Secrets to Optimal Client Service

so the topic today is secrets to Optimal
client service so what are the
rules of thumb you can use to deliver
optimal client service
and I think these rules of thumb apply
whether you're an investment banker
or a Management Consultant or a lawyer
or any professional
person who finds himself in a position
to be working with or covering clients
so what are the what are the heuristics
what are the rules of thumb that you
should use when you cover clients
the first
is to never use jargon
never use jargon with a client
so you're all in school
you are learning jargon terms
you are practicing those jargon terms
with each other with your friends with
your colleagues with your professors
when you graduate
you will go and work at a firm
in your chosen profession
and you will continue to learn more
jargon terms and practice those with
your colleagues
you will become very familiar with those
terms it will become habitual to use
them it will roll off of your Collective
tongues
don't use them with clients
if you're a lawyer
you'll learn terms like summary judgment
or res judicata if you're an investment
banker you'll learn terms like
Enterprise Value
or kager or cap m
don't use those with clients
if you do chances are the client won't
understand the term you're using
and there's even a greater chance that
if they don't understand it they will
not ask you what it means
they don't want to appear foolish so
they won't ask you so what will they do
they will sit there in silence
not understanding
the term
feeling foolish
and resenting you
for making them feel that way so don't
use jargon
the second rule of thumb the second
heuristic
that you should use or follow when
covering clients
is to pause
pause when you're talking with clients
when you're presenting
why should you do that there are three
reasons why you should do that
the first reason is if you're presenting
to a prospective client or a
an existing client chances are you're
nervous
and when you're nervous you speak more
quickly the Cadence of your voice of
your speech picks up
pause
if you pause it will slow you down it
will make you appear less nervous
to the client
it also has a unique positive feedback
effect if you pause
it actually calms you down
you feel less nervous
so pause to slow yourself down the
second reason to pause
is because when you pause
you create an empty space
you create a vacuum
a space into which the client is likely
to ask a question or make a comment
that's good
you want
your presentation not to be a speech you
want it to be a conversation a dialogue
pausing
encourages dialogue it encourages
comments questions from the client
the third reason to pause
is because there is by definition by
Nature
a power imbalance
that exists the client
has power
you
have less
pausing
creates uncertainty
that uncertainty serves to slightly
shift the balance in your favor
so pause
when talking with clients when making
presentations to clients or prospective
clients pause
the Third Secret to delivering
optimal client service
is to look for opportunities to give the
client advice that is contrary to your
own interests
look for opportunities to give advice to
your client
where the advice is contrary to your own
interest
for example if you and your firm only
get paid
if a transaction is consummated
advise the client not to consummate the
transaction
if that makes sense for the client of
course
there's no more powerful way to
establish credibility with a client
and to give them give them advice that
they know is not in your interest
an example I just gave they know you're
not going to get paid
and your firm's not going to get paid
they give me the advice you just gave
them not to close the transaction
so look for opportunities
to give the client advice
that is not in your interest
number four
the fourth heuristic the fourth rule of
thumb to use when
covering clients in order to deliver
optimal client service
is to ask open-ended questions
ask open-ended questions
avoid questions that lend themselves to
yes no answers
so for example
instead of asking the client
are you worried about competitors
entering
your Market space and taking market
share away from you
instead of asking that question ask the
client what are you worried about
what are your concerns
you want to ask open-ended questions for
two reasons
the first reason
is because you want to get the client to
talk
people enjoy talking about themselves
that may sound cynical but that is a
fact
so the more you get the client to talk
about themselves
they're more they're going to enjoy the
meeting
and the more they are going to associate
interaction with you
in a positive way so ask them open-ended
questions ask them questions about their
background
ask them questions like what was it like
founding this company
what was it like in the early days why
did you find found the company
so the first reason to ask open-ended
questions is because you want the client
to talk it will make the client's
experience better the second reason
is it will help you do your job better
