How to think like your clients with Liz Wotherspoon at The Icehouse
Do you understand what your clients want from you? Do you communicate effectively and emotionally connect with them? Do you have a strong repeat client base?
Communication and emotional connection play an integral role when a client is deciding whether to choose your services yet are often overlooked. Don’t miss our 2025 ACE New Zealand SME Summit on Wednesday 21 May where Icehouse Programme Director and Head of Customer Solutions Liz Wotherspoon will help you adopt a client mindset and communicate in a way that fosters mutually beneficial long-term relationships with your clients.
We asked Liz about why being client-led is more important than ever and the value of establishing an emotional connection.
Tell us about yourself – what's your specialty?
"I have a background in consulting and leadership and people development, and, prior to coming to New Zealand many years ago now, I worked at Columbia Business School in NYC. I’ve been at The Icehouse for 19 years and my focus is on leadership, people and culture, and business strategy. Many of our customers work in construction, engineering and trade and I lead the activities that are focused on building capability in established owner-managed businesses."
Why is important to put clients at the heart of what we do?
"This has always been important, but it is even more critical in the current environment. It requires us to retrain our mindset to think like a client, rather than about them. Although it sounds simple, it can be challenging and requires ‘outside-in’ thinking. This kind of client-led thinking focuses not on what we do as a business, but rather on what our clients get. We must put ourselves in their shoes to truly understand what they want from us.
"During the session, I will help the audience understand this concept and teach them some skills to put it into action. What people value hasn’t changed, but sometimes our priorities are affected, particularly where pace is a factor, and we feel like we need to do things faster. We need to understand what our clients care about so that we can deliver what they want, and we need to really effectively connect with them so they hear how we will do this.
"Effective communication plays a key role in building relationships with clients. How you emotionally connect with them has a big impact when they are deciding whether to continue working with you. Your clients might not recognise this emotional connection, but they will feel it and respond accordingly."
Engineers are project focused. How does effective communication fit in with this?
"Just as engineers are oriented to start with the end of a project in mind – the result they want to achieve and the role they’ll play – we need to employ this focus when thinking about how we communicate. We must start with the end in mind. Think about why you are there, the outcome you want, what the content of the conversation should be, and how you need to adjust your style and approach. We must be intentional about these things.
"The Icehouse is in the game of developing the capability and capacity of owner-managed businesses. We’ve done this from the beginning and are proud of the impact we’ve had over the 24 years we’ve been doing this. But what we’re witnessing now is a real focus on client engagement and effective communication is a big part of this."
What will be a key takeaway from your session at the SME Summit?
"They will gain some clarity and understanding about how to adapt their communication style or skills to the preferences of their clients.
"I’ll do an exercise with them about improving communication, which involves a personal assessment and is a great tool to help apply this and bring this to life."