For well over a decade, I spent a week each summer on the Isle of Palms in South Carolina. It is as beautiful as the name would suggest and I enjoyed getting to know every inch of the area. A few years back, a new seafood restaurant, Sullivan's Island, opened, which was just a quick five-minute drive away. Eager to shake up the routine a bit, I loaded up the family and prepared to indulge in some good, low-country seafood.
After reviewing the menu, I decided I wanted something fresh and relatively healthy – a tuna steak. I did, however, have a few questions, which led to the following exchange with the server:
Server: What would you like?
Bill: I have a question: Is the tuna sushi grade?
Server: Sushi grade? I don’t know what that means.
Bill: It means I’ll have the grilled chicken.
It wasn’t that my palate was so high-tone that I would only eat sushi grade tuna. It also wasn’t the fact that the server didn’t know if the tuna was sushi grade or not. The real issue was that the server didn’t share any information, attempt to get more information from the manager, or to even offer alternatives sensing that I wanted fresh seafood. Had he told me he knew the tuna was caught fresh that morning, but was unclear if it was sushi grade, I would have gladly ordered it.
When a client asks you a question and you shut down the conversation because you don’t have the knowledge to answer, you are doing nothing more than the server at that seafood restaurant. As you build relationships, engage your clients to truly understand what information they are seeking. If you don’t have an answer, be honest about it, commit to getting them an answer, and deliver on that promise. The important part is to communicate in a genuine fashion so the client isn’t left to make assumptions.
While the grilled chicken was fairly tasty, I really wanted a reason to buy the tuna and the server missed an opportunity to provide one. So, my real objection to the tuna wasn’t about it being sushi grade or not. My real objection was that the server seemed so disinterested in my experience as a customer that he didn’t engage me or offer alternatives.
How many times has your client wanted the more expensive (and profitable) tuna but ended up settling for chicken because you didn’t fully communicate with them to understand their needs? Even if the chicken is good, they will only remember the fact that they wanted tuna and you were unable to deliver.
The most important thing in communicating with your clients is to see the unseen and hear what isn’t being said.
Bill is president of PromoCorner, the leading digital marketing service provider to the promotional products industry, and has over 17 years working in executive leadership positions at leading promotional products distributorships. In 2014, he launched brandivate – the first executive outsourcing company solely focused on helping small and medium sized-promotional products enterprises responsibly grow their business. A featured speaker at numerous industry events, a serial creator of content marketing, president of the Promotional Products Association of the Mid-South (PPAMS), and PromoKitchen chef, Bill has extensive experience coaching sales teams, creating successful marketing campaigns, developing operational policies and procedures, creating and developing winning RFP responses, and presenting winning promotional products solutions to Fortune 500 clients. He can be reached at bill@PromoCorner.com.