Customer Relationship building
Copyright (c) 2007 Chiswick Consulting Limited
Here's the scenario. You receive a phone call a client. He asked to negotiate your current fee structure as it is looking for a discount of 15%. In addition, it is to want to change your head project that worked with him for over 2 years.
You have two ways to respond – discuss cooperative or competitive challenge.
Unfortunately, you choose the second option. You are confident about the work you've done so far and the quality of project manager and do not see why should you wish to modify or even why they should get a discount of 15% despite spending more than £ 100 000 per year each year.
After half past one slinging mud, the client informs you that not only will they cancel the existing project, they will cease to work with you to the future predictable. What went wrong?
This hypothetical scenario illustrates what can happen when we assume that we know where the other part is coming from.
What you do not know is that your client is about to undergo major restructuring, downscaling its existing operations and acquiring a new company in a related field. The Chief just wanted a new project manager who had a deeper understanding of the new business customer has been buying and expenses were reduced to reflect activity significantly lower in the short term.
The harsh reality is that maintaining a healthy customer relationship is a ongoing exercise that requires much work. How many times have we celebrated winning a major tender to think that the relationship is in the bag, "saying as long as we deliver the technical content of the customer is happy and we have more work. Consultants can not rely on the technical aspects (object) expertise alone manage the ups and downs of a relationship.
Consultants who take time to build Customer Relationships are more likely to survive in difficult times.
So how can consultants build and maintain these customer relationships effectively:
1. Focus on the process – to avoid bogged down in technical details, your expert can deal with it. Focus on the big by asking: "What is really happening here? "" What are these customers saying? "" What are their real needs behind it?
2. Influence behind the scenes – Research suggests that up to 80% of the official outcome of negotiations is determined before the actual face-to-face, so use the time leading to a meeting or planned interaction with wisdom. Get the facts, safely test the probable positions with client representatives (perhaps a colleague or directly related to your main client contact) and work through the scenarios of each option and other desired results.
3. Finding common ground agreement – whatever the fate of difficult relations, there is always a common ground on which to build a solid foundation. Search for Common Ground each customer interaction. The ground, you can make, personally and professionally, the toughest of the relationship will be. Keep in question "What we both want?"
4. Discover the real needs of the other party – Expert negotiators are characterized by exposing the real needs or underlying the other party early in any relationship, allowing more open discussion of issues and, finally, a better result. Ask open questions to get answers deeper customer. Constantly asking questions and listening means you'll learn the hidden clients happy and unhappy.
5. Managing your style – in our example, we had two choices of style to meet to customer issues – cooperative or competitive. The problem is that we chose our default or emotional reactionary style – getting angry and defensive. A skilled negotiator recognizes the power of adapting your style to meet the situation. Some situations require you to "act" in a style contrary to your personality – for example, naturally cooperative consultants may have to become more competitive to assert their authority, for best results. So be aware of your trading style and be prepared to exercise your style depending on the climate of the relationship.
6. Have a map – how often professionals plan and write their approach to managing interactions with customers? Our data suggest that rare. The negotiation of a period of three minutes to three years, going through phases of systematic introduction, differentiation, integration and settlement. Once you understand the chronology of any negotiation, you become a skilled negotiator in defining the action and assert your position more accurately.
management expert customer relationship know and understand that managing expectations is a skill day progress and that each customer interaction is an opportunity to positively influence the customer perception about your value as a trusted advisor.
About the Author
Pam Kennett and Crispin White are co-owners of Chiswick Consulting Limited, a management consultancy specialising in HR and marketing. They have particular expertise working with professional service companies. Contact them at crispin@chiswickconsulting.com or pam@chiswickconsulting.com or visit http://www.chiswickconsulting.com for more information.
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