Managing client relationships: understanding the client’s expectations
By Alexa V.
On Wednesday March 11th, exactly one week after hearing that our plans to Brazil had been dashed due to what would later become an unexpected pandemic, our team was preparing to meet with our client. Although it was a less than ideal situation, our class sentiment was to ensure that our commitment to our clients would not be in vain, and to provide our knowledge and research to the best of our ability. In the weeks leading up to our travel to Brazil, our group had tirelessly been crafting a presentation that performed acquisition and partnership analysis on four key firms for our client. Despite the change in logistics, our team scheduled a conference call with the client, in order to present our preliminary research findings, receive feedback, and discuss his perspective on the intricacies of social impact with regard to sustainable consulting.
We discussed with our client our firm analysis on the key companies we researched, and rather than rattling off slide after slide, urged our client to take-part in a greater discussion with us about the meaning of our research, in order to better understand what it really means to be socially impactful in relation to our client’s long-term goals. In examining the concept of social impact through the lens of this course, it is abundantly clear that social impact can occur at the granular-level, as individuals seek to drive and inspire lasting change; however, it was in our conversation with the client that I was able to understand the importance of thinking locally before globally when it comes to inspiring and executing change. While some of my teammates briefed our client on the smaller more local firms for acquisition, I together with another teammate discussed sizable firms that would be viable for potential targeted partnerships. In presenting my analysis, I highlighted their portfolio, leadership organization, merger and acquisition process, and ability to provide meaningful guidance in crafting a long-term strategy. […].
What changed my perception of social impact was our client’s comment that despite their unsubstantiated presence in critical and central locations within the region, if the desire and resources for sustainable business was present than it was still a step in the right direction.
Whether it was a 5-person office, in locations such as Chile and Panama, or their 70-employee or 100-employee offices in Colombia and Mexico, our client solidified the idea that change can be important regardless of magnitude.
In coming from a Finance background working at Raytheon Company, “the numbers” have always been an integral and crucial part of my career. At Raytheon, I’ve built my career on being precise, knowing and understanding financial values, managing portfolios of programs, and being a key correspondent in our recent merger. These experiences have made me appreciate business on a global-level and a national-one. Whether its performing due diligence, creating or validating financial analysis, as well as understanding and operating within a scope where scale is so important, it was easy for me to miss the idea that change on any level is movement in the right direction.
What our conversation with our client quickly became was a lesson in understanding your local community and landscape first, in order to begin making positive improvements, prior to moving to a more global mind-set. In essence, walk before you run.
The rest of our presentation analysis and feedback with our client provided a platform for our group to make some additional adjustments prior to finalizing our report, which was essentially collecting more information on our final recommendation and streamlining our presentation deck. Our client’s request that our final report be in the form of a slide-deck also illustrated the importance of meeting a client “where they are” in terms of information, presentation structure, and briefing format. As our team debriefed over the past month, we also discussed the potential impact of Covid-19 on the global economic-landscape, and whether or not an acquisition or partnership was feasible given the timing and financial impact to multiple businesses and firms around the world. […] As the conclusion to our project is naturally ending, our team is hopeful that our analysis can provide a strong foundation for our client’s business decisions moving forward, and aid in the expansion of their social impact.
Although we were unable to travel to Brazil to interact with the selected firms regarding the strength and profoundness of social impact, what I learned through my teams interaction with our client was that having a voice, wanting to make sustainable change, and doing right by your community and environment is achievable.
As proprietors of our social impact journey and benefactors of IM860, I’ve learned that caring about communities and future generations enough to want to make the right choices, the right decisions, and form the right strategies is purposeful.