From: Marks Motivation Mail <motivation@chattertonworld.com>
Date: Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 4:53 AM
Subject: Losing Business
To:
If your clients trust you, they'll stick around, says Patrick Lencioni founder and president of The Table Group, a management consulting firm. In his new book, Getting Naked, Lencioni shares how your fear can ultimately hurt client loyalty.
Realize your fear could hurt your business.
No service provider wants to lose clients, business opportunities or revenue. Ironically, though, this fear of losing business actually hurts our ability to keep and increase business because it causes us to avoid doing the difficult things that engender greater loyalty and trust with the people we're trying to serve.
It's worth reminding ourselves that clients can smell fear and are repelled by it. They are attracted to a service provider who will be honest and direct with them, even if it might jeopardize the relationship. If I remember correctly, the same principles applied in dating; girls prefer honest and self-assured guys over desperate ones who tell them what they want to hear. Sounds crazy and counterintuitive, I know, but it is true.
Put your clients first.
What clients want more than anything is to know that we're more interested in helping them than we are in maintaining our revenue source. And when we do something, or fail to do something, in order to protect our business, they eventually lose respect for us and understandably question whether they should trust us.
Be vulnerable.
Naked service providers refuse to be overly concerned about the possibility of losing a client or being undercompensated or having their ideas misappropriated by a client. In fact, they willingly put themselves in positions of exposure in these areas, knowing that by doing so they will earn the trust of their clients. They understand that, in the end, more good will come about even if there are setbacks along the way.
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