What Do Clients Really Want, Really!

Every professional selling services in the industry seeks to know what their clients really want.  It is essential for success.  In fact, they are almost guaranteed to lose business, if they don’t know.  The problem is basic: We all deal with two types of clients.  We have entities like owners, developers, institutions, agencies and governmental bodies.  This type of client is only interested in the specifications of their project or need.  They create elaborate requests for proposals with all of the scope of work required.  Some award low bid while others accept responsible bids.  Professionals selling only to entities rarely achieve a 50% success rate, even if they are bottom feeders of the low bid variety.

The second type of client is people working for the entity and given authority to award contracts. What do these clients really want? Do not confuse this with need. This is not about Maslow's hierarchy. Professionals wanting to improve their hit rates need to concentrate on these five wants:

1. Personal Success

2. The Experience

3. Company/Project Status

4. Team Chemistry

5. Family/Outside Interest

Obviously, the entity client is obligated to filter the proposals and create a short list based on criteria that has been put together by various affected committees, including users, finance and technical departments.  Therefore, professionals wanting to win must begin discerning the human needs prior to the issuance of an RFP. This process, if done correctly, can also lead to the contact asking for help in writing the RFP.

Can you describe what success means to each of the client representatives you have contact with?  This is not simply what success within the company looks like but what personal success looks like.  This often requires deep investigation.  Well worth the time and effort. When you meet with this person you need to understand what happened on previous projects.  What was the experience like?  You need to know how this person defines the experience.  What kind of experience does your firm leave behind?

Can you see the leverage you would have if the person tells you the last project finished on time but the experience was dreadful?  Trust and the relationship you are building will eventually reveal answers to this question and much more. Many trainers will call this the understanding of the client's pain.

As you move forward with this person you begin to learn what is coming up on the company’s radar.  What types of projects will actually be funded in the next five years.  Which projects are priority and which ones could make or break the company or your contact.  You can now start a dialogue as a trusted adviser and suggest your client meet with a few people from your project team.

After the meeting where your contact sees how the chemistry between your team and his works, you dig deeper into the next project.  In the meantime, you learn more about the contact’s hobbies, outside interests and family.  Perhaps you have children the same age as your contact and you suggest a family-oriented outing together.  Golf is always a possibility as well as invitations to professional sporting events. The family/outside interests component could begin on day one and is not necessarily the last piece of the puzzle.

Another way to find out what clients really want is to check off the things they don’t want.

Clients don’t want to be taken for granted

Clients don’t want to be humiliated (low risk tolerance)

Clients don’t want to be treated like an outsider (Different than being taken for granted)

Clients don’t want to live through a terrible project experience

Clients don’t want to experience “back door” approvals

 



  

If you have not built a strong enough relationship with your contact to allow him or her to give you approvals, it is not a good idea to go around that person to a higher authority.  It will mark the beginning of the end.  You can ask if someone else needs to be part of the process.  You can suggest someone higher up join you in the next meeting.  This could be a reality check for your contact and result in positive movement on the project.  It could also reveal other issues that have not been resolved. You can mend the problems that might be associated with a negative response.  However, when you go behind the contact’s back, you might never see the response coming.

My firm was pursuing a multi-million dollar contact with a Midwest university and we had made all of the right moves to win the job.  Since the project was being run by the medical center with the university in partnership, we worked on the medical center contacts instead of our regular university contacts.  We never saw the error until the short list was to be announced.  A leading architectural firm was the lead because the medical center was in charge and they were respected by the medical center.  They received a call the day before the short list and were told to take our firm off their team or they wouldn’t be short listed.  We had 50% of the project and lost it because we had not taken care of this client.  The university client was upset they were not in charge of the project, but she was upset with us because the last project we had worked with her on was not a good experience. She didn't have authority to choose a firm but she had veto power on who would be interviewed.  No one from the firm had taken the time to learn about the issues. 

Finally, you need to remember you are dealing with people.  People want to be connected, feel appreciated, part of a team and needed.  When you learn how to cover these, your project hit rates will rise significantly.