Recognize your clients' pain

Guest Contributor: Albert Luk

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Gerhild Somann is a 67 year old retiree who is very upset. Ms. Somann, like most of us lost a lot of money in the stock market last year. That is not what has her upset per se. What has her really upset-enough to generate bad publicity-is the fact her investment advisors don't feel her pain and instead are trying to sell her product! Most of us do not know who Ms. Somann is until she became the feature of an article much discussed in personal finance blogs.

Is attempting to push more product worth all that bad publicity?

The point is that in bad times several things tend to happen: (i) everything that could go wrong, goes wrong; and (ii) you really find you who your friend are. If you sell to small business you have two choices:

1. Run for the hills, deflect blame and keep selling; or
2. Take responsibility, be there for your clients and become a trusted advisor and not "merely" a sales person or an account manager.

It is easy to do number 1. Your legal department will probably advise you to never, ever, admit liability of any sort. Your sales manager just wants you to close. Pursuing this course of action does nothing but reinforce the sense that salespeople are not trustworthy and, as soon as the sales dry up, they will abandon you.

If you treat your clients like a commodity to be dumped at the first sign of trouble, do not be surprised if that behaviour is reciprocated. Bad salespeople always complain that their clients are fickle and demanding but then they turn around and do #1. Any wonder why the clients treat them this way.

Number 2 is the hard choice but, over the long-term, the right one. I am like everyone else, feeling the pinch but you know who I pay first? My vendors who have stuck with me, show loyalty and understand I am going through some pain. The vendors who treat me like a number, I put on the bottom of my payables pile.

Always remember that entrepreneurs don't die, they just come back in different guises so a short term approach will not serve you well in this market.