Executive

…19

"Where were we?" Tom pulled out a chair and sat down. "Ah, yes, client acquisition procedures." He opened a drawer and pulled out a few business cards. The business cards were simple, black, raised ink on white stock, reflecting his name and phone number — nothing else. "Well, yesterday you reached the conclusion that our clients find us mainly through referrals, and you were right about that.

"Usually, after the completion of a project, we hand out a few of these business cards to our clients, and ask them to give the cards to other business owners in need of our services, but to use discretion before handing them out. We aren't letting ourselves be involved in turf wars within companies; therefore, the owner of the business, or the majority of the shareholders (confirmed by a secret vote in our presence), can sign us up. No one else can use our services. Any questions so far?"

"In case of a vote, how can you be sure of the results? I mean, what if the result is not in favor of using The Agency's services? How do you make sure information regarding our existence does not leave that boardroom?" Alex stated her question in a trembling, unsure voice, but, as the words started coming out of her mouth, her confidence built, and she finished the question sure of herself. After all, her question made sense.

"That's a good question. Part of our client acquisition procedure for larger corporations, for those with more than one shareholder, is to have them sign an NDA, just like this one. If there is only one shareholder, we use a different NDA, a more straightforward one."

"NDA?" Alex interrupted.

"Nondisclosure agreement." Tom reached in another drawer and pulled out a few printed pages, stapled together, on The Agency's letterhead. "Homework. Read the NDAs thoroughly and understand them in detail. Clients have to sign these agreements before they even learn our names. If you have questions, we will discuss them tomorrow. You will find this document to be quite comprehensive." Tom looked at his Breitling watch. "Moving forward, what would be our second source of business? Any ideas?"

"Repeat business?" Alex asked, again not sure of herself. She wanted so much to make a good impression; but felt uneasy every time she spoke. She was usually assertive and sure of herself, but in the presence of these people, she felt she needed to brush up to live up to their expectations. This was new to her.

"Yes, repeat business," Tom confirmed. "Currently it amounts to almost 40 percent of our revenue. Our former clients find it easier to call us at the first sign of trouble, than to hope the issue will get fixed on its own. And they find us to be the lower cost out of trouble, anyway."

"Lower cost? How come?" Alex was knowledgeable enough about the business world to be sure that The Agency's services could not come cheap.

"A company eaten alive from within can lose money at an unimaginable rate. These losses can happen overnight. Our former clients have become knowledgeable about how to recognize the early signs of trouble in their companies, and they call us right away. For us, it's obviously much easier to reacquire a client, than to acquire a new one."

"What are these early signs?"

"The main sign is unprovoked, inexplicable change." Tom paused, waiting for Alex to ask for more details. She did not wait long before asking.

"Change? What kind of change?"

"Have you ever heard the phrase: 'Numbers are a businessman's best friend'? I'm sure you have."

Alex nodded her agreement.

"So, unprovoked, inexplicable changes in numbers, in sales numbers, in staff attrition numbers, in sick days per employee numbers, and so on. Depends, case by case, on the type of business and the problems it is having. Makes a lot of sense when you think about it, right? For instance, let's say you have a customer support team whose members suddenly start being sick all the time, especially on Mondays. What would that lead you to believe?"

"Bad working conditions, maybe bad management, something like that," Alex said.

"Yes, but which? How can you know for sure?"

"Well, if they recently hired a new team manager and people started calling in sick, then—"

"That's not unprovoked change, my dear, in this case it becomes obvious why the change in numbers occurred," Tom interrupted.

"Oops," Alex said softly, looking down.

"You can do better than that, I'm sure of it," Tom said, smiling encouragingly.

She found the courage to try again. "Well, let's assume then that the existing manager is having a rough time at home and started taking it out on the staff, not caring any more, not making sure the staff members have support, leadership, and procedures. That builds up over time into a noticeable change in sick-day patterns."

"I told you," Tom said, stretching his arms and legs with a satisfied grin, "you can do it. Perfect scenario, plausible, and quite often encountered in one form or another. Now think some more, and give me one or two other possible scenarios."

"OK, how about this? An existing product supplier has slowly, but constantly, dropped the quality of the product, leading to an unprecedented increase in angry customer calls, therefore causing an unusual rate of burnout in the support team."

Tom nodded slowly, lifting his right hand in a fist with his thumb up. "That's another perfect example. Sometimes, the change in numbers is caused by some other change, like a procedure change, a system or equipment change, a staff change, something that wasn't even noticed initially, or wasn't considered as a possible cause; an initially planned change that led to some bad consequences. You have to look for this initial change. However, we're veering off track. We were discussing client acquisition, or at least we were supposed to be, weren't we?"

"Yes."

"Maybe this will help us stay focused." Tom turned on the multimedia projector and projected on the screen a bulleted list under the title "New Client Acquisition Steps." He started reading them aloud, one by one. "Step one, the call. We receive a call from the future client. Step two, if there is more than one shareholder, the extended NDA. They sign that, they vote, they sign a contract, they are onboard as clients. From this point forward, we refer to the business owner or to the group of business owners as the client—not the CEO, not the president, but the client. Step three, training on expectations for both sides. We explain what they should expect, how long it could take, what it could mean, possible outcomes, and so on. We also explain what we expect from them. What kind of support we should receive from the inception of our work. Step four, we listen to their grievances in detail. We ask questions, we try to fully understand the core of their problems. This is the first step involving anyone else but me. At this point, I would have already decided which one of my team would join our client's company. The respective would be present at that time. All clear so far?"

"Yes."

"Step five, is the hiring process. From this point forward, your fieldwork starts. The hiring has to happen as naturally as possible. The new position has to be created discreetly, and the human resources department has to select your résumé out of a pile of other résumés. They have to call you for an interview on their own, without pressure from the client."

"What if it doesn't work? What if they simply don't see my résumé?"

"Well, they will. It will be the best résumé ever written, with the exact experience they'll be looking for. Worst-case scenario, the client can push a bit, but it would be better if he or she doesn't have to. From there forward, you will pass two or three interviews: one with human resources, maybe another one that is more technical, and the final one with the client. You will have to pass those interviews, so you will be prepared. The interviews are the least of my concerns; I have seen you in action."

"Thank you." Alex smiled gratefully.

"Welcome, and well deserved. Step six, starts with your first day at work. Getting to know the company, the people, the atmosphere, looking at everything, while keeping in mind the client's concern, and asking yourself what caused it. Not disregarding any possibility; not discarding any theory, no matter how far-fetched; looking for causes and their effects; and analyzing what you see, hear, and learn. Step seven, is the diagnosis. You found it; you first bring it to the team at The Agency. You cannot discuss this with the client without running it by us beforehand. The clients will be instructed not to ask you, but some of them will still try. Once you have a diagnosis, we all sit together and brainstorm about the best way to fix the problem. Sometimes the fix is an obvious, simple answer. Other times, it's more complicated, or we have to get the authorities involved. Once we have a solution, we'll all present it together to the client. Finally, step eight is the fix. You apply the fix, or assist the client in applying it, and then leave the company. Case closed."

"Wow," Alex said, "this is amazing. This is impressive. It's a whole new world, I had no idea existed."

"Most people don't. Do you still want to be a part of it?" Tom asked. He sat up, shut down the projector and the laptop, getting ready to leave the room.

Alex answered promptly and enthusiastically. "Absolutely."

"Great. Then let's discuss this some more over dinner, at my place, 7:00PM tonight." He handed her a Post-it note with an address in Laguna Beach.

"Yeah. Sure, I'll be there," Alex said. Not many people would have sensed the hesitation in her voice, but Tom did.