Some people believe success is based on what you know. Some believe it is based on who you know. Still others believe it depends on what you know about who you know.
No matter which theory you follow, your success is based in large part on your relationships with other people, specifically, your clients.
Whether we work in finance, engineering, or business or practice law, accounting, or consulting, we’re all in sales. If we want to succeed professionally, we have to bring in business. Sometimes that means selling the products or services of our organization. Other times that means obtaining funding for our projects from a larger organization, the government, or foundations. Regardless of with whom we are dealing, we have to connect.
Every firm has its rainmakers. Every company has its outstanding salespeople. The fundamental difference between those people and everyone else is that the rainmakers and the sales pros know how to help clients feel comfortable. Most of the substantive work a rainmaker brings into the firm is usually done by other, more junior people at the firm; the successful salesperson needs a team of support people to execute on the agreement once the sale is closed. But the rainmakers and sales pros get the credit, because they know how to connect with the clients and customers.
The easiest way to bring business into the firm is to get more business from your current clients. You gain and maintain clients by building relationships. While most client contact is over the phone, the real relationship-building takes place face-to-face. Since you get precious little face time with a client, you must use every minute of it to build a relationship, rather than to push your own information. In college, law school, or business school, you learned how to strategize an argument. On the job you learned how to strategize deals for your business and industry. Now you have to strategize your client meetings.
Before you sit down with your client, you want to accomplish two things. First, consider your communication weaknesses and the client’s communication needs. Second, put yourself in the proper frame of mind. Remember, the meeting is not about you and your “stuff.” It is all about the client and meeting the client’s needs.
Before you meet with your client, think about your tendencies as a communicator. Have you ever been told that:
Whatever your particular weakness—and we all have at least one—remind yourself about it as you strategize how you will run the meeting. Here are some easy approaches based on which of the above challenges you face.
If you are overbearing, remember to rein it in. Ask more questions. The assumptions you made before the meeting about the client’s concerns may be completely off base.
If you know you go off on tangents, prepare your notes carefully and use them to stay on track. Resist the urge to tell too many anecdotes. Respect the client’s time constraints.
If you tend to provide a “data dump,” reduce your explanations to simple statements and ask, “Would more information be helpful?” If your client says, “No. I get it,” go on to the next point. Just because you have the information doesn’t mean the client wants it or needs it. If the client says, “Yes. I would like to learn more about X,” you’ll be tempted to say, “Great. To really understand X, let me share A through W with you first.” Resist that voice. If the client says he wants X, give him X. Then ask again, “What additional information would be helpful?” If you think there is a specific point he should hear, ask, “Would it be helpful to hear more about Z?” Take your cues from your clients about what they want to hear.
If you tend to hesitate before taking a stand, preface your opinion by explaining that the question is a complex one, which requires some thought, or possibly some research. If you do not preface your answer and simply pause or waffle in your response, you may appear unsure of yourself. That can be fatal.
Consider the purpose of the meeting. What do you want to accomplish? Let’s say the ostensible purpose of the meeting is to share with your client the status of the project on which you are working. If you return to your office after the meeting having accomplished only that narrow objective, you will have missed a prime opportunity.
Instead, your main objective should always be simply to learn. Learn about the client’s concerns. What about this deal keeps her up late at night? How will this deal impact the client’s overall situation—for both the corporate client and the individual with whom you have contact? Why does she keep asking about a certain aspect of the matter that you consider unimportant? Because you are the expert and deal with these matters regularly, you may assume certain facts about the way the client views this matter. Assume nothing. Confirm everything.
Your level of success should not be measured by what you say during the meeting, as much as by what you hear. You should leave the meeting with a new understanding of how to service the client and ideas about what additional services the client may need. That’s your objective for every client meeting.
You will feel much more confident at a client meeting if you have a plan. An effective meeting strategy keeps the focus on the client, even at the sacrifice of your material and agenda. Remember, your only agenda in a client meeting is to meet the client’s agenda.
Your demeanor during the meeting is crucial. You should look happy about meeting with your client. Even if the matter at hand is not a pleasant one, you should look pleased at the opportunity to help. If you’re a lawyer or accountant, keep in mind that no one wants to meet with his lawyer or accountant. “Hey, let’s call the lawyers!” is rarely said with enthusiasm. Generally, when people meet with their lawyers they are not doing their primary function, which is to meet some bona fide business objective. You are the only person at the meeting who is going to bring any positive energy to the room. At the very least, you have to smile. Keep in mind that there are many terrific firms out there. Clients can get great legal or accounting services at any of them. They need to want to deal with you. Make the meeting pleasant.
If you’re in business, the same approach is important. You’re in business to solve other people’s problems. You should be excited to learn about their needs and convey the positive energy that says, “Let’s work together to get this done.”
