Biz Buzz

Vulnerability

In the 2008 edition of Course Trends, Vol. 26, No. 5, guest author Ross Shafer wrote about the vulnerability of customers and addressed ways to ease their anxieties.

 

Fast forward a few years and look around you.  Customers aren’t the only ones who are vulnerable right now.  Your clients have just as much fear as their clients used to have.

 

No one feels safe right now and with so much pressure to “make the sale, you may become vulnerable yourself by missing out on a key opportunity to help them.

 

Don’t let that happen. 

 

So, what can you do?  You can help your clients by following a few suggestions. Shafer advises, “Learn how to interpret your customer’s emotional state before, during and after the transaction.”  Applying this to your clients, what would that look like?

 

It would look like leaving your agenda and assumptions behind.  It would mean that instead of looking for ways to conduct business as usual, you actually took the time to assess the relationship to see where it currently stands.

 

When contacting your clients, do you usually start each phone call with a polite chat and then get down to business?  Try mixing it up.  Send a “thinking of you” note instead. No hidden agenda. No hidden motives.  Just a little something to brighten their day and let them know you see them as more than just “business”.

 

Are most of your interactions via email?  Ask if you can take your client out for lunch, your treat, and don’t plan on doing anything other than making sure they’re enjoying themselves.  Ask them what it’s really like for them right now.  Share with them that other businesses are dealing with tough situations, too.  Let them know they’re not alone and that you’re there to help them in whatever ways you can, even if it’s just to grab a quick bite to eat, no strings attached.

 

When people know you care about them, they remember why they chose to work with you in the first place.  It may take a bit more time, especially when you’re dealing with your own vulnerabilities, but trust me, when all is said and done, Shafer is right, “Customers will pay a premium price to someone who cares about them.”  The same is true for clients.

 

Try it.

Eyes and Ears

Here’s a quick tip the next time you’re preparing to meet with your clients.  A week or so before the meeting, create a Google alert for them and one of their competitors.

 

For the next few days, arriving via email, will be links to how people feel about them.  Read these.  Study them. Sift them and compare them to what you know yourself.

 

Why are you doing this?  Because you want to know what others are saying so you can step in and bridge any disconnect between who your clients are and who they want to be.

 

Doing this one thing will not only help you fine tune your offerings to best fit your clients needs but it will also give you a heads up as to what competing businesses are doing.

 

Being armed with that type of information will help you leverage your product offerings and adjusting what you do to better fit the needs your clients didn’t even know they have.