How to succeed with enterprise clients
September 08, 2009
Four not-so-simple, but essential, steps:
1. Know what you’re doing
Many of the people you’ll work with in an enterprise setting will be risk-adverse. This is not to say they’re against taking risks in their personal lives, but when it comes to work, taking a chance on an unproven company or technology can have massive repercussions if things go wrong (and sometimes, even when they go right).
Important data could be compromised, security breached, jobs lost, trust broken, time wasted or egos bruised. That’s why it’s vital as a consultant working with enterprise clients - heck, any type of client - to be reliable, responsible, responsive and respectful.
2. Know how to sell
Being able to sell your company’s virtues will only get one foot in the door. The other will be permitted when you help the person or department buying your services to sell your project up the chain of command. Sometimes, even sideways.
Provide your contact(s) with the background information, numbers (billing cycles and total cost of ownership are good examples), short & long-term impacts, legal terms & conditions, resource needs & projections and whatever other details they need to look good and show they’ve done their homework.
3. Know how to maneuver
Once the project is underway, give your contact(s) the tools to sustain momentum. When they stumble into inevitable roadblocks, be there to help with relevant, thoughtful ideas and suggestions.
Find and outline solutions, and if allowed, be willing to go and meet personally with the individual or department who is creating that very obstacle. Listen to them, show respect and validate their concerns. Negotiation skills are key to surviving in an environment where compromise can run rampant and derail even the best laid plans.
4. Know how to adapt
Every business is different, as are their internal processes. If you’re working on a technology-based project, be careful about stepping on toes by blindly enforcing your own methods on the client.
While it’s smart to have a clearly established working process, be adaptive and tweak as necessary. From development environments to security procedures and change requests to deployment strategies, being agile and open to new techniques will go a long way.
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