Clear Client Communications Leveraging the NETWORK and Your Own Resources DAVID MIDDLETON, Alliance Workplace Advisors

Clear Client CommunicationsLeveraging the NETWORK

and Your Own Resources

DAVID MIDDLETON, Alliance Workplace Advisors

Brief Overview

My experience and background– Commercial real estate– Former CEO, regional OBC company– Extinguished alum, officer – OBCAI– Former ABCN member– Brand marketing/business development– National/global clients penetrating new markets

• GSK, Coca-Cola, Buzz Off, ADM, Diageo, Websourced/Fortune Interactive

Client Communications Lessons Learned?

How they apply to ABCN and its members…

1. Knowing who you are and ensuring that your clients know• Value proposition market leadership

2. The Impact of Globalization3. Doing Simple Things Well4. Building a Company of Great

Communicators

I know me…I know you…you know me

Price/Quality Relationship Value– “You get what you pay for”– Relationship between price and the expected

quality delivered• WalMart, Taco Bell, Southwest Airlines, Dell

Computer, FedEx, Marriott


Innovation Leadership– Proprietary process, product, or service

• Microsoft, Intel, Starbuck’s, biotech companies


Superior Customer Relationship– Customer-centric: turn product or service into

a positive customer experience– Transcend from commodity to connection

• Walt Disney Company, IBM (?), AG Edwards, Four Seasons Hotels

How does this impact ABCN members?

Determine if you are P/Q, IL, or SCRDetermine if your client is P/Q, IL, or SCR

– Will determine services provided– Will determine how to communicate

Ideas/Recommendations -Communicating Your Value Proposition and Market Leadership

Officing Outlook (ABCN)


Officing Outlook (ABCN)


“Drill down” orientation– Use ABCN resources– It’s about them more than it’s about you– Re-orient every quarter– Strategy as much as procedure– LISTEN (one of the most effective ways to communicate)


Increase your profile and credibility– Public relations– Events in center– Surveys– Sponsorships– Cause marketing– Blogs– White papers– Web client knowledge

• salesgenie.com

Globalization“It’s a Small World After All”

Friedman’s “Flat” World– Transform your thinking and your doing

Ten Leveling Forces


Ten Leveling Forces1. The Wall and Windows

– huge leap in personal empowerment

2. Webs No Longer for Spiders– unlocking the door to a collaborative world

3. Work Flow Software– global digital uniformity


Ten Leveling Forces4. Uploading

– the little man speaks with a loud voice

5. Outsourcing– the best set-up for what, where, when, and how

6. Offshoring– the new age of global economic development


Ten Leveling Forces7. Supply-chaining

– creating global alliances

8. Insourcing– making global supply chains more efficient

9. In-forming– performing a ‘Googlectomy’

10. SteroidsVideoconferencing, VOIP, wireless technology


What kind of “great” people…or “untouchables”… does it take?– Collaborators

• Sales, marketing, and management personnel doing much of the liaising work for global companies

– Synthesizers• Mathematicians partnered with marketing experts and

computer engineers, inserting creativity with accuracy and logic; people who can see “A” and “B” and make “C” out of it

– Explainers• Writers, teachers, producers, managers, and journalists who

would see through complexity and interpret it


What kind of “great” people…or “untouchables”… does it take?– Leveragers

• Computer engineers who exclusively manage and maintain system for critical endeavors/projects; people who can leverage technology to do more with less

– Adapters• “Verticalists” who can splice a hodgepodge of know-how;

flexible moving from position to position– Greenies

• Environmentalists, scientists, and others with a familiarity with sustainable technology providing methods, information, and processes for protecting and earth and its resources


What kind of “great” people…or “untouchables”… does it take?– Personalizers

• People who can add the “yummy” strawberries on an

otherwise unsexy vanilla commodity – Localizers

• People doing small business from a global platform…and using it to serve up local information and services

‘Flat’ Ideas/Recommendations

Use Alliance NETWORK connectionsConnect your clients with other clients

through the NETWORKCommunicate with clients about your

ability to be an “untouchable”Be resourceful true globalization is your

ticket to $$

Keep It Simple, StupidDoing Simple Things Well

Invoicing – a communications opportunityDirect contact v. e-mail useSurvey appropriatelyNo trianglesYou’re not a glorified property managerLeading the Simple Life

– e-CenterCare Client Service Portal

CenterCare Client Service Portal

This is the ‘real thing’

This is the ‘knock off’

CentreCare Client Service portal

Services can be provided by remote ‘virtual staff’

Services can be provided from staff that is on site, or, shared between centers.

Totally transparent to your own website, …a perfect match…a perfect solution.

Communications Kings & QueensBuilding a Company of Great Communicators

Recruit journalism, PR, integrated communications people

Think globally, act locallyListening and humility – ignored

communications skillsKnowledge is Power is Influence is

Success is Profit

Recommended Reading List

The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR by Al & Laura Ries

Leadership by Rudy GiulianiBuilt to Last and Good to Great by Jim CollinsThe Power of Six Sigma by Subir ChowdburyWinning by Jack WelchSelling the Invisible and What Clients Love by Harry

BeckwithThe World is Flat by Tom Friedman

Clear Client CommunicationsLeveraging the NETWORK

and Your Own Resources

DAVID MIDDLETON, Alliance Workplace Advisors

Documents

Clear Client Communications Leveraging the NETWORK and Your Own Resources DAVID MIDDLETON, Alliance Workplace Advisors