Clients are friends, not food

A similar sentence from the movie "Finding Nemo" is the reason of the title of this article which will act as a master guideline on the following notes. Relations with clients, in a B2B perspective, will be the main event here.

To start with there is the concept "client". A client is a company that has already acquired some products or services from us, the vendor, or is a company that could (hugely) benefit from buying from us what we specialize in, being it a product or service.

We also have to deal with the concept "friends" stated right in the title. I am sure that many of you will disagree with the possibility, or need, for the clients to be friends with the vendor. Fair enough, let's just use the abstract concept of friendship and not necessarily the personal relation involved.

Last, but not the least we have the concept of "food", also as stated in the title. We need food to survive but once eaten, it disappears. We like food, for those with a gourmet palate it is, indeed, a fine and exquisite experience. For those with great hunger, they put it in the mouth swallow and that's it. One way, or another, there is no second thought about the food other than providing us pleasure at that particular time.

1. Clients

In terms of approach there are subtle differences from existing clients and clients to be. By now, everyone should know that the process to gain a new client is much more expensive than the process of keeping the existing ones. Also, a (happy) existing client is a secure source of more orders. New clients feed the pipeline and are a great source of knowledge to think about new functionalities derived from new requirements that keep popping from client's needs.

a) Existing clients

A client has contracted our solutions. Great! But that is just the beginning; it represents the green light of the start, not by any means the checkered flag of the finish line. I do emphasize this because many sales people believe that it all finishes at the first order.

The first order is the green light of Start, NOT the checkered flag of Finish

Selling something and walking away is commercially a shoot in the feet due to potential loss of business, loss of trust and loss of image, because no client is in an hurry to announce a good relation with a vendor, but they will all make sure of telling everybody about a bad experience and bad news travel fast.

The keep a healthy relation with an existing client there are several avenues that the vendor must be prepared to walk, not only for the benefit of future business with that client but also for the benefit of knowledge discovery due to client's specific business operation.

• Keep track of effectiveness of the product or service supplied. Periodic calls or visits just to make sure that everything behaves as expected. Usually during these informal meetings it is easy to find out about the "next need" the client is willing to implement. Even in case this need comes out in the form of a formal tender the vendor's position is much more facilitated because the client is happy with the present solution, appreciative of the support for the next step and receptive for discussing a list of requirements to be used for the tender.
• We must never forget Murphy's law. It is always there and it will act even within the most professionally prepared implementation of a solution. In this case it is wise to have a second contact, from the vendor side, to the client to act as a safety valve in a pressure cooker. This second contact may be from Quality Dept and is willing to contact the client independently from the Sales Dept. This allows the client to talk freely from any stress with the Sales people. Clients need to talk. Clients are afraid of what other may think about the way the project is going and, unless the vendor actually did a miserable job, after the steam comes out everyone is relaxed again.

Even if something goes wrong there is, absolutely, no place for personal heart-feelings. It is a professional relation.

• Other than the contacts above it is wise to have other people from the vendor's company to approach other client's departments for either selling different solutions, or to expand the use of the existing solution into those departments. The existing solution is already the best reference and either way it is a new sale.
• In case the existing client is not a sandwich eaten long ago and forgotten, it is always handy to keep the Marketing department involved in order to be able to get a case study where the benefits for the customer in using the solution the vendor provided are clearly shown. If there are obstacles surfacing when the question is asked then there is some issues to be resolved. Most clients want to show the world that they made a good decision, that they are surfing the new technologies and, hence, they are better supporting their own customers.

Clients want to tell the world they are better supporting their own customers

• Personally, I like to use the back-channels, such as Telegram or Signal, to communicate with key stakeholders at the client's company. Many potential issues are "defused" here without the need to formalize it through the formal channels where, usually, a number of people must be involved and all of them want to have a say. It is a win-win scenario because what matters is to have everything working perfectly within the expected delivery time. I even ask my contacts to let me know when they just "feel" (yes, intuition comes into play) that something may be going the wrong way, even if at the moment all is well; with the proper time slack, wonders are performed.
• As a support tool, even if there is not a formal help-center it is always very practical to encourage the client to send an email or a phone call outside working hours or working days. In large companies where everybody is ever so busy there is no time to think properly during working hours. It is only when people start to relax, namely during weekends, that ideas for improvement start flowing in. If during those epiphanies clients do send an email or a phone call and are answered back, their trust and confidence on the vendor climbs sky high

All the above, corporate and personal, attitudes will pass on to the client the message that he is not a mere popcorn basket that was finished at the contract signature, but he is a living entity we (the vendor) want to cherish, and testify a growing success.

b) New clients

How to get them? This has been the US$64k question since the dawn of sales. Should I mention the "Cold Call" exercise that everyone is terrified about? I do not mind performing cold calls but I must admit that nowadays it is getting harder and harder. People are flooded with all sorts of information in all sorts of formats and using all sorts of communication channels. One must, surely, be disruptive.

The vendor succeeds when the client turns his head, points at him and says "let's meet"

What makes a client turn his head? We are talking about the difficult one; the one that never heard of the vendor or the vendor's company...otherwise it would be easy wouldn't it? Please imagine the following imaginative scenario:

There is a trade exhibition based on super heroes. One of those super heroes is Batman and it just so happens I (the vendor) have a company that sells Batman's stickers to attach to anything. In order to speed-up things I have a computer controlled laser machinery to cut out all the stickers with different shapes. Should I use Marketing approach A, or B, described below ?

