trish_tagle

When you hear that buzzword, what is it that you think of? I bet you, you feel that it means that customer is KING. Yes, you are right but wait, HOW do you define KING?

If you are of the mindset that customer is king and you must jump when he says so and ask “how high?” I am sorry my friend but you are on the wrong track. This doesn’t set up a beneficial collaborative relationship between you and your clients. It just set up the environment for disaster.

When I hear customer-centric, it reminds me of what Joshua Spodek stated in his article How to Pivot Like a Pro.

Joshua says: “… People don’t buy products and services because you think they solve their problems. They pay for things because they think you’ll solve their problems.”

And that is what customer-centricity is all about. Making sure that you are listening to your customer/client and hearing what it is that they really need and positioning yourself to deliver the solution. Let me add, in a manner that is honest and true to yourself and to the client.

That last statement reminds me of a conversation I had with a client awhile back. I asked him, to the consternation of client services, to tell me what he wanted to hear and that is what I would tell him. These were his options:

A. I would tell him what he wanted to hear (launch everything on their list by x date) and he can smile now and cry later (when we could not deliver because the ask was too much,

OR

B. I would tell him what the reality was on what we could deliver and how and he could be miffed now and really happy later when what we had promised is exactly what we delivered, bug-free and ON TIME; continuing to back-fill the rest of the content through phases 2 and 3.

With a sigh, he said to me, “Trish, tell me how this needs to proceed.”

So, I told him in no uncertain terms what we would deliver and when and how we were going to move through the phases of his projects. All out in the open and just plain honest. I wanted to deliver quality work that would meet his highest priority objectives. He agreed We delivered. On time. Like I outlined. He was over the moon. Home run for our team.

Had I not positioned it as us solving his immediate issues and continuing to deliver ON TIME on the rest of the work in a fashion that would not kill our teams or have us deliver subpar work, this client partnership would have broken down and future business would not have been possible.

I understand that for many this is a change in mindset, a stepping out of your “comfort zone” if I may use that overused term. This 180 degree change from “YES-ING” a client’s every whim to talking to them like adults; expecting them to react like adults creates collaboration beyond what you think is even possible. All it really takes is honesty, integrity, and maturity (Is that too much to ask? I think not). It might mean you practice some courage but you’ll get there.

The next time you go to talk to a client, listen very carefully to what they are saying, provide a prioritized solution that works for both of you, and move in the direction of creating TRUE customer-centric relationships not “bratty, whiny, agency will eventually fire client” ones. See this possibility, create the environment that will nurture this mindset. Trust you can do it and you will.

If you feel you need some support on creating this change in the way you think about client relationships or you feel your team needs assistance with this, don’t hesitate to reach out. I am always glad to help (info at invivoclarity.com).

Most of us have had one of those and if you haven’t worked with or around one, consider yourself lucky. The non-working co-worker. They exist and you are not sure how they get away with not working but they do.

The main reason they get away with what they do is that they are very good with managing up. They talk the talk with senior executives, the people they report to, and other people at their supervisor’s level. Working WITH or reporting to them is not such a great deal. It is frustrating, PERIOD.

I have had my own experiences with the non-working co-worker and have had a lot of people approach me asking me how to deal in this environment. Every situation is different and requires a different way of handling but here are some tips that I can give you that might (might) make life a little easier.

If you work WITH them as an equal:

• Go about your business as usual
• Keep them in the loop
• Do your best to keep your head in your work and not pay attention to what they are not doing, in other words, accept that there are things you are going to have to do yourself in lieu of them taking on the task.

If you work with them but do not report directly to them:

• Keep them in the loop
• Do not engage them directly, if you can help it. Talk to your supervisor (that is at the non-working co-worker’s level), who is hopefully an ally, and discuss the situation.  As your manager they should have your best interest at heart and help you find a solution to the situation

If you work with them AND report to them directly:

• Keep them in the loop
• Make sure that when you have time with them ask ALL THE QUESTIONS you have that would need their input
• There is some risk, but speak to HR or someone at your company that is more senior and is your ally — ask them for advice on how to manage the situation.

There are many other options including asking to move to another account or area of your business and the big one — quitting.

As I said in the beginning, most of us have encountered this type of person at some point in our career. These people are masters at being able to make themselves look good in the eyes of executive management and therefore keep their jobs (a lot of times get promoted even). Any co-worker that gets away with this behavior is definitely frustrating but even more demoralizing is leadership that doesn’t truly lead.

Try your best not to let these types get under your skin. They don’t want to do the work so figure out a way to play nice, get your job done, and ask for help from other people that are in a position to get you the support and answers you need.

I took a long leave at the end of the year to, you know, spend time with my family for the holidays. 2016 was, well it was a YEAR for sure and the break was much needed.

You know that paper that you are asked to write when you get back from summer vacation, well this is something like that but hopefully a little more than just an entry to get a grade in class. Aside from seeing old friends and having more time to exercise the physical instead of the mental, I came away with a lot more.

You Can Go Back.

Today it is called a course correction. The New Year always brings about resolutions or even reflection on what we have been doing and what we are hopefully going to do next. There are those of us that go from year to year, doing the same old thing, hoping that something will change. How about revisiting the time slightly beyond a year, two years? More? Where were you then, what were your goals? Did you have any? Are you developing any goals now? An action plan to make sure you know how to get there?

