It is inevitable that someone occupying my position is going to deal with escalated client issues from time to time.  To determine the root cause of the escalation, I spend a lot of time with staff, project management and their counterparts on the client’s side discussing what happened, when and why. I work very hard to be objective, non-threatening and non-defensive in these discussion.  But, what I notice is that I reach an inevitable stopping point where everyone gets to essentially the same comment, i.e.:  “I did my job”.  Maybe, but I’ve got a pissed off client who is not going to pay their bill.  Therefore, we didn’t get the job done and, therefore, we suck.

Here’s the most important things I think we can do to avoid this trap:

1. Relationship build:  As doctors can tell you, if your client likes you, you don’t get sued.  In our industry, having a strong personal relationship with a client almost guarantees a reduction in finger-pointing and a faster, quicker resolution to problems. At the end of the day, if you hit your targets (“I did my job”) but the client doesn’t like you, you’ll never see the client again (“You suck”).

2. Admit…

In a previous post, I came down hard on consultants who hide behind the phrase “I did my job” when, at the end of the day, we have a seriously damaged client relationship.  But, in that post, I ignored one precious and important fact of life:

Some people are assholes.  And some of them are your clients.

We all know the signs and behaviors. They never do anything wrong; its always your fault.  They never deliver anything of poor quality; you just didn’t explain it right. They are never late on deadlines; you just weren’t clear on when you needed it.  They don’t think your…

Author:  Curtis Beebe

**************************

Microsoft’s “verticalization” of their Dynamics channel makes all the sense in the world from a Microsoft channel management perspective.    The designation of vertical specialties gives Microsoft an objective approach to resolving channel conflict, assigning leads, and providing sales & marketing support.    At first glance, this is one of those “blinding flashes of the obvious” that will enable partners to sell better, reduce sales cycle time, reduce the cost of sales, and stay focused in a specific area of expertise.

 The problem is that it doesn’t work.  The first issue is that the Dynamics products, just like…

Its been a little over 4 months since my last post, mostly due to a) the birth of the newest member of the Specht clan and b) the management team and I practicing what I preached in the last three posts.  I can report, with great happiness, that our efforts (home and work) are paying off – my newest child is wonderful and our clients continue to be generous with work, even beyond my fondest hopes.

The stresses of the economy still exist. In both my own company and many for whom I consult, I’m hearing frequent and ongoing complaints about clients (who are cheap because they won’t buy), sales team (who are lazy because they can’t close business), consultants (who are prima donnas that don’t appreciate how hard it is to close business), managers (who are morons because they need to [fill in the blank] faster,…

A short piece of advice for everyone, client and consultant.

"Softwares” is not a word.  Software is a mass noun and,…

In a previous post, I briefly mention performance and promised more discussion around objective targets.  So, I am going to write a four part series on how to objectively measure the performance of individual team members in a…