Now, a wise person once said, "You don't know what you don't know."
So what secrets are your clients keeping, you know?
What is it they're not telling you? Well, sit tight,
because I am going to share with you a few tips on how to find out.
Hi Heroes, it's Warwick here
from Account Manager Tips and in my mission to help busy account
managers get results, I'm going to share with you two simple
tricks to help you understand your clients better.
Ask the right questions and listen. See, I told you they were simple.
So let's tackle the first part first.
The more questions you ask, the more you'll find out.
And the more you find out well,
the more ways you'll discover to help your client solve their problems.
And, of course, the more problems you solve, well,
the easier it's going to be to grow client revenue and retention.
You'll also earn your place as a trusted advisor and a strategic partner.
All right.
Now, look, don't waste your client's time asking the obvious or, you know,
something you could learn on your own with a little quality time with Google.
So let's start with a little bit
of research on things like your client's industry.
What does your client do?
Who are their competitors?
What's going on in their market? Is it booming?
Is it under pressure? Are there any political, economic,
social or technological trends emerging that might impact their industry?
Now, what about your client's organization?
Things like their culture, their value proposition, who their customers are.
And don't forget to find out about
the decision-making process. You know, Who signs the contracts?
Who has budgets and who has influence?
And speaking of influence,
your main point of contact is one person you want to keep happy.
Learn all about them. What they do,
what problems they face and what they care about.
One of the very first things I ask any new
contact is how are you measured at the end of the year?
You know, what does your boss expect you
to deliver and how can I help make that happen?
Then I make that my priority.
If nothing else, I've made an ally in my key contact.
And by letting them know I am invested
in their success, I'm much more likely to build rapport and build an advocate.
Now, you also want to know how your client manages their suppliers.
I mean, how much time do they have to spend on your category?
What's the budgeting process?
What key performance indicators
and service levels are or at least should be in place, that sort of stuff?
And finally, you want to understand how and why they use your solutions.
Why did they come to you in the first
place? How did you win their business? What issues come up regularly? What do
they like about the solution and what could maybe be improved?
At the end of your research, you are going to have a lot
of information, all about the challenges and, of course,
the opportunities that your client is facing.
But look, it's all theoretical at this point.
It's just on paper.
So our next step is to get in front of our client and ask questions that leverage
what you've learned to discover their unmet needs.
You know, hot issues, competitive advantages and personal impact.
Inquiring minds want to know.
In Paul Cherry's book, Questions That Sell: the powerful process
for discovering what your customer really wants, he suggests six lines
of questioning. So number one, educational questions.
These are questions designed to increase a customer's knowledge.
So the easiest way is just to share some
information and ask your client how it relates to them.
So, for example, in a recent study from Deloitte
on the priorities of procurement, most respondents said reducing supply
chain risk is their highest priority right now.
Is this your focus too?
Look, I know that was a mouthful, but you get the idea.
Lock-on questions, number two. These are
questions that build on what clients have already told you.
So, for example, if a client says, I've been trying to get this off
the ground for years, you'd respond saying, "Look,
I noticed you said trying. What's prevented you from launching the project?"
Usually, these are like "how" questions like, how much time are you spending
on this issue or how much will it cost you if you don't solve the problem?
Number three are impact questions.
These are questions designed to explore
the extent of challenges that your client is facing.
You want to get your client to quantify
the value of a solution and to recognize how important it is. So, for example,
"If I could solve this problem, what would that mean for you in terms
of efficiency or productivity or cost savings?"
The fourth type of questions are expansion questions.
And these are designed to get clients to elaborate on what they've already told
you and give you greater insight into their needs.
Use words like "explain" or "describe" or
"walk me through" like, "Explain your company's budgeting process."
Number five are comparison questions.
These are questions that get clients to compare one thing to another,
and they're really useful to help identify priorities and gain clarity.
So, for example, "How is business doing this year compared to last year?" Probably
crap given the world we're in right now but anyway you get the idea.
Number six are vision questions and these are my favorites.
These questions invite clients to see what they stand to gain and how you can help
them achieve their goals, their hopes and their dreams.
Use words like "if." Like,
"If we could find a solution to this problem, what would that mean to you?"
