We need to remember the current anxiety extends to our clients and their concerns about their company, staff and their own positions. We must help them justify their own roles by helping them stay relevant.

Key to this concept is learning more about solving our clients’ immediate problems. Discerning and analyzing those issues and how our product or service fits is critical. We need to be able to address client pain immediately and work to make him or her more effective.

With budgets drying up, the interim management’s role has now shifted. We are no longer here merely to help companies with cutting edge technology or driving future revenue by investing in multi-year projects with far-off return scenarios. If our customers are concerned about making their own quarterly numbers, they are less likely to be impressed with your product’s ability to automate their perfectly fine manual processes.

We can no longer “drop in, hand off and move on.” Rather we must remain in front of our customer, providing new ideas and unquestioned value.

Jonathan Gilliam is a interim marketing executive for OneAccord and is based in the Austin area. Jonathan has a deep background in business development, market analysis, opportunity development, relationship management and C-level sales. Mr. Gilliam welcomes questions at 512.775.7566 or Jonathan.Gilliam(at)OneAccordCorp.com. Jonathan also blogs at Business Developments.

Photo by artemfinland