Bitter truth: There are no universal recipes for communicating with a client. There are only lessons learned from concrete precedents. There is a bitter truth in today's world that there are no universal recipes for communicating with a client. There are only lessons learned from concrete precedents. As
PayToWritePaper site workers tell us, each client has different desires and requirements for the work they order, even if it is an ordinary essay.
The only thing you can more or less rely on when communicating with a client is the number of hours you have spent at the same table with them and the number of years in the environment that you have in common. Simply put, experience. As practice shows, trying to read people and their thoughts does not always lead to success.
What you need to know about the client
From a formal point of view, a client is a legal person who has a question that needs to be analyzed and solved. But this attitude in the process of communicating with representatives of the client will not help you in any way. You should always remember that any business is a communication on the level of H2H (human to human). Forms of communication can be very different, but the questions will always come from a specific person. The decision of whether to buy your project will also be made by a specific person or group of people.
No matter how complex the corporate world may seem, it is still a world run by people. Each of these people is a separate unit, a point surrounded by a huge number of psychosocial circles: life experience, self-perception, family, friends, acquaintances, school, university, work, the country in which one lives. When you communicate with a person, you communicate with all his circles, as they influence him in one way or another. In today's world, getting to know a person's personal pages in social networks already allows you to get to know him or her at first sight and get an idea of him or her before the meeting.
Your client is also his specialty, the department in which he works, the company and its corporate culture, the industry. Marketers are different from financiers, people from the oil business are different from those who work in IT. All this is obvious, but not every consultant tries to grasp these differences and use them as an advantage.
Different personality classification models like DISC, MBTI and many others can also be useful tools for effective communication. But don't think of them as entertainment. If you're going to use them, learn to understand them. Learn how to distinguish personality types and how to communicate with each of them.
However, even if you think you know how to communicate perfectly with a client, there's always the moment factor. You might just show up at the wrong time. It's not so easy to be in the right hour with the right agenda. Avoiding such mishaps is probably the same only way - get to know the client well and communicate with him long and attentively.
Remember, what are you for?
It happens that the meeting of a client with a consultant may leave the impression that the consultant needs the project more than the client does. But in fact, everything is a bit different: the client agrees to the meeting if the consultant was able to generate his interest or he has a question, which means that in spite of possible prejudices, you need each other equally.
The specific purpose of a potential or current project often depends on who your customer is. Shareholders, for example, want results: what is ineffective should become effective. But if your services are bought by a manager, there are situations when it is done to get an ally in your person. Keep this in mind if you don't want to give the client an answer they weren't expecting from you. It is better to discuss in advance what will be the result of your work.
If you do not remember these features of business communication, you can get into a very awkward situation. Imagine: you are presenting a project with a solution that will increase the efficiency of the business, but the client refuses to accept it. But what if long ago he himself had something to do with the inefficiency you discovered? In such a situation, it is important that the solution you propose is a continuation of a previous course, rather than a complete rejection of it.
More importantly, you should not praise yourself in front of the client, shouting about what you can do and what you will achieve. If you really want to sell yourself successfully, first explain why you are interested in the project. Then the client will understand what results he can expect and why you should be trusted to solve the problem. As sentimental as it may sound, it is necessary to reach not only the brain, but also the heart.
What to do if the client has a complaint about your work
Your customer is a living person with his own experiences, his dissatisfaction is not always related to your work. To know what the problem is really, try to get into the client's position and find out the reason for their objections. Perhaps this situation can be avoided by providing preliminary results, discussing the findings in advance or even just talking to the client's team. Everyone, from managers to assistants to assistants, can help you understand what the client expects from you and what you should expect.
If you make a mistake, don't make excuses under any circumstances. It's like pouring gasoline on a fire and thinking that this will put it out. It is important to leave the initiative in their hands. To do this, pause, wait until the client expresses his point of view, assure him that you understand his concerns, get to the heart of the problem. Be sure to get into his position and make every effort to smooth over, and better to fix the situation. And be sure to apologize.
In case the cause of the client's dissatisfaction is the result of the work of your colleagues, do not blame them and do not support the accusation. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding, perhaps it was an emotional reaction. In any case, it is necessary to proceed from the fact that in your team - smart and respected professionals. Surely you would want your colleagues to do the same for you in a similar situation.