Compliance Uncomplicated Episode 2: The Art of Appreciation With Client Giant

Drata’s Compliance Uncomplicated podcast is back with its second episode, once again exploring how startup founders and visionaries are using compliance pathways to accelerate their growth, build trust with customers, and create a security-first company culture.

In this episode, Drata co-hosts Elliot Volkman and Helina Medhin, talk to Jay O’Brien, the Co-Founder and Chief Day Maker at Client Giant. They touch on the importance of showing appreciation in customer service, how it impacts your business and customer retention, and how  proper compliance is also a key factor in maintaining strong, long-lasting customer relationships.

If anyone knows how to build trusting, good relationships with customers and make their day, it’s Client Giant. As Jay says,

“Our mission statement as a company is: If you have the power to make someone’s day, you'd be crazy not to.”

What Is Client Giant Building?

Client Giant is a company that takes a tailored, customer-centric approach to customer service by providing meaningful, personal touches for businesses to better connect with their customers and employees, and build strong relationships.

Client Giant’s platform automates gifting for client care and employee happiness, curating and delivering thoughtful gifts on your behalf with impactful timing and personal messaging from you.

"Our goal is to provide a platform that helps businesses build better relationships with their clients,” says Jay. “It's not just about getting more clients, it's about maintaining and improving relationships with the clients you already have."

Client Giant also practices what they preach in showing appreciation at the beginning and throughout a relationship (not just the end)—both externally and internally. They infuse their own company culture with thoughtful appreciation. For example, when they extend an offer out to a job candidate, as you might guess, it’s not by email. They go as far as curating a custom-tailored gift, hardbound the offer, and have it delivered to the candidate’s home.

The Importance of Showing Appreciation

By expressing gratitude and recognizing the efforts of their customers, businesses can build strong, long-lasting relationships.

"When a business takes the time to show appreciation, it really helps to foster a stronger relationship between the two parties,” says Jay. “This can lead to increased loyalty, repeat business, and even referrals."

Jay also emphasizes the importance of finding ways to show appreciation that are unique and personal to each client, as this makes them feel valued on a deeper level. Not only that, but he touches on the positive ripple effects that appreciation can have on the world.

“The reality is there's something going on in everyone's life. Everyone's got a pebble in their shoe, and if you're able to pierce through the noise with something that is unreasonably generous, [not just monetarily] it will not only impact that person in that moment, but it will serve as a domino effect,” Jay points out. “For the rest of their day, the way they treat their spouse when they go home, the way that maybe they let the car in front of them go… generosity kind of self-perpetuates.”

How Compliance Plays a Role in Customer Relationships

Without trust, good relationships are impossible to maintain. Compliance and protecting client data is a critical aspect of customer service to maintain trust and loyalty. Client Giant understands this and works with Drata to take the automated approach to continuous compliance.

“We work with Drata to ensure that we’re staying compliant with the latest privacy laws, like GDPR,” Jay explains. “We take the privacy of our clients' data very seriously and want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to protect it."

The need for compliance spans critical aspects of a business, and it’s important to bring in the experts.

“With cybersecurity, which is so sensitive and requires so much due diligence to make sure it's right, it's important to have a compliance procedure baked in and to know what those blind spots are, rather than guess, or research on your own, or find some sort of manual process and try to figure it out.”

When asked why Client Giant turned to Drata for help with compliance, Jay had an answer most busy business owners can probably relate to.

“You can't argue with how critically important [compliance] is, right? Cybersecurity, compliance, all security in all those facets. But for me, as a business owner, I want to give it to you to do. I don't know what it is. I don't want to know what it is. I just want to be told what to do, when to do it, why to do it, and then trust the experts to do it.”

Compliance builds trust with customers by giving them confidence their sensitive information is being handled appropriately.

Key Takeaways

What has been the biggest lesson Client Giant has learned in their almost five years of business?

“Developing processes and systems [like a solid security posture] early on,” Jay says. “Without the proper systems in place from the very beginning, they're much more difficult to implement later on and to clean up and to get structured.  It just makes it so much easier to grow when there's a process already in place, so it's really important to have it buttoned up from the get-go.”

Jay O’Brien’s advice on the importance of making appreciation personal and the need for compliance to protect client data, are key takeaways for any business looking to improve their client relationships. 

To Jay, what is the key to making meaningful relationships? “The key is to truly give a sh*t.”

Trusting relationships are built from respect and authenticity—selflessly caring without expecting a return. “None of that happens from an inauthentic place. It absolutely has to stem from something that's real.”

Where To Listen

To learn more about Client Giant and how you can “automate thoughtfulness” with their platform, visit their website. To learn more about automating compliance for your business… well, you know where to go!

Listen to Episode 2 of Compliance Uncomplicated on Spotify, Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts, YouTube, and Amazon Music.

You can also discuss this episode on Drata’s community, Secured, or subscribe to our newsletter, Trusted to get the latest news.