I’m going to be blunt.
The vast majority of businesses we come across fall short of providing every last ounce of value they can. And short change their clients as a result.
Now before you take umbrage and say, “Well, this doesn’t apply to me”, ask yourself this:
Are you always proactive when it comes to dealing with your clients’ issues? Do you always put yourself in their shoes, think about what it is they want and maybe need out of your product range and how you could help them achieve their goals?
No? First, congratulations on being honest, and know you’re not alone.
So why does this happen and what can you do about making sure you don’t fall into this trap?
No matter what the industry, be it professional services, manufacturing or retail, your clients initially want the benefit of your expertise and experience to solve a problem.
So you do what’s necessary and for many a consultant, that’s where it ends.
And this holds true even if you have a long term relationship providing ongoing services.
Over the years we’ve conducted hundreds of end user interviews on behalf of our clients. The interviews are designed to extract honest feedback as to how our clients could improve their services and provide more value.
In every case we’ve noticed a common theme.
In long term business relationships your clients consider you to be a “business partner” who helps them not only manage the day to day stuff in your area of expertise, but be proactive and recommend new strategies, technology etc., that will help them improve their businesses and lives.
In short, you’re a trusted advisor. And your clients absolutely expect you to be on the front foot with your advice and recommendations.
Clients want recommendations that reflect their particular circumstances. A common comment we’ve had in the Financial Planning space goes along the lines of, “They know us, our financial circumstances and the types of investments we’re interested in. So why don’t they come to us proactively and recommend a course of action? Why is it we have to chase them and ask about such and such?”
And we’re seeing exactly this with a new client in the IT Services space. They offer a “managed service” where they’ll keep your IT systems ticking over and make sure your data is secure, both from malicious types as well as disasters such as fire and flood.
And while their clients (just like the other businesses we’ve done interviews for) are extremely happy with their service, once again, they want more!
Their clients want them to give them advice regarding new technology, how it could fit into their business and lay out options for them. Then it’s up to the client to choose which way they want to go.
So the obvious question is why do so many service businesses fail to do this?
There are a few reasons.
One is they’re so caught up in the day to day management of whatever they do, they never take time to sit back and think about what else their clients might need.
Many consultants are technical in nature. And I don’t mean in a computer sense – their technical speciality might be accountancy, law or IT. Such people often have the mistaken belief that they’re not “sales people” and recommending a course of action which involves a client paying more money is alien to their psyche.
And finally, there are the “coaches”. Many a “business coach” was trained to allow their clients to come up with their own solutions rather than be directive and give recommendations.
In my own case I’d strayed down this track to such an extent that I actually had a client tell me I was like his psychiatrist as I asked so many questions and never gave him a recommended course of action. Others in a more or less direct way told me to tell them what to do. After all, I was the expert, wasn’t I?
I learnt my lesson and no longer make that mistake! Our clients pay us extremely well for our advice and recommendations. Advice and recommendations that have seen their companies double and triple in size.
By the way, any more than two to three choices will totally confuse most people and prevent them from taking action.
Every end user we’ve interviewed has happily told us that they’d love their consultants to provide recommendations, back them up with reasons and allow them to make the choice whether to go ahead or not.
By not providing this choice, they feel they haven’t been served as well as they could have been.
So if you’re not being proactive and recommending new products, services and ways of doing things not only are they missing out on more business, but you’re actually doing your clients a disservice.
Rashid.
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