you'll learn things from the client
about the client you'll learn
what the client's biases are what their
interests are what their passions are
what their fears are that will help you
do your job better
so ask open-ended questions
because the client will enjoy the
meeting more because you will learn more
about the client and you will do your
job better
five the fifth Secret
the fifth heuristic the fifth rule of
thumb to use
when covering clients to deliver optimal
client
service
is to be positive
be upbeat people like to be around
people who are positive and energetic
and upbeat
so when you walk into a meeting and the
client asks you how you're doing your
answer should always be something like
great thanks are you
it should never be something like oh my
gosh I'm having a horrible day
I lost my cat I'm really worried about
him
don't do that
okay the client May react with sympathy
but it's not the right thing to do you
have been hired to solve problems for
the client you have not been hired and
you are not there to foist your problems
upon the client
be upbeat always always be positive
number six
be careful
about mixing
business
with social activities
I almost never do this personally others
do
and it can work well for people I don't
do it
but if you do or you
do it to some extent make sure you have
a bright line and you don't cross that
line
I remember when I started at Goldman
Sachs long time ago
I had come to the firm
with a lot of new Associates we had come
from all
different graduate schools the best
schools all over the country in the
world
and two months into my associate
training class program
I wrote down a list of the 10 people
the 10 new Associates who I thought
would be most successful five years
later most successful at this job most
successful at delivering optimal client
service so of the hundreds of new
Associates at Goldman Sachs I wrote down
a list of the people who I thought the
10 well I thought in five years would be
the best
and then I pulled this list out
five years later and I was dead wrong
so on my list of 10 most of them weren't
even at the firm anymore they have been
fired or quit
and those who were were struggling
the criteria that I use the
characteristics that I looked for were
almost Contra indicators
of success
in delivering client service
I thought
it would be helpful and important if you
had passed sales skills
past sales experience
I thought it would be important and
helpful if you were a
good schmoozer
I thought it would be helpful if you
were good at golf
or tennis
in my experience none of those things
matter none of them matter
clients hire you because you're smart
because you work hard
period full stop
so be smart
work hard clients do not hire you
because you can take them out to a fancy
dinner
so be careful about mixing
business
social activities
number seven
th heuristic the seventh
rule of thumb to use to deliver optimal
client service is to be humble
be humble so when you're asking those
open-ended questions that I talked about
earlier
about the client's background
about their business
make
comments that indicate humility that are
complementary to the client that
indicate humility on your part
being humble is endearing so make
comments like
what you have done with your company is
extraordinary
it's very impressive
comments like I could not hope to know a
fraction of what you know
about your business now by the way make
sure these comments are genuine right
the comments I just made those two
comments I could make and would be
genuine about just about every client
with whom I have worked over the last 30
years
be humble it's endearing
number eight
the atheistic
is to be
responsive and available to clients
you want to tell the client up front you
want to tell them up front immediately
that they are important to you
you should tell them that you should
also tell them that you will be
available to them whenever they need you
tell them that but you need to back that
up
by doing the fog you need to be
responsive when they call you call them
back immediately when they email you
email them back immediately respond
immediately
you may not know the answer to their
question on their email
or the one they're asking you on the
phone call that's fine it doesn't matter
respond immediately
let them know you're going to get the
answer but be responsive
and this is particularly important in
the early stages of a relationship it's
particularly important
early on because first impressions
Die Hard
and you want to make a good impression
you want to give the client the
impression
you want to leave them with the
impression that they are important to
you
and that you will be responsive
tell them
they can reach you anytime
and then follow that up by being
responsive
be responsive to the client be available
number nine
the ninth rule of thumb
when covering clients to follow
is to take a position
clients are hiring you to give them
advice
so tell them what to do
don't equivocate
don't back down don't be nervous tell
them what you and your firm would advise
