Audio Workbook eLearning Final - Andrew Sobel · Become a Trusted Client Advisor ©2015’by’Andrew’Sobel’ Andrew’Sobel’s’Client’Relationships’Re5Imagined ® 10 Session

2 Andrew Sobel’s Client Relationships Re-‐Imagined®©2015 by Andrew Sobel

INTRODUCTION You Can Develop Your Clients for Life

Welcome to Andrew Sobel’s Client Relationships Re-‐Imagined®: Building Your Clients for Life. This eLearning program contains a comprehensive set of road-‐tested strategies and techniques that will help you acquire more new clients and build enduring relationships with existing ones.

This workbook is designed to accompany the audio lessons and videos in the program. Please do not share it with anyone who is not a course subscriber. It gives you a summary of the key strategies and ideas for each Session (a Session is a group

of 2-‐5 lessons that focus on a particular relationship-‐building topic). It also provides interactive application exercises to help you apply what you’ve learned to your own client relationships.

Here are three suggestions for taking full advantage of this program:

1. There are three ways to access the program: you can subscribe to the convenient52-‐week program that delivers the links for one or two lessons to your inbox eachweek, you can download all of the MP3s to your PC and put them into your musicmanagement program (e.g., iTunes or something similar) and listen on yoursmartphone or tablet, or you can simply listen online. You can choose these optionson the course website at www.clientsforlife.com. Just use your assigned logincredentials to access the site.

2. If you are working with a group of colleagues, hold a discussion group after youfinish each of the 26 sessions on your own. Use the discussion questions at the startof each section in this workbook to guide the conversation.

3. Be sure to complete the application exercises at the end of each Session summary.They will reinforce what you’ve learned and help you get real results with yourown clients.

Enjoy your learning experience.

I want to hear from you! Please send me your comments or questions at: [email protected] or go to http://andrewsobel.com/


CONTENTS

PAGE

CHALLENGE ONE

Become a Trusted Client Advisor 1. Session One: Building Clients for Life ...................................................... 10

1.1 What Clients Really Want

1.2 Assess the Strength of Your Relationships

1.3 Evolve from an Expert-‐for-‐Hire to a Client Advisor

2. Session Two: Agenda Setting ...................................................................... 182.1 Become a Proactive Agenda Setter

2.2 Overcome Barriers to Agenda Setting

2.3 Use Agenda Setting Strategies

3. Session Three: Trust ..................................................................................... 243.1 Understand the Essence of Trust

3.2 Accelerate Trust

3.3 Avoid Trust Busters

4. Session Four: Empathy ................................................................................. 314.1 Test Your Empathy

4.2 Become a Great Listener

4.3 Avoid Listening Pitfalls

CHALLENGE TWO

Deepen Your Advisor Skills 5. Session Five: Power Questions .................................................................. 39

5.1 Develop Your Own Power Questions

5.2 Use Power Questions to Win the Sale

5.3 Use Power Questions to Deepen Relationships

Bonus Section: Power Questions for a Variety of Client Challenges

6. Session Six: Selfless Independence .......................................................... 506.1 Harness the Power of No

6.2 Develop three Types of Independence

6.3 Strategies to Develop Selfless Independence


7. Session Seven: Big-‐Picture Thinking ....................................................... 557.1 Get the Foundations in Place

7.2 Learn Tools and Techniques for Synthesis

7.3 Adopt the Right Habits of Mind

8. Session Eight: Become a Deep Generalist .............................................. 628.1 Master Three Levels of Personal Learning

8.2 Build Four Levels of Client Knowledge

8.3 Become a Lifelong Student

CHALLENGE THREE

Build a Powerful Network 9. Session Nine: Relationship Capital ........................................................... 69

9.1 Build Your Personal Brand

9.2 Identify the Critical Few

9.3 Develop Six Types of Relationship Capital

10. Session Ten: Managing Your Total Network ......................................... 7310.1 Identify the Middle Few and the Many

10.2 Implement a Staying-‐in-‐Touch Plan

CHALLENGE FOUR

Create Buyers 11. Session Eleven: Contact to Client—The Sales Process ....................... 81

11.1 Understand the Six Preconditions to Buy

11.2 Recognize Four Types of Sales Meetings

11.3 Build Rapport

11.4 Establish Your Credibility

11.5 Uncover their Issues and Explore the Need

11.6 Get a Next Step

12. Session Twelve: Tough Client Objections and Questions ................. 9012.1 Use Objections to Engage

12.2 Turn Tough Questions into Opportunities


13. Session Thirteen: Winning the Pitch ....................................................... 9513.1 Eight Preconditions to Writing a Proposal

13.2 Lay the Foundations for a Successful Pitch

13.3 Create a Collaborative Working Session

CHALLENGE FIVE

Grow Your Client Relationships 14. Session Fourteen: Project to Relationship ........................................... 103

14.1 Deliver on Your Promises

14.2 Build the Foundations for Relationship Growth

14.3 Create a Repeat Buyer

15. Session Fifteen: Growing Relationships ............................................... 10815.1 Select the Right Clients to Grow

15.2 Make Investments to Spur Growth

15.3 Leverage Growth Catalysts

16. Session Sixteen: Client Account Planning ............................................ 11516.1 Ask Eight Key Questions

16.2 Establish an Account Planning Process

16.3 Understand Why Account Planning Fails

17. Session Seventeen: Building C-‐Suite Relationships .......................... 12217.1 Walk in Their Shoes

17.2 Gain Access

17.3 Add Value for Time

18. Session Eighteen: Building Personal Relationships ......................... 12718.1 Get to Know Your Clients as People

18.2 Use nine Strategies to Connect

18.3 Avoid the Pitfalls of Getting Personal

CHALLENGE SIX

Multiply Your Relationships 19. Session Nineteen: Institutionalizing Relationships .......................... 134

19.1 Strengthen Your Client Network—Build Many to Many

19.2 Strengthen Your Internal Network

19.3 Intensify Relationship Management


20. Session Twenty: Adding More Value ...................................................... 14120.1 Understand the Dilemmas of Value

20.2 Use Five Value-‐Adding Strategies

20.3 Leverage Your Firm

21. Session Twenty-‐One: Becoming a Thought Leader ........................... 14721.1 What is Good Thought Leadership?

21.2 Tap Into Three Sources of Thought Leadership

21.3 Broadcast Your Ideas Widely and Often

22. Session Twenty-‐Two: Multiplying Relationships .............................. 15322.1 Capture the benefits of Long-‐Term Relationships

22.2 Select Your Multiplication Strategies

23. Session Twenty-‐Three: Becoming a Person of Interest ................... 15823.1 Six Strategies that Earn You a Seat at the Table

23.2 Continuously Improve with Deliberate Practice

CHALLENGE SEVEN

Overcome Tough Relationship Issues 24. Session Twenty-‐Four: Sales Challenges ................................................ 165

24.1 Move from the Feasibility Buyer to the Economic Buyer

24.2 Unseat an Incumbent Competitor

24.3 Build Relationships with Procurement

24.4 Manage Discount Pressure

25. Session Twenty-‐Five: Relationship Growth Challenges .................. 17225.1 Build a Relationship When the Client Doesn’t Want One

