There is a perception that you need to be a “yes person” to have a successful client engagement. In our last episode Jason mentioned that the low barrier to entry in our space is partially responsible for this. In order to have a happy, satisfied client, you need to give them everything that they want, when they want it. In actuality, however, there are times when you need to exercise tough love with a client. This can also be extended to the pre-sales process when dealing with prospects. What forms can tough love take in the context of an engagement or sales? What times require a tough love approach?
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In simple terms tough love with clients within services aspect based on personal experience, the key take away is knowing when to push back. The other thought is being aware that it is good to set healthy boundaries.
A client wanted additional analysis that was not agreed upon and there were additional billable hours to complete the analysis. Telling client, this is what required he tried to get me cut the hours back and I said no. I left it open with the organization, and they decided to look at a less expensive resource.
I agree with what Jason said regarding adding value. Let me frame it this way. Every company – client I engage with my goal is giving them the best ROI for their investment. Now in some cases, I have dealt with clients who were looking for problems. Working for an e-commerce company after looking at the data and trends the site was performing well. Taking a deeper dive with their data the irony was they were converting better organically compared to there AdWords campaigns. The recommendation was to stop Adwords for 30 days. They received a apples to apples comparison. That was the last thing they wanted to hear. Odds are the person running the Adwords campaigns did not want to listen to that analysis from an outsider.
The funny story is being on the corporate side, serving internal clients there are times it all about asking the questions. During my time in the travel business, one team had significant issues with sales converting and I was dragged into the meeting. A considerable amount of finger pointing and screaming going on. The blame was coming at me, it is the site, the data is wrong, etc. The only way to get to the resort after you landed at the airport was by boat. It was in the South Pacific. At one point I called out the director and said to her do you know where it the problem is, and I told her the connection part to the resort aka the boat reservation does not close because of the time difference, and the developers cannot change the logic on our end. As the story goes, they found the boat. The director and I became good friends after that.