Client Relationships

10 Things Not to Say at Your Next Sales Meeting

June 8, 2011 By Michael W. McLaughlin 1 Comment

source: IMLS DCC

Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, the wrong words slip out in a client meeting. If you’re like me, you’ve had times when you wished you could take the words back just as soon as they passed your lips.

Here are 10 things you might want to avoid saying in your next sales meeting:

Someone should have been fired for that.
Yes, we’ve seen this before. It will be a breeze.
I never would have done that.
You actually hired those people?
If it wasn’t hard, you wouldn’t need me, right?
I’ll only need 90 minutes of your time to preview my qualifications.
I wouldn’t want to work here either.
The terms of this proposal expire in 3 hours.
What were they thinking?
We always lengthen the project time-line when a client wants to “help” us.

Any others you’d like to add? Let me know.

Filed Under: Client Relationships, Selling Tagged With: client issues, Client Relationships, Selling, selling professional services

Let Them Take Credit

June 7, 2011 By Michael W. McLaughlin Leave a Comment

Ever gone to a meeting and listened with dismay as a client took credit for your best ideas? Or maybe you’ve had to sit through a project wrap-up session in which your team’s effort was marginalzed and someone on the client side snagged the kudos for a job well done.

It’s hard not to fume when your hard work is pilfered. What do you do? Confront the idea thief? Ask the credit grabber to give your team a plug?

Your best option is to bite your tongue and say nothing. Why? I call it the Rule of Client Credit: By giving up the credit, you actually earn credit (and more business).

In any client meeting, you can be certain that the key people in the room know where the ideas they’re hearing came from. Sure, not everyone will get it, but those who matter most will. The same holds true for letting others have the glory for a project’s outcome. The right people are aware that they couldn’t have done it without you.

Instead of demanding equal tribute, allow your clients time in the spotlight. That selfless behavior will earn you something more valuable than short-term gratification: Respect and trust. Besides, you reap other rewards. The most obvious is that you get paid. Plus, you’re doing work you want to do (or you should be).

Of course, you can’t always follow the Rule of Client Credit. It’s not a good idea, for example, to stand by while someone mangles or misrepresents your ideas. In that case, you have to speak up and clarify–for the client’s sake.

For the most part, though, you’ll find that you benefit from letting clients take the credit. That’s not always easy on the ego, but it’s likely to lead to a stronger client relationships and more work. Isn’t that more important?

Filed Under: Client Relationships, Consulting Process Tagged With: client issues, Client Relationships, consulting process

Sanity Check: Stash the Headset

June 3, 2011 By Michael W. McLaughlin 1 Comment

Here are three reasons to stash away your cell phone headset before your next meeting.

You’re not going to take a phone call during your client meeting (at least, I hope you aren’t)
You want to focus your client’s attention on the issues, not the blinking gadget on your ear
It makes you look like you’re morphing into a borg.

Filed Under: Sanity Checks Tagged With: client issues, Client Relationships, communication, consulting process

Facing an “Arms-Crossed” Client

June 1, 2011 By Michael W. McLaughlin 4 Comments

More than once, I’ve had to face “arms-crossed” guy. You may know him (or her) too—the client interviewee whose body language flashes, “I don’t have time for this. I’m not interested. Do we have to do this?” Since reluctant clients often play an important part in piecing together a project, it’s essential to break through the negativity.

Sometimes, no matter what you do, “arms-crossed” guy won’t budge. But if you need that person’s help, you’ve got to try. Here are a few tips for coaxing information from an unwilling interviewee.

Start Easy

If there’s no apparent threat or risk, “arms-crossed” guy may warm up. So start your conversation with the basics. Normally, though, this guy could care less what you think about the plaque on the wall honoring his community contribution seven years ago. Don’t go there.

Instead, begin by stating exactly what you want to learn, who sent you, and how you plan to use the information. Also, confirm how long the meeting will last. You’d probably do this introduction with any interviewee, but it’s critical with semi-hostiles.

