In a world full of talkers, be a listener.
This is an unexpected piece of wisdom from Henry Hoang, the Associate Director of Bluebik Vietnam.
Why unexpected? Simply because it is widely believed that a good salesperson must talk their way into a client’s heart.
For Henry, however, the key to success in IT business development for the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sectors is actively listening so that you can understand the client’s needs and problems. Then, use your business acumen and mastery of technology tools to craft win-win offers for the clients.
Henry walked the talk. He served as a business developer and project manager in many large-scale projects implemented nationwide in Vietnam. His prominent clients included, but were not limited to, a nationally recognized telecom conglomerate and a bank with the largest number of users in Vietnam.
And in doing so, he has come to call himself the client’s tech BFF. (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t stand for what you think.)
How can you, too, win clients and achieve success in IT business development? Let’s hear the success story from the seasoned expert below.
A 2-In-1 Development
Having a penchant for technology and problem-solving – it’s only natural that Henry gravitated toward IT business development.
“I like technology and I like solving problems. In this field, clients have problems and they need vendors like us to discover and provide them with proper solutions.”
Moreover, working in business development as Henry sees it, you not only develop the business but also yourself. He’s basically killing two birds with one stone.
“In IT business development, I always have to learn new things because each customer may have different problems. I also get to collaborate with multiple stakeholders and people from all over the world. These help me a lot in developing myself.”
Client’s Favorite Tech BFF
After many years of tackling business problems and providing technological solutions for national clients, Henry now sees himself as not just a problem solver, but rather the client’s “tech BFF.”
Mind you, the acronym does not stand for “best friend forever.” It is actually short for “business-first focus.”
The reason is, “although we provide IT consulting or solutions, we always put business first. The first step is always understanding the client’s business objectives and problems. Then the second step is knowing what technology we can use to leverage business objectives or solve business problems.”
Active Listening for Dual-Layer Understanding
Business development is a competitive field, especially in the IT sector where big international players are ready to dump their prices. How can we stay ahead of the game? For Henry, it lies in the dual-layer understanding gained by active listening.
“First of all, you need business acumen, or the understanding of the business and the industry that you’re helping with. For example, if you’re working with a bank but you know nothing about banking, you wouldn’t be able to hold a conversation or understand the problems properly.
“To have business acumen and understand the client’s problems, you need problem-solving, critical-thinking, and most importantly active listening skills. Normally, salespeople tend to talk more, right? They talk a lot about their company and their products, but I believe in knowing how to listen and to really understand the clients.
“Active listening will get you through the surface level. When you talk to people, there are usually their work profile and their personal profile. Normally, people miss the second one. For example, if I were the new CEO of a company, for work I may want to drive revenue, but personally I need to prove myself to the board. With active listening, you’ll pick up the personal profile and understand the personal drive. So when you propose something to them, your proposal should match both profiles.”
With this technique, Henry has many large-scale projects under his name, from nation-wide digital transformation that left no one behind for one of the biggest banks in Vietnam to centralized quality assurance for a big telecom conglomerate with multiple partners involved. It is safe to say that active listening is surely a way to win a client’s heart.
Crafting Win-Win Offers
Another skill that Henry emphasized is negotiation. He believes that you will always win in negotiations with a win-win mindset for you and your client. “Or even a win-win-win mindset, if you have partners involved,” he said.
Henry’s technique is to always come up with more than one possible offer, but one thing that all the offers have in common is that every party in the mix has their own win. “You put yourselves in your client’s and partner’s shoes. Make sure to help all parties meet at some point. And if you prepare only one option for negotiation, you’ve already failed.”
Putting Bluebik’s Name in the Vietnamese Market
Today, as Bluebik Vietnam’s Associate Director, no two days look the same for Henry. His main focus is to build connections, go where opportunities are abundant, and listen his way into clients’ hearts.
“Vietnam is quite advanced in terms of technology, especially in the BFSI sector, where there is a lot of investment in digital transformation. Vietnam also has a 10-year plan for digital transformation nationwide set for 2030, so there are lots of current and upcoming projects.
“Bluebik’s competitive advantage lies in our end-to-end service from business consultation to digital implementation. Clients want to work with someone who not only knows technology but understands business. We have all the capabilities required as well as many proven success projects that we have been doing in Thailand.”
“My goal is to replicate the success we have achieved in other countries in Vietnam. I believe we can help many clients here with their digital transformation, especially clients in banking with their digital applications or superapps. This type of project will take some time, maybe 2-3 years in development, but with one or two successful projects, we will be able to serve even more clients.
The More Multicultural, The Better
Working at Bluebik Vietnam, Henry has experienced multiculturalism like never before, and he can vouch for its many benefits.
“If a client has a problem and we have three people from different cultures looking at it from different perspectives, we can share our experiences. For example, if you’re from India, you can tell me what has been done in India to solve the problem and what challenges we can anticipate. Then we can help each other fine-tune our ideas and come up with the best solutions.
“And you know, it’s simply more fun. Getting to learn from each other and to know more about the world is always fun.”