Yes, sometimes we find ourselves down a road we didn’t expect to take when we took the first new steps we did back then. If you don’t like where you are now, what correction are you going to make?

You have Learned Quite a Bit.

You may not have realized it but every day spent at work (and at life), you have learned something. Question is, is it something that you wanted to learn? Something more or less? Is there something you need to understand in order to be more effective at work? at life? What is it? It is your life, your job, to identify exactly what you need to know to move yourself forward … or not. Your choice. What is it that you are learning right now?

Relationships are Fluid.

Some relationships grow with you, make you grow or keep you back. Is there someone that keeps challenging you in a good way and you want to nurture that personal or work relationship? Is there someone that was good before and not so now? How are you going to handle those relationships this year? What boundaries are you going to set for those that need boundaries? What can you do to give back because much has been given to you?

I don’t necessarily believe in New Year’s resolutions but I’m not you. You need to do what works for you. I just hope I have given you something to reflect upon. Yes, we are at the end of January and though late — Happy New Year!

A friend of mine, who is extremely good at what he does, left his job recently. His supervisor was not a very nice person and he reached his limit when his supervisor told him that his paid time off was no longer going to be given to him and whatever time off he had, that was approved, was revoked. Needless to say, he was ticked off.  To reiterate, not only was his supervisor not nice (he used stronger descriptive terms) but she just decided to take away his vacation time.

Whenever I hear stories like this, it makes me wonder two things:

• How did this person achieve a leadership position, and
• WHY are they still in that leadership position?

Organizations exist to serve. Period. Leaders live to serve. Period.    —  Tom Peters    

I have always believed that and always will. I believe that I have many times, through my blog reiterated this sentiment. The higher up you go, the more you are there to help those that report to you achieve their goals and help them achieve the goals of the organization. You are not in a position of leadership to throw your weight around and treat people like they do not matter.  Who cares what titles you have under your name on your business card, be it CEO, EVP, MD, whatever? Who cares? If you do not treat the people in your organization in a way that spells out that you are a leader, a role model, then why are you in that position?  Was it more about WHO YOU KNEW? If that is the case, then what does that say about the organization as a whole?  Reflect on that.

So many people are disillusioned with corporate because a great number of times promotions are based on who you rub elbows with more than whether or not you are deserving.  One agency I worked for had people in leadership positions that knew nothing about the department they were leading. In addition to this, they gave the plum assignments or coddled the direct reports that were part of their clique.  As a leader, being fair and impartial are part and parcel of your job description and if you cannot live up to that, then you need to step aside.

As human beings, we will always have people that we tend to gravitate to but we have to be able to separate that when we are making judgment calls on people’s performance.

Back to leaders and serving. In this past year we have seen several C-Suite leaders negotiated out of their positions because of the horrible behavior they have exhibited towards their people and the opinions they expressed in the media. Thank goodness is all I can say.  But this advice doesn’t just go for those at the very very top, it goes out to all of us.  Sometimes we have to make hard decisions, sometimes the people who report to us don’t necessarily like the decisions we make but if you were looking out for your team’s best interests from the beginning, if you were serving them as you led them, these hard to swallow decisions would have been a lot more palatable because you served them in the right way.

Someone I know posted a list that had to do with Confucius and his 10 life changing lessons. Ok, I like Bruce Lee and his “be water, my friend,” philosophy, so I bite.  I get to #4 and there it is.

“When it is obvious that goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, but adjust the action steps.”

Wait, what?

Sorry, Confucius.  I know you are recognized as a sage for the ages but I respectfully beg to disagree. It plainly states, the goal CANNOT be reached, so what do you mean adjust the action steps?

If you have tried to climb it, go around it, go under it or even to blast through it and the danged “IT” is still there, I think you need to re-think your goal.  Not all goals are attainable so instead of changing your action steps, change your goal. Learn from your mistakes and change your course; nothing wrong with that.

Maybe the person that wrote this and I are not using certain terms in the same manner? That is a possibility.

I cannot really equate what “Confucius” was saying to failure because it is saying something different altogether, at least to my understanding. What I can equate it to is not recognizing failure.  The quicker you are to understand and accept that “IT” is is not feasible, the closer you will be to something that may be achieved.  Happy trails!

Are you a business, large or small, that has some client situations you wish you could learn how to deal with better? Do you wish your client would stay (as the title says). You seem to be able to acquire them but you don’t seem to be able to upsell them or worse, retain them?

Sometimes the project work that you are doing with a client is a one and done so the expectation is that they will leave when the project is complete. Or should they? Wouldn’t it be nice if you can keep them around longer by upselling them?

Research states that a lot of clients leave the companies they are working with because they don’t feel that they are being provided with enough information around how the work is being done or even what is being done, in a timely manner.  Is this one of your problems? Why is transparency about the work that is being done an issue?  Do you feel that opening up this conversation with the client may open up a can of worms?  There are ways that you can do this without actually showing your hand, you just have to know how to communicate.

Another issue clients have with with the companies they work with is that they were made to feel like they were gold when they were being courted but after they had signed on, they turned to brass. Does this happen at your agency?  Why would that be? Are you stretched too thin to be able to properly maintain the client relationship? Are there other issues in your way?

We all know it is less costly to retain the clients that we have than to acquire new ones. So how do we do that?

I have a free webinar coming up that will help with these issues.

Come join me and see if the solutions that are provided here will help move the client needle for you — in the RIGHT direction.

Talk soon!