Welcome Professionals…

…We have come across the importance of humour a couple of times in the series of Thursday Night Flight. When people share feedback about their co-workers or close supplier relationships, they sometimes use the term “this person is fun to work with”.

The importance of this feedback is very much underrated. We should all strive to be “fun to work with”! That does not mean that we are funny all the time. It rather refers to the general attitude when we show up. It refers to the emotional state of our clients when we work with them.

Of course, first and foremost we need to deliver outstanding results. But this is not enough. For an outstanding premium service we must also pay attention to the customer experience that we already discussed in TNF #039. Being “fun to work with” is creating a customer experience that relieves some of the heavy work load and makes the interaction more pleasant. In the best case, the interaction leaves the client in a better state than he/she was before.

Characteristics of “fun to work with” are:

• approaching challenges with an optimistic mindset
• acknowledging the client as a personality with specific needs and emotions
• taking the positive perspective, rather seeing opportunities than risk, rather searching for solutions than describing problems
• listening to personal stories of the client and reacting in an empathetic way
• sharing personal stories in balance with the point above
• occasionally making a jokingly remark or sharing an anecdote if appropriate

This list is not exhaustive, but it shows clearly that “fun to work with” goes much beyond being funny. Work can be hard. It is the way we approach it that makes a big difference to us and to our clients.

Wishing you lots of fun serving your clients

Malte

Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!