Client communications

In the '70s film of Cervantes classic, "Don Quixote," Peter O'Toole's mad pursuit of the "impossible dream" was halted by his concerned niece. She arranged for him to be surrounded by her servants, who shone man-sized mirrors on him. Her objective was to cause him to see himself in a true light: a pathetic slayer of windmills. It is similarly useful for us to see our own communications skills in a true light. Role reversal" is an insightful way to do this; observe your experiences as a consumer of professional services. I recently had some tooth problems. Four visits to the dentist supposedly solved the problem, but two weeks later the back of my tooth fell off. On my fifth visit, the dentist poked around, grunted a bit, brought out the drill and fifteen minutes later I was "cured." I got up and was motioned to the front desk to pay my bill. No words were spoken... no communication about what he had done, what I should do, or what I might expect in the future. Back at work, I overheard an interview between an associate and one of our clients. My colleague tends to speak too quickly and too technically. As an observer, I could see what she could not, because her mind was focused on the content of her communication. The client had become glassy-eyed and missed most of the gems of wisdom. Afterwards, I reminded my colleague about the dog and its owner. The owner says, "Go to the door, Rover, and fetch the newspaper." The dog hears, "blah, blah, blah, ROVER, blah blah blah." In short, effective communication did not take place. When a client arrives in your office with a problem, there is a five-step process that you must go through: 1. Gathering the facts. 2. Diagnosing the problem. 3. Generating alternatives. 4. Communicating the solution. 5. Carrying out the solution. The relative proportions of time spent on each step will vary with the problem and the client, but all five steps must be observed to some degree. A useful sixth point might be "fee discussion," in order to avoid after-shock. The materiality of the problem also must be borne in mind. You can't burn up thousands of fee dollars creating an exacting solution when a "quick'n'dirty" will suffice. Here are some tips that you can use to communicate effectively in this problem-solving process: 1. Ask clients if they understand. Do this in such a way that they won't appear stupid to say "no." 2. Avoid using acronyms and buzz words. 3. Repeat complicated aspects of your explanation. 4. We all speak faster than we hear. Stop talking periodically for a second or two, to let your clients' ears catch up to your mouth. 5. Use a diagram or simple numerical example to explain complicated matters. 6. Some complicated matters are explained best in written form, so the client can refer back to them. This also leaves better documentation of what you said, rather than relying on each other's memories. 7. Apologize when you have no choice but to get technical. 8. Don't think that talking technically and above the clients' level will impress them; more likely, it will turn them off! We see our work as 80 per cent technical and 20 per cent interactive. However, clients' value it exactly opposite: 80 per cent interactive and 20 per cent technical. They don't know what we do behind the scenes in solving their problems. What they see of our service is what we communicate to them, written and oral. Client interaction is a contact sport! However, much of our communication is over the telephone these days. This non-personal medium robs us of key feedback mechanisms: you can't read your clients' eyes or catch their yawns of boredom. Chances are, they are doing something else while they are talking to you! So, for more effective communications, you've got to get out from behind your desk and be with your client. If you are not sure how good you are at communicating, get some feedback. You might arrange for a trusted colleague to sit in as a "dummy" at a client meeting (Be sure to tell the client that he or she is not paying for the extra participant!). Ask your colleague to ignore the technical content of the meeting and to focus on your client's signals and your effective or ineffective responses to them. Alternatively, you might keep your own eyes open when you next visit the dentist!