25.2 Building Your Own Relationships in a Large Firm

25.3 Broaden a Client’s Perception of Your Capabilities

25.4 Move up in the Organization

26. Session Twenty-‐Six: Trusted Client Advisor Challenges ................. 17826.1 Establish Relationships with Buyers Who Are Older than You

26.2 Ask Clients for Referrals

26.3 Manage a Crisis or Service Failure

26.4 Act Like an Advisor When You’re a Deep Expert

26.5 Stay in Touch When There’s no Business

26.6 Make Time for Relationship Building


Author Biography and Contact Information

Author Biography and Contact Information .............................................. 189



CHALLENGE ONE

Become a Trusted Client Advisor


Session One: Building Clients for Life

Lessons Covered: 1.1 What Clients Really Want 1.2 Assess the Strength of Your Relationships 1.3 Evolve from an Expert-for-Hire to a Client Advisor

Discussion Questions

1. What are your main challenges when it comes to building morelong-‐term client relationships?

2. Do you currently have some clients in the Trusted Advisor orTrusted Partner category? What enabled you to achieve this? Whatgets in the way of moving other clients into those quadrants of theClient Growth Matrix?

3. In which areas do you tend to act like an “expert-‐for-‐hire”? Whatbehaviors are holding you back from acting like a trusted clientadvisor at all stages of the client development process?

4. What are the major changes you’d like to see in your client base overthe next one to two years, in terms of the types of clients you workwith and the quality of those relationships?


Summary There is no single technique—no silver bullet—that will miraculously convince a prospect to buy from you or convert a mediocre relationship into a terrific one. But there are powerful skills and strategies, which I’ve set out in this audio program, that will help you become more successful with clients. Learn them and use them regularly, and over time, you’ll see powerful results.

Three Core Principles

1. Although long-‐term relationships are, in some ways, harder to develop than everbefore, they are more important than ever.

2. The basic principles for building relationships are common across cultures andgeography.

3. Most of the factors that determine whether a client relationship withers or growson the vine are in your hands—they are under your control.

Four Things All Clients Want

1. A provider they can trust (competence, integrity, and positive intent)

2. Delivery3. Value for money

4. Someone they like

Assess the Strength of Your Relationships

There are 6 distinct levels of relationships that you can pass through. The first two levels represent individuals who are not yet clients. The next four refer to clients:

1. At level 1, the person is simply a contact.

2. At level 2, the person is an acquaintance.3. A level 3 relationship is one where you have sold one or two projects,

transactions, or engagements to a client. You are considered an “Expert-‐for-‐hire.” The client might say, “She did a very good job on that for us...”

4. At level 4, you’ve become a steady supplier—a regular vendor. You might evenbe the client’s firm of choice in your area of expertise. Not a bad place to be! Butyou might still have to compete for each contract. And you’re by no means partof this client’s “inner circle” of trusted relationships.

5. A level 5 relationship is one where you are a trusted advisor. The client mightsay, “He does a great job. He’s outstanding in his field. He has good businesssense and judgment. I use him as a sounding board for tough decisions. I trusthim completely to always do what’s right for me.”


6. If you work for a firm that, perhaps, has multiple service offerings and offices,you may also reach level 6—a trusted partner. The distinction between a level 5and level 6 relationship is that when you’re a trusted partner, there are usuallymany-‐to-‐many relationships. There is an institutional aspect to therelationship—it transcends any one individual.

Seven Characteristics of a Great Client Relationship

1. Trust

2. Transparency and communication3. You are seen as a thought leader

4. Inner circle positioning

5. Loyalty6. Reference-‐ability

7. Financial health

The Expert-‐for-‐Hire versus the Client Advisor Mindset

There is a dilemma in becoming a trusted client advisor. On the one hand, you must develop a deep level of expertise in order to build your brand, attract clients and do great work on specific issues. On the other hand, you have to be more than just an expert to your clients, because expertise is an, ultimately dispensable, commodity. Many lawyers can do estate planning, for example. But what separates the truly great estate-‐planning lawyer from the average one? What I have found is that you need to shed the expert mindset because it will hold you back. When it comes to developing long-‐term relationships, this mindset can actually be your greatest enemy. Clients hire experts, but they keep advisors.

Experts Advisors

Tell Ask great questions and listen

Are for hire Have selfless independence

Are specialists Are “deep generalists”

Build professional credibility Build personal trust

Analyze Analyze and synthesize

Are reactive Are proactive agenda setters


Five Things You Can Start Doing Immediately to Cultivate Your Advisor Mindset:

• Thoroughly explore and understand your client’s priorities and goals beforeyou accept an engagement.

• Spend time preparing thoughtful questions for your client meetings.

• Stop bringing so much paper to meetings. Try using a short, half-‐page outline toguide a client discussion, rather than lots of slides or charts.

• Get to know your clients as people. Try to understand where they come from,what their values are, and how they like to make decisions.

• Don’t say, “My client knows what I do and will call when he has a need.” Beproactive and regularly go to see him with ideas and suggestions.

Next: Put these lessons to work by completing the application exercises

Note: All of the application exercises are interactive PDFs that can be filled out on your computer or tablet and then printed.

Andrew Sobel’s C l i e n t R e l a t i o n s h i p s R e - I m a g i n e d ®©2014 Andrew Sobel 14

SESSION 1 Building Clients for Life

Application Exercise OneDo You Have the Expert Mindset

or the Advisor Mindset?

1. Check the box towards the left, middle, or right to indicate which end of the spectrum you arecurrently at. That is, for each area, are you closer to the “expert mindset” or the “advisor mindset”?

The Expert Mindset The Advisor Mindset

OFTEN: Where would you place yourself? OFTEN:

Is for hire—says “Yes”Has “selfless independence”—is willing to say “no”

Tells and gives answers Asks good questions and listens

Is a specialistIs a deep generalist, combining knowledge depth with breadth

Is good at analysisIs a big picture thinker who is good at analysis and synthesis

Builds credibilityBuilds personal and professional trust

Is reactive Is a proactive agenda setter

Sells Creates a buyer

Focuses on transactions Focuses on relationships

Has a scarcity mindset Has an abundance mindset

Questions to reflect upon:

1. In which areas do you most exemplify the advisor mindset?

2. In which areas do you behave more like an “expert-for-hire”? Why do you think that is?

3. Where would you most like to focus on changing and improving?


SESSION 1 Building Clients for Life

Application Exercise TwoAssess Your Client Portfolio

1. Assess your client portfolio by categorizing your current client relationships as either “Expert,”“Vendor,” “Trusted Advisor,” or “Trusted Partner.”

2. List all of your current clients in the appropriate quadrants.

Level 4

VENDORLevel 6

TRUSTED PARTNER

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Level 3

EXPERTLevel 5

TRUSTED ADVISOR

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Individual Role with Client

Firm

Rel

atio

nsh

ip w

ith

Clie

nt

EXPERT FOR HIRE

CLIENT ADVISOR

BROAD

NARROW

Questions to reflect upon:1. What strikes you as you look at where your clients fall into the different quadrants?

