During my first fifteen years in business I was a successful sales professional.  During my career I was able to achieve strong results in good as well as challenging economic times.  Through these ups and downs a key lesson I took away was that the approach for strengthening client relationships in a time of downturn is not that much different from the approach in good times.  That being said, whenever times got a bit rough I knew it was also a time to revisit certain fundamentals critical to adding value and maintaining important business relationships.  Given the times we find ourselves in – I wanted to offer a few suggestions that might assist you in maintaining and deepening your key business relationships.

Focus on Relationships that Matter and Highly Qualified Prospects
It may be a good time to re-examine and re-prioritize your existing client relationships using the following measures:

• Revenue generation over time.
• Your level of performance based on client feedback.
• The strength of the personal connection and the level of trust.
• The strength and size of your client’s networks.
• Other key measures that are important to your business.

Clients who score high in all these categories are your foundation.  It is likely that new issues are currently emerging for these clients and being there for them will put you in the position to support them as well as deepen the relationship.  It is also important that you focus your time so that the majority of it is oriented towards those business relationships that can bare fruit both in the short term as well as the long term.  In addition, you also need to be rigorous about qualifying those in your pipeline as well.

In her blog entry “Five Mistakes Companies Make During Downturns” Christine Comaford talks about the downfall of “chasing all sales leads.”  During my sales career I quickly learned the value of this downfall.  When I allowed my anxiety to get the best of me and worked every prospect on my list – including those that did not respond – it deadened my focus and effectiveness.  Therefore, it is critically important that you reconsider the conditions that must be in place to have a highly qualified prospect.  From there, you need to be honest with yourself and focus your time on prospects that are the most qualified.  No matter how much you may want someone’s business – if they do not recognize the value you can provide and/or do not think they can afford your services, it is likely not going anywhere – so move on.   To increase your qualified pipeline, leverage existing relationships that have strong networks and ask for referrals based on your qualification requirements.

Understanding your client’s current mindset?
For those relationships you are going to focus on, it is important to remember that in times of downturn, there is an undercurrent of fear that affects everyone and runs through the entire business culture.   Understandably, business people naturally become much more cautious with respect to spending.  That being said, organizations will still value products and services that both support them in surviving the storm as well as those that will help them more effectively deliver on their mission and grow their revenue streams.  Helping clients shift from fear to possibilities is key to developing and deepening long-term high value relationships.

One of the most important conversations you can have with clients during this time is one where you take the time to better understand the concerns they have for themselves and their business.  If clients feel you genuinely understand both the personal and business dilemmas they face – you will remain foremost in their minds.  Enter your interactions with a mood of curiosity and earnestly explore your clients’ concerns.  To do so consider the following questions:

• What concerns do you have for your business right now?
• Given your business focus/mission – what are your key priorities at this time?
• What’s keeping you up at night or is top of mind for you?
• Given the times we are facing, what would be a real win for you coming out of the downturn?
• Have you considered other scenarios where you might face bigger challenges during the downturn? If so, what are they and what might be a worst case scenario you most want to avoid?
• What actions are you taking or are thinking of taking to give you the best chance to succeed through this period?

Create Value Where You Can
It is important to remember that we not only create value through our offerings to clients – we generate real value by being someone they trust and open up to given the answers to the questions above.   By taking the time to better understand your clients during tough times, it is likely we will be available to serve emerging needs they have.  In addition, we can add a lot of value by just being there and being a sounding board.  In many cases, this will not translate into business transactions, yet it can enhance trust.  Deepening your trust will likely lead to additional business opportunities as the economy cycles back.  The questions below build on the ones above – allowing you to pinpoint what is most valued by your clients given their current focus.

• What do you think you need to do now that will most benefit the long-term success of your business?
• What plans and actions do you have in place right now that are assisting you and your organization in addressing all of these?
• What important steps, plans or actions do you still need to move forward on that you have not?
• Under what circumstances might you bring in an external resource to support you and if so what would they be?
• Given our history and relationship, what can I/we do to help you most right now?
• What would be some valuable next steps for you/us?
• If there is nothing I can do for you now, when would be a good time frequently would you value me/us checking in with you?

Deepen Your Personal Connection
Certainly, value creation and being respected as a business advisor are central to business development.  Yet, taking the time to strengthen your personal connection may be even more important in times like we are facing.  Ultimately, people like doing business with those with whom they share experiences and shows an appreciation for them.

Right now many of the executives in your client or prospect organizations are facing their own personal challenges.  Their portfolios have likely taken a big hit; they may be concerned for their jobs, have concern for the impact on their families, etc.  Taking the time to understand this side of your clients and to be there to listen can go a long way to deepen your relationship.  Their personal concerns are also impacting their decision making process.  Opening up to such conversations can also be a gift to you as well.   Here are some valuable questions you may want to ask:

• How are you viewing the current economic situation?
• What are you most concerned with personally during this time?
• What do you feel is most important for you – personally – to focus on right now?

Using these as base questions you open up a dialogue that builds a mutual understanding and stronger personal connection.

Final Word
It is important to remember that you get in the door because of the perception that you have the technical competence to deliver value. Yet people who engage in long term profitable relationships do so with those they trust, like and Feel understands the most important issues they face professionally and personally.

These are emotional times and buying is ultimately an emotional experience.  Once you realize this and are able to make a genuine connection and truly take the time to understand – you will be in a position to build a strong relationship that will last for years. Deploying the suggestions above will go a long way to creating such relationships.

Additional Resources:
Finally, I did some research and found some other thought leaders on this subject.  Below are the links to their blog entries along with a short excerpt from each:

How Do Contacts Become Clients? – Suzi Pomerantz’s Blog
Leveraging Existing Relationships Into Business

How do you use the network you have without compromising your relationships with friends and family?  How do you move existing networking relationships into business relationships?  Here are some best practices…

How to Market in a Recession – Harvard Business Review Blog

Marketers should fasten their seat belts for a long and difficult 2009. The pressure for proven returns on marketing expenditures will increase….

Scenario planning: strategy for the future of global financial services – Trends in the Living Networks Blog by Ross Dawson

Scenario planning recognizes that beyond a certain degree of uncertainty forecasting is of limited value (or can even be detrimental to good decisions). The process of creating a set of relevant, plausible, and complementary scenarios (more than the scenarios themselves) can be invaluable in creating and implementing effective, responsive strategies…

Tags: business development during downturns, client relationships, downturn, growing during a downturn, selling in recession

This entry was posted on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Interpersonal Engagement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.