| When access to funding is difficult, clients might not want to make the misery worse by talking about the things they want to change. Malcolm Sleath from coaching consultancy 12boxes offers three routes to get the client to express dissatisfaction with the way things are. |
| Three ways to uncover client dissatisfaction |
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| | By Malcolm Sleath
Question: What do
you do when a client
agrees to an exploratory
meeting but shows
reluctance to talk about
any problems or
difficulties? I feel I
have just wasted an
hour, even though the
client seemed willing to
have the meeting.
Answer: There are
very few people who are
entirely satisfied with
the state of their
business, so my hunch is
that you put the client
on the defensive by
trying to home in too
soon on the problems
they might have. Here
are three suggestions
that might help next
time.
Look to the past.
Every time we set out to
do something, we have
the best of intentions.
Then real life
intervenes and things
get complicated. When
this happens, we can
easily lose sight of our
original criteria and
settle for what we can
get, quietly forgetting
about the shortfall. To
take a simple example,
most people hope that
new software will
simplify their business
processes, yet we all | |
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| | know that it can bring
problems of its own and
maintaining the system
can sometimes feel as if
it has become an end in
itself.
To highlight this
shortfall, and the
dissatisfaction that
goes with it, time-shift
the client to the point
where they commissioned
the original solution.
You might ask, “So what
were you originally
hoping for when you
decided on the new
system?”
As you listen to the
client, try to express
the original solution as
they might have done
using the phrases ‘a way
of’ and ‘so that’. For
example, the new
computer system might
have been ‘a way of
simplifying
administration so that
we could devote more
energy to delivering
excellent customer
service’.
Once the client has
acknowledged your
summary of the original
objective, it might only
be necessary to ask,
“And then what
happened?” to elicit a
wry smile and a
discussion about the | |
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| | shortcomings of the
present arrangements.
Highlighting the
changes that have taken
place over time can help
the client to recognise
the downward drift in
their expectations and
that it might be time to
consider some other
possibilities.
Make benchmarking
the normal and right
thing to do. It can be
very instructive for a
client to see how their
performance in a
particular area compares
to other organisations
in the same business or
in businesses they would
like to emulate.
However, benchmarking
can feel threatening. It
is a bit like going for
a medical check-up. You
think you feel OK and
everything is fine until
the doctor says that you
are carrying too much
weight and need more
exercise or something
similar. Sometimes you
wish you had remained in
blissful ignorance
because you now have
something else to think
about.
Continued on page 15
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