2. Which clients at levels 3 or 4 have the largest potential to grow and to develop into levels 5 and 6?What would it take to do that?

3. Are there some clients you should try to drop or de-emphasize?

(Note: Level 1=Contact, Level 2=Acquaintance)


Session Two: Agenda Setting

Lessons Covered: 2.1 Become a Proactive Agenda Setter 2.2 Overcome Barriers to Agenda Setting 2.3 Use Agenda Setting Strategies


1. How would you rate yourself, overall, at agenda setting with clients?Explain your answer.

2. What are your own particular barriers or challenges when it comesto doing more agenda setting—to being a more proactive thoughtleader who brings new ideas and perspectives to your clients? Howcan you overcome these barriers?

3. Can you think of one or two examples where you made “agendasetting” investments in a client relationship that had a positiveimpact or helped generate new business?

4. Is there a client you’re currently working with where therelationship would benefit from greater agenda setting—e.g. aregular, quarterly meeting to focus on the bigger picture aroundyour engagement? What about a new high potential prospect that isa candidate for some agenda setting investments?


Summary Have you ever been in a meeting with a client who seemed distracted? Perhaps you noticed their eyes wandering or saw them reach for their smartphone. Or, have you tried to get an appointment with an executive who just wouldn’t make room in their schedule for you?

In both cases, the problem is the same: you are not connecting with and showing how you are relevant to the client’s agenda of critical priorities!

It’s the difference between your plumber calling you up and suggesting you get together for lunch so you can get to know each other better—and getting a call from your doctor who asks you to come in to discuss your latest test results. Who are you going to make time for? To become a trusted advisor, you’ve got to demonstrate that what you do is strategic and essential to your client’s business. You have to show that you are proactively focused on their most important goals.

Overview of Agenda Setting

1. Everyone has an agenda of three to five business priorities or goals that they arefocused on in their organization.

2. In addition, clients always also have a personal agenda.3. Your job is to understand, inform, and ultimately shape and influence your client’s

agenda.4. The challenge is that sometimes it’s hard to know what your client’s true agenda is.

This is especially true as you go higher up in the organization.

5. You begin by learning about a prospective client’s agenda first through secondarysources and then through direct conversations. Eventually, when you’ve earnedsome trust and respect, you can be bolder about sharing your own perspectivesabout their agenda.

Barriers to Agenda Setting

Agenda Setting separates the trusted advisor from the expert-‐for-‐hire, but most professionals don’t do anywhere near enough of it. Why not? There are four interrelated reasons why this happens:

1. First, most client interactions focus on operational updates on the work you’redoing and problem solving around the task you’ve been given.

2. Many people are fearful about having to talk about subjects that lie outside theirexpertise.

3. Sometimes your immediate client is very junior and just isn’t able to engage inan agenda setting conversation with you.


4. There are some clients who pigeonhole you and keep you at arm’s length. Theykeep their own counsel and just don’t seem inclined to want to talk to you aboutanything that isn’t directly related to the project you’re working on.

Agenda Setting Strategies

Agenda Setting during the sales process: 1. Educate yourself, but then be prepared to ask a series of thoughtful questions

that will help you uncover your client’s agenda.

2. Be cautious about using overly direct questions at the beginning of a meetingwith a prospect—things like, “What are your top three priorities?” or worse,“What keeps you up at night?”

3. One approach is to seed the conversation with observations about thecompetition, the industry, and what other clients of yours are grappling with.

4. With many clients, you need to earn the right to ask agenda setting questions bydemonstrating that you are knowledgeable about their business and theirindustry. A well-‐framed question can do that.

5. A very effective series of agenda-‐setting questions you can ask is, “How are yougoing to be evaluated by your own leadership at the end of the year? What goalsare they expecting you to accomplish?”

6. Another effective question is, “As you think about the future of your business,what are you most excited about? What concerns you?”

Agenda Setting strategies within an existing relationship. 1. Establish early on with a client that it’s part of your ongoing relationship to

meet periodically to discuss the context for your work.2. On a regular basis, challenge your client’s assumptions and view of their issues

through thoughtful questions and points of view that you develop.

3. Consider offering your client an annual planning meeting offsite.4. Do a “Deep Dive” around a special issue of interest to your client.

5. Use research or other types of market studies that your firm has conducted as away to routinely engage your clients.

6. Engage the client around their implementation agenda. They may be quite clearabout their big-‐picture strategy, but the details of implementation are alwayschallenging. What is their implementation plan?

7. Create a “big ideas” program. You tell your senior client, “As part of ourrelationship with you, we would like to meet once a quarter and share threeideas with you to improve your business.”


Next: Put these lessons to work by completing the application exercise



SESSION 2 Agenda Setting

Use Agenda Setting Strategies in an Upcoming Client Meeting

You will generate ideas about how to make your next client meeting an Agenda Setting event. Your goal is to bring new perspectives and ideas to the meeting and clearly tie your operational conversations to one or more of your client’s key priorities.

1. Think of an upcoming client meeting.

2. Use the client worksheet on the following page to gather your thoughts.

3. Take 5 minutes to brainstorm how you could give an “Agenda Setting” flavor or dimension to thatmeeting.

a. How can you elevate the discussion beyond a review of project execution or the status of yourmilestones?

b. How could you bring some new ideas or perspectives to the session?

c. How could you use it as an occasion to clarify the client’s evolving priorities or needs and/or toclearly link your work to those priorities?

d. What “Agenda Setting” questions could you formulate and bring to your meeting?

4. Write down your ideas and action steps in the worksheet on the following page.


Application ExerciseUse Agenda Setting Strategies in an Upcoming Client Meeting

Name of my client: Date of next meeting:

Actions I can take to introduce Agenda Setting into this meeting to either more firmly connect the discussion to the client’s key goals and/or to showcase new ideas and perspectives.

Ask yourself:

• How can I elevate the discussion beyond a review of project execution or the status of my milestones?

• How could I bring some new ideas or perspectives to the session?

• How could I use it as an occasion to connect our work to the client’s agenda of key priorities and/or to helprefine them?

• What thought-provoking questions can I ask?

Action 1:

Action 2:

Action 3:

Action 4:

Action 5:


Session Three: Trust

Lessons Covered: 3.1 Understand the Essence of Trust 3.2 Accelerate Trust 3.3. Avoid Trust Busters


1. In which situations or interactions do you wish you could increasethe amount of trust in your relationships? What are the underlyingcauses when you encounter a lack of trust?

2. Do some clients just not trust outsiders? Or, are there ways ofbuilding trust with anyone?

3. Why do you think clients are especially distrustful during the salesprocess?

4. What about working with an existing client with whom you’d like tobuild trust in a broader set of capabilities that you offer—whatstrategies work in that case?

5. What techniques have worked for you to accelerate trust early on inthe relationship-‐building process?


Summary All of the research—as well as common sense—tells us that trust is the foundation of relationships, both in our personal and professional lives. If you think about it, saying that you can trust someone—that they “always come through for you” or they are “always true to their word”—is one of the highest compliments you can pay them. Conversely, saying that a person “let you down” is a devastating critique. Why is it that when someone says, “Trust me!” you reach for your wallet or purse to make sure it’s still there? Think about that!

