The Four Guiding Principles of Client Relationships at a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI)

By Karina Guzman, Technical Assistance Associate

As a Technical Assistance Associate, I provide Inclusive Action’s microloan recipients with tailored one-on-one business coaching. Over 75% of my time is spent interacting with clients, listening to their needs and identifying what our Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) can offer to meet those needs.This has given me the opportunity to form trusting and meaningful relationships with our clients and identify how our engagement with clients is distinctive. Critical to the success of Inclusive Action’s lending program, are our guiding principles to client engagement.. I’d like to share them with you:

1. Our service is driven by needs - not profit.

We are needs driven: loan size and net worth are not determinants of the quality of service a client receives. Rather, the needs that clients express and those that we uncover through rigorous intentional conversations drive the creative ways in which we assist clients.

2. We lead with humility - we are not the experts in the room.

We recognize the unique experiences and expertise of our clients, and believe that they know their businesses better than we do. As a result, we dismantle the prototypical ‘teacher-student’ dynamic in our client relationships by explicitly sharing with our clients that we’re here to learn from them and show vulnerability through sharing when we don’t know something.

3. We are present - our client’s deserve our attention.

We give our clients our undivided attention to show that we value them, their time, and what they have to say. Our clients are often in the shadows and have not been heard, so it is important for us to not perpetuate this cycle.

4. We don’t make assumptions.

We seek to understand our clients and find out their real stories by asking questions and providing space for them to share with us. Our clients are often measured by metrics such as credit scores that are detached from the narratives that tell us who they are and how they live, which can lead to classifying them as “risky” investments when they are in fact reliable.

While client service is not the only determinant of the success of a microfinance program, these four principles are the foundation for our success. We believe that as the CDFI ecosystem grows, it's important to identify the tactics we use to build relationships, which is at the heart of our work.