If you work in a client-facing role, you know how important it is to deliver value, build trust, and maintain relationships. But how can you improve your performance and stand out from the competition? Here are some strategies that can help you achieve your goals and impress your clients.
The first step to improving your performance is to understand what your clients want and need from you. This means asking the right questions, listening actively, and clarifying their expectations. You should also research their industry, challenges, and opportunities, and tailor your solutions accordingly. By showing that you care about their success and that you can provide relevant and valuable insights, you will establish yourself as a trusted advisor and partner.
This is the main reason why relationships with clients improve over the years if handled appropriately. We get to know their mindset over time and accumulation of histories help in understand decision making process. Many cases that I have seen, however, are that we take relationships for granted, resulting in loss of hunger in providing the best solutions for our clients and ended up taken over by newer relationships. Always provide new perspectives to existing clients and remember that even long relationships require innovations to make it long lasting
Knowing your customers’ needs is essential for delivering excellent services. Using this information to our advantage can help us tailor the services and product offerings. With it we could also maintain a good communication by offering continuous improvement.
This is a very interesting topic to address. From my experience, I suggest: Master the art of empathetic espionage by creating "Client Personas" that go beyond demographics, delving into their aspirations and fears, allowing you to tailor your approach with surgical precision. Transform meetings into collaborative adventures by initiating "Solution Sprints," where client and team co-create ideas on the spot, fostering dynamic engagement and demonstrating your commitment to addressing their evolving needs. Unleash the power of AI-driven analytics to predict client preferences, enabling you to anticipate needs before they articulate them, positioning you as a proactive ally rather than a reactive service provider.
In my experience, this is what matters: 1. Empathy: Walk their shoes, tailor solutions. 2. Communication: Speak their language, use body language to inspire confidence. 3. Proactive: Anticipate needs, surprise with resourcefulness. 4. Relationships: Build bridges, remember names, make them feel valued. 5. Adaptability: Learn like a sponge, flex your approach, embrace feedback. Master these, and watch your performance skyrocket.
It is always important to gather as much details as possible about the client. What kind of services they are receiving, from whom and what are their pain points? Always pitch to the client more as a solution provider who can address all their issues with a bouquet of services than as a mere vendor. Demonstrate real concern to address clients issues to win the trust and confidence. Give clear cut deliverables with timelines along with competitive pricing to win the deal!
The second step to improving your performance is to communicate effectively with your clients. This means choosing the appropriate channels, frequency, and tone for your messages, and ensuring that they are clear, concise, and consistent. You should also avoid jargon, acronyms, and technical terms that might confuse or alienate your clients, and use simple and positive language instead. Moreover, you should always follow up, confirm, and summarize your conversations, and keep your clients updated on your progress and deliverables.
Listen to understand. Really listen. Within the conversation and authentic relationship with your client you will be able to understand how you can truly add value.
Active listening plays a very important role in a client facing role.Use of open ended and closed questioning technique will allow you to be able to get maximum information.Paraphrasing needs to be done as well so that you and your customer are on the same page.Postive body language and choice of simple words instead of jargons will help potray the message that you are listening.Your customer needs to updated on the next steps throught your interactions so that they understands the progress of their request and the delieverables.
One of the most important aspect of client management is effective communication. Your communication must be proactive and timely. If you anticipate a delay in delivery due to uncontrollable situation, you must proactively communicate this to your client. Your style of communication must be simple and clear. Remember to send notes on clients meetings with clear cut actionable items. Have the right person in your team to handle the regular client communications.
The third step to improving your performance is to manage your time wisely. This means setting realistic and achievable deadlines, prioritizing your tasks, and avoiding distractions and procrastination. You should also plan ahead, allocate enough time for each client and project, and use tools and techniques that can help you organize and track your work. By managing your time effectively, you will not only meet your deadlines and quality standards, but also demonstrate your professionalism and reliability.
I would recommend the following in this regard : 1. You can’t afford to miss on customer commitments and so it is very important to manage your time. Develop a calendar to manage clients. 2. Never procrastinate on client related work! 3. Use technology to track progress of your client project for efficiency. 4. While doing important tasks relating to customer, give 100% focus with no distractions. For example work on customer contract requires detail attention span. 5. Make sure you are not over committing on deliverable timelines and are realistic based on the resources available.
Prioritisation is key. It's easy to get caught up with a laundry list of tasks but it is especially crucial that you stay anchored to your initial, mutual agreement with your client as a way to keep on target and within timelines. This will assure your client that you not only care about the foundations but that you remain committed and steadfast in delivering the solution(s).