All kidding aside—it’s true, and I think it’s because trust must be earned. It cannot be demanded. You win trust mainly through your actions, not your words.

What is trust? Trust is the feeling or belief that the other person will come through for you. That they will put your interests first. That they will meet your expectations of them.

Three Ingredients of Trust

1. Competence. Clients are asking, “Can you deliver? Do you have the experienceand expertise to do the job?”

2. Integrity. Remember the term “Integer” from high school math? It means awhole number. When you have integrity, you are an integral “whole” ofconsistent values, beliefs, and behaviors. Integrity isn’t just honesty.

3. Agenda Focus or Intent. Clients are always asking themselves: are you focusedon your agenda or my agenda?

Two other factors that also impact the degree of trust are risk and face time:

1. Risk: When the stakes are very high, it’s harder for someone to trust you. That’swhy you can make it easier for a client to trust you by reducing their risk oftrusting you (e.g. by breaking a large project down into smaller pieces,guaranteeing your work, creating frequent checkpoints, and so on).

2. Face Time: It’s hard to trust someone you don’t know very well. That’s why themore face-‐to-‐face time you can get with a prospective client, the better—thehigher the likelihood that trust will develop.

Three Types of “Trust Curves”

1. Steadily growing trust. US executives at public companies, for example, oftenfollow a curve where trust steadily builds over time.

2. Limits to trust. Some US executives give trust very quickly but then it tends tolevel off.

3. The steep wall leading to the inner sanctum. Especially with entrepreneursand business owners in family-‐run companies, it may take longer for them to


trust you, but once they do, they pull you into their inner circle and put a huge amount of trust in you.

Behaviors and Strategies that Build Trust

1. The best way to demonstrate competence is not through praising yourself or byshowing league tables but rather by adding value in your conversations.

2. Show integrity at all times. Integrity is demonstrated through lots of smallthings—do you give straight answers? Are you open and honest? Are youconsistent in your behavior?

3. Demonstrate that you have a long-‐term relationship orientation and are notthere for a quick sale.

4. Build trust by demonstrating that your opinions can be trusted.5. The most “trustworthy” setup for a meeting with a new client is when you have

been introduced or recommended by someone who that prospect trusts.6. Having a well-‐developed personal or firm brand helps enormously, since one of

the most important functions of a brand is to instill trust in potential buyers.

7. Get third-‐party endorsements from as many sources as you can.8. Extraordinary preparation for your meeting will help create trust.

9. Practice complete disclosure and transparency.

10. Do something that is clearly in the client’s interest and not in yours.

Trust Busters: Behaviors that Reduce or Destroy Trust

1. Being indiscrete.

2. Not communicating enough.3. Treating everyone with equal respect.

4. Criticizing others.

5. Exaggerating or lying.6. Breaking confidences or sharing client information with others.




SESSION 3 Trust

Application Exercise OneAccelerate Trust with a Prospective Client

Write down the name of a prospect—of the individual executive, not the company—with whom you are going to be meeting. Review the checklist, below, and identify the trust-acceleration strategies that you feel would be effective in this particular circumstance.

Name of prospect (individual):

Trust Acceleration Strategies

Check if this is a strategy you would like to

emphasizeAny specific next

step?

1. Get a warm introduction or recommendation from someonethe prospect trusts.

2. Spend the time to pull together value-added insights, e.g.:Market information, competitive trends, best practices, anindustry “point of view,” data on customer behavior andattitudes, etc.

3. Conduct in-depth preparation: Research the company, theexecutive you’re meeting, industry trends, the history of thecompany, etc.

4. Make an offer to invest: e.g. to explore an issue, do adiagnosis, etc.

5. Build more face time: Create more opportunities to connectface-to-face.

6. Obtain and use third-party endorsements: These can includetestimonials, references, publications, and so on.

7. Explicitly talk about your relationship focus and long-termorientation.

8. If appropriate, say “no” to something: e.g. a request to dosomething you aren’t that good at or don’t believe is the rightthing to do for the client.

9. Get your prospect to speak or meet and discuss your work witha current client, who shares their problems.

10. Boldly put unspoken issues/concerns on the table.

Andrew Sobel’s C l i e n t R e l a t i o n s h i p s R e - I m a g i n e d ®©2014 Andrew Sobel �26

SESSION 3 Trust

Application Exercise TwoImprove Trust in a Key Relationship

Write down the name of a client—of the individual executive, not the company—with whom you feel you need to develop greater trust. Evaluate each ingredient for trust in that relationship by circling a number between 1 and 5 in the second column.

Finally, for any trust ingredients that you scored a 1, 2, or 3, write down a next step you can take to improve the client’s trust.

Name of client (individual):

Trust ingredient

Your current assessment (check one)

Next step to strengthen this trust ingredient

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly disagree Disagree

Neither agree nor

disagree AgreeStrongly

agree

1. Competence: Clienttrusts I have the requisiteexperience and candeliver.

2. Integrity: Client truststhat I am honest,consistent, reliable, anddiscrete.

3. Agenda Focus or Intent:Client believes I amfocused on their agendaand needs.

4. Risk: Client perceives alow risk in trusting me.

5. Face Time: You haveshared sufficient face-to-face time with the clientto build familiarity.

6. Others (specify)


Session Four: Empathy

Lessons Covered: 4.1 Test Your Empathy 4.2 Become a Great Listener 4.3 Avoid Listening Pitfalls


1. For you, personally, what do you think gets in the way ofempathizing with others? For example, what biases do you thinkyou have that might interfere with your ability to listen to others?

2. Reflect on your day-‐to-‐day client interactions. Can you think of typesof interactions or moments when you especially need to listenmore?

3. Think of an example when you were able to empathize with a client,colleague, friend, or family member. What did you do to empathizeand what was the result?

4. What are your strengths when it comes to tuning into andempathizing with others? What do you do especially well?

5. Is there a particular client you need to listen to more?


Summary One top executive I interviewed for my first book, Clients for Life, stated, “The good advisor listens with the heart as well as the head.” Another CEO told me that “The really effective professionals listen to what I mean, not what I say.” What they were both talking about is empathy.

Empathy is the ability to perceive other people’s emotions and thoughts. Empathy enables us to understand the character, motivations, and values of the people we work with. It helps us form deep and meaningful relationships in both our personal and professional lives. Empathy helps us respond to others in appropriate and effective ways. It’s our “social radar.”

Ultimately, empathy enables you to learn about your clients, making you more innovative and effective as an advisor. It helps you create rapport with your clients.

The Four Foundations of Empathy

1. Humility. If you don’t feel you have something to learn from other people, whywould you even bother to listen?

2. Self-‐Awareness. In ancient Greece, over the temple of Delphi—the place wherefamous rulers traveled to consult with the oracle—was the inscription “Knowthyself.” Well, if you don’t understand your biases and hot buttons, you won’t beable to fully empathize with others.

3. Curiosity. You must be truly curious about other people to empathize withthem. Unfortunately, we tend to lose our curiosity as we grow older.

