| By: John Doerr A dog found a bone and held it tightly in his mouth. He growled and scowled at anyone who attempted to take it away. When he came to a stream, he trotted over the footbridge. Looking down into the water, the dog saw his own reflection. Wanting the other dog's bone as well as his own, the dog opened his mouth to bark at the "other" dog it saw, but in doing so, the dog dropped his own bone into the river, where it was gone for good. - Aesop, Greek Storyteller, 6th Century B.C. I recently had a conversation with an associate centered on strategies for getting new clients, and in particular, on how difficult it is to unseat an incumbent service provider in the process. Though I hadn't considered the fables of Aesop since I was a kid (and no, I wasn't a kid back in Aesop's day), suddenly his story of the dog and the bone came to mind. It is so easy for us to become that dog. We spend a great deal of energy and effort wanting the next bone (or client), to the detriment of the ones we already have. We want desperately to replace an entrenched service provider, and in the process, we unwittingly set the state for our own come-uppance and replacement. So, lest you become too comfortable with your current accounts while trying to crack into new ones, I advise you to avoid these 6 attitudes that unfortunately happen all too often. (These are real stories taken from years of learning from clients, with the circumstances changed to protect the guilty.) Once you sign the deal, disappear. Why do dogs chase cars? Heck, once they catch them, they can't drive. Well, it seems that as service providers, the thrill ought to be in the chase. We will woo prospects, call them, write them, and maybe even send them little trinkets like white papers and case studies. But once they become clients, only call when the invoice is due. An especially good approach is to sell the deal with a senior partner, and then have juniors have all the subsequent contact with the client. Show a consistent lack of respect for your client inside your own firm. The late comic Rodney Dangerfield's "I don't get no respect" lament just about covers it . Talk about your clients around the water cooler as if they were old Rodney. Discuss all the private details they share with you. Make fun of the fact that they aren't as good as you at what you do so well (oh sure, that is why they needed you in the first place, but what's the fun of that?). Tell everyone who will listen what an insufferable pain they are to deal with. Don't worry; the client will never notice that tone of disrespect in your voice and those of your colleagues when you speak to her. Hide the other ways you can help – hey, it's "my" client. It is extremely important in firms with multiple practices to never let the client know that there are others in you own firm who can help them with other needs. What if one of your colleagues messes up? You can't have the guy down the hall ruining your sweet deal with that client. So what if the firm across town gets in the door with training, an assessment, an audit. You are in tight with this client, right? Just because you let them try out a new provider who may not be so possessive within his firm, they'll surely never leave you. Keep to the tried and true approaches. Listen, if the methodologies you have been using for the last 20 years still work, keep using them. Your client will never know the difference; after all, you are the expert. Getting up to speed on the new technologies, tax laws, and streamlined processes takes too much work. And even if Stan the Client does retire next year, his replacement will stick with you. Just take him out to lunch like you always do with Stan. Sure, that's the ticket. Don't ever, ever check to see how you are doing. Why stir up a hornets nest? If the client has a complaint, they will tell you -- that's how it happens all the time. It's a lot like going to a restaurant when the waitperson comes by to see how the food is 10 seconds after you started eating. If it's not good, you tell her. I know I do. And your clients will always let you know when they are dissatisfied. There will never be a time when a client will just change to another service provider without first giving you a chance to fix things. Make your invoices as confusing and indecipherable as possible. "For services rendered." What more do you need to say? If the client has any questions, have them call Marge in accounts receivable. The client has seen the report, attended the sessions, he knows what the bill is for. Oh, it's not a big deal if you did increase rates this year and didn't have the guts to let the client know in person. Marge will help them figure it out. It's only the quality of your deliverables that matter, not the way you invoice. Now, back to reality. Don't you feel much better about the odds of kicking out an incumbent who may very well be following one of the principles, even to their detriment? Just make sure you don't unwittingly provide the ingredients for someone else to unseat you. To quote another illustrious philosopher, Pogo*, "We have met the enemy, and he is us!" *Pogo is a comic strip character created by Walt Kelly. I would be thrilled to get a note from any readers who remember this wonderfully irreverent strip and its take on American politics. |