By Jim Cowen, Vice President, Emergency Risk Communications, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

A sense of urgency shows commitment. That logic sent me speeding down a Pentagon corridor with a folder tucked clumsily under one arm. How vital was the document to my boss' meeting? It didn't matter. He asked for it and I was trying to break a land speed record in getting it to him.

When I neared the entrance to his E-ring office, he stepped out into the hallway and calmly raised his hand. "Never run in the Pentagon, lieutenant," he said.

His few words conveyed volumes. My sprint hadn't shown commitment, it showed chaos, the absolute last thing he wanted expressed to the people at that meeting. My heart was in the right spot. My brain wasn't. I completely misread the situation.

What I did read correctly, however, was that lesson, a simple one that's stuck with me more than ten years after that embarrassing moment: Always consider how things look from your client's point of view.

In the communications field, I've found it particularly helpful to apply this perspective wherever and whenever possible. Truth is, though, it's a practice that benefits nearly anyone in any field—because whether you're selling widgets, awareness or ideas, we all communicate something, market something, sell something. And, more important, we all work for someone. 

Put yourself in your client's shoes and ask yourself a few basic questions: How would I view the services or product that I've been providing? Would I find them truly valuable? Would I pay for them? Really? 

Unless you've been living on Mars, you know how tough the economic climate has become. Budgets are tight. You need every tool possible to not only win new business, but to keep your existing business. Client service has never been as important as it is right now. So here are some tips to help you honor your client's perspective, and hopefully strengthen that relationship:      

• Deliver more than the baseline. Companies outsource when it's more economical to pay a specialist than to do it themselves. The moment that you no longer save them time and effort or fail to provide insightful ideas, you're vulnerable to being replaced by someone who will. So strengthen your position by going a step further than the minimum. What else were you thinking that didn't go into that final presentation? Were there some ideas that had merit, but might not fit perfectly into the client's current objectives? Tell them anyway, and explain your thinking. Read the same trade magazines your clients do. Don't just forward interesting articles. Comment on how they relate to their challenges and what can be learned from them. Send unsolicited ideas or opportunities that might be completely out of your existing scope of work. See an opportunity for your client to be featured in a trade publication? Set it up. Care about their issues and you'll become more of a partner than a vendor.  

• Advise. Nobody likes a know-it-all. Nobody likes a know-nothing, either. Clients pay for your advice. If you have an idea that is grounded in experience, research and insight—then offer it. Don't tell people what they want to hear. Give them your honest, but tactful, assessment. But if you reject an idea, have an alternative recommendation. You don't think the client needs an enormous annual report that is dated the moment it gets printed? Tell them and explain the pros and cons. Offer a more effective and efficient solution. They'll appreciate hearing new options that save them time and money and you'll earn credibility for not selling them something they didn't need.    

• Speak like you'd want to be spoken to. Consultant speak can be pedantic and boring. Outlaw the abuse of vague adjectives in written products and verbal presentations. Seriously, what does it really mean when you claim to provide, "robust, comprehensive and integrated knowledge management solutions?" Scrap the fluff. Speak to your clients in legitimate, actionable terms and use examples to which they can relate. Explain how you solved another client's problem. Clarify the thought process behind the initial plan, admit to mistakes along the way, and describe how you corrected your actions to overcome missteps. Make them want you to apply that same creative and organized manner of thinking to their challenge.

• Come clean on what you don't know. The biggest hole that you can dig is the one that spins around an un-truth. Bottom line, if you don't know then say you don't know. It's far less damaging to admit you're not up to speed on something than to overreach on your capability. Clients appreciate candor. They know you can't see and hear everything. And if you have been doing the homework suggested in the first point above, they know you are on top of potential opportunities for them.

Are any of these points groundbreaking news? Of course not. But try to actually put them into practice on a regular basis. It's tough. How many times has it just been easier to regurgitate what you know the client will accept, rather than taking it a step further? When was the last time you took a hard, honest look at the flowery language in your deliverables or on your website? Think about how it looks to the people you want to work for. It makes a difference.    

Jim Cowen is a vice president in the Emergency Risk Communications group of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. He is a former lieutenant in the US Navy.