Client Communication

January 21, 2016

Let’s get some information from you!

● Who is in the role as ‘the client’?

● Who here works or answers to a client?

● Have you ever had a client communication go

badly?

Let’s face it, we all experience good and bad

communication whether as or with a client.

➢ By prepping yourself

with tools for success,

you can become a more

effective communicator.

The goal for today’s talk is to highlight some of the main areas of importance for communication:

1) Preferred Tools

2) The Balancing Act

3) Workshop / Story Sharing

TOOLS

5

Top tool recommendations from the PBS team

Teamwork

Slack

Trello

Google Alerts

HubSpot

TOOL #1: Teamwork

➢ A project management

tool that allows for

collaboration and

transparency within

teams and clients.

TOOL #2: Slack

➢ A multi-platform messaging

app that integrates

connection, collaboration,

and file sharing.

➢ It helps to reduce email noise

during your work day.

TOOL #3: Trello

➢ A free, flexible,

organizational tool

that lets you keep

everything in one

location.

➢ To do, email threads,

notes, and more.

TOOL #4: Google Alerts

➢ Google alerts allow you track

news updates and stories for

you clients, their competitors,

their industry, or anything else

that you want to stay up to date

on.

TOOL #5: HubSpot

➢ An inbound marketing and

sales platform that helps

companies attract visitors,

convert leads, and close

customers.

The Power of Influence

How to successfully navigate getting things done

while you are in-the-middle

● Balance between client and internal team

● Feel empowered to make requests

● Reading between the lines

● Maintaining positivity

Balance between client and internal team

➢ Knowing when to advocate for each side

➢ Always avoid over-promising

➢ When to stand your ground

➢ If everything is urgent, nothing really is

Feel empowered to make requests

➢ You’re only as good as your word

➢ Setting clear objectives and expectations

➢ The “follow-up”

➢ You are the internal client representative

Reading between the lines

➢ The power in the unsaid

➢ Finding meaning in non-verbal cues

➢ Uncovering non-verbal cues when not face to face

➢ Connecting the dots...the “follow-up”

➢ Don’t be afraid to ask

Maintaining positivity

➢ Authority vs. Positivity

➢ Focusing on the solution not the problem

➢ Yes, you said something but I didn’t hear you

➢ A little positivity goes a LONG way

WORKSHOPBreakdowns in Communication

18

We all have had an experience of bad client communication or an epic save,

whether as a client or with one...

Example #1:

➢ A client had a bad experience at a

restaurant

➢ They take to Facebook to complain.

➢ The owner responds to them and

insults them

➢ An ongoing battle ensues...

Example #2:

➢ A business dinner with a client. The

account manager, coughs while drinking

tea and sprays tea on the client

➢ Brainstorming session with friends on

how to recover

➢ The account manager delivers a scuba

mask and snorkel to the client joking it’s

for their next meeting

Share your client ‘horror’ or ‘magical save’

stories in teams

● Discuss your experience as a client or with a

client, but keep it anonymous

● Choose the ‘winner’ of the group

● Share your story & outcome

● Would anyone have dealt with this differently?

So what were some of the common themes?

● Miscommunication/Misunderstanding

● Assume (= “Ass” of “u” & “me”)

● Humour

● Timing

● ‘Trust your gut’

Q&A

25

Estimating time/risks on projects. (Dan - BRPS spreadsheet)

Measure the intangibles!(High, Medium, Low)

➢ Confidence Level○ Scope○ Solution

➢ Risk Level○ New Tech○ Outsourced○ Executive

Support○ Complexity

Any questions for the team?

Thank You! Any questions?

Appendix

Tools

● Trello

○ Todoist

● Google Alerts

○ Talkwalker

● HubSpot

○ Marketo

● Teamwork

○ Basecamp

○ Wrike

● Slack

○ Hipchat

Here are a list of the tools we’ve discussed and their largest competitors. Please click the links below to learn more about each of them and how they may be able to help either yourself or you