It's the Customer, Stupid!: 34 Wake-up Calls to Help You Stay Client-Focused

Chapter 16. Lead the Client to Solutions

You will receive the greatest value by remembering "The Three Ls," which are very simple, and critical to your success: Listening, Learning, and Leading.

Some customer service representatives are so good at what they do that disgruntled clients actually leave feeling very positive about the experience. One has to wonder exactly how they manage to do this.

Before she passed away, my marketing representative, Kathy Gunter, was easily the most talented client relations representative I had ever met. When studying the traits that made Kathy so great at her job, I couldn't help but notice that she developed her client relationships like no one else I've met. She got to know them well by finding ways to win them over and find—or create—common ground.

Kathy had the unique ability to identify introverts versus extroverts, and sort out the detailer versus the generalist. She could identify client trademarks and had the unique ability to know how and where to steer the relationship. This chapter will identify some of these customer personalities and discuss ways to deal with them.

Clients form and exhibit traits from multiple types of patterns. One of the most popular programs I have delivered over the years is a presentation titled "X-Raying the Prospects." In this seminar, we examine the characteristics of some 28 different personality patterns and provide various methods on how to deal with them.

Napoleon the Strutter: The Bantam Rooster

Napoleon the ...