5 Lessons for 2023: Cooperation and Engagement with Clients

It is no secret that the global pandemic, caused by the Coronavirus, has impacted almost every single business in the world. Clients have been lost and staff have been tested, businesses are now slowly bouncing back, facing this new reality posed, with brand new digital solutions and software. This change has been a fast one, pressuring organisations to adapt to new situations quickly.

But what many of us are forgetting, is that the main change has impacted people, above all. Maintaining client relationships during times of uncertainty will be one of the most important obstacles facing many businesses, going forward.

The challenge is to understand what the pandemic has taught us, and how must we be dealing with clients now and into 2023. I have compiled the top five lessons for businesses as we look ahead to next year, on how we should be cooperating with clients in order to avoid the same mistakes made earlier this year. 

Lesson 1: If you used to be close to clients, you must now be extremely close

Since the very beginning of the pandemic, businesses have been operating under situations of high uncertainty and employees under immense stress and pressure. Strict in-person contact regulations and the overnight transformation to remote working has caused several new communication challenges to arise. For example, the blink of an eye, a slight hand gesture or even a gentle movement, so easy to notice in a coffee meeting, goes completely unnoticed during a virtual conference. Consequently, building important and close relationships with clients becomes instantly more difficult. 

What’s more, as sensitive, personal or significant matters are now discussed online, customer relations executives, salespeople, account managers and directors need to be even more vigilant when picking up on these types of meaningful signals during conversations, as well as unobtrusively being able to introduce topics of a more difficult nature. This unobtrusiveness is, in my opinion, probably the most important point to master. For it is not a matter of taking a passive attitude, but of empathy and perspective towards the client’s situation, becoming uniquely personal.

Lesson 2: Polarisation of the client-supplier relationship 

In recent months, we have seen a strong trend for clients to stick with their current and proven partners rather than to engage with new players. Consequently, the willingness of customers to make long-term commitments is decreasing. This is a time of considerable trial and error for many businesses. Are they better off making new partnerships now, during times of uncertainty or maybe not necessarily? 

In fact, I estimate that the borderline between ad-hoc suppliers for one-off occasions and long-term partners in the customer-supplier relationship will be much more precise. Each path has different challenges, and each one has to be strategically prepared for. And to prepare yourself, you need to understand where you are and where you want to be. 

Lesson 3: Solidarity

It could be considered wishful thinking, yet I believe that the severe effects of the pandemic should be distributed throughout the entire organisation as much as possible. A time of crisis is not the moment to get rich in the short term at the expense of others. 

Businesses must be conscious of their behaviour on how they deal with the pandemic as this will affect the perception of the company in one, two or even five years time. One way to handle this is to listen to the voice of customers, their concerns and respond to them to build even stronger alliances for the future.

Lesson 4: Simplify your service

Companies will outsource parts of their business because they do not have the capacity themselves to deal with the task. This is usually down to a lack of resources, staff training or finances. Furthermore, with an increase in new business and economic challenges, clients will tend to demonstrate much less motivation and tolerance when paying attention to suppliers. This means that the partners of such clients will need to develop processes that involve their customers as little as possible in order to produce the highest potential value. For example, extended service times, lack of reaction and complicated procedures at the customer-supplier interface will be unacceptable going forward.

Lesson 5: Remaining agile

The final lesson lies with business agility. Businesses must remain vigilant regarding worldly developments and general moods. Changes in behaviour, law, customs are also happening faster today than in previous years. In fact, the changes can be so disruptive that many business models will cease to operate, whereas other companies that quickly find a new, courageous path will become industry leaders.

Such companies want to work with partners and suppliers who understand that there is more ambiguity than the certainty that the decision of today may change tomorrow. Companies that are proactive and willing to follow the change will be the first choice. 

With these five lessons, business leaders are set to future-proof their companies by focussing on their client relationships more than ever. The global pandemic has taught us many things within the business world, and it is not an event to be forgotten. Without implementing these important lessons, businesses make themselves vulnerable to losing clients and ultimately limiting their success.