Naturality – The New Normal in CRM

There are hundreds of management jargons which revolve around us on a normal day – while some of them are quite impressive to use at lectures, most are practically hilarious to real professionals. I had some time today and thought of writing about this new jargon – something I have been thinking about for a little while: ‘Naturality – the new normal in CRM’.

Professionals such as myself hardly prefer writing such theoretical content but what if the theory was naturally practical; and it generated more client satisfaction than ever? Yes, I am talking more dollars through your door as well…

Naturality in simple terms is nothing but the state of nature; the natural, inborn way of behaving; and this naturalness defines our individual existence; then why try to camouflage when it comes to client relationship?

Client relationship, you’d agree is a way of dealing with people in a way that they are feel comfortable working with your organisation; that they feel heard and that they feel you genuinely care. Sometimes, however, the fact is that you don’t. Would you be for real if you said you cared about every single client of yours equally as much at all times? If you think you are for real, stop here – this article isn’t for you!

Most of us, in practice, try to balance our client relationships with an aim of achieving the best outcome for them – in turn, with a motive of achieving the best outcome for our own organisations in the longer run. There’s of course nothing wrong in riding on the back of your clients’ successes; but very few people in the Client Relationship Industry want to admit it – at least directly. That’s because they are plastic!

Have a look at the two conversations below – between a client and Jerry, their Accountant:

Conversation 1 –

Client calls: Hey Jerry, how was your weekend?

Jerry: Oh, it was crazy. There’s just so much work at the moment and you know how we constantly try to exceed clients’ expectations.

Conversation 2 –

Client calls: Hey Jerry, how was your weekend?

Jerry: It was good; took the kids out to Margaret River. They hadn’t been there for fishing before so yeah was a good experience for them. What have you been up to?

Now, ask yourself who you would really prefer to work with? If you are smart enough, you would have already figured out the first conversation was nothing but ‘bull shit sold as a cupcake’; and as I love saying, you can’t sell bull shit as cupcake for too long.

The new mantra therefore is ‘Be natural’. It helps you connect with the right clients; clients who you will enjoy working with and clients who will enjoy working with you. Yes, right you cannot have all so don’t waste your time trying to get all. For a starter, these are some tips I think relevant for people in the client relationship industry:

Tell the client what is true, no matter how brutal it may be
Clearly, if you don’t know the answer to a question, don’t pretend; just admit it rather than making up stories; making up stories and fluffing is not professional and so not cool!
Don’t be plastic in your approach.
No, you’re not busy all the bloody time! Even the best of the bests has time to go out have fun.
Catching up with clients without an agenda builds trust; it really does
Be yourself as long as you are ethically and morally correct; don’t just try to imitate another person entirely. If you are not ethically or morally correct, perhaps change your profession to something that doesn’t need you to be ethical (Oh, my imaginations are running wild on what all you can do; trust me, you don’t want to hear them)
Try to be interested in the clients’ well-being, rather than the clients’ business. Clearly, a loud shout to heaps of professionals out there.
If you love doing something, do it. You’ll be surprised how many clients share you’re the same interests. Yes, you’re right, don’t join the golf course to get more clients when you seriously enjoy gaming.
There will be so many more tips – all one needs to do is flex your brains muscles. The end line, however, won’t change – Be natural, be yourself because in a human society, we love working with people; not qualified robots.