The world is getting busier every day, and so are businesses around the world. For a successful business, it is important to have strategic plans that align with the client’s priorities. Hence client partners are the one role that can bring the business, client, and customer on grounds for a smoother relationship to achieve business goals with emphasized tools and services that can improve efficiency, streamline processes, or increase profits of the business.
Who is a client partner?
To augment sales and aid in the organization’s expansion, a client partner, also known as a client relations manager, is in charge of developing trusting relationships with clients and customers.
A client partner specializes in supporting and developing great connections with customers to ensure customer pleasure. They are largely in charge of contacting customers via phone calls and written letters, scheduling appointments and meetings, talking with consumers about the scope of opportunities, addressing problems and concerns, and reporting progress to managers and supervisors.
A client partner’s responsibilities may also develop customized programs and payment plans for customers, offering consultations, bargaining for contracts, and evaluating risks while abiding by the company’s norms and standards.
Being a great communicator who can identify client needs and come up with creative solutions to meet them is a need for this position.
What are the duties of the role of the client partner?
The following are some of the duties of a client partner or a client relations manager:
- Developing lasting relationships with important clients.
- Addressing client complaints and issues.
- Developing sales strategies to increase revenue.
- Excellent communication and negotiation abilities.
- Problem-solving approach for smooth customer relations.
- Work in coordination with a team for better output.
What are the responsibilities of the client partner?
Client Partner responsibilities include the following:
- Cultivate connections with important personnel and clients.
- Make preparations to meet the needs of your client’s businesses.
- Give clients advice on developing profitable procedures.
- Set up regular meetings with clients to check on their satisfaction.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for complaints and escalate problems if necessary.
- Assist the sales staff in upselling or cross-selling services and goods.
- Make sure the business and the clients follow the conditions of the contract.
- Examine rivalry to discover fresh approaches to keep clients.
- Set goals for sales and revenue and make every effort to achieve them.
- Respond to client requests, and work with internal teams (such as sales, engineers, and senior management).
Salary of Client Partner
The average yearly compensation for a client partner in India is 2.8 lakhs, with salaries ranging from 1.7 lakhs to 5.3 lakhs.
Skills required for the Client Partners
Communication
Giving, receiving, and sharing information is referred to as communication. It’s crucial to speak clearly. This can involve paying attention to other people, clarifying information with questions, and giving information clearly and succinctly.
Empathy
The capacity to comprehend and empathize with the emotions of others. As a client partner, you might deal with a client who is going through a difficult situation; whether personal or professional. You may connect with these clients and comprehend their requirements by using empathy that builds trust as a person and can also benefit the company as a whole.
Addressing issues tactfully
People in the customer service industry must be adept at solving issues. When issues emerge for your clients as a result of their service, you can be asked to assist them in solving them. You might be asked to assist a client with data recovery or preparing sheets etc. The greatest solution for them can be found using your problem-solving abilities.
Time management
Clients could have a variety of duties they need to finish in a day, such as meetings, conference calls, research, and other tasks. For customers to do their jobs on time, they must have good time management skills. It plays an important role in staying intact to complete the project on time without delays.
Knowledge of the products and services o the company
Customers can have inquiries regarding what your business has to offer them. Their ability to make wise judgments can be aided by giving them thorough information about the products and services. Additionally, the client partner might be offered to respond to any other queries that the customer comes up with. This can demonstrate to them your value of their time and your willingness to go above and beyond to assist them.
Dysfunctions of client partner
Making assertions
It’s crucial to ensure that everything the client partner does is done correctly therefore, they should be very careful to ask the right questions and acquire truthful information.
It is usually preferable to get clarification if you are ever confused about anything about the business or any needs they may have. Never be ashamed of your curiosity; it’s better to know something than to presume and be mistaken.
This would also allow the client partner to have a clear understanding of the project and hence aid in better performance. It is important to seek answers to the questions for a transparent working. It also improves the client and the customer relationship by providing better inputs to complete a specific project.
In most client-facing professions, most individuals are eager to share their marketing achievements with their clients. But it’s pretty usual to conceal until things get better when a strategy doesn’t quite go as you’d hoped.
You must always be open and honest about both the successes and failures of marketing. Providing a client with an improvement strategy when things are not going well will assist in establishing trust and a long-lasting client connection.
Being resentful
It’s vitally important always to act professionally when interacting with clients. The client’s behavior can frequently be difficult to control and oftentimes unpredictable, so a client partner must learn and understand how to handle these situations with composure and calm.
Since not all clients are easy to manage, there is no prior preparation or manual to deal with them in a client-facing situation if we don’t encounter challenging clients occasionally.
The complicated tone of communication
Your communication style needs to be unique; it doesn’t always have to be serious.
Showing interest in your client and their business is the single most important factor in developing a strong relationship and keeping them satisfied.
Being assertive is a bonus to win clients meaning being direct and clearly expressing yourself and respecting the customer’s points of view.
Missing the deadlines
It is possibly one of the most crucial elements in customer management. It would be best practice for the client relationship managers to give the customer a deadline for task completion.
Once the client is satisfied with the deadline, it’s crucial to aim for completion at least one or two days ahead of schedule to impress the client and consider any amendments.
Staying ahead of deadlines is one of the best ways to make a positive mark in the client’s perceptions leading to more sales.
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Always giving offers
Like any specialist, a client partner is more knowledgeable about managing sponsored search accounts than a typical person. A mechanic will always have a better understanding of car repair than any ordinary person who lacks the knowledge of the skill. A carpenter is better at fixing doors than any ordinary person.
The clients choose to work with a particular company knowing that the company provides the best services. Because of this, the client partner should be mindful and ought to provide a recommendation for each alternative that is well-supported by evidence.
Offers might not always work in favor but recommending the best-suited option for the customer always places the company at the top position.
Less detailed research
Even if the assignment is out of our hands or outside our scope of expertise, the client partners’ responsibilities lie in being ambitious and wanting to do everything they can for the clients per their requirements.
Often there would be something new coming up from the customer’s perspective; the client partner plays a crucial role in checking the customer’s needs with the company deliverable for a smooth relationship. The client partner has to thoroughly investigate research in all possible ways to satisfy the customer’s needs.
To conclude client partner role is crucial for the business to function. It is one role that tends to manage different duties of talking with the customer, researching the details, negotiating the requirements of the projects, communicating the details with fellow workers and the customers, etc. As times change, the role of this much importance is being handled by a single person which sometimes makes the role old-fashioned or old-natured. But it is still relevant even today because of the need to make the business-customer relationship smooth and easy.
Rohan has over 11 years of experience in client services, marketing and hospitality field. Previously, he was head of digital marketing for a hi-tech mobile application. Rohan is driven by new challenges and the possibility of making an impact on individuals and businesses.
Published December 16, 2022, Updated February 22, 2023