I really like this structure, and I found it very helpful to group
my questions into these types of themes when I'm planning my meetings.
So they are educational questions, lock-on questions, impact questions,
expansion questions, comparison and vision questions.
Knowing the right questions and how to ask them is an art form.
So invest time in research and preparation
so you add value and get the very most from every single client interaction.
Now, I asked my email subscribers
for their favorite questions to ask their clients and here's a couple that really
stood out and I wanted to share them with you. So Jake Napoli always asks
"What questions haven't I asked that I should have?"
I love that it's a great way to just close out a conversation and to capture anything
else that's lingering in your client's mind.
And Phil Bourne regularly asks his
clients, "What are your top problems and how much do they cost you?" Now that's
a great question, because not only does it focus on problems (which
you know, you're there to hopefully solve) but it also talks about the impact to the
bottom line, which will help you to prioritize issues.
Not only that but if your client doesn't know how much these problems cost,
then it could reveal an immediate next step, which is, you know, to find out.
Now if you want to dig deeper and to get started check out my blog post 45
Best Questions to Ask Your Clients to Get to Know Them, which you can find it
at amtip.co/ask along with my video, which I'll pin up here somewhere,
Ridiculously Simple Hacks to Automate Your Client Research.
Both of these will be really useful.
And if you're in The KAM Club, then just visit the resources section
to download the Account Managers Guide to Research with 21 pages of helpful tips
and resources to find out what you need to do to put your research on autopilot.
And of course,
pick up a copy of Paul Cherry's book, The Questions That Sell, you'll love it.
And links to all of these are in the description below.
What do you think?
What questions do you like to ask your clients and why?
You know, let me know your suggestions in the comments.
I'd love to hear from you.
Not just yet though, not just yet.
The Dalai Lama said, "When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know.
But if you listen, you may learn something new." So let's wrap up this video
on questions with a few tips on active listening.
Too often, as account managers, we just jump into solution mode.
You know, as soon as our clients start
to tell us about a problem they're having and we realize that we solved it
for somebody else it's like, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
And we stop listening and we start talking.
Now, of course, it's with the best of intentions.
It really is. And we only want to help.
But let me just say this.
Shut up.
Now, look, every client's problems are unique, and you owe it to them
and to yourself to listen and be fully engaged so you truly understand what's
going on before you start making recommendations about what to do.
Now, here are some tips to actively listen and not just wait for your turn to talk.
Make eye contact, nod your head. Don't fold your arms.
You know, use body language to show that you're engaged.
Be patient. You don't have to fill the silence.
That can often inspire your clients
to think and give you an opportunity to put emphasis on a particular problem.
Use verbal and nonverbal feedback to show that you're listening.
Like we said, smiling, leaning in, mirroring.
Repeat what was said,
ask for clarification, summarize and of course, don't interrupt.
Which is tough one for me. And whatever you do,
please don't be tempted to top the story with one of your own.
You know, one of those "Oh that reminds
me of a time when..." You know, no St. Olaf stories Rose. If you're
a Golden Girls fan, you'll know what I mean.
The problem with that is that it just turns the attention back to you
and there is a real risk you'll get so caught up in your own story that you'll
forget all about the questions that you went there to ask.
Now this last point,
I say with caution because, you know, adding your own story is fine when it's
a conversation, you know, because it's about you and it's about me.
But be mindful of your overall goals when you meet with your client.
If it's to learn about them,
then make sure you have the questions that you need answers to ready to go.
If it's more about relationship building,
then of course, there are less focus on questions
and adding your own story can really help to build rapport.
But either way, your client really should
always do most of the talking because you know what?
It ain't about you. And by the way, KAM Club members,
you can grab a copy of the Meeting Planner Tool Kit with tips
and templates to help you with meeting preparation.
So, again, check out the resources section for that to make sure you get the most out
of your meetings and leave with what you came for.
Now, ask, listen and learn heroes. That is my advice.
But what are your tips to better understand your clients?
Let me know in the comments.
I'd love to hear from you.
Finally, don't forget to like,
share and subscribe because, hey, you're already here.
what have you got to lose? And if you want to connect,
you can find me on the social media platform of your choice @warwickabrown.
All right. Well, I think that's it.
Until next time, heroes. Bye for now.