Your Customer is Actually Much More Reasonable than You Might Think

It’s amazing how many times I have coached account managers, product owners, or other externally[1] facing people about communicating risk and changes. While there are always good ways and bad ways to communicate issues, it is important that normal and reasonable conversations be had.

Communication with customers is a fundamental aspect of any business. Unfortunately, many people avoid communicating "bad news”. This aversion is deeply rooted in our desire to maintain harmony and avoid uncomfortable situations. However, avoiding these conversations can lead to bigger issues down the line, including loss of trust, damaged relationships, and missed opportunities for resolution and improvement.

Although conflict is frequently assumed to be the default mode of conversation with customers when delivering bad news, a conflict-oriented mindset should not dominate customer interactions. Instead, open communication, an often underappreciated art form, should take precedence. Open communication is not just about speaking honestly but doing so in a manner that builds trust and understanding. It involves transparency, empathy, and a proactive approach to problem-solving.

Here are some tips on open communication:

• Transparency: Always be honest and clear about the situation. Stick to the facts and avoid sugar-coating or withholding information.

• Context: Explain the reasons behind the issue and the steps being taken to address it. This helps customers understand the situation better and fosters trust.

• Empathy: Understand and acknowledge the customer's perspective. Show that you care about their concerns and are committed to finding a resolution.

• Proactive: Address issues as soon as they arise. Early communication allows for collaborative problem-solving and reduces the impact of the problem.

• Have a Plan: Always have a proposal for addressing the issue.

• Feedback:  Encourage customers to share their thoughts and concerns. This not only helps in finding better solutions but also shows that their input is valued.

Partners and customers are invested in mutual success. The earlier you communicate issues; the sooner you and your partners can work together to realign strategies. Delaying communication until the last-minute results in lost opportunities to mitigate harm and plan effectively. Customers and partners, especially executives, prefer honest and timely information, allowing them to adjust and plan accordingly.

On any project of reasonable size, even the best planned dates and deliverables are likely to change scope and/or timing. Many teams are afraid to share information about slippages with customers or partners until it becomes an unavoidable conversation and then spring it on them. I can guarantee that this always goes badly. On the other hand, when you communicate honestly with partners and give then early warning, this enables partners to re-plan their commitments, change their messaging, and mitigate harm to the project. No one likes schedule changes, but changes that can be planned for are far better than firefights and betrayals of trust.

Also, if you do need to re-plan a date, don’t make the mistake of picking the most aggressive date possible. Use the information you have learned about the project, its complexity, your partners, and your team to make realistic projections about a new delivery date. The first part to being honest with a partner or customer is being honest with yourself.

Another big part of great working relationships with partners is closing expectation gaps. It is common during a program that someone will ask for a change in the requirements. It’s important to have a well-defined Change Request (CR) process for these requests. Once a CR has been costed (time, money, scope) partners can make informed decisions on its relative importance to a program. Enabling higher priorities is always a good thing for a partnership and a business.

Finally, it’s important to remember (and remind others) partners and customers are not your friends. While there may be a great deal of overlap in interests, their interests are never fully aligned with yours. It is OK to have internal processes and communications that should not be shared with partners. For example, internal debate on a matter that concerns a partnership doesn’t need to be shared with the partner. Once internal consensus and a decision has been reached, then the information should be shared with a partner. Just like in any relationship, oversharing can be a problem.

 

Tips and Techniques

• It’s better to share changes in schedule, scope, and risk as soon as possible to give all parties time to create plans and mitigate impact. Surprising partners with last minute with major issues always erodes trust and destroys relationships.

  • Trust is built slowly over time but lost quickly.

  • Treat your partner reasonably and they will treat you reasonably.

• Use open communication techniques with partners.

• Make sure all changes to a program’s plan of record are vetted through a defined Change Request process.

• Maintain a professional posture when interacting with other partners. Avoid oversharing information, especially internal team debates.

[1] Externally facing to the team. This could include internal partners,  external partners, or customers.