How to ‘Enchant’ Clients?

Ahsan SaleemProject Manager-Confiz Solutions

www.confiz.comSeptember-2012

Base Rules The word ‘Enchant’

First presentation of Enchant series

Expected audience is anyone at Confiz

10,000 PKR cash reward if you prove me wrong

Who’s a Client

Internal client Different departments Different teams

External client Buys our services or products Companies or individuals Sits thousands of miles away in a different time zone Depends on us for own profit

Why Enchant Clients Revenue continuity

Business growth

Better market reputation

Opportunity to learn New technologies New business domain Communication skills

Personal/team achievement

What Client Wants Value for money

Quality and quantity of services

A reliable business relationship

And also a good team experience… Friendly and trustful interaction Exchange of information Personal connection (culture, language, life happenings etc.)

Our Enchanting Toolset Solid engineered code

Business, UI and UX skills

Organizational support

Strategic Communication

Enchanting Scenarios Time of Uncertainty

Time of Good News

Time of Bad News

Time to be Clever

Time of Angry Client

Time of Uncertainty New client or client team

Beginning of project

Unknown technology domain

Lack of information about business

Case-Uncertainty

Client: I have given you little or no requirements. We don’t know

about this technology. How long will you take to finish this job?

Possible Responses:

a) One week

b) One month

c) One year

Case-Uncertainty

Correct Response:

Let me ask you some questions, develop better understanding,

explore technology a bit and come back to you…

Means:

a) Not a blind shot

b) Interested in learning

c) Playing smart

Time of Good News Project going quite well

Sprints meeting targets

Engineering code about bug free

Project planning up to mark

Hardees has dropped prices by 50%!!!

Case-Good News

Client: How are thing going?

Possible Responses:

a) Fine

b) Awesome

c) We are kicking Software butt!

Case-Good News

Correct Response:

We are on track in terms of time. Engineers are efficiently engaged.

Regular test cycles are producing less bugs. Scheduled DB backups are

keeping data safe. You will have an updated release in 2 weeks…

Tells client:

1- We are on schedule and making progress

2- Right number of resources are engaged (cost efficiency)

3- Quality is not comprised

4- Using’ good time’ to market our skills and experience

Time of Bad News Too many bugs in builds

Too much ambiguity in business rules

Technology is not mature enough

Builds are delayed

Server or DB crash/issue

Case-Bad News

Client: How are things?

Possible Responses:

a) ‘Silence’

b) You are doomed!

c) Nothing is working and we have no idea why

Case-Bad News

Correct Response:

Over all things are fine. We have hit a small issue caused by lack of

understanding of billing module. I have prepared a list of questions so

kindly assist me fixing the problem… – OR

The technology stack we chose might not be best choice because of

these unforeseen reasons. Here are links where a few other teams are

discussing the same issues. I have analyzed the impact on time and

here is a cost estimation of changes. Also, following will be the benefit

of shifting to this new technology in longer term. Here are some more

links … - OR

Case-Bad News

Correct Response (continued):

We have lost x amount of data in a crash last night, happened because

of this xyz reason. We have recovered most of the records and still

trying to fix the issue. We have also taken following measures to avoid

this issue in future…

Means:

1- We understand client is not a fool

2- We offer a solution while giving the bad news

3- We learnt a lesson to avoid a similar case again

Case-Bad News What’s the catch in giving bad news?

Build a consent in team and with management first Controlled amount of information (hell breaking loose is

bad) Accept a mistake when made one (but smartly) Discuss with client as a teammate not an outsider Do not point fingers on anyone – internal or client or his

team

Time of Angry Client We messed something up

Client frustrated by a personal issue

A not so nice email from client

Aggressive conference call with client

Case-Angry Client

Client: I am very disappointed in you. Not only you are

incompetent but also stealing me of my money. I want to shut

the project down and make sure you loose your job

Possible Responses:

a) Go to hell!

b) How dare you!

c) I am so scared, please forgive me!

Case-Angry Client

Correct Response:

I understand this concern is very important to you and I assure

you whatever happened is a misunderstanding. If there is an

issue, I want to resolve it with you as a team. Your project is very

important to us and I really like working with you in a healthy

and respectful team environment…

Case-Angry Client

Means:

1- Showed patience against aggression

2- Create margin of correctness

3- Appreciated his project and experience of working with him

4- Suggested him to keep a healthy tone

Tips-Angry Clients Client sits thousands of miles and many time zones away

Comes from different cultural background

Different work ethics

Is a human so give him margin

Its not personal, its business

Case-Time to be Clever

Client: Can you please do me a favor and deliver

this task of 3 days in 1 day?

Your Response:

a) Are you crazy?

b) Even Superman can’t do this

c) NO!

Case-Time to be Clever

Correct Response: While we want to meet your expectations, it

is not possible to deliver this specific task in 1 day without

compromising quality and security of system. Here is a break of

sub-tasks that will take 3 days in total

Means:

a) A straight ‘NO’ is quite rude

b) Provide reasons while saying ‘no’ nicely

Skype-General Tips English speaking is a barrier – remove by practice

Prepare for calls – takes notes in advance

Introduce yourself before speaking and say greetings

Do not speak fast and in long sentences

There is no such thing as bad questions

Professional Skype aliases and profile pic ‘Shak33l’ is not ‘Shakeel’ ‘CoolBoy86’ is not a cool alias

Make sure voice quality is good

Email-General Tips Review before sending

Fill ‘To’ and ‘CC’ after review

Avoid too many adjectives

Try to be complete and holistic – do not assume awareness

from reader

Avoid basic typos and grammar

Bullets and not long paragraphs

Chat-General Tips Avoid shorthand

‘F9’ is not ‘fine’ ‘U’ is not ‘You’ What the heck is ‘ROFL’?

Do not break sentencesI am <send>working <send>on build <send>.. Is not good!

Again think, then write, then review, then send

Thank You!