Whatever exchange of pleasantries takes place at the beginning of the meeting, allow it to continue at the discretion of the client. Some clients need a lot of chitchat to feel comfortable with someone. Others want to get right down to business. Always open the door to a little banter, but take your cues from the client.
You and the client are both busy people. The meeting was scheduled two weeks ago, probably by each person’s administrative assistant. You have a vague sense of the purpose of the meeting. The client has completely forgotten why you are meeting. Once you are ready to get down to business, you should state as clearly as possible why you are there.
Begin by saying, “I appreciate your taking the time to meet with me to review the terms of our agreement.” Gauge the client’s response. Does she seem a bit puzzled by your statement? If so, ask whether your assumption was correct. You do not want to talk at someone for 20 minutes only to have him or her say, “Well, that is all very interesting, but I thought we were going to discuss the Acme deal, not the Smith situation.”
Once you confirm with the client the purpose of the meeting, the very next word out of your mouth should be “Before.”
“Before we get into that. . .”
“Before we get started. . .”
“Before I explain where things stand. . .”
You should then follow with an open-ended question, such as “What’s your greatest concern with the deal?” You may know what his greatest concern with the deal should be, but you won’t know his actual worries unless you ask.
By asking questions before you start talking about your issues, you communicate to the client that, although you have some very specific issues you would like to talk about, you are willing to scrap your entire agenda to talk about whatever is of concern to him or her. You let the client know that “This meeting is about you, not me.” Whether or not you ask open questions at this point in the meeting will determine whether the meeting is a true success. It takes a brave person to be willing to derail an entire meeting by opening the conversation to the unknown. But then, timid people never become the rainmakers.
If you ask the right questions, you will hear things you never expected to hear. The difficulty is knowing what you do with that information. You are better off hearing unexpected information and learning new ways to service your client, rather than not hearing the information and losing the business opportunity in front of you.
I start every client call and meeting by asking, “What else is on your agenda today?” or “What else has been going on here that would be helpful for us to discuss?” I’ve been amazed at the responses over the years. This simple approach makes the client pause and reflect on other problems he is facing that you might be able to help solve.
Be careful about the specific language you use. Remember, it’s all about communicating from the other person’s perspective. I’m surprised by how often a salesperson calling on our firm wants to discuss “opportunities to work together.” Personally, I am rarely sitting in my office trying to think of an opportunity to work with my telecom vendor, law firm, or accounting firm. As a buyer of the services, I have needs that the vendor sees as opportunities for more business for them. When you are talking to clients, speak from their perspective. Never talk about opportunities. That’s talking from your perspective. Ask them about their needs. That’s their perspective.
If the client indicates there are no other issues and clearly wants to talk about the specific purpose of the meeting, get to it. If the meeting is sidetracked with other client issues, determine whether there is an issue that you must resolve before you leave the client’s office that day, or whether everything you came in to discuss can wait until the next meeting.
Let’s assume you actually are able to discuss your issues. If the purpose of the meeting is to review a specific client service plan, clearly mark those items you want to discuss. Put tabs on pages to keep the client from wandering through the document. Highlight the specific language on the page to draw his or her attention.
After reading through the language you want to discuss, draw the client’s attention back to you. You want to have a conversation with each other, not with documents. Preface your analysis with language that will help pull the client’s focus out of the document, such as, “Let me explain why we chose that language” or “Let’s discuss why this clause is so important to meeting your objectives.”
Move through your points sequentially, letting the client know all along where you are headed.
Remember, the client cares less about what you want, and more about why he should want it. Tie every detail you share to a benefit to your client. To figure out the benefits to a client, think about the “universal motivators” of time, feelings, and money. How does your proposal save people time, make them feel good about themselves or their company, or save or make them money? If you can figure out the benefit to the audience, you will have a better chance of achieving buy-in for your ideas.
At the end of the meeting, clear action steps are needed. Most of the time, you must take the next step. Almost always, however, the client has certain duties to perform as well.
If your action items are not clear as to who does what by when, then nothing will happen.
After the meeting, immediately flesh out the notes you took regarding the client’s concerns. No matter how good you think your memory is, you will forget many of the subtleties of the discussion. As soon as you left the meeting, you checked your voicemail and had three urgent matters to attend to. By the time you got back to the office, 12 new emails had your brain going in 15 different directions. If you don’t take a few minutes to focus on what just transpired, you may be distracted and forget important nuances of the meeting. You will not be able to service your client the way you should.
As discussed in Chapter 5 on listening skills, here’s an easy way to flesh out your notes.
Of course, you must now follow up according to the action steps you laid out with the client. Any emails and voicemails should be short and to the point.
If you want to serve your client well and build a lasting relationship, make sure you maintain focus on your client when you are speaking. The first step to being a rainmaker is to improve the relationships you already have. The best way to accomplish that is in person. A face-to-face meeting with a client has far more impact than a series of phone calls. If you don’t normally meet with your clients in person, it’s time to start.