milking the clients

I know things have been tough lately. we’re all feeling a bit more pressure as more time passes between deals and work, but please let’s not take it out on the client!

Sitting in a management (I use the term loosely here) meeting the other day, one of our “partners” was outlining the need to hit the quarterly target and as such came up with the grand plan of increasing the fee on all engagements by 5% with immediate effect. Let’s just park the ethics of this to one side for we all know the answer to that.

Firstly, would you like this to happen to you? Secondly, since when did we start treating our clients with such disdain? They are not ATM machines that just spew out cash when we need it.

The only way we can justify higher fees is by providing more value.

I am continually amazed by firms that, when times are tough, reckon the best way out is to increase fees as if that will get customers flooding through the doors. Like the local wildlife park that noticed attendance was down – they increased park entrance fees by 10% and starting charging for parking, believing they would increase revenue to fulfill the gap left by the fall in spending. Seems rather counter intuitive to me.

Is it working? I drove by on Saturday, the sun was shining and the car park was barely half full. Seems you can only get so much milk out of your clients / customers after all.

© management mojo 2010. All rights reserved

client value

The more I look at what some businesses do, the more I am convinced that in general we just don’t have a clue. I cannot figure out what some businesses actually do!

Sure, the manufacturing companies are pretty straight forward, although I am baffled as to who they think their target market might be, or who would want what they are making. But at least it is tangible..

What about those of us who are more about services? Are we actually adding value to clients? If we are (which I have to assume we are or would not be in business) how do clients actually perceive us? Do they see the value clearly?

My first instincts would be that either we don’t explain, or demonstrate, our value clearly, or secondly, clients just don’t understand it. Now it is easy to blame our clients, but that’s the easy way out…

Take some personal responsibility. I would propose that we don’t explain our value well enough…there is no one to blame but ourselves.

Or is it we just don’t know? This is a more serious issue and one that touches on issues of integrity, for if we do not know the difference we make, how can we stand up and be accountable for it?

© management mojo 2008. All rights reserved.