Barry, one of my coaching clients, is a financial advisor in California. He recently told me a story about a certified public accountant (CPA) who fails to connect emotionally with her clients. Stick with me, because the story definitely has implications for managed service providers (MSPs) that are striving to retain customers.
Barry has been at the same, very large firm for 30 years and his book of business includes more than 300 households. By any measure, he is very successful (most people who hire executive coaches are). Lately we’ve been working on building his network of professional advocates–people who can refer business to him and to whom he can send clients who need trusted advisors such as CPAs, attorneys and other professionals.
New Perspectives On Trusted Advisors
On our call this week, Barry told me he had some surprising conversations with his clients about their other advisors. Turns out some of his clients aren’t all that enthusiastic about their CPAs and other advisors. I asked Barry why he thought that was the case. He said he thinks a lot of these professionals aren’t connecting emotionally with their clients. Wow! Interesting comment.
I asked Barry about his own CPA and I was even more surprised when he told me he wasn’t thrilled with her lately. What’s going on here? Barry called his CPA late last fall for guidance and advice on a real estate transaction. She gave him the technical advice. He decided not to move ahead with the deal. So?
“She didn’t ask me why I was interested in buying this building, what my motivation was,” Barry told me. “I felt like that was the most important thing for her to ask and she missed it.” Barry told me the reason he was looking at buying a building was to leave a legacy to his grandchildren, who are the center of his world. I wondered whether his CPA even knew he had grandchildren.
The upshot: he is thinking of changing CPAs, and his current one will probably be the last to know when he does.
Then we got to talking about his own 300 clients. He feels very close to about 10% of them, the ones that deliver 90% of his business. But he cares about all of them and isn’t satisfied with how he has shown it. His recent experience talking to some of his clients and finding their lack of enthusiasm for their advisors convinced him he needs to reach out more.
Make Deeper Connections
He outlined a plan to begin contacting the tier of clients just below the top tier to get information about their children and update his records. He will ask about his clients’ financial plans as it relates to their children. That could mean college tuition or estate planning depending on the client’s stage of life. It could mean planning for their grandchildren, too.
If you are an entrepreneur of any kind, I hope you get the point of this story. Nowadays, clients, customers, patients, students, and everyone who buys a service from someone else, is feeling uneasy. Some business owners will keep their relentless focus on selling new business and will overlook the emotional state of their current customers. And someone else will enter the picture. Someone who cares more and shows it, and that someone will get the business.
It’s time to call your customers and have a nice, long chat.
MSPmentor contributing blogger Mitch York coaches executives who are evolving into entrepreneurs. He is a veteran of high-tech media and an entrepreneur himself. Find York — and his personal blog — at www.e2ecoaching.com. MSPmentor is updated multiple times daily. Don’t miss a single post. Subscribe to our Enewsletter, RSS and Twitter feeds.
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Posted In: Sales | Service Level Agreements
Tags: Business development | Customer Retention | e2e Coaching | Emotional Business Connections | Executive to Entrepreneur Coaching | Mitch York
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Fundementally, i believe this is why the managed services industry may be self-limiting! ie: as you do more and more work remotely, you miss out on face time with your clients, where you can delve into their motivations, wider issues, etc.
Of course with managed services you can do your tasks more efficiently, etc but building and maintaining and co-focusing the relationship will pay dividends also.
So, as the article says, you’ve got to almost make a system to keep this up.
Chris Martin
HoundDog Technologies
Easy, Affordable Tools for IT Support
http://www.hounddogiseasy.com
If on site visits and weaving yourselves into the fabric of your clients businesses through personal contact, listening, and connecting, isn’t part of your business model then you are a service provider waiting to be outdone by another who does.
Daniel Burns
I can’t agree more with this. I’m from Melbourne, Australia, and have been running a IT support consultancy for 11 years. Almost all of my work is with small to medium enterprise, and if not for the face to face relationships I have developed over the years, I don’t think my business would have been as profitable. Trust and relationship are definitely a key to success in this industry.
Chris Kanagasabai
http://www.newwave-technology.com
Chris: I’ve been screaming pretty loudly about the need for North American MSP software companies to have offices and face-to-face support in Australia. Thanks for backing up my point. Keep us posted as you continue to expand operations in Melbourne.
I happened to visit Melbourne last October and hope to return someday. You live in an amazing city with amazing people.