Then launch into easy, factual questions, for example, “How many people do you manage?” “How has your business (or function) grown, and who are your best customers?” The point: Start without controversy, show that you listen, care, and have credibility.

Plus, resist the urge to respond to snide comments about the project, your role, or anything else that gets lobbed at you. Once you take that bait, you’ve lost the possibility of turning a bad interview into something useful.

You might be able to pierce the wall of resistance by letting a reluctant interviewee talk. Simple, fact-based questions offer the interviewee an opportunity to thaw. Allow time for an interviewee to expand on answers by pausing for several seconds after each response before you dive into the next question.

Define Your Must-Haves

If your interview isn’t going well and there’s little hope of turning it around, check your interview notes. Identify the essential information you must have from this individual. Usually, you’ll have options for finding what you need elsewhere. Still, zero in on what only this person can give you and ask away.

Keep a brisk pace as you move through your questions, but don’t leave the impression that you’re writing off the interview. Treat the reluctant interviewee as an important part of your process, no matter how hard that is.

Get Closer to the Issue

Once you’ve finished an interview, you’ll need to confirm whatever you learned. Find others who can flesh out your information, interpret what you know, and point you to others who can help. When you’re rebuffed by an interviewee, get closer to the problem. Find people who are directly affected by the issue and seek out their opinions.

No matter how much “arms-crossed” guy resists, you’ve got to stay above the fray. Don’t complain about him to others in the client’s organization—chances are they already know about the attitude. And don’t avoid him in the future. Who knows—“arms-crossed” guy might turn out to be your best ally; treat him well and keep chipping away.

Filed Under: Client Relationships, Consulting Process Tagged With: client interviews, Client Relationships, communication, consulting process, language of consulting, managing projects

Blogs I Like: Nick Morgan’s PublicWords

May 31, 2011 By Michael W. McLaughlin 1 Comment

Nick Morgan

Whether you’re presenting to a client, leading a team meeting, or just participating in a conference call, your ability to influence others begins and ends with how well you communicate.

Whenever I need market-ready advice on presentation or communication skills, I always start with Nick Morgan.

In case you don’t know him, Nick Morgan is a top communication theorist and coach. In addition to his books, Morgan has written hundreds of articles for local and national publications. He served as the editor of the Harvard Management Communication Letter and he’s a former Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Morgan publishes a high-value blog at PublicWords.com that can accelerate the development of anyone’s presentation skills.

For example, he recently launched a series of podcasts on his blog summarizing the concepts from his books, Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma, and Give Your Speech, Change the World: How to Move Your Audience to Action. So far in the series, Morgan has done a great job reinforcing the basics, but he always takes things a step further.

If you only have time to listen to one post in his series, make it 10 Quick Tips to Make Your Next Presentation Wildly Successful. You’ll get a great sense of Morgan’s strategies and approach to communication.

Morgan offers lots of advice and it works. If you haven’t seen his blog at PublicWords.com, don’t wait until the night before your next speech to check it out. And you might be interested in my most recent interview with Morgan, a podcast on Seven Steps to a Great Speech.

Filed Under: Speaking Tagged With: Client Relationships, communication, language of consulting, presentations, speaking

Sanity Check: Minor Things Matter

May 27, 2011 By Michael W. McLaughlin 2 Comments

A client’s perception of you evolves along with the experiences that client has with you and your team.

Sometimes, seemingly minor things make a lasting impression, like how you talk to a client’s support staff, where you park your car, how loud you talk on the phone, and if you take the last of the coffee from the staff room.

Clients are aware of the little things. Be sure that you are too.

Filed Under: Client Relationships, Sanity Checks Tagged With: Client Relationships

Do You Call Yourself a “Trusted Advisor?”

May 26, 2011 By Michael W. McLaughlin 1 Comment

In their bestseller, The Trusted Advisor, David Maister, Charles Green, and Rob Galford made the case that professionals need more than just technical expertise to succeed. They must also have the ability to earn the trust and confidence of clients.

