From my years of experience in client-facing roles, I have come to learn that there are two ways of working with clients - dealing with them, or partnering with them. I prefer partnering with them through a mutually beneficial relationship that achieves goals. However, as we all know, we can't always choose our clients, especially if they were passed on to us from someone else, and at some point we have to deal with challenging clients to find common ground. To paraphrase what a mentor once told me:
Relationships are not cast in stone - we can always turn them around for the better. It all depends on how much work we want to put into it.
Client Relationships
Fostering healthy dynamics through diligence, friendliness & candor
The foundation of a successful business is a great product, while its pillars are its relationships with its clients - it can only rise to great heights if such pillars are strong. When constructing such pillars, I rely on values instilled in me from a young age - diligence, civility, and honesty - as the main building blocks, and then reinforcing these with friendliness and candor over the years.
I gain the respect and trust of clients by proving my competence and dedication to delivering them a great product / service from the get-go, and win their fondness by making an effort to maintain a bright and cheerful demeanor at every opportunity.
The challenge in building relationships with clients is that such relationships are inherently transactional and governed by the busy schedules of both parties. I, therefore, make an effort to be very consistent in leaving positive impressions after every client interaction, that eventually grows into strong relationships.
I learned this from a mentor, who taught me that being liked by clients is just as important as doing a good job. This may eventually flourish to something akin to friendship - I remember this one time I went to Singapore for a conference, I surprised a client's team by bringing them some Filipino ensaymadas because they had mentioned it during a call months before; it was a gesture that was motivated not by the desire to be liked, but by the desire to honor and reinforce a years-long relationship.
While every client relationship is unique, I found that these are some of the common elements that generally make them successful.
Customer Service
Exceeding expectations by both fulfilling and anticipating needs
All of my career mentors share one thing in common: they always deliver results, by hook or by crook. However, one of them stands out among the rest in a way that shaped the way I work, which is to anticipate client needs. I did not appreciate this at the time, because it felt like I couldn't get anything right, but I eventually came to understand its importance in a highly competitive world.
Everyone knows or, at least, have a good idea of what good customer service is like. We can also tell when the service is excellent - and this is when the service exceeds our expectations. While this can come in many forms, I found that being ready to provide what a client needs before they even ask almost always impresses clients.
I have been able to use this in a variety of situations, which can be as simple as mentioning that I've done some testing on a feature that they might be interested in, or as elaborate as thoroughly analyzing an issue they raised, identifying gaps that immediately stand out, and proposing a variety of solutions with their pros and cons.
But, alas, if only we could provide everything that a client asks for and anticipate every need that they may have! That is why I always strike a balance between providing excellent customer service and the limited resources I have by properly managing client expectations.
Project Management
Directing efforts to efficiently achieve quality results
When clients come to me with a large problem, I learned how to approach it by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable pieces that, at the end, can be brought back together in a way that works well. I usually start with identifying the ultimate goal and the reasons why the goal exists, then I assess the resources available at my disposal in order to allocate them strategically. When working with a team, I use a strengths-based approach to make full use of everyone's skills and to foster good team morale.
In my experience, all major tasks (such as the creation of this website) must be guided by a clearly defined reason or purpose that must also (ideally) be understood by all those involved. Once that is nailed down, the task becomes more manageable because all actions needed to carry it out must serve the purpose in some way.
Going back to the previous example that is the creation of this website, once I was able to clearly express why I wanted to set it up, I was able to proceed with deciding on the domain name, listing down the pages needed, the layout, and the content. The timeline was flexible, but still guided by a self-imposed sense of urgency.
In relation to client projects, the same principles apply, but with the added complexity of multiple stakeholders and decision-makers who may each have competing interests and different perspectives on the project. This results in challenging issues, but I have found that identifying the end-users of the product (who are usually not the decision-makers) and providing what they need out of such product is a great starting point in resolving the issues.
Client Retention
Keeping the product / service valuable to keep their business
To paraphrase an old saying, it takes the entire company to keep clients from taking their business elsewhere. I do my part by keeping the client contacts I have access to as happy as possible, so that it makes them think twice about moving to a competitor.
It seems easier said than done, but I found that it is only truly difficult when efforts to keep the client's business are only made when the relationship is already beyond salvaging.
I realized that the efforts towards
These skills do not exist in a vacuum and other skills, such as Effective Communication, Emotional Intelligence, and Expectation Management must also be utilized in order to properly carry them into effect.
Want to know more?
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