Winning relationships are essential for organic growth success. Yet many professionals mistakenly believe they excel at building and leveraging client relationships when they’re not. Often, they are more focused on themselves than their clients, limiting their ability to understand and meet the client’s needs because they don’t KNOW or understand them at all. A recent coaching call with a capture team of diverse GovCon roles exposed this disconnect.

The Coaching Call: Revealing the True Picture

The team, boasting decades of GovCon experience, was confident in their client engagement abilities and firmly believed they were customer advocates. They prided themselves on their extensive product knowledge, great relationships, and polished capability briefings. However, as we explored their recent interactions, it became evident that their approach was more self-focused than they realized.

During the call, they discussed a recent meeting they believed was successful. In it, they presented their new AI products to a prospective DoD client who had requested a capability briefing. The PM discussed how they practiced and then delivered a near-perfect briefing, and they were very proud of their performance. Did they hit the mark? They thought so.

However, the response was telling when I probed about the client’s reaction. “They seemed a bit distant, but I figured they were just processing all the information,” one Solution Architect noted. This red flag indicated a mismatch between the team’s perception and the client’s experience.

The team attributed this to information overload, but the reality was different. They dominated the meeting, proudly showcasing what they thought the client would want without understanding or aligning their presentation with the client’s interest. The client felt ignored, so they emotionally disconnected and lost interest in the meeting, and no one recognized this!

The Missteps: Why Many Get It Wrong

This scenario is not unique. Many professionals in both B2G and B2B overestimate their client focus and inadvertently alienate their clients. Some common missteps include:

• Talking Too Much: Many professionals eagerly discuss their capabilities and dominate conversations. But most clients don’t care about your solutions, preferring to vet their options rather than be educated about things not aligned with their immediate needs or interests. Talking too much leaves them feeling unheard, unvalued, and without buy-in. Remember, if you say it, it’s a claim; if the client says it, it’s truth.
• Rushing to Discuss Capability or Solutions: Diving into your technical capability or solutions without aligning them with the client’s specific needs can overwhelm and alienate the client. When you pitch without understanding the “real” client needs, you will aim blindly and likely miss the target. That said, the best solution presentations are responsive to the client’s needs, not preemptive capability pushes. Prematurely presenting makes clients feel their needs are secondary to your sales pitch.
• Failing to Listen:  Many miss critical cues from clients by focusing their thoughts on their attention on what they will do or say next instead of staying present and listening to the client. Genuine engagement shows clients that their concerns are priorities, building trust. This communicates that their concerns are not a priority, often leading to a breakdown in trust. You’re probably losing if you’re not listening 80% of the time.
• Ignoring the client’s agenda: Trying to steer the conversation to meet your goals by sticking rigidly to your agenda or pre-prepared questions risks overlooking the client’s actual needs and may alienate them.

 The Awakening: Realizing the Gaps

As we continued our conversation, it became clear to the team that their focus was more on what they needed from the call—usually intelligence for their next gate review. Their self-centered behavior failed to consider what the client might want from the call, and whether they knew it or not, their customers certainly FELT this disconnect.

“Wow,” the PM said, “I thought I was being efficient and thorough. I got things checked off my to-do list but wasn’t listening to what they needed. I didn’t gather anything to help me qualify the opportunity or understand how they felt about me or our relationship.”

This realization was a wake-up call. Many professionals believe they are client-focused, but their behavior suggests otherwise. And worse, they don’t realize it!

The Path Forward: Embracing the Hi-Q Method

Recognizing these missteps in your client engagements is the first step. You can choose to continue to wallow in denial and procrastinate or to take the action required to overcome these habits.

To change, professionals must embrace client-centric methods that prioritize active listening, empathy, and tailored solutions. The Hi-Q Method represents such a shift. It encourages professionals to engage differently than they do today, fostering deeper trust and better business outcomes.

Conclusion: Take Action Now

If these missteps resonate with you, it’s time for a change. Transform your client relationships with Hi-Q Training and a genuine commitment to understanding and addressing your client’s needs.

Move away from outdated traditional, pushy, aggressive, and often sleazy methodologies and embrace an emotionally intelligent method like the Hi-Q Method. This will provide the knowledge, skills, and confidence you need to significantly improve your client relationship quality.

Your clients will notice the difference, and so will your bottom line.