3 Steps to Forge a Stronger Alignment With Your Client When it comes to building strong relationships with clients, you must consider their unique worldviews to fully understand and meet their needs.
By Drew McLellan Edited by Maria Bailey
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Everyone sees life through a unique lens or worldview. This worldview becomes a starting point for every decision, feeling and action.
Yet, the subject of worldviews and their impact rarely enters into lead generation and client-nurturing conversations. As a result, PR and marketing leaders are frequently left scratching their heads and wondering why they can't connect with prospects or hold onto business.
The reality is that 75% of people surveyed in 2021 believe that companies must take a stand and positively impact society, not just drive more revenue.
Ignoring your prospects' worldviews (or assuming they match your own) can lead to costly missteps. You might come across as tone deaf to some clients or offend someone by presuming their political or social stance on a topic, for instance. However, if you exercise a little awareness of the variety of worldviews out there, you can improve communications and form stronger relationships.
Related: 6 Tips for Making Social Impact Essential to Your Business from Day One
Leading your industry one worldview at a time
Right now, people are facing heavy issues, including climate change, systemic racism and international conflicts. The more aware and in tune you can be with your clients' fundamental beliefs and truths, the better you can serve them. In return, they will be more likely to trust you and form partnerships based on mutual respect — even if your worldviews do not perfectly align.
Make no mistake: Considering the worldviews of your target audiences can make you a standout brand. You'll remove the stress that can come from misalignments due to misunderstandings and assumptions.
Additionally, you'll be doing things a little differently than the competition, which will set your company's client experience apart. Not sure where to start? Here are some steps to help you take worldviews into account at your company:
1. Define your business's worldview
If you are the head of your agency, firm or corporation, your worldviews are probably the overarching worldviews for your organization. Take Patagonia, for instance, which has an environmental-based worldview. Previously, the company self-imposed a 1% tax to support environmental non-profits. More recently, the CEO made headlines for giving away the entire company to a trust and non-profit that will use the funds to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land.
However, you maybe have never thought about your and your business's worldview. If that is the case, now is a good time to put it to paper. What is your brand's authentic worldview? How does it motivate your team operationally? What benefits does it bring to clients?
After outlining your worldview, step back. You do not have to wear your worldview on your sleeve or announce every belief to the universe. Some leaders prefer to remain more reserved, whereas others want to showcase all their ideologies. Knowing where your boundaries are in terms of what you publicize is fine, as long as you inherently understand your business's worldview. That way, it can be a driver when appropriate.
2. Discover the worldviews of current and prospective clients
Once you have pinpointed your worldview, start exploring the worldviews of your prospects and clients. Find out what is affecting and challenging them.
For instance, many businesses have clients with personal connections to Ukraine. Their worldviews might be so concentrated on the Russia's invasion of Ukraine that they need more time to sign contracts or complete tasks. Taking their worldviews into account can help you extend the patience they need.
Not every worldview is easy to distinguish, though. So, you might want to have conversations with different clients. Where is their focus right now? What are their priorities? You do not have to ask directly about their worldviews — you can interpret a lot through their everyday communications and behaviors and what they say online. Social listening can tell you a great deal about what a person or company stands for.
What are they posting about? What topics do their newsletters and emails cover? What do they chat about at the start of meetings?
Related: 5 Tips for Improving Client Relationships
3. Find areas of alignment between your and your clients' worldviews
Once you have identified worldview trends among current and prospective clients, consider how you can be a better strategic partner. Are there ways to deepen your relationships and provide value to your clients based on shared worldviews? Answering similar thought-provoking questions can help you transform your client connections.
To simplify things, concentrate on coming up with one or two changes you could make. The changes should be noticeable enough to have an impact on your clients. Look for low-hanging fruit or actions that are more obvious. Let's say one of your clients recently demonstrated support for the increasing popularity of electric vehicles. You could take note of their environmental concerns and present new, related solutions during your next meeting.
As a side note, do not let this process frustrate or overwhelm you. You can't be expected to come up with all the answers or start every conversation with, "Here's what we're in favor of, and here's what we're against." Having a basic awareness of your clients' worldviews will help you keep them as the centerpieces of your client journey.
4. Regularly review what matters most to your clients
Although people's values rarely change, their worldviews can be altered. With this in mind, make sure you consistently review your stakeholders' worldviews.
When major events happen, try to gauge your target audience. You might disagree with them fundamentally, but you can still agree to disagree. On the other hand, you should acknowledge the causes that matter most. For instance, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, many businesses provided support through donations and equity statements. This messaging was critical to demonstrating opposition against systemic racism.
You can better align your client relationships and the client journey by routinely gauging clients' worldviews. You could even find opportunities to collaborate on projects related to causes you both support.
Related: How To Do The Best Business Development Within Client Services
The world is constantly changing, and your clients' worldviews are, too. The secret to attracting and retaining clients is to pay attention to their worldviews. Honoring what others care about most shows you are serious when you say that your clients mean everything to your business.
