Tom Markert - You Cant Win a Fight with Your Client: & 49 Other Rules for Providing Great Service

R ULE 1
Know Your Products

R ULE 2
Never Bad-Mouth Competition

R ULE 3
Understand Revenue and Profit Targets

R ULE 4
Know Contract Details

R ULE 5
Take Advantage of Being the New Guy

R ULE 6
Know Your Clients Objectives

R ULE 7
Read the Annual Report

R ULE 8
Establish Key Performance Indicators

R ULE 9
Offer a Total Solution

R ULE 10
Be a Client Advocate

R ULE 11
Deliver on Your Promise

R ULE 12
Build Relationships Everywhere

R ULE 13
Win Over Frosty

R ULE 14
Be Switzerland

R ULE 15
Entertain Clients

R ULE 16
Work On-Site

R ULE 17
Go Coach Class

R ULE 18
Get Invited to Meetings

R ULE 19
Practice Presentations

R ULE 20
Communicate

R ULE 21
Call with No News

R ULE 22
Answer Your Phone

R ULE 23
Give Out Your Phone Number

R ULE 24
Stick to Your Allotted Time

R ULE 25
Respect Your Client

R ULE 26
You Cant Win a Fight with Your Client

R ULE 27
Accept Criticism

R ULE 28
Speak the Truth

R ULE 29
Make the Best Out of Bad Situations

R ULE 30
Never Give Up Your Company

R ULE 31
Dont Embarrass the Client

R ULE 32
Respect Confidentiality

R ULE 33
Learn Whom You Can Trust

R ULE 34
Educate Your Owner

R ULE 35
Never Say No

R ULE 36
Find Ways to Make Their Lives Easier

R ULE 37
Make Recommendations

R ULE 38
Empower Clients with Self-Sufficiency

R ULE 39
Do the Unexpected

R ULE 40
Dont Be Afraid to Sell

R ULE 41
Learn From Those Who Are Doing It Well

R ULE 42
Know Other Key Suppliers

R ULE 43
Get Sticky

R ULE 44
Collect Advanced Intelligence

R ULE 45
Ask for Help When You Need It

R ULE 46
Roll Up Your Sleeves

R ULE 47
Showcase Success

R ULE 48
Keep the Internal Team Updated

R ULE 49
Go Home When the Job Is Done

R ULE 50
Exude Quiet Confidence

A few years back, savvy marketers reached the conclusion that the next new thing was to conquer the universe. And to conquer the universe you had to be big. You had to have scale. Thats how merger mania and the acquisition craze started in the mid1990s.

And the race to get big was on! Food companies gobbled up food companies. Retailers bought up other retailers. Banks cashed in by buying other banks. Others, such as Wal-Mart, just grew rapidly on their own. The message was clear as a bell: Surviving, let alone thinking, as a small operation wasnt going to be easy. Size and scale can be a formidable weapon. It gives you buying power and leverage, money to advertise, opportunities to offer sharper prices, and resources to bring products to market more quickly and efficiently.

So what does it mean? It means that there are lots of very big companies out there today. If your business is reliant on providing a service or supplying a product to any company, but particularly to a big company for a large stream of revenue, this could present both an opportunity and a threat. The opportunity to increase your revenue by providing excellent servicing to these companies is huge, but if you fail to service your big clients perfectly, you could very well lose that business to a hungry, aggressive competitor in a heartbeat. And losing is not good. Think of all you losenot only the revenue but also the cost and time of trying to get the business back!

But servicing a client is hard work and should never be underestimated. Big clients, in particular, have upsides and downsides and therefore are generally managed at a different level inside most smart companies. Looking for a companys top servicing team? Look for those managing the biggest accounts in a companys portfolio.

In fact this was best exemplified when I asked the CEO of one of the worlds largest consumer products companies who was the most important person in their organization. Without hesitation, he shot back at me, The gentleman who heads up our Wal-Mart team. They control more than forty percent of our total business right now. If we are not servicing them just right, and I mean just right, our business is dead. We cant cover a bad year at Wal-Mart elsewhere in the business. They are just so big. Our version of a rock star runs the Wal-Mart business.

In You Cant Win a Fight with Your Client , I gathered 50 rules regularly observed by some of the worlds best client service companies and client service executives. I hope these rules guide you well as you manage a large account and teach you how to service all your clients like a pro.

Service, service, service!

You can never be truly effective with a client if you do not have a solid understanding of your product portfolio and the full capabilities of your company. There is no shortcut or workaround on this one. Clients want their problems solved as fast and painlessly as possible. Your ability to supply a solution is critical. A superficial understanding of your products and their range of capabilities simply isnt good enough. For example, when a client says, Here is where I need your help. Is this something that you do? You cant answer, Im not sure. Ill get back to you. Why? Because the client will surely assume that even if you do offer a service that can help solve that particular problem, it must not be core to what you do or surely you would have known immediately. Credibility crusher!

Perhaps worse, not fully understanding your companys range of capabilities can cost your company dearly both in terms of immediate and long-term sales. Imagine if your company had a product or capability you were unaware of and thus failed to bring it to your clients attention. As a result, your client brought in a competitive supplier who did a great job on the project. You now have a problem or at least a worry you didnt need to have.

If you are running a large account, take the initiative to ensure that you and everyone who works for you is fully trained on all your products and offerings.

This sounds basic, but it isnt so easy in todays environment. Most companies have dramatically cut back on formal training programs that for many years were a staple in business. This is not true in every business, however. If you read Fortune magazines (January 23, 2007) list of the 100 best companies to work for in 2006, you would see that many companies offer 40-plus hours of training each year. But these are the exceptions and certainly not the norm in todays environment.

You may want to test your team or certify them in each area of your business. But lets face the truth. Learning your products and capabilities is basic in any business, and it takes personal initiative. Its not something you can delegate. It is something you have to want in your belly and something you are willing to go for. The fact that your company does not make training broadly available cant be used as an excuse.