them to do that is what they want
they want you to tell them what to do
it's fine to present options
but advocate for one option
tell the client what to do take a
position
number 10 the 10th
heuristic the 10th secret to delivering
optimal client service
is to control the meeting
so
if you're meeting with a with a client
or a prospective client
it's your meeting
it's not anyone else's meeting
don't let anyone hijack the meeting
don't let the client
or anyone on the client's team or anyone
else in the room hijack the meeting
don't let them distract you don't let
them take you off topic
if someone asks you a question that's
unrelated to the topic that you are
discussing your response should be
something like
great question
I'm going to get to that in 10 minutes
or hold that thought it's a great Point
although it's always a great point
I'm going to cover that shortly
do not let them Sidetrack you if you do
you'll do a bad job
for the client you'll do a bad job in
the meeting you'll lose the confidence
of the client
and you'll get sidetracked you won't
deliver the meeting
in the way that you would like you won't
cover all of the material the client
will suffer and you will suffer control
the meaning do not allow
anyone to hijack your meeting
number 11. 11th Secret
and this is the final one
is have an agenda
have an agenda
and write things down
walk into your meeting with an agenda
and then communicate that agenda to the
client right up front
start the meeting by saying
today we thought we'd cover the
following things
one
two
three
does that make sense
ask does that make sense
you want the client to buy into the
agenda from the very beginning
you want the client to own the agenda
with you from the very beginning
if the client says well I'd like to add
the following no problem add it the
client wants to remove anything from
your agenda no problem remove it
but agree on the agenda
and if you do the client will have
bought into the agenda and will have
gone a long way toward buying into the
contents of your entire meeting
have an agenda communicate the agenda up
front get the client to buy into the
agenda and then write things down during
the meeting it doesn't matter whether
you think you need to write them down or
not doesn't matter whether you have a
photographic memory write things down
you do that because when it's endearing
to do that but two you want to convey to
the client that you are not going to
drop a ball that you are not going to
forget to do anything
that you've told them that you're going
to do
so write things down and at the end of
the meeting recap the follow-up items
recap them
say
so we have the following
items that we're going to follow up with
you on one
we're going to revise the model and send
it to you in a week
two
we're going to
wait for you to send us the new numbers
on your Revenue forecasts if you haven't
sent them to us by Friday we'll send you
an email
to remind you three
tomorrow we'll send you follow-up dates
and times for suggestions for our next
meeting which we should schedule in
three weeks Etc
recap the follow-up items
the client will
feel less than less anxious they will
feel like this person is in control
and this person is not going to drop a
ball the analogy I use here
goes back to one of the most basic kinds
of client service
being a waiter
when you walk into a restaurant and if
you're with nine of your friends that 10
of you sit down waiter comes over to the
table
and each of you orders order a drink and
an appetizer and a main course and some
side dishes and the waiter doesn't write
anything down
and doesn't recap
what it is that all of you ordered I can
guarantee you that there's some people
at that table who are somewhat anxious
about what they're going to actually get
in 15 minutes when the food comes out
you do not want your client
to be anxious
about the fact
that you may or the idea that you may
forget to follow up on some of the items
that he or she has asked you to fall
upon write them down recap them at the
end
so those are the 11 secrets to providing
optimal client service so to recap
um the first is
and to never use jargon
never used drug
second is to pause pause
slow yourself down
the third is to look for opportunities
to give the client advice
for the advice is not in your interest
number four ask open-ended questions ask
a lot of them
get into the practice of doing that
avoid questions that lend themselves to
yes no answers
five be positive
be upbeat
always
six
be careful
about mixing
business social activities
number seven be humble
number eight be available be responsive
that's particularly important in the
early stages of a relationship as I
mentioned
number nine take a position
tell the client what to do don't
equivocate don't back down
tell them what you and your firm
recommend that they do
number 10 control the meeting it's your
meeting no one else is meeting don't
allow anyone else to take control of it
number 11.
have an agenda
communicate the agenda to the client up
front get them to buy into it
and take notes and write things down