“You’d better keep your mouth closed, a smile on your face, and give `em what they want!”

No, this isn’t a stick up. It’s a day in the life of an account manager for an online search marketing agency. The underlying pressure of servicing several small business accounts is great, so how does one make it through a day in a world where budgets are low and demands are high? Answer: I give my clients what they want.

On a daily basis, the question is: What do they want? My clients’ wants range from money, more business, exposure, branding—really everything the power of advertising on Google has the potential to get you… and then some. I’ve even had a client tell me that “in marketing, you spend 1 percent of your gross sales as your advertising budget. I’m paying you paying you hundreds of dollars per month—I should have a million dollars by now!” Well if I could somehow take a few hundred bucks and turn it into millions with my Midas touch (without the lotto, since only old people win that) I’d stop typing this blog right now and get to spending.

But in all truth, how do you rationalize with a client who isn’t exactly a math wiz yet expects you to magically accomplish the most unreasonable requests? How do you find sanity in the outlandish and discover what your client really wants? Dun, dun, da, da…You ask! If you build it, they will come… if you ask them, they will tell! Once they tell you, you show them how you serve as their solution!

The golden rule helps me turn the negative into an auspicious situation. Regardless of my fear of athlete’s foot, putting myself in my client’s shoes is the only way through! The realization is that the only thing that can ever be on their minds all of the time is, themselves! This is the first step to turning a frown upside down in the client services world.

Once you’ve accomplished this first step, one of two things can happen. You can show your client from their perspective how the situation will help them, or you can show them from your perspective how this situation will help you. Again, the end action will result from you showing your client one of two things: will you help them or hurt them? It all stems back to self preservation. Figure out how someone is trying to benefit themselves and show them how you can contribute to their mission.

So when you’re on the phone with a client who doesn’t want to listen and demands answers now, the not-so-appropriate reply is, “That’s not my job,” “We can’t do that,” “Our policy…,” etc. Keep in mind that the real root of their problem stems from whatever outside variable came in to make them feel like they have endangered their self preservation. So put yourself in their shoes. Always consider yourself a solution to their problem, which is why they’re talking to you in the first place. Last but not least, ALWAYS show them how they will benefit from the end result. That’s all they care about in the first place right? WIIFM (“What’s In It For Me”) `em!

Why not give it a try and put yourself in someone’s shoes? Take that as your lesson of the day. Don’t forget to keep your eyes out for Part Two: How To Love Your Clients Without Getting Arrested!