Effective Communication: Tips To Engage Better With Clients
The ability to communicate effectively is a real skill. Not as many people have it as they think they do.
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Don’t Confuse Efficient With Effective
Don’t confuse effective with efficient.
The military communicates efficiently. It strips out all of the humanity and relationship background between two people to ensure clarity of communication. This seems like a good idea until you realise people aren’t robots.
If you send an email to someone which includes a personal touch and get a two-word response back you’re going to wonder what you did to upset the person treating you so brusquely. It comes across as rude and hostile.
So we need to communicate effectively, not efficiently. Communicating effectively recognises that people interpret not just the literal meaning of the message but the broader context around it.
Effective communication is the ability to consume a considerable amount of information and quickly separate what’s important. Important here means important to the needs and desires of the person you’re communicating to.
Taking Better Notes
Before you jump on your next call with a client, prospect, stakeholder or whomever, decide what is information you want from that call and highlight this in your notes.
For example, on client calls, I’m often looking out for information which relates to the following:
What is the desired outcome(s)?
What is the real problem?
What is the root cause of this problem?
What is the impact of this problem?
As the person I’m speaking to begins sharing their story and background, I quickly try to separate the important information from the background information. This is usually by adding an ‘!!’ next to the information I think is critical. This helps a lot when I want to summarise content at the end of the meeting.
Summarise Information In Client Meetings
Towards the end of consulting and sales calls or meetings, I will often use a sentence such as:
Let me quickly summarise what I’ve understood back to you...
I will then give a 20 to 30-second summary of everything I’ve understood. For example:
Your marketing efforts are struggling because Google has changed the algorithm and LinkedIn ads aren’t effective anymore. You want to find new ways of promoting [widget]. You’re considering [option a], [option b], and [option c], but you’re not sure which to choose. So you want us to review each option and suggest the best approach forward based on cost and likely outcome?
The purpose of this is three-fold.
It shows I’ve been deeply listening to what they’ve said. I’ve had several organisations note they were impressed by the ability to quickly summarise and organise information.
It gives the client the opportunity to share any missing information. If there is something they’ve neglected to mention, they usually add it at this stage.
It ensures we’re completely aligned on the issue at hand. It ensures that both the client and I are completely aligned on the challenge and what we need to do.
I’d recommend getting into the habit of summarising the meeting effectively.
Answer Questions With The Critical Information First
It’s a good idea to read the pyramid principle here and structure responses to any client question accordingly.
When someone asks a question, they generally want the answer. They don’t want to hear about the journey you went on to get to the answer.
For example, if someone asks:
Should we keep running our social ads?
The worst kind of response is:
I spent the past few days analysing your ads. We downloaded the data and analysed it to see if there were any particular kinds of ads that were working. After analysing the data and speaking to a few experts in the field, it’s clear there is a problem here.
It’s totally understandable that you’ve put in a huge amount of work and want the client to know the amount of work you’ve invested. The problem is the client only wants the answer to the question. The more fluff you put into the answer the less likely the client will get the answer and the less respect they will have for you in the future.
It’s far better to say.
No, I’d recommend you stop running ads as they’re not generating enough revenue to justify their cost.
We looked at three types of ads. While some were converting ok and others weren’t, even the best ads barely justified their cost. There are better ways to invest this time and money.
You can adapt your responses to the context, but the key is to be succinct in the information you give. Give them the answer first and then include the relevant information later.
Be Clear In Your Recommendation Without Giving Orders
Another challenge is to use the correct phrasing when conveying your findings.
For example, a junior consultant might tell a client:
You should do [x], [y], and [z].
This isn’t bad. But no one really likes to feel they are being bossed around - especially by a consultant they’ve hired.
Some might disagree, but I try to take the sting out of the language by using phrases such as:
“I would recommend [x], [y], and [z].”
“Our data indicates that [x], [y], and [z], is the best path forward”
“In our opinion [x], [y], and [z] is the best approach”
The difference here is you’re clearly phrasing your approach as a recommendation. The client can choose to follow it or not. If you feel passionate about a particular recommendation, you can add ‘strongly recommend’ - but don’t use it too often or it loses its power.
Add The Personal Notes At The Bottom
Compare these two responses.
Response 1
Hi [Sara],
I hope you’re doing well and you had a good weekend. It’s definitely been a great summer. Are your kids back in school yet?
In response to your question, I’d suggest going with the stakeholder interviews in the same time zone to begin with. Then we can consider expanding the group over time if we need to.
Response 2
Hi [Sara],
I’d suggest going with the stakeholder interviews in the same time zone to begin with. Then we can consider expanding the group over time if we need to.
I hope you’re doing well and you had a good weekend. It’s definitely been a great summer. Are your kids back in school yet?
It seems odd, but adding the ‘personal touch’ at the bottom of an email is usually better than adding it at the beginning.
Match The Terminology Of Your Clients
If you want to be quickly accepted by clients (or any tribe) quickly adopt their language to describe issues.
Any time you’re unsure what a term or acronym means, it’s always okay to ask…but you should only ask once. If you’re asking more than once, it sounds like you’re not listening (because you’re not).
Once you’re aware of the language or unique terms a client uses, you should feel comfortable to use it yourself. Just make sure you’re using it correctly.
Sometimes the terminology is quirky.
I remember the staff at The World Bank frequently talked about having a BBL (Brown Bag Lunch). These are essentially informal meetings or training sessions where staff bring their own lunch. You could point out that there are the same number of syllables in BBL as Brown Bag Lunch - thus rendering the acronym redundant - but that ignores the point.
The point is this kind of terminology is part of the culture of the organisation and you need to use it.
Another organisation constantly referred to ‘P-Pages’ to describe an action. This essentially stood for ‘product page’ on the website.
I’d suggest creating an index of unique terminology the organisation uses and constantly adding to it. Pay special attention to any unique terms the organisation uses which are unfamiliar to you. Then use them too!
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