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Getting home to see the grandkids before the sun sets.
That's a sentiment expressed by one of Greg Warner's customers and one that Greg understands. Greg is a Senior Technical Consultant at ServiceRocket, helping our customers make the most of their Atlassian products and their integration with ServiceRocket. In this episode of the Helping Sells Radio, Greg talked about how he's passionate about helping customers, specifically helping them to avoid hurting themselves. Or "stopping them from running down the hallway with scissors," as Greg put it.
Using stories to help customers
One of his favorite ways to help customers is by telling stories. The stories are one of the ways that Greg illustrates his ideas and plans of action for his clients, but they're also a great way to build rapport with them.
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Building relationships
When we talk about non-work related subjects, it helps his clients get to know Greg on a more personal level. It makes it easier for Greg to be accountable and transparent, as well as fosters good will between him and the clients. In one instance Greg was able to use the positive relationship he had with a client to take accountability for a work item that he'd missed during their initial deployment talks.
"Luckily it wasn't a critical work item that impacted other work," Greg admitted. "But I still wanted them to know about it and to take accountability for it. I missed it, so I wanted to let them know." Because Greg had built a great relationship with the client, they were able to work through the oversight and move forward in the project.
"Let me come to lunch with you"
Greg has gotten so good at gauging how close a client wants to get with him and his team that he's started inviting himself to lunch with them. "Sometimes they look at me suspiciously," Greg joked. He reassures them he's not there to spy or gather insider intel on the client. Greg simply wants to get to know his clients a little better. By understanding them as people, he's better able to guide them in his consultations, ensuring they have more success with ServiceRocket's products, but also with their own jobs.
"Let me come to lunch with you." - Greg Warner on understanding clients as people
Giving firm guidance
Stories help Greg navigate the sometimes rocky road that appears when clients insist on a project item that Greg knows will cause more work in the future. He illustrates his points with stories from past experience, showing what worked and what didn't in similar situations. The stories help him soften the blow when a client is firm on proceeding down a particular pathway that may not work best for them.
When a past client confided in him that their insistence on a particular workflow has resulted in a ton of extra work and cost for them. Instead of responding with an "I told you so", Greg listened carefully and advised them to come talk to him again. "Now that we know that (was the wrong path), let's take the right approach and undo it all," Greg said. It's now a story Greg uses with future clients whenever they insist on activities that could cause them future headaches.
Using past lessons to make future engagements better
With each client engagement and relationship he builds, Greg is constantly learning. He takes both the positive and negatives things he discovers with each project and uses them to make future engagements even better.
Remember that missed work item from earlier? Greg started writing up weekly status emails for his clients so that it wouldn't happen again. "Sure, it takes a bit of time for me to gather all the info from my team and write up the status report," Greg explained. "But it helps both me and the client stay accountable and transparent for everything we agreed to do."
What about the client that didn't take Greg's advice and went down the path that lead to a ton of extra expense and headaches? Greg was always wondering if he could have and should have pushed his client harder to not go down that path. Now he's not afraid to express any negative outcomes to clients when they insist on a particular workflow. Nor is he afraid to push as hard as he thinks he needs to.
"My clients respect me more for pushing back on their ideas because of the relationship we've built," Greg explained. "They know I've only got their best interests at heart."
"Take the positives and negatives to make future engagements even better" - Greg Warner on #CustomerSuccess
Listen to our Latest Episode
To find out more about what Greg had to say to Bill and Sarah, listen to the latest episode of Helping Sells.
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