The fourth step to improving your performance is to solicit feedback from your clients. This means asking for their opinions, suggestions, and concerns, and listening to them with an open mind. You should also thank them for their feedback, acknowledge their points, and act on them accordingly. By soliciting feedback, you will not only show that you value their input and satisfaction, but also identify areas of improvement and opportunities for growth.
Clients appreciate seeking feedback on services. Demonstrate to client as to how much you value their feedback by taking prompt action on their concerns. You must always remember to thank them for spending time to give feedback resulting in improved services. Never forget that “ Customer is King”!
I’d suggest refining this to solicit feedback along the way at regular intervals. Clients like being checked in with, because it eases the burden of starting that type of communication, especially if the feedback is neutral or negative. Some individuals are not comfortable delivering that type of news, so make it easy for them. In turn this makes it easy for the team to course correct along the way and maintain client satisfaction.
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I've found it helpful to ask this set of questions in my quarterly business reviews and whenever I suspect my client is unhappy or at risk. I call it my "Partnership Happiness Check": 1. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being best), how do you feel we are performing to your expectations? 2. Can you share more about why you chose that rating? 2. What recommendations would you have that could help us get that rating up to a 10?
The fifth step to improving your performance is to learn and improve from your experiences. This means reflecting on your strengths and weaknesses, analyzing your results and outcomes, and seeking new knowledge and skills. You should also seek mentorship, coaching, or training from others who can help you develop your competencies and capabilities. By learning and improving, you will not only enhance your performance and confidence, but also adapt to changing needs and expectations.
Every successful organisation develops a process for continuous improvement. We must create documentation of all our learnings and experiences to apply for future instances. Use necessary Training program to enhance skills and competencies. Today’s Business environment is dynamic and the Organisation must be flexible to adapt itself to changing needs of its customers using learning and development.
The sixth and final step to improving your performance is to build rapport with your clients. This means showing genuine interest, respect, and appreciation for them, and finding common ground and shared values. You should also be friendly, courteous, and respectful, and use humor, compliments, and gestures to create a positive atmosphere. By building rapport, you will not only create a lasting impression and relationship, but also increase your influence and loyalty.
A lot of times people begin to build rapport and then suddenly (impatiently) jump into a work related conversation. I reckon that one should only have a general work related dialogue in the first meeting and leave the decision making for later, especially ion you really don't have a good rapport with the client at the time. Sometimes it helps to just share a personal piece of information, may be work related, which on its own does not shed a negative light on you or your organisation but at the same time conveys a feeling of personal sharing.
To me, building a strong rapport is about: 1. Not always being a "yes person". People appreciate and respect candor and authenticity delivered with respect. 2. Always do what you say. If you can't, or can't deliver on time, communicate early, often, and openly. 3. Get to know them as a person, and let them know you. Remember their kids' (or pets') names, their favorite things, where they're going on vacation, etc, and ask about them from time to time.
In order to improve performance in a client facing role, one must first make sure one spends time to fully understand the client's needs, goals and challenges. The more you understand, the better position you are to provide tailored, valuable advice and solutions. For this matter, make sure you ask plenty of questions and listen more than you talk
Follow up…follow up…follow up! I worked in both the public and private sector and I can not tell you how many times vendors only approached me when it was time to renew the contract. Clients want a partner not a vendor. So ensure you are showing up the entire year not just when it benefits you.
While understanding their needs is extremely important, I think that assessing what other competitive offerings are on the table which they can consider and give the business to your competition, is also very important. You can in the course of your offering, make them realise what flaws or loopholes exist in the alternatives that they may be considering, based on your in depth knowledge of the competition and its capabilities. It is always good to have a good interpersonal relationship with your clients where they may share specifically as to what other product is being considered along with yours.
Cultivate honesty; clients value transparency over polished narratives. Be the advisor who dares to challenge assumptions and deliver inconvenient truths. Authenticity builds trust faster than a rehearsed smile. It's not about always telling clients what they want to hear; it's about guiding them toward what they need to hear. The road to lasting success is paved with uncomfortable conversations, not just polished presentations.
Remember that as a client facing executive you are not just selling a product or service but rather you're building relationships. The stronger and the more positive those relationships are, the more successful you'll be in your role.
Clarify the best possible win win situation for the longest partnership between customers and vendors are important. Therefore besides Business operations, negotiations skill also important to get the things done.