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Educating Your Clients . . . To Be Better Clients

“Yoga. That’s why I can’t bend my knee.” My sister was telling me about her last doctor’s visit.

“The doctor told me not to use the stairs,” she continued. “He pretty much told me not to do anything that requires me to bend and unbend my knee.”

“You hurt your knee practicing Yoga?!?” I asked. “Was the class too advanced?

“No, just a beginning Yoga class.”

Let me tell you a little bit about stairs and my sister. Any climb four stories or less, she takes the stairs. She will not take the elevator unless the climb is at least five stories. She is not a big fan of elevators. She only takes them when she has to.

I share this with you to convey how much of an inconvenience not bending her knee is. And how did she hurt her knee? Yoga—an exercise practice that aims to harmonize body and spirit.

How can a beginning yoga class do so much damage to an otherwise healthy knee? Before I answer that, I need to share with you the story of a past client.

Sometimes, Clients Just Don’t Know Any Better

Leonard owned a restaurant. As many restaurants do, Leonard’s establishment fell on hard times. When the restaurant was too high in debt, Leonard hired a bankruptcy attorney—my dad. I was working for my dad as a paralegal, at the time. Leonard’s largest creditor was a bank that held a security interest in all equipment and furnishings.

The restaurant was in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allowed Leonard to stay in business in an attempt to settle his obligations.

However, since the bank held a lien on all of the physical assets of the restaurant, Leonard was obligated to protect those assets. Until the bank was paid, Leonard couldn’t sell a stove, a refrigerated display case, not even a chair. This was explained to Leonard.

And when Leonard traded a deep fryer and a catering job for a larger refrigerator, it was explained to him again. We were left to appease the bank, assuring them this wouldn’t happen again.

And when Leonard sold the tables and chairs, only to replace them with patio tables and chairs, so that he could pay the utility bills, this was explained to him again. Only this time the bank would not be satisfied with assurances. They asked the judge to approve foreclosing the restaurant so that they could recover as much of their money as they could.

On many occasions, and in many ways, Leonard was told why he could not sell his equipment and furnishings. They were no longer his to sell.

On many occasions, Leonard sold equipment anyway.

As clients go, Leonard was a headache.

If I knew then what I know now, we might have been able to help Leonard save his restaurant.

If my sister’s yoga instructor knew what I know, my sister might still be scaling stairs.

This Just In: Your Client Does Not Know What You Know

There is a common perceptual filter: the assumption that other people know what you know. I have heard it masked in the term “common sense.” Far too often I have heard people describe their assumptions as common sense when there was nothing common about the assumption.

It was amazing to me how often this would happen when I taught communication skills. As an example, I would teach a class about reflective listening. This is when you restate what you heard using “I” messages, for instance “What I hear you saying is . . .” This is intended to let another person know he or she was heard.

Students would come back to class to share their experiences of employing reflective listening in a conversation with a partner: parent, sibling, roommate, or significant other. Sometimes, students would resent their partner because, as an example, “My dad didn’t use an “I” statement even once! He never let me know he understood what I was saying!”

My response was typically witty. I would extend my hand toward the other students in the classroom and ask, “OK, which one is your dad?”

Even without dad in the room, the student would expect to have a reciprocally skillful conversation, as if dad benefited from some form of educational osmosis.

This perceptual filter, which I will call the understudy assumption, is a common failing. It happens when you talk to another, a client for example, as if he or she was your understudy.

By falling into this assumption, you project upon your clients an understanding of the very knowledge and expertise that you have spent a lifetime so carefully crafting. Ironically, this is the same knowledge and expertise that your client is paying good money for.

If your client shared your knowledge and expertise, why on earth would he or she need to hire you?

To overcome the understudy assumption, recognize your client as the beneficiary of your expertise, not as the possessor of it.

Educate Your Clients

What that yoga instructor owed my sister and what we owed Leonard is the same that you owe your clients: an education about how to work with you.

Educating your clients can be a significant undertaking, but it starts with one key question. What does your client need to know so that both of you can work together effectively?

Where Leonard was concerned, we had a responsibility to effectively delivery the message about his equipment and furnishings. The reason why telling Leonard did not work is now much clearer to me.

Leonard did not process verbal or written information as well as tactile experience. We could have used an object lesson with Leonard.

Standing in his restaurant, we could have asked, “Leonard if you had to raise $1,500 to keep the lights on, what would you sell to raise the money? OK, now go and lay your hand on it.”

As Leonard would go to a particular appliance, we would say, “Nope, not that one. The bank has a lien on that.” As Leonard laid his hand upon another appliance, we could have repeated, “Nope, not that one either . . .” We could have continued this until Leonard got the message.

The yoga instructor could have been kinder to my sister’s knee by demonstrating the simplest poses first. Then observing who was performing the poses incorrectly, and providing individual instruction.

Educating your clients can require a significant personal investment. While making that investment is unlikely to help your knee, it is certainly worth avoiding a few headaches.

Happy Client Retaining,

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© 2004-2007 Jeff Simon Consulting. All Rights Reserved. Wouldn't you love to peer into your client's head and know what they are thinking and feeling? Could you have better success at keeping and choosing your best clients if you could decode their behavior? Check out the Happy Clients Newsletter at: www.happyclientsnewsletter.com.

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