Client Relationship Skills for Engineers

This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.
Clients hire people, not firms. Your technical skill gets you on the list; your relationships get you chosen. Yet most engineers and technical professionals are never taught how to build client relationships, and many are uncomfortable with anything that feels like selling. This course shows you how to win work without selling, by caring for clients in a way that is natural for technical people.

You will start with the business case: client care, client experience, Net Promoter Score, and why keeping the right clients is worth far more than chasing new ones. You will then learn to understand your client, using the iceberg principle, stepping into your client's shoes, understanding how clients really buy and what they value, and moving from features to value.

Next you will build trust. You will learn the trust equation, how to move from supplier to trusted advisor, five everyday habits of client care, and how the SCARF model explains what makes clients feel threatened or rewarded.

The largest section covers client conversations: preparing, structuring the meeting, asking questions that go below the waterline, world-class listening, difficult conversations, five ways to handle conflict, and resolving issues before they escalate.

You will then work on your network and reputation, from your first 60 seconds and your personal pitch to networking events, follow-up and virtual networking. Finally you will learn to grow accounts through capture planning, cross-selling without being pushy, the key client manager role, account plans, client feedback reviews and win-loss reviews.

A two-part case study, one-page worksheets and section quizzes help you turn the ideas into habits.