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5 Preventable Pitfalls to Solid Client Relationships and How to Resolve Them

Guest post by: Tom Lemanski

Article Overview: If we consider the collaborative nature of our client relationships, teamwork is essential. So perhaps we can gain new insight into improving our client teamwork by examining our relationships through the lens of the Patrick Lencioni's book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. We discover that what's good for team performance is also good for client and customer relations.

5 Preventable Pitfalls to Solid Client Relationships and How to Resolve Them

If we consider the collaborative nature of our client relationships, teamwork is essential. So perhaps we can gain new insight into improving our client teamwork by examining our relationships through the lens of the Patrick Lencioni's book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. The author offers this list obstacles to effective team performance.

1. Inattention to Results

2. Avoidance of Accountability

3. Lack of Commitment

4. Fear of Conflict

5. Absence of trust

Let's briefly explore each as they apply to maintaining client relationships.

1. Inattention to Results: If your client is not realizing the desired value from your relationship, you could be on the way out.

2. Avoidance of Accountability: Stepping up and making the first phone call when an unexpected challenge arises, is the difference between lemons and lemonade.

3. Lack of Commitment: While it likely isn't true, your commitment should be such that your clients feel that they are your most valuable relationship.

4. Fear of Conflict: Failure to confront the critical and brutal issues for the sake of perceived harmony will eventually lead to damaging the very harmony you had hoped to maintain. Only when you can demonstrate that you will regularly place the interests of your client ahead of your own without compromise, your relationship will grow to trusted advisor status. This may take the form of opting out of additional work that you lack qualifications. Or you may need to put your relationship at risk by pointing out their flaws or errors.

5. Absence of trust: Tending to #4 will do wonders for building a level of trust. In its absence, your ongoing relationship is jeopardized.

How would you score?

Consider your most valuable client relationship. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your relationship for each of the five areas of potential dysfunction? Where are your most significant opportunities for improvement of this critical relationship? If they have been suffering in silence might your revenue be at risk?

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Article Tags: client relationships, customer relations, insight, teamwork



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