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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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by Andrew Tellijohn
November 2005

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Succession planning

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Customer relations

 

How to nurture
your customers
during transitions

by Paul Wharton  

The person you’ve worked with for years at a large account suddenly leaves the company for a new position. So what happens to your relationship with the client company now?

If you keep the company’s welfare in mind, you can help ensure that your bonds with the client don’t suffer. With strategic planning, you can even find ways to strengthen the relationship.

But let’s not be naive. If your primary client contact is leaving, expect some things to change. Many companies use the occasion of a staff change to reorganize their staff and this can mean changes for vendors as well.

My best advice? Remain open to change and assume the changes will be positive. In fact, managing a transition well can actually improve and strengthen your relationship with a client company. You may have a chance to demonstrate the full range of your capabilities and expand your service offering.

Start early
The work involved in managing a transition should begin well before you know something is going to change. Begin by establishing multiple contacts with client companies, which will fortify your relationships and reduce your risk. Visibility to your primary contact’s peers and superiors can save a relationship when the client’s staff starts playing musical chairs.

Once you know your primary contact is changing, immediately contact your client’s boss and offer your services. Your firm grounding in your client’s business issues and processes will be critical when you engage new faces at the meeting table.

You will want to give the new team members a thorough briefing on work to date and in progress. Showing them that you “get” their business issues and can anticipate their needs will go a long way toward securing a trusting relationship.

While you may have great ideas to share, however, don’t be afraid to ask for their advice about how you can help make the transition period smooth. Be patient and listen and you?ll likely see more opportunities for continuing your long-term relationship with this company.

A new player on the client side is likely to be figuring out the new role and will be reassured to learn that everything is under control. If they can see that you understand their business drivers and objectives, they will be able to relax, and you will have laid the groundwork for the partnership to grow.

We managed a staff transition recently with a longstanding client, turning a potentially account-ending development into a positive situation. During the years we had become a repository of corporate knowledge for this client, providing strategic counsel as well as design services.

As a result, when our primary contact left the company, we convened an intensive strategy session that brought our new contacts up to date on current campaigns and recent successes. This meeting with executive staff also gave them an opportunity to tell us what they liked and what they might want to change going forward.

Most importantly, the meeting gave us a chance to listen, as well as to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the client’s business, cementing the support we were seeking.

Honesty, trust
Getting off to a good start is crucial, but a client’s day-to-day experience with you and your team ultimately will set the trust level. Honesty is the gateway to trust. Be truthful about what has worked and what hasn’t. You also should encourage your client contacts to be honest with you. Do they have any concerns? Find out and then address them immediately.

Are the client’s expectations realistic? If not, you need to manage those expectations back to earth – especially when it comes to budgets. Be forthcoming about costs but also help your client explain the project’s value to upper management. Most clients will appreciate your candid counsel and support, which often can earn you a spot at the table during budget and business planning sessions

If clients feel they’re getting the “same old, same old,” you’re looking at an endangered relationship. Give clients the full benefit of your expertise. Provide advice on new technologies that clients are hearing about. Can clients trust you to represent your field as an expert partner? Proactively brief clients on the latest developments in your field and be ready to advise them on the best applications (or not) within their industry.

While innovating technologically, find other ways to expand your range of solutions. Because your clients are under enormous time pressure, make it easy for them to do business with you. The time-strapped client increasingly will value full-service, one-stop convenience.

If a project requires skills outside your capacity or abilities, research other service providers. Partner with them and come back to the client with a complete solution. Remember, clients are looking to you to free up their time. Do legwork up front and give the client another reason to trust you.

But that’s still not enough. You also need to continually add value to the relationship by serving as a general information resource. Be the first person to tell your clients about a new trend study affecting their industry. Consume all the information you can about your clients’ businesses and pass along articles that they may not have had time to read first-hand.

Most importantly, stay open to new ideas, new ways of working and new styles of communication. If your clients are human, it’s likely they have unique sets of expectations. Ask your clients how best to present information and then adapt your style to fit theirs.

Doing all of this, consistently and well, will greatly enhance your chances of turning a client transition into a success case study, for you and your client company.

contact Paul Wharton is creative vice president at Larsen Design + Interactive in Edina, a strategic communications design agency: 952.835.2271; p.wharton@larsen.com; www.larsen.com