Taking the lead in business requires clarity

Taking the Lead in Business

In today’s competitive marketplace, simply being good at what you do is not enough. Serious business owners understand that taking the lead requires much more than claiming a fancy title. It’s about proactively educating clients and fostering transparent communication throughout every process and interaction.

All too often, management gets consumed by sales and marketing efforts while neglecting the crucial element of client engagement. When the client is forgotten, the result is confusion, doubts, and a failure to finalise deals or retain customers.

Taking the Lead in Business: Mastering Client Engagement for Success

Effective client engagement demands sharing your business strategy, operations, and unique processes with those you serve and your internal community. Keeping things on a need-to-know basis opaque leaves your business open for misunderstandings, regrets, and countless questions that could have been avoided. Mastering the art of transparent customer communication is what separates exceptional service from the “good-enough” ones.

The rewards for taking the lead and prioritising client engagement?

  • Increased trust,
  • successful sales cycles,
  • long-term relationships,
  • employee retention and engagement, and
  • a business that thrives on its hard-earned reputation for excellence.

With the HouseRules method all of this is possible when a structure that serves the business is implemented and maintained.

Putting Business Strategy into Practice: The Importance of Client Engagement

Good intentions alone don’t lead to business success. While the desire to make a positive impact is admirable, it’s not enough to sustain a thriving company. Your specialist expertise in your field, no matter how valuable, means little if clients don’t understand its importance. Simply doing your job without explaining the “why” behind it can start client relationships off on the wrong foot.

The following real-life examples illustrate what can happen when business owners fail to effectively engage clients and educate them on their processes. A lack of transparency harms not just the client experience, but the business’s bottom line.

The Lawyer Who won't Make a Decision

I remember listening to a conversation between two business owners where they expressed their open disdain for legal professionals. It seems that no matter what question they asked their legal representative would not tell them the best way forward.
 
By now you’ll probably be aware that the law is my long-standing torrid love affair. This conversation was disturbingly amusing for two reasons. Firstly when you engage a legal professional, it’s for the client, to instruct the fee earner. That alone should be a clear indication that they will not make decisions on your behalf (unless instructed to do so).

Improving Customer Communication

Common practice is to present the best options and it is for the client to make a decision based on the advice given.
 
Secondly, as a business owner you are the leader of your business, so why would you want or expect someone to make decisions on your behalf? A clear sign of being a newbie to the scene or not very savvy about business.
 
As a legal professional, it should feel like a tedious chore to run through how the process works. As the very least there should be some caution as many take what they see on TV as an accurate representation of what it’s like to work with a lawyer.  

Why would you do it alone when you can do it with company?

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Failed Client Engagement: The Accountant Who Does Nothing

A Facebook post by a business owner remarked about having to pay a monthly fee and then an additional fee to have their final accounts done. Money was becoming tight and they felt it was a waste because the accountant was doing nothing.
 
Talk about poking the bear as several accountants responded to give the same old speech of “It’s the years of experience that you pay for”. Whilst it’s possibly not a lie, this is not the best example of taking the lead in business.  It’s quite the opposite when it comes to customer communication. How you make someone feel is as important as the service or product that you provide.
 
I’ve encountered this a number of times both in business and personally. There are two approaches, it’s either a barrage of words and information (silence your client with your expertise). Alternatively, it’s the war of silence (the client has hired the expert to do what they can’t, no more needs to be said).  Neither approach is favourable. 

Gain Client Engagement Through Process Improvement

Don’t overwhelm your client because being unable to process the information will leave them feeling foolish or inadequate.  It’s a special kink to pay for such a service, stick with the general rule of thumb – no one wants to feel like the butt of the joke and be saddled with the bill to boot!
 
And the strong silent type is a fictional character for Hollywood or a soppy romance novel.  Failing to engage will leave it open for the client to do their own investigations (YouTube, Google and social media). You will have a way of doing things so share it with your client.  To alienate them is to introduce a rift  and that is were the problems start to creep in.

Book a no obligation Humming session to get started on process improvement and business strategy

 Start taking action with the comfort of knowing you are not alone. Business is more than customer communication, you need to be able to have a structured approach to your operations. Whether numbers are not as important as client engagement.  With The Ethical Strategist that’s both external and the internal community.

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The Need for a Process Improvement: The before and after with nothing in between

I’ve mentioned previously about working on a project that involved internal works. Residents were shown lovely CAD images of what they would end up with. However, there was no mention of the intense work schedule in between to make the transformation happen.
 
There was an increasing number of push back which called for a revamp of the information that was given ahead of the commencement of work. By having the site staff take photographs of each stage of the work it was then possible to add them to the handbook in a timeline.

A Structured Approach to Business Strategy

To those in the industry, it was a given there would be a bit of a mess. But they had the benefit of going home at the end of the day and not having to find a way of coping with builder’s dust and work in progress.
 
By having the photos of how the complete process, it allowed residents to prepare for the works in a way that most suited their families and living arrangements. Whether that was to stay with family or bulk cook for the period they would be unable to go into the kitchen. The crucial point was that they were aware and not greeted with any surprises.

Are You Ready to Get Your Business Humming?

You’ve learned why taking the lead through transparent client engagement and aligned business strategies is crucial. But putting that knowledge into practice is the real challenge.

Lucky for you, The Ethical Strategist is here to guide you through and get your business operations humming like a bird! Forget settling for off-the-shelf policies that don’t fit your unique vision. It’s time to craft a finely-tuned strategy tailored just for you.

Can you picture a crescendo of efficiency fueling relationships and the bottom line? 

Don’t let misalignment persist as a buzzkill on your entrepreneurial dreams. Book a Humming Session today and we’ll get to work on composing an organised masterpiece.

During this one-hour consultation, we’ll go undercover as “tune-up specialists”. Together we’ll identify areas for operational improvement, policy alignment, and team synergy. 

Don’t delay – every day spent stumbling through misaligned operations is harming your business. Book your Humming Session now and let’s get your business’s sweet melodies resonating louder than ever!

Take the lead
As The Ethical Strategist, I’m required to educate others on HouseRules and ethical strategy. How it’s different from what already exists like HR consultancies, virtual assistance and coaching. CAS Ltd is none of the above although when we get that hum working together we may touch on such areas.
Smiling Cas Johnson

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