As a child, Jeffrey A. Hage’sfirst job was mowing his neighbors’ yards.
And from this experience, hegained an appreciation for hardwork and learned the importance of doing a job well for hiscustomers.
Those first life lessons aboutwork have stayed with him asmanaging shareholder of theDallas office of Winstead PC.Listening to and meeting hisclients’ ever-changing needs area crucial part of his job, butmore than that, he must alsoset the way for more than 200attorneys and staff members.
“We are a service industry,”Hage says. “We service ourclients, and that requires thatwe have to remain in constantcontact with our clients as theirtrusted advisers so they canadjust to industry fluctuations.”
Smart Business spoke withHage about how to build betterrelationships with clients tokeep your company growing.
Build client relationships. TheNo. 1 thing is to listen to yourclients, ask questions, be interested in their business and askhow we can help them. Toooften, lawyers do all the talking,without doing enough listening.
Understand where the speakeris coming from and the speaker’spoint of view, as opposed to imposing your own point of viewof what you think the speaker issaying or should be saying. As alistener, you have to adapt to thespecific communication you arereceiving. Listen with an ear toward a person’s point of view soyou understand where they’recoming from, because not everyone thinks or communicatesalike.
When you meet someone, youget a feel for what they are like,where they’re coming from andwhat their concerns are. In thecourse of learning about thespeaker, you learn to adapt yourway of processing their communication so that you understandwhat they are trying to communicate.
It’s like communicating withanyone, whether it’s your kids,spouse, clients or co-workers.
Work toward goals. Once we geta clear direction and decision,my role is to have the organization move aggressively in thatdirection with no hesitancy.
Part of it is communication. Akey is making sure that youractions are consistent with whatyou are telling them. It will havemore meaning and be betterreceived. If the actions are outof sync, then the verbal communication will not be as effective.Secondly, follow-through isessential.
Finally, I think the messageneeds to be simple. It needs tobe direct. … People appreciatehonesty.
And it’s buy-in. We have meetings frequently with the associates and shareholders, andthrough that process, people provide input. Through that process,we build a lot of consensus thatallows us to go forward.
Consensus derives from goodideas. Employees will followleadership that embodies theirown vision.