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Customer relationships
- 1. Building Relationships with Your Customers Shawn Krueger, Ashley Gregory, Ashleigh Reeker
- 2. 2 • Start the Relationship • Build the Relationship • Overcome the Challenges • Always add Value AGENDA
- 3. Business, after all, is nothing more than a bunch of human relationships CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
- 5. 5Start the Relationship Set the stage for Win/Win Rally around the problem Focus on interests, not positions Set & exceed expectations Avoid the sales to execution let down Importance of customer interaction Deliverable timeline Address concerns quickly CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
- 6. 6Start the Relationship ID the players Who lines up with who? Who is a detractor? Who is an advocate? Who is doing the work? Who has the real knowledge? Who has the power? Strategize and execute CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
- 7. 7Start the Relationship Find your strengths and use them Communicate & stay connected Find ways to stay in contact (email, call, Slack, text) Seek first to understand Over communicate (sprint reports, release notes, progress updates) Recognize time as the most valuable resource Praise publicly, criticize privately Set the stage for how you'll deliver bad news CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
- 8. Technology does not run an enterprise, relationships do CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
- 9. 9Give a Sh*t. Get to know how they work Learn about their background Understand their passion Understand their business goals BUILD THE RELATIONSHIP
- 10. 10Be Human. Be genuine Build trust & confidence Be open with opinions Own your mistakes Connect personally BUILD THE RELATIONSHIP
- 11. 11Go the Extra Mile Always be available Bring customer along in the process We are not the heroes More Yoda, less Superman Keep the Candor Radical Carepersonally AND challenge directly BUILD THE RELATIONSHIP
- 14. 14Key Reminders: Not if, but when The sky isn't falling Sense of urgency Change leads to conflict Conflict leads to change
- 15. 15 OVERCOME THE CHALLENGES Leverage your resources Recognize the challenge Seek to understand
- 16. 16 Empathy, always empathy Bereceptive and understanding Turn customer frustration around Smile! Handle Negative Feedback Admit mistakes Fail fast, learn faster Turn failures into success Set Expectations Move forward Loop back OVERCOME THE CHALLENGES
Editor's Notes
- Stand out from the rest Gain trust & prove loyalty Recurring customers Build our reputation Grow our network
- Communicate Invite customers to daily scrum calls, so they feel they have knowledge of project progress and input into the process Speak up more in meetings to help build trust and confidence with the customer Expectations Explain how we are Agile, and we do not disappear and come back months later with a solution. Explain how the customers is VITAL to the development process, and how we highly encourage feedback, even if it is negative. This is something you will probably have to communicate multiple times, and it may take several months before customers are engaged. Acknowledge concerns or problems, and try to address them quickly Considerate Do not waste the customer’s time, be prepared, ensure your team is all on the same page before a customer meeting, and don’t flail.
- Communicate Invite customers to daily scrum calls, so they feel they have knowledge of project progress and input into the process Expectations Explain how we are Agile, and we do not disappear and come back months later with a solution. Explain how the customers is VITAL to the development process, and how we highly encourage feedback, even if it is negative. This is something you will probably have to communicate multiple times, and it may take several months before customers are engaged. Acknowledge concerns or problems, and try to address them quickly Considerate Do not waste the customer’s time, be prepared, ensure your team is all on the same page before a customer meeting, and don’t flail.
- Communicate Invite customers to daily scrum calls, so they feel they have knowledge of project progress and input into the process At what level do you need to communicate with the customer? Meet your audience. Expectations Explain how we are Agile, and we do not disappear and come back months later with a solution. Explain how the customers is VITAL to the development process, and how we highly encourage feedback, even if it is negative. This is something you will probably have to communicate multiple times, and it may take several months before customers are engaged. Acknowledge concerns or problems, and try to address them quickly Considerate Do not waste the customer’s time, be prepared, ensure your team is all on the same page before a customer meeting, and don’t flail.
- Research the company, their past projects, and the individual customer. EX: For Guardian BD meetings I ask about their RPA or military backgrounds A kickoff meeting in person is a great way to start building the customer relationship. You can meet the company leadership face to face, take them to lunch, and have time for conversation that are not work-related. Learn to speak their language – read the room on the level of professionalism. EX: is this person someone who wants to be addressed by full rank, callsign, first name? Pay attention to how the customer(s) interact and speak with each other. EX: AFRS team seemed like one happy family, it was awesome. EX: Producers Ask questions about their business goals and pain points. Not only understanding why they have come to Aviture, but other ways we can improve their processes and add value to their business. Show them we genuinely care about their success and business growth.