4. Listening skills. How carefully and attentively do you really listen to others?

The Elements of Great Listening

What happens when someone is a great listener? Well, think about this yourself: when you have a conversation with someone who really listens to you, what do they do to instill that feeling in you?

1. To listen well, you have to focus and concentrate. Your mind can’t bewandering.

2. You have to show you’re listening through your body language.3. You affirm and synthesize what they have said.

4. Empathy is related to affirmation. When you empathize, you show that you areactually feeling the other person’s emotions—their pain, joy, anger, confusion,and so on.

5. It’s better to synthesize—for example, to highlight the essential issues—than tosummarize and simply recite back what the person has said.

6. Good listening isn’t about only listening—it’s also about mutual disclosure.


7. Good listening must be genuine! It’s hard to fake being really interested insomeone when you aren’t.

Exploring an Issue with Someone

Sequence Possible questions or statements

Start off at a broad level. Tell me about that issue.

What’s going on?

Ask clarifying questions and get more detail.

And what was his reaction?

What happened then?

Access feelings, not just facts. How did you feel after that?

Take everything that’s said seriously — don’t be dismissive (e.g. “It’s no big deal, we’ve all have to put up with that…”).

Why do you think he did that?

Why do you think that happened?

Summarize and affirm. What I understand happened is…

So, it seems like you’re feeling like you’re between a rock and a hard place…Is that how you’re feeling?

Put your whole self into listening: eliminate distractions, look at the person, use encouraging body language and make them feel they are the only person in your world at that moment.

Ask what solutions or actions he or she has considered.

So, what are you thinking about doing?

What do you think your options are?

Empathize. I was in similar situation once and felt terrible afterwards…

Offer your personal help and/or suggest resources.

Bill Smith is someone who might be able to help…

Is there anything I can do?


Barriers to Listening

• The expert mindset, where you tend to want to tell rather than listen.

• Being too keen to want to impress clients, especially early on in therelationship.

• Seeing the same problems over and over. You just want to just roll up yoursleeves and get down to solving them the way you know how—so you don’tlisten.

• We are in love with our own voices. Not everyone is, but most of us are.

Listening Pitfalls to Avoid

1. Insincere listening.

2. Thinking ahead.

3. Believing you’re the smartest person in the room.4. Being in love with your own ideas.

5. Being overly focused on your own agenda.

6. Listening without giving back.7. Not affirming.

8. Being distracted or rushed. Indulging your biases.9. Not allowing silence.



SESSION 4 Empathy

Application ExerciseAssess Your Listening Skills

Take this brief assessment of your listening habits, below. Put a “1” for yes and a “0” for no as you answer the question, “Do you ever...?” for each of the statements.

DO YOU EVER…Yes (one

point)No (zero points)

1. Interrupt others during a conversation?

2. Rush people who come to give you information or ask for advice?

3. Think ahead when others are talking?

4. Finish people’s sentences for them?

5. Do more than one thing when listening to others (for example, check your emailwhile you’re talking on the phone)?

6. Start thinking about your response before the other person has finished makingtheir point?

7. Fake attention while others are talking?

8. Prepare for an important client meeting by spending most of your time constructingwhat you’re going to say (as opposed to investing time in formulating questions)?

9. Forget the names of people you’ve just met?

10. Look at your watch or a clock when others are talking?

TOTAL POINTS

How did you do?

0–3 points: You’re a very good listener4–6 points: Plenty of room for improvement7–10 points: You’ve got your work cut out for you!

AndrewSobel

Sticky Note

Marked set by AndrewSobel



CHALLENGE TWO

Deepen Your Advisor Skills


Session Five: Power Questions

Lessons Covered: 5.1 Develop Your Own Power Questions 5.2 Use Power Questions to Win the Sale 5.3 Use Power Questions to Deepen Relationships


1. Can you think of two or three of the most effective questions youhave used or have heard used during the sales process?

2. Can you think of two or three of the most effective questions youhave used or have heard used to deepen relationships with existingclients?

3. What’s the toughest or most illuminating question you have everbeen asked? Why was it an effective or revealing question?

4. What prevents you from asking more and better questions? Whatconcerns or fears do you have?

5. Is there a particular client you’d like to ask more questions of?


Summary I’ll never forget the CEO who said to me, “I can always tell how experienced and insightful a prospective consultant, banker, or other supplier is by the quality of their questions and how intently they listen. That’s how simple it is.”

This top executive told me what hundreds of others I’ve advised and interviewed have also said: “Good questions are often far more powerful than answers.” Good questions challenge your thinking. They reframe and redefine the problem. They throw cold water on our most dearly held assumptions and force us out of our traditional thinking. They motivate us to learn and discover more. They remind us of what is most important in our lives.

Think about it—most clients know their businesses and industries better than you do. It’s difficult—and arrogant—to walk in and believe that you’re going to instantly “wow” someone with your brilliance and new ideas. But you can use questions to find an issue that you can help them with and to challenge their thinking and reframe their problems.

This is one of the fundamental differences between the expert-‐for-‐hire and the trusted advisor: when you have the “expert” mindset, you like to tell—to give people information and data. When you have the “advisor” mindset, you also give answers, but you put as much emphasis on formulating the right questions.

Examples of What Power Questions Can Do:

• They shift the conversation to the other person—to their interest, needs, thoughts,and feelings.

• They get you focused on the right issues.

• They help you understand the other person’s agenda of important priorities andgoals.

• They engage people emotionally as opposed to just on an intellectual level.

The Power Questions Matrix

First, are you focusing on goals and strategy—the big picture—or on implementation and execution? So, that’s one distinction. Second, are you in the realm of the intellect or of the emotions? That’s the second distinction.

If you combine these two dimensions, you get the four quadrants that make up the Power Questions Matrix.



SESSION 5 Power Questions

Application ExerciseCreate Your Own Questions Using

the Power Questions Matrix

STRATEGY DREAMS

• Why

• What

• Alignment

• Passion

• Excitement

• Values

EXECUTION FEARS

• How

• When

• Impact

• Frustration

• Anxiety

• Risks

Realm

Focu

s

RATIONAL EMOTIONAL

BIG PICTURE

IMPLEMENTATION

Choose a current client with whom you’d like to deepen your relationship. Take a few minutes to write down at least one question you’d like to ask this individual in each of the four quadrants.

Client Name:

1. Strategy (e.g. “Why have you decided to pursue this particular program?”)


2. Execution (e.g. “How will this impact your customer service?”)

3. Dreams (e.g. “As you look ahead to the next few years in your business, what are you personally mostexcited about?”)

4. Fears (e.g. “As you look at your implementation timetable, what makes you the most nervous?”)

STRATEGY DREAMS

EXECUTION FEARS

RATIONAL EMOTIONAL

BIG PICTURE

IMPLEMENTATION


Bonus Section: Power Questions for a Variety of Client Challenges

Create a Peer Relationship

1. Creating reach: What interested you in meeting with us today?2. Taking charge of the agenda: By way of describing my firm, I’d like to share some

examples of recent work we’ve been doing in the industry. And then I’d like to askyou to talk about your major priorities this year, such as X or Y... Are there anyparticular issues or questions you’d like to cover during our discussion?

