Win the hearts of your employee, not your clients!
To win the hearts of your clients, you need to win the hearts of your employees first. In my 25 years of experience, I have seen companies treating their clients as a god, but their employees as slaves. For such companies, it merely takes 24 hours to replace an employee. But is that the right practice to follow?
Having seen many such instances throughout my life, I’d thought of not missing using my authority, if I attain a position, someday.
Clients are God, but I am an Atheist!
Let me share an instance with you. One of my clients tried to act like a god, but he didn’t know that I am not a blind follower. Despite pulling him up to a stage from the scratch within 6 months & while the work was 90% completed, the client refused to pay the consulting fees. I was asked to finish the work first. A typical arm twist approach. Any typical businessman will accept it as they feel- clients are god.
I investigated and tried to figure out the reason behind the fault in delivery and found that the clients had promised so many things but didn’t provide them on time. Such an insincere approach isn’t acceptable in the first place.
Running away from mistakes
After seeing such a cold response from the client, one of my team members who was managing the client rather than pushing him became casual in his approach. Youngest graduates from one of the top B-schools started to deteriorate. He was coached and mentored by different team heads, but he didn’t change much. Even the clients lost faith. However, I was still hopeful. I asked him to continue the same project as he was carrying the 6 months of product knowledge. But he continued to non-perform. Just because of his carelessness, the client started to disrespect me. He was frightened and wanted to quit.
Building culture, not a typical company
I asked him one simple question- Why are you running away from your mistakes? Other companies take 24 hours to replace an employee, not Thedigitalfellow. I told him- I hired you because I believed in you, you are an asset to my organization & I still have high hopes for you. Don’t run away from your mistakes, we will both try and figure out ways of improving ourselves.
This guy was good in tech, website, research, and design, but wasn’t good at client servicing. So, I asked him to do what he loves to do. Within a span of 2 months, he became one of the best performers of the month.
Seek respect, not Cheque
I don’t want anyone to disrespect me, not even clients. Rather than sacking my employee, I chose to sack that client. The client couldn’t fathom that despite being a startup, I could sack him. My value system is more valuable than money.
Nurture your employees first , not your clients
Firing your employee is easy, but igniting the fire within him for the betterment of himself is important. It’s okay to commit mistakes. An employee is like a candle- Ready to burn, just to keep you lighted. And it’s our duty to take care of them. Business isn’t about minting monies. It’s about people. If they are happy, you will certainly grow.