Marketing Approach A

My company will deliver excellent stickers with your favourite shape because with our mathematical equations, such as the one in the image which is responsible for our best seller, we can control our CO2 computer controlled laser to cut the shape needed.

We will be happy to show you how we arrive to the necessary equations and respective path optimization on the control of the CO2 laser so that we minimize the amount of unused sticker acrylic and, thus, satisfy more clients.

Marketing Approach B

We specialize in Batman stickers. This one is our best seller. It will stick in any surface and, other than this one, we are able to provide you with the shape you have always desired.

I would prefer Approach B, but that's just me based on experience; people do not care on how you do things or even what is your catalogue of things; they only care about their own benefits from buying your stuff. Nevertheless there are authorities in the matter that also claim such a choice.

Busy decision makers don't care about what you're selling. They only care about what it does for them. [Jill Konrath]

Having said this, it is obviously important that the vendor's company is based on the top notch technology in order to be the most effective possible. Client's interests are, thus, guaranteed since the error margin is minimal and their cost is minimum due to optimization of processes at the vendor's side. But the initial pitch to the person that "turns his head" and has the power to decide the order is of the essence. Then, this person will ask someone of his team to check out the technicalities. This is why corporate sites have landing pages showing the clear benefits for clients and with a «Learn more» button which direct the visitor to the details he wants to see, technical or otherwise.

2. Friendship

As I stated in the beginning the vendor has not to be, or to become, a personal friend of the client. In the broader sense, it would not even make sense because vendor and client are companies and may be very large companies where different people from the vendor may contact different people from the client. But, for the sake of argument, let's keep it simple and wonder about the person-to-person relation that must exist at any level. At the end of the day it is always a personal relation (Oh God, do take my word for it!).

So, there is a relation and as in any relation there are rules that sustain that relation. Let's analyze some of them that are relevant to our subject:

1. Show respect at all times: before there any kind of personal bond between two people is established, there is a commercial one that must be there. It is respect. In the way of talking, acting, etc. Always remember that it is not our own view of respect that matters here, it is the other party's view of respect. If I am introduced to a remarkable lady I will kiss her hand. As far as I am concerned it would be perfectly acceptable to kiss her cheek, but if she is used to hand-kissing, my action could be considered a lack of respect.
2. Never lie and keep your promises: it is very difficult to build confidence, but it will all collapse on the same second one is caught in a lie. If one never lies the other part will respect that and, even in weird situations, your word will prevail. In a commercial relation, there are always unfortunate situations where things do not go as we like: a mistake on a proposal, an installation that is slipping on time, whatever. We assume that, and we report it as is and discuss a way out in order to minimize the damage for both parties.
3. Keep communications channels open: it is very important that at anytime vendor and client may communicate without restrains. Eventually in certain cases there is no avoiding formal and delayed formats of communication, but well before that all parties must had the opportunity to talk freely and quickly. A business in only a good business if it is good for both, hence, all parties must be interested. Even when there is nothing to say, a quick call or a coffee will perform wonders for the relation, which at the end of the day is a commercial one.
4. Stay sweet: this is valid also for commercial relations, not only for family and usual friends. It comes up at times where the client is not fulfilling its commitments, such as not having honoured a scheduled payment. Option 1: one of the vendor's staff calls the client and shouts at the phone "you missed your payment and, therefore we are suspending all our work there until you pay us". Option 2: one of the vendor's staff calls the client and says "Gosh, I am having a problem with my CRM. When scheduling my work for you there is this red light showing here. Is there any problem I do not know about ? Can you help me sorting this out ?". Is there any added value for option 1? I guess not; option 2 also will prevent the work to be done, but leaves the personal door open to sort out the issue.
5. Never say "It's OK" when it is not: this may a corollary of statement 1 but it does happen a lot. It may happen, for instance, when the commercial guys hear technical requisites and do not talk to their own technical staff. Technical people may say it in order not to disagree with client. Whatever the situation this will lead to a bunch of problems down the road; eventually serious ones if the "It's OK" statement goes on record.
6. Forget about «Pride»: If one is wrong, one is wrong. If one forgot, one forgot. It does happen to all of us. Trying to maintain an argument or a situation when one is clearly on the shady side of the street does not provide any good to any of the parties.
7. If you say "sorry", mean it: to say the word "sorry" just to move on may be considered offensive and deep lack of respect. One does not have to say it if one doesn't understand why it must be said, but if one understands, then one must mean it in every way. In commercial terms "sorry" comes with some sort of compensation to the other party. It may just be symbolic but it is appreciated.
8. Two ears and one mouth: the trivial deduction does apply particularly to business relation. The vendor must ear more than he speaks. It is full with advantages. The more the vendor listens the more he knows about his client and the better job he will do. Also, the more the client talks, the happier he will be with the vendor who is understood to be there to capture his pains and solve them.
9. Discard irrelevant attitudes: people are sometimes rude, even unexpectedly rude. As far as my experience goes those attitudes are not related to you. Something went seriously wrong with the person talking to us and we are the moving target that happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Never discuss. Discard and move on.
10. Be Happy: no one, around you, will be fully happy if you are not. Happiness is contagious. Happy people think clearly. Happy people are more creative and more imaginative. Whatever you do, be happy doing it and tell the world your reasons.

Happy people think clearly. Happy people are more creative and more imaginative.

Conclusion

All the above are absolute trivialities (or they should be!) and this is the reason why the Pulitzer is evading me, yet once again. Nevertheless I believe I should share this with you, since at the warp speed we drive our daily lives by, we do not pay attention to the important, just to the urgent, that tends to repeat itself.