3. Pushing back: You’ve defined the solution here as a new technology platform, butin my experience, there are several other important dimensions to the problem.Can you talk a bit more about the underlying goals you’re trying to achieve? (Or,You’d like to reduce costs by 15%. Is that aggressive enough?)

Build Rapport

1. Can you tell me about your own responsibilities here? What do they encompass?

2. Can you tell me something about your own career and how you got to your currentrole?

3. How would you compare the experience of working here versus at your oldorganization?

4. I understand you’ve worked here for nearly 20 years. I’m curious—what are someof the biggest changes you’ve seen since you joined?

5. So what do you think about...[a current event, trend, etc—e.g. the new study thatshows coffee extends your lifespan, the proposal to build a new subway tunnel, thenew regulatory framework that was just passed by Congress, etc.]?

6. I saw in your bio that you graduated from Duke. My son is applying there—howwas your time there?

7. I noticed that you spent a couple of years at XYZ corporation...I actually started mycareer there in the late 90s. How did you find your time there? (i.e. Connect aroundsomething you have in common.)

8. Where do you live? Do you have much of a commute?

9. Did you grow up in this area? Where is your family from originally?


Establish your Credibility

(Note: the specific topics are purely for illustration purposes—you’ll need to tailor your credibility-‐building questions to your specific clients.) 1. Many of our clients in your industry are, of course, grappling with lower-‐cost

competition from offshore. Some are dealing with this by moving even moreupmarket, whereas others are outsourcing in a significant way. What has yourresponse been?

2. Some of our clients, in order to accelerate growth in their largest customerrelationships, have created investment budgets for individual client teams. Haveyou considered anything like that?

3. How are you handling the demands imposed by the new regulatory framework?4. I’m curious—how are dealing with the challenge of providing training and

development opportunities for employees that are spread out in small offices inover 25 countries?

5. I noticed in your annual report that you’ve set aside a reserve to replace yourlegacy billing systems. I’m curious—what prompted that decision? What are yourplans?

6. I read the transcript of your CEO’s speech at the latest industry investors’conference. I thought it was interesting that he did not mention the recent mergerof your two largest competitors. What’s the reaction been in your organization?

7. How did you decide to divest your component parts business?8. How did you make the decision to outsource your customer call centers?

Understand their Issues

(The more tailored these are to your specific client and their industry, the more effective they’ll be.) 1. How will you and your area be evaluated at the end of the year? What are the major

goals you’re being asked to accomplish by your leadership?

2. I was struck by your CEO’s speech at the investors’ conference and his focus oncreating more cost flexibility in the business. What impact is this going to have interms of the capabilities you need to develop?

3. Why do you want to do that?

4. What additional capabilities do you need to put into place to support your newstrategy?

5. Where will your future growth come from?

6. As you think about the future of your business, what are you most excited about?Concerned about?


7. Deciding to do X was a bold move. I’m curious about some of the choices youmade—can you share with me why you...?

8. What are your most significant growth opportunities over the next several years?

9. I’m familiar with the broad outlines of your strategy. My question is, how are someof these initiatives, like becoming more market-‐focused and reducing your costinfrastructure, affecting your own particular area?

10.What exactly do you mean when you say… [risk-‐averse, dysfunctional, orchallenging, etc.]?

11.What would your best customers say are the main reasons they do business withyou?

12.Why do customers leave?

13. How have your customers’ expectations changed over the last five years?14.What’s the driving force behind this particular initiative (e.g. What is behind the

drive to reduce costs, design a new organization, etc. or Why did you decide to dothat)?

15.What would better [risk management, cost controls, or organizationaleffectiveness, etc.] look like?

16. In which areas do you wish you were making faster progress?17. This issue you’ve been talking about—would you say it’s one of your two or three

biggest priorities this year?

Connect to Higher-‐Level Goals

1. Why is that happening?

2. Why did you decide to do it that way?

3. Why do you think this approach is best for you?4. What business goal is driving this?

Explore an Identified Need

1. How much do you think this is costing you?

2. Have you estimated what it’s worth to fix this?3. What do you think that opportunity is worth?

4. How is this affecting other aspects of your business? (e.g. How is this impactingsales? Costs? Productivity? Morale?)

5. If you do not address this (problem/opportunity), how might your business beimpacted?


6. How do you know that… [turnover is high, productivity is low, or risks are notbeing well managed, etc.]?

7. Why is this important to you right now?

8. Would you say this is one of your top three or four priorities?9. How much time do you personally devote to this issue?

10. Can you give me an example of that?

11.What solutions have you already tried and how successful were they?

Get to Know Them Better and Build a Personal Relationship

1. What’s the most fulfilling part of your job? The least fulfilling?

2. Where do you think you’d like to move in the organization from here?

3. I’m curious—what has been the most important developmental experience in yourcareer so far?

4. As you think about your own legacy as a manager and leader, what would you liketo be remembered for?

5. What do you feel has been your greatest accomplishment?

6. As you think about what you’ve learned over the course of your career—whatadvice would you give your younger self about how to succeed?

7. How did you get your start in this business?

8. When you look back on the different positions you’ve held/jobs you’ve had, what'sbeen your most memorable one?

9. If you hadn’t gotten into [computer science, business, law, accounting, orengineering, etc.], what do you think you would have done?

10. Can you tell me about where you grew up? How did that influence you?

11. Is there something you’ve always wanted to do—a sport, hobby, or trip—thatyou’ve just never gotten around to?

12. You’ve had a very successful career. Is there anything else you would like toachieve?

Meet with Top Executives

1. Challenge them: How did you arrive at 10% as a target? Do you feel that’ssufficiently ambitious? How would you describe the gap between your currentleadership and the skills and capabilities you’ll need in three years’ time?

2. Ask about implementation: How would you assess your progress towardscreating a more client-‐centric culture? What do you feel you’ve accomplished, andwhere are you lagging?


3. Bring in internal insight: In working with your people over the last six months,we’ve observed a tendency towards risk avoidance, leading to slow decision-‐making. Does that square with your own view? What do you think is behind thatbehavior?

4. Ask about the external environment: Why do you think [competitor X] hasgrown so rapidly in that market? Or, Some of your competitors have created virtualcustomer communities...do you have any initiatives in this area?

5. Help redefine the problem: In my experience, changing the organizationstructure won’t have the impact on collaboration unless you also address thingslike your measurement and reward system and your decision making process.What do you think is really at the heart of the lack of teamwork?

6. Ask about organizational effectiveness: How do you feel about the dynamicswithin your senior team? Or, As you think about your senior team, what skills orcapabilities do you wish you had more of? Or, What do you think is holding peopleback from accomplishing this?

7. Learn more about their thinking: What do you think your options are to [growyour European business, reduce your customer acquisition costs, improve yourshare of wallet, etc.]

8. Understand what makes them tick: What was your most importantdevelopmental experience in becoming a leader? Or, Have you ever experienced asetback in your career? How did it affect you?

Create a Next Step

1. Of all the issues we’ve discussed, it seems like [name the issue] is the mostpromising one for us to further explore. What do you think?

