’re just as likely to happen via a video call or a Teams message. Digital tools have expanded reach and flexibility, but they’ve also raised the stakes.
Without physical presence, every word and action counts more. At POP Health, we’ve learned to be intentional in tone, timing and follow-through, making sure partners feel supported and understood, even when they’re on the other side of the world.
The role of AI in the human equation
AI isn’t the enemy of connection – it’s a tool to make more of it possible. Used well, it removes repetitive tasks like scheduling, summarising and analysing, and frees people to do the work that requires emotional intelligence and creative thought.
At POP Health, we keep the balance clear – let technology drive efficiency, but never at the expense of the human connection that makes partnerships thrive.
Raising the bar for the industry
Healthcare communications is at an inflection point. The pace of scientific discovery is accelerating. Patient expectations are rising. The need for trust, transparency and meaningful engagement has never been greater. So, we can cling to the old transactional model of ‘client service’, or we can embrace a human-centred approach that recognises the spark, nurtures it and channels it into lasting impact.
The spark is just the beginning – what we build from it together will create the energy that powers the future of our industry.
Sophie Cremin is Director at POP Health Communications