As the term Trusted Advisor became part of the language of the services business, a funny thing happened. Some firms started using the term as a marketing slogan. Here are some examples:

“Like you, we are much more than ‘just’ service providers to our clients. We are trusted advisors.”

“___________ provides these solutions by being a trusted advisor to our clients. “

“Before we become your trusted advisor, we discuss your values; goals; personal, professional and institutional relationships; assets; and interests.”

Even HP got into the act with a splashy press release:

“The HP Trusted Advisor service offers HP consulting experts who work closely with clients to consider all aspects of business operations, IT infrastructure and facilities, as well as the enablement of technologies, such as cloud and green computing.”

Becoming a Trusted Advisor marks a stage in the development of your relationship with a client. It’s a state you aspire to achieve, not something to assert as your marketing catchphrase. That’s like calling yourself world-renowned; someone else needs to give you the label.

Adopting Trusted Advisor as your slogan masks a real problem: You are basing your marketing strategy on an unsupported claim, and that’s likely to fall flat in the market. Just because you declare yourself to be a Trusted Advisor doesn’t mean prospective clients will see you as such.

Your marketing goal must be to find highly credible points of differentiation for your business. And there are many options to do that, from marketing your ideas to touting your people. Making unsubstantiated assertions could be the weakest marketing strategy of all.

So why continue to use it?

If you want to learn more about the authors of The Trusted Advisor, you might be interested in my interviews with them on various subjects:

David Maister on Strategy and the Fat Smoker

Charles Green on Who and Why Clients Trust

Robert Galford and Regina Maruca on How Legacy Thinking Makes Better Leaders Today

Filed Under: Client Relationships, Marketing Tagged With: Client Relationships, Client trust, communication, differentiation, Marketing, Marketing Professional Services

Blogs I Like: Andrew Sobel

May 23, 2011 By Michael W. McLaughlin 2 Comments

From time to time, I pass along my thoughts on blogs or web sites that I read on a regular basis. Hopefully, you can gain as much benefit from them as I have.

Consultant Andrew Sobel publishes an insightful blog at www.AndrewSobel.com that focuses on the business of client relationships. You don’t have to be a management consultant to find this blog helpful. If you’re in a relationship-intensive business, you’ll find something of value on Sobel’s site.

The Voice of Authority

Sobel has worked for more than 25 years as a strategy advisor, executive educator, and coach. He’s written three books on building business relationships, including Clients for Life and All for One: 10 Strategies for Building Trusted Client Partnerships. And he’s written articles for most of the world’s major publications.

He uses his blog and web site to extend the concepts in his books and articles and to bring his latest thinking on developing client loyalty to his readers.

Comprehensive Content

This site offers a range of content from big thinking ideas to specific tactics, like how to have a perfect client meeting. If you read Sobel’s recent series of 10 posts called Things Clients Hate, you’ll have a great check list of things to avoid at your next client meeting.

You’ll also find dozens of articles, archived newsletters, and short video clips on the site.

I think Sobel does insightful work, and he shares his ideas freely. I’ve had an opportunity to interview him several times for Management Consulting News. Here’s a link to our most recent discussion on building client partnerships.

If you haven’t seen his blog, take a look. It’s worth having in your newsreader.

What blogs are you reading regularly?

Filed Under: Client Relationships Tagged With: client issues, Client Relationships, Sales Meetings, selling professional services

Sanity Check: 2 Phrases to Dump

May 20, 2011 By Michael W. McLaughlin Leave a Comment

When a client asks you a question, it’s tempting to begin your answer with a hackneyed phrase like “It depends” or “Yes and no.” You can avoid such clichés by asking qualifying questions before you respond. Engage in a dialogue that allows you to remove the assumptions that might lead you to waste words on prattle. Make your words count, and you’ll have more substantive conversations with your clients, learn more about their issues, and offer more relevant advice.