2. Would it be helpful to you if we put together some examples about how otherclients of ours have approached this issue?

3. If you feel it would be useful to further explore this issue, who else in yourorganization should we talk to before we circle back to you with some ideas as tohow to approach it?

4. As you think about this issue, what are your biggest lingering questions?

5. Would you be interested in seeing an outline of the steps we’d recommend toaddress these?

6. Would you be interested in seeing an outline of how the solution we’ve discussedcould address this issue?

7. Given everything we’ve discussed, what do you feel would be the most productivefollow-‐up to this conversation?


Dealing With a Crisis or Dissatisfaction

1. Thank you for raising this issue with me. Can you share with me everything youknow about the situation?

2. Can you say more about that?

3. What happened then?

4. What has their reaction been?5. How do you think it reached this point?

6. What else can you tell me?7. What do you think contributed to this?

8. In retrospect, from your perspective—what could we have done to prevent this?

9. I’m sorry this happened. Is there anything we can do right now to help thesituation?

10. This is extraordinarily important to me. How soon can we meet to discuss this inperson?

11.Would it be helpful if I did some additional fact-‐finding and then if we mettomorrow to discuss some proposed actions to address this?

12. If anything else surfaces in the meantime, can you let me know immediately?

13. Going forward, what would you think of trying to meet on a more regular basis?This will help us stay more aligned, reduce the chance of this ever happening again,and give us the opportunity to regularly exchange perspectives on the work we’redoing.


Session Six: Selfless Independence

Lessons Covered: 6.1 Harness the Power of No 6.2 Develop Three Types of Independence 6.3 Strategies to Develop Selfless Independence


1. Can you recall a situation in which you found it difficult to say “no”or disagree with a client, even though you wanted to? What was it?Why was it challenging?

2. In your client practice, what are some of the typical challenges toyour independence that you encounter?

3. In the lesson, we talk about three types of independence: Financial,Emotional, and Intellectual. Which ones, if any, would you like tostrengthen? What gets in the way of fully exercising these?

4. Are there some particular ethical or moral principles or rules thatguide your own behavior? How would you articulate these? Wheredo they stem from?


Summary Selfless independence is a rare blend of devotion to your client tempered with objectivity and even detachment. You are selfishly dedicated to your clients and at the same time independent—you’re willing to say “no” to something they want to do and even back away from the relationship.

Just by itself, exercising selfless independence won’t make you the trusted advisor to a top executive. But without it, you will struggle to achieve that status.

Most clients have a strong respect for the professionals who stick to their guns and say what they really believe. Sometimes corporate executives can’t get a straight answer from their own organizations—their own staff may not be objective about an issue that has a major impact on people’s jobs and livelihoods. If you develop a reputation for independence of thought and intellectual honesty, it will put you into a relatively small percentage of professionals who, in the eyes of their clients, are irreplaceable. One executive put it this way: “The professional whose opinions I truly value gives it to me straight, with no bull. This kind of honesty is invaluable.”

Cultivate Three Types of Independence

1. Intellectual independence. Great advisors always find an appropriate way to saywhat they think.

2. Emotional independence. Staying calm and centered while the client or theorganization you work with is “hitting the walls” is difficult but extremelyimportant. Furthermore, you cannot appear needy at any time.

3. Financial independence. Advisors have to cultivate a mindset of independentwealth. The best advisors are highly paid, but they act as though they are not beingpaid and don’t really need the money.

How Would You Manage these Types of Challenges? Would Your “Independence” Be Challenged in Any Way?

• A client asks you to undertake a project that you really don’t have the right skillsfor.

• A client wants to take a course of action that you sincerely believe is wrong forthem.

• The course of action the client wants to take will result in a large amount of newwork for you and lots of fees. But you don’t think it’s a good strategy for them.

• You work for a large company and manage one of its largest client accounts. Youfirmly believe that you are serving all of the client’s needs and that there reallyaren’t any other products or services you should be trying to sell to them. But yourCEO and leadership team are pressuring you to grow the account even further.They disagree with you and feel you could double the revenue!


• Your senior client asks you to make changes in your final report so that their boardof directors will not get alarmed and think that the company’s problems areserious. How would YOU respond?

Checklist: Do You Have Selfless Independence?

“Selfless” ü You often surprise your clients with ideas and suggestions that they didn’t ask you

for. ü You look at all of the current events around you through the lens of your client

engagements, trying to discern what the implications might be for your clients.

ü You ensure that your client—and not you—takes full public credit for victories, even if you had a key role in them.

ü When you process and react to your client’s needs and give them advice, you do it completely independently of your own particular needs or biases.

“Independence” ü You don’t hold back your opinions—if you have a point of view on an issue of

importance to your clients, you find a way to communicate it.

ü You know where you will draw the line with clients—you’re clear about the things you just won’t do or put up with.

ü You have, on occasion, turned down assignments or terminated a client relationship.

ü Regardless of your financial situation, you feel as if you are affluent.

ü You don’t engage in purely situational ethics but rather have a “higher power” of standards and principles that you stand for, regardless of the situation.

Strategies to Help Develop Your Selfless Independence

1. Be clear about your own ethical and moral principles. Know what you stand for andwhere you will draw the line.

2. Separate the money from the work. Don’t let your client’s fees overly influencewhat you say and what you do.

3. Take a hard look at your client list. Is there a difficult client you should be de-‐emphasizing—perhaps someone whose values do not at all align with yours?

4. Finally, consider how a higher power or authority of some sort can provide youwith a sense of balance and calm during the inevitable storms you will encounter inyour relationships.


5. Don’t be afraid to ask an experienced mentor or wise friend for advice or to seekguidance from a code of conduct that has endured over the centuries, when yourindependence is challenged.



SESSION 6 Selfless Independence

Application ExerciseCultivate Your Selfless Independence

Reflect on the questions, below, and write down your answers in the spaces provided.

1. Can you recall an incident with a client—or someone else in your life—when you had to “draw a line”and say “no” or pull away? Perhaps an incident when it was costly or painful for you to demonstrate yourindependence? What was the event, and why was it hard for you?

2. Make a brief list of the behaviors, actions, situations, and/or types of clients you will not tolerate and arewilling to walk away from.

3. Are you faced with a situation today where you need to demonstrate more “Selfless Independence” (at workor in your personal life)? What is your dilemma, and what do you feel you should do?


Session Seven: Big-Picture Thinking

Lessons Covered: 7.1 Get the Foundations in Place 7.2. Learn Tools and Techniques for Synthesis 7.3 Adopt the Right Habits of Mind


1. When you begin working with a new client, what sorts of questionsshould you be asking them in order to establish the “Foundations”for your big picture thinking (e.g. purpose or mission, the wholepicture, and the most critical issues)?

2. Can you think of an example when you “saw the big picture” for aclient of yours (or a friend!) and were able to give them insight orsharpen their thinking? Was that effective? Why?