- Be a person, not an email address. It’s not all business. Small gestures go a long way, like asking how a customer’s trip went, acknowledging personal accomplishments not work-related, or attending their promotion ceremony. EX: Kathy sending Christmas cards to all clients. Attending AFRS promotion ceremony on Zoom. Add value - Do not just agree to everything the customer asks for, it will ruin your reputation and credibility. This might be tough for new or junior engineers, especially in a new space like government. Explaining your opinion and reasoning will show the customer that you are confident and genuinely care about the success of the project, not just pleasing the customer. Maintain a policy of openness when it comes to your professional opinions (professional of course) and point of view regarding the best interests of the project. The customer will appreciate you caring enough to bring things up. Admit mistakes and issues immediately to show that we are human and can recover. Fail fast and recover faster. Ask the customer for feedback on your process. Call them after a demo to ask how they think it went. Ask about areas you and the team can improve. It shows you care about the customer’s opinion, quality of your team and work, professional and personal growth, and success of the project. Relate – if you have something in common with the customer, pull that thread and use that to connect personally. Example – RPA experience with Guardian customers. Air Force experience with Aim High
- Not saying you need to work nights and weekends, but customers appreciate you working outside of business hours if a real fire does come up. They know that they can count on you. EX: AFRS team worked a lot of nights to get the Cloud One environment stood up for the Aim High app to launch, and the AFRS customers continue to say so many great things about the team. We are not just pumping out code to satisfy needs. The lifespan of a project with Aviture should be an experience for the customer, from learning about the development process to building new relationships. In an ideal world, customers should be a little sad to see a project end or reach the finish line. To create this experience, bring the customer along with you in the entire development process! They may not understand the development process and feel disconnected from the project. Take this opportunity to share your knowledge and teach them along every step. This will help build trust and confidence. Explain why you did certain things or came to certain decisions. It will help the customer feel knowledgeable and feel in the loop. Help them feel like they have a part in the process. Instill confidence in the customer to feel comfortable asking questions or speaking up. AFRS example: Chief not being a PM or understanding software, equipping him with the knowledge to brief superiors, Kimo set him up for success and build his trust. Producers example: engage often, one-on-one conversations, hands-on training/interaction Be a good listener – We are not here to put out fires and get quick wins. We want to coach and support our customers to long-term solutions. When customers present problems, we ask questions to guide them toward a solution. Help them find their inner leader. We are here to support you; we are not here to solve all your problems. Yoda leaders are most effective in find and retaining customers, but it’s not always easy in a management position. Don’t be afraid to be the expert and challenge things if you do not agree. Customers appreciate that you care enough to speak up and ask questions or present better solutions.
- Once you've established the foundation; understand how you're conversing, what about, what to expect... sort of the get-to-know you, you've begun to build the relationship. Perhaps you've gotten a few wins, established trust, etc. Every relationship hits a bump in the road. It just happens. So, let's talk about how to overcome the challenges when you do run into them.
- Not if, but when: This is going to happen. Positivity & Empathy Sometimes just listening to the customer complain about frustrations is a good way to open up the relationship. Don’t jump in every chance in the conversation talking AT the person with empty promises. It is in our nature to want to jump in with solutions and fix things. Hear the person out, understand how annoyed the person is with the problem, and talk through possible solutions together. Remember to always ask what the customer thinks about possible solutions, showing them their input matters. Negative Feedback - When something breaks or fails, just admit it, acknowledge the fail, and recover quickly.
- Recognize the Challenge – Know that it exists. Call it out with your client. I understand you want "XYZ" I want for us to work together to overcome this and/or get you the win. Don't disregard it. Worse thing you can do is not acknowledge it for fear you don't care. Don't overreact. Worst thing you can do is go into react mode. Take a step back and look at the full picture. Understand the overarching why. Best thing to do is remain calm and collected. Continue to have a sense of urgency, but don't feel like you have to solve it immediately (if you don't need to). Feel out how much time you have to solve this challenge. What is the risk to waiting a day or two to collect your thoughts? (Story time for Carson) Seek to Understand: Your goal is to understand why this is seen as a challenge. Is it immediately blocking someone from doing their job? Is it causing heartburn for a stakeholder? How many are impacted by this challenge? Does it put your stakeholder in an awkward situation? Ask questions and get a gauge for how much time you have to work to solve this. How much can it impact the project or relationship? Leverage your Resources: You do not have to solve this problem or overcome this obstacle on your own. By seeking to understand, you should know how much time and level of urgency you need in order to overcome this challenge. Is there someone that has been a similar spot? Can you reach out and have a convo w/ them? Do you need some sort of topcover? How much can the team assist? Stop just thinking you have to solve it or overcome it on. your own. (Story): times where I've had a tough stakeholder. For whatever reason, they just did not resonate with me. I tried everything to create a connection; however, they really connected with my TL. I would leverage them (whenever) appropriate to get buy-in from this stakeholder. A no to me would often be a yes to our TL and that made it easier to overcome obstacles. I would often seek out counsel and note to our stakeholder that I discussed with TL and they immediately said, "yes, that sounds like a good idea..." Don't overthink it, be smart. Not everyone will love you. And that's okay.
- Positivity & Empathy Sometimes just listening to the customer complain about frustrations is a good way to open up the relationship and continue forward. Don’t jump in every chance in the conversation talking AT the person with empty promises. It is in our nature to want to jump in with solutions and fix things. Hear the person out, understand how annoyed the person is with the problem, and talk through possible solutions together. Remember to always ask what the customer thinks about possible solutions, showing them their input matters. Get it on the table. I've had clients not want to share bad news with me. Just ask for it and then state you want to get all the facts on the table in order to figure it out. Be a human. You don't need to be fake positive, but understand they're probably not excited to be having the conversation either. Negative Feedback - When something breaks or fails, just admit it, acknowledge the fail, and recover quickly. -Failing forward and understand, mistakes happen, but work to quickly recover from them. -Don't take it personally. If it does go to a personal level, excuse yourself from the conversation and acknowledge the conversation is getting heated and you want to come back to it when everyone is levelheaded and can keep it professional. Set Expectations - #1 get over it and move on. If you have a solution, move on it and remember what lead up to the challenge. Make a mental note of the things that happened and share lessons learned with your team and the client (if appropriate). -Ensure both parties are clear on how to handle things moving forward. Challenges can often be the symptom of confusion or lack of clear expectations. -Loop back in a few days/weeks to ensure everything is igood and nothing is carrying over into the next phase.
- ALWAYS add value.