Michael Fischer wants to help you solve the problem you’re having right now, but he’d also like to help you fix your next problem. He’d like to prove to you that he’s more than just a tech guy, if you’ll give him the chance.
“A common problem in our industry is that most of the companies like Thinsolutions are looked at like tech guys,” says Fischer, founder and CEO of the 38-employee company officially known as Netnowledge Inc. “So you have a problem with your PC or your server or router or firewall, you call in the tech guy and they solve the problem. We’re not like that. We obviously fix issues for our clients. But when we interact with our clients, we operate as essentially a virtual CIO. We’re coming in and we’re talking with our clients about their business.”
When economic times are tough, your relationships and attitude about service can go a long way toward helping you hang on to a client who may be looking to cut expenses. If a client knows you have a history of being a problem solver, that client is going to be a lot more likely to hang on to you.
“Ask more open-ended questions that can lead you down the road to really understand where their business is headed and how you might be able to help them,” Fischer says. “A lot of it just starts from the mindset of coming in as more of a business partner and then being a technology strategic partner second. That helps really build the relationship at the core.”
Find out where the company draws its business from and what plans the company has for the future.
“One end of our business is software development,” Fischer says. “When those guys work with our customers, they really have to understand the entire client’s business. Sometimes, they end up knowing the client’s business a little better than the client. That lends itself to really developing a tight relationship with the client, as well.”
Building a rapport with your clients doesn’t have to be difficult.
