|
Just about anyone who's selling a product, providing a service or forming a business relationship today knows the value of the "Trusted Advisor"--someone customers can rely on to provide rock solid advice, steer them in the right direction and always look out for their best interests.
It's about learning to be intimate with your customers and to view their success as your own, says Michael Cerreto, HP Consulting and Integration. And, as IT organizations continue to evolve into the role of IT service provider, the need to develop trusted advisor relationships with senior corporate executives is paramount.
"IT professionals need to become trusted IT advisors, but getting there requires fundamental shifts in behavior," says Cerreto, who recently created a workshop specifically designed to assist in the transition. "The more they can adapt how they learn, how they make decisions and how they conduct themselves interpersonally to more closely mirror the way senior executives behave, the more successful they will be," he says.
The transformation needs to take place at an individual level, stresses Cerreto, and there are seven basic steps any IT professional can follow to get started.
The first step in building greater customer intimacy is to adopt an attitude of truly appreciating people and being curious about them. Rather than showing up to the table as the expert who already has all of the answers, you need to demonstrate that you're interested in senior management and that you want to understand the situations they're facing.
Next, you need to develop rapport. "Every interaction with your customer is an opportunity to build rapport," says Cerreto. "Whether you match what they're wearing (business casual or suit-and-tie), find a non-business topic you both like to discuss, share something personal or learn to listen before jumping in, done consistently these simple steps will help them feel comfortable."
Step three is to develop a win-win approach so that your clients know you're not only taking care of yourself but are also looking after their best interests. IT needs to gain senior management's trust and that involves identifying the natural level of trust each manager initially has in people--whether low, medium or high--then enhancing the trust level from that point. In order to make your relationship with senior management the best it can be, you also need to develop open and complete communications. That means being willing to "surface the elephant on the table," says Cerreto, and to acknowledge a corporate client's dissatisfaction with a deliverable.
The next step is to be service-oriented or, as Cerreto puts it, make it easy for senior executives to work with you. "If working with IT becomes a hassle, they're going to find very clever ways to avoid it even if IT is bringing great ideas and great solutions to the table," he notes. "If you can make it easy for them to work with you, then they're going to keep coming back." The sixth step on the road to becoming a trusted IT advisor is the ability to produce desired results. Sometimes it's easy to lose focus during a project and become more involved with the process of doing the work than the actual goal of the work itself. The key is to keep your eye trained on the bottom line, says Cerreto, and to define ways to measure your success along the way.
Finally--although it may sound unusual at first--you need to become someone who is passionate and fun to be with. According to Cerreto, senior executives are more likely to work with people who "jump on board and show a lot of energy" as opposed to those who argue every point and may be perceived as negative.
In order to further bridge the gap between IT and Step three is to develop a win-win approach so that your clients know you're not only taking care of yourself but are also looking after their best interests. IT needs to gain senior management's trust and that involves identifying the natural level of trust each manager initially has in people--whether low, medium or high--then enhancing the trust level from that point.
|