3. What’s the big picture around your own work and career right now?What are your big issues? What patterns do you see?

4. Think about your 2–3 best clients right now. Where might you bemissing the big picture for them?


Summary Big picture thinking: clients treasure it, executives want it from their managers and advisors, and kings, queens, and presidents have sought out generals and trusted counsel who had it. During the American Civil War, for example, President Lincoln finally found a strategist in Ulysses S. Grant to counter the South’s brilliant General Robert E. Lee. When Lincoln’s staff complained that Grant was overly fond of whiskey and often got drunk, he told them, “Find out what brand he favors, and give it to my other generals.” In truth, we can become good strategists without the shots of courage favored by Grant, but this example speaks to how much value a good advisor can add to their client.

Are you working on a slice of a bigger problem and possibly not seeing the forest for the trees?

Listen to what senior executives say about the most trusted and valued professionals they work with. These comments are taken from interviews I have conducted with a variety of corporate and individual clients:

• “He gives me a global view.”

• “She provides additional perspective and helps me to conceptualize the realproblem.”

• “He brings big picture thinking to the discussion.”

• “They help me consistently focus on the important, strategic issues . . . the level ofthe conversation is elevated.”

• “He handles the details, the tactics, but is also able to see the overall strategy.”What they’re talking about is one of the most important qualities of client advisors: the ability to synthesize while seeing the big picture. Clients want it from the professionals they hire. And bosses want it from their subordinates.

“Synthesis” comes from the Greek word σύνθεση, which means, to put together into a whole. The essence of synthesis is being able to identify overarching patterns and themes: to see, in essence, the big picture. Good synthesis identifies patterns, simplifies and frames the most critical issues, and develops new conclusions from old data. Sometimes it entails building up an idea, concept, or framework out of the details, often in an illogical, nonstandard, or roundabout way. Entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs of Apple and Jeff Bezos of Amazon were geniuses at synthesis, able to look deeply into the future.

The Three Foundations of Big Picture Thinking

1. Purpose. What are your client’s overarching goals? What does he or she reallywant to accomplish? Why have you been asked to help?

2. The Whole Picture. You need to understand the entire ecosystem around theproblem you’ve been asked to address.


3. The Critical Issues. The pages of the Wall Street Journal and Fortune are filled withtales of otherwise talented CEOs who put their energies into the wrong prioritiesand consequently were ousted by impatient boards. How do you sort out thesecritical issues? You do it by constantly screening them against the ultimate purposeat hand. You have to ask, “Which issues will really affect the outcome the clientseeks?”

Tools and Techniques for Synthesis

1. Use simplifying frames. Framing is the essence of synthesis. It organizes andexplains complex phenomena by reducing them to a few, simple dimensions. Agood frame (or framework) highlights the mostrelevant aspects of the issue or problem, showshow they interrelate, and then connects them backto your overarching purpose or goal.

2. Use Analogies and Metaphors. Analogies are apowerful way to create new ideas and to transferconcepts from one domain to another. CharlesMerrill, the founder of the modern financialbehemoth Merrill Lynch, tapped into the power ofanalogy when he brought stocks and bonds to themasses. Early in his career as a banker, he helpedfinance several of the burgeoning retail storechains, such as J. G. McCrory, which were focusedon the mass market. Merrill quickly adopted thisnew concept of mass merchandising and used it tore-‐conceptualize and restructure the stockbrokingbusiness—which had previously served only thevery wealthy—in order to make investmentsaccessible to the average person.

3. Seek and understand multiple perspectives. Inyour own work, what stakeholder perspectivesshould you be taking into account? How could youobtain the views of additional constituencies andenhance your conclusions?

4. Look for patterns and commonalities. Bigpicture thinking is sometimes referred to aspattern thinking. One writer called it the ability toidentify “the constellations of significance in theotherwise chaotic flow of information.” One of thebest ways to develop your pattern thinking skills isto organize and codify. Constantly look for patterns.

Seeking Multiple Perspectives

In 1917, the Indian spiritual leader Gandhi went to the province of Champaran to help resolve a particularly bitter and long-standing dispute between the impoverished indigo farmers and the local planters. Gandhi was dedicated to “truth in the collection and interpretation of data” and rather than automatically taking the side of the downtrodden farmers, he systematically interviewed not only the villagers but the planters and local British officials as well, to understand all of their perspectives. This enabled him to isolate different aspects of the problem—the desperate financial condition of the farmers was largely the responsibility of the planters, but many other problems, such as illiteracy and poor sanitation, were the responsibility of the villagers and had to be solved by them. The dispute was satisfactorily resolved through the seeking of multiple perspectives.


Adopt the Right Habits of Mind

1. Suspension of Initial Judgment. Analytical thinking is based on making carefuljudgments at each stage of the thought process and then validating every step orconclusion. Synthesis requires a suspension of judgment in order to allow“unrealistic” or “mistaken” alternatives or ideas into the discussion.

2. Use of Humor. Humor shares several characteristics with creative, syntheticthinking. Clever jokes and stories often present unexpected solutions and juxtaposeideas or concepts that normally would not go together. The best jokes—like goodthinking—often end with an unexpected punch line.

3. Time for Reflection. “I lived in solitude in the country,” said Albert Einstein,talking about the sources of his great ideas, “and noticed how the monotony ofquiet life stimulates the creative mind.” Many researchers in the field of creativity,in fact, believe that insight occurs during the reflection and relaxation that follows aperiod of intense activity and work.

4. Observation and concentration. Learning to concentrate is a crucial key tosynthesis. In attempting to explain Newton’s intellectual breakthroughs, theeconomist John Maynard Keynes wrote: “I believe that the clue to his mind is to befound in his unusual powers of continuous concentrated introspection… Hispeculiar gift was the power of holding in his mind a purely mental problem until hehad seen straight through it.”

5. Dirty Hands. This is a dilemma for professionals who work in large companies: asyou become more senior in an organization, you are exposed to more and moreprojects and client situations at a top level, yet at the same time, you may actuallydo less and less hands-‐on work with specific client issues and problems. Ideas andinnovations often flow from the actual doing, however. Make sure that, no matterhow senior you are, you are taking an occasional “deep dive” into your clientengagements.



SESSION 7 Big-Picture Thinking

Create Simplifying Frames

On the next page, try creating a couple of your own 2x2 matrices that help explain or frame an important client challenge that you work on. Don’t worry about getting them perfect—just try to experiment and see what you come up with. I’ve put three examples, below, as illustrations. One is the Urgency/Importance matrix that is illustrated in Stephen R. Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The other two are from my own research and writing.

STRATEGY DREAMS

• Why

• What

• Alignment

• Passion

• Excitement

• Values

EXECUTION FEARS

• How

• When

• Impact

• Frustration

• Anxiety

• Risks

Realm

Focu

s

RATIONAL EMOTIONAL

BIG PICTURE

IMPLEMENTATION

VENDORTRUSTED PARTNER

EXPERT

TRUSTED ADVISOR

Individual Role with Client

Firm

Rel

atio

nsh

ip w

ith

Clie

nt

EXPERT

FOR HIRE

CLIENT ADVISOR

BROAD

NARROW

Flow of new

clients

The goal is to spend

more and more time

on long-term,

developmental

activities in this

quadrant

The goal is to

eliminate activities

in this quadrant as

they are a waