It takes two to tango they say, that is true in more ways than one, every human relationship is a story of mutuality. We start our journey with very obviously mutual relationships, I say obvious because most of childhood is spent on give and takes. Our adult life is then spent in search of what lies beyond it. Obvious, mundane, rudimentary – it goes by many names, that is what we try to go beyond, and the feeling of comfort is most important for any inter-personal relationship.
That’s also why writing a blog for me is going beyond all of this and doing what is not really that obvious, or for the urge to coin a word, doing non-obvious things. This same urge takes me places when it comes to my customers too.
The mental tussle between what’s obvious and what is not
The law of obviousness, states (oh yes, there is something like that), that a patent may not be obtained if the invention lacks ‘Patent Ingenuity’ and ‘Substantial Novelty’. So, case and point, obviousness has never taken us too far.
Patents make me think about MVPs and that is a topic I have reserved for my video podcast. You can watch it here.
Sorry about the digression, so what is obvious and what is not. Which of these do you think could be you?
To a customer, being a solution seeker is comforting, lending that extra pair of hands is comforting, thinking long term is comforting, going the extra mile is comforting, and equally comforting is being even-handed or unprejudiced. And so, my definition of comfort is somewhat different if you are comfortable then you are being obvious, but if your customer is comfortable then you have just done something non-obvious and top shelf.
Any conversation that begins and ends with a problem and not a solution is merely a transaction, if I have learnt anything from those endless customer calls, I have been privy to, it’s this – your briefcase needs to be filled with solutions (in the given circumstances with given set of limitations) and not problems!
That is what is going to open a chain of thought and come up with the best in the given circumstances. It is going to get your customers thinking that – yes, I am in conversation with a finisher. And you can confidently say hello googly, here I come.
9 mantras to foster customer comfort
1. Get the communication & time management part right – The two most powerful warriors, Tolstoy said, are patience and time. How very true! It is important to first and foremost be communicative and respect time. With all this communication and time management, what we often forget is managing insecurities that are laden within a team, same as walking on eggshells, you need to tread this path carefully, because at the end of the day customer comfort can happen only when you have a team that works together.
2. Go by the ideation phase with a POC in a flash- There is always a stakeholder who knows what he is talking. If they already have an idea in place and are seeking your help in bringing it to fruition then get them on the fast-food line – offer them a Proof of Concept (POC) – instant gratification, works every time! POC’s help in quick feedback loop.
3. Have an MVP in place – I love roadmaps! If you have busy stakeholders around you then look for ways to offer them some solace – help them by filling their inbox with draft plans, wireframes, snazzy MVPs, and so on. Continue the process to constantly act as a catalyst, get early feedback, go by what I call the ‘create – update – repeat’ cycle.
4. Make customer empathy a habit – Oh this one is special since I have a whole blog to talk about this too. It may seem like a lesson in psychology but understanding silence and acting appropriately is key in the customer comfort game. You may need a PhD in understanding silence by then because you will have to decode if that silence is a positive sign, a negative one, or an outright neutral one.
5. Keep proactive actions as part of your agenda- Assumed ownership is more appreciated especially in a complex environment with lot of moving parts. You need to simultaneously think and ACT (Achieve what the Customer Thinks). Let your actions speak, everyone appreciates a quick course correction. When I say actions, I mean they need to be –
- Proactive which is needed when you are looking demonstrates ownership
- Quick which can help become efficient,
- Thoughtful which comes in handy when planning
6. Effective mapping for delightful experience – Having a well-defined strategy to give delightful experience to various stakeholders at customers end at different level make multi-fold impact in the effectiveness. All executive stakeholders i.e. COO, CTO, CPO – have different needs and wants. VP Engineering needs strategic thoughts and Director Engineering needs an execution-oriented thought process.
7. Work as allies- If I haven’t stressed this enough in my first mantra of communication, I wanted to call this out again separately as well. Everyone likes proactive suggestions (which are in line with thoughts of course).
I think it is important to understand what people think and have a good antenna around you to catch those thoughts, so it fires up the minute someone else’s thoughts seem to hit a wall and you can help get it back up. It is not always that too many cooks spoil the broth; if everyone is stirring in the same direction, that broth is going to be delectable. So, scout for those allies and create miracles to comfort your customer.
8. Constructively Challenging customers – As it is rightly said – “Critics with positive intentions should always be invited for continued success”.
Challenging conversations may seem difficult at the start, but end up in positive reasons. This is because the homework done and vast experience justify the challenging conversations, which believe me – most engineering partners avoid to do. The real partnership lies in constructively challenging with appropriate homework and expertise.
9. Investment in research – In today’s ever-evolving world, being forward-looking has no option. So, investing on researching is needed to be ahead of times. Additionally, investing in right areas is equally important based on the market needs and predictions in terms of technology. Sharing the invested research results adds more value than doing only what is told.
We at Nitor Infotech follow all the above methodologies for customer relationships. Send us an email with your thoughts about this blog and do give this blog a read to see how you can lay a solid foundation for customer satisfaction!
