This holiday season I will be thanking my clients and followers. While the time will come to plan for next year, and hopefully grow your business, this is the time to thank those who helped you get to where you are. It’s important to acknowledge each and every relationship we have in business…or they won’t last.
When you acknowledge a client, do your best to thank them for their trust and confidence in you and the partnership you’ve forged together. It’s important that they know that you value that partnership. Sometimes a simple “Thank you for working with me this year and I appreciate your trust,” is all they need to hear. As long as you mean it!
Take this opportunity to also recap this year’s milestones and understand the 2014 direction your client must go in. Don’t fix anything just yet. Listen and just understand it. Think about it through the holiday season and then determine the recommendations you’ll present in January.
Every client relationship needs to advance so you are seen as a true steward of their business never their custodian.
And speaking of thanks, I thank YOU for reading my blog this year. You may have noticed that I’ve been far more consistent with posts this year. A lot of that is because of the positive feedback I’ve gotten from you. I truly hope you gain value from reading these posts. I value your opinion so, if there is any way I can improve this blog so that it is even more useful to you, please let me know.
May your family and you enjoy a fantastic Thanksgiving!
We all want to be liked. That’s especially true in an office/work environment. But good leaders know that sometimes, being honest and frank, keeps your employees moving forward. Too often a leader’smfirst desire is to be a friend to their direct report versus an objective observer who discerns behavior that can be strengthened.
Recently during an executive consulting session, I was asked which is the more important conversation to initiate with a client, the tactical conversation or the strategic one? Answer…it’s situational but, it is better to err on the strategic side. Once you go tactical you can’t go back. Read more
A few years ago, I was working with very savvy clients in San Diego on a sales development program. One night,I was dining with my client who expressed to me that after 20 years in selling and negotiating he realized this important distinction:
Process vs. Pain.
What he said was: “I focus so heavily on understanding the ‘process’ of my client’s business that I’ve neglected to pinpoint and understand his ‘pain.” He realized that it was mission-critical for him to locate a client’s pain and truly size it BEFORE delving into the client’s process of how he/she runs their business.
In essence, finding their pain first then understanding their process. If you focus your attention too early on fixing the process, you will miss what is really at the heart of the matter. And thus, you will lose the opportunity to provide a solution for a much larger set of issues and become a trusted advisor. Listen first, ask the right questions and get to the pain first. The process will come.
The best, fastest way to understand a client’s situation is to find their pain within the first ten minutes of your meeting. Ask questions like:
Size their pain with questions like:
Stay in their pain with questions like:
If you think your client doesn’t have pain points in his work, then you aren’t digging enough. Do your research, which includes asking your client the right questions. The more you ask questions like this, the more you will find your champion who will act as your tether-line to the truth!
Throughout this past month I have had the pleasure of working with many varied teams crafting their respective value propositions.
I’m so heartened by the fun of this exercise and what it illustrates to teams. The results are incredible. And all it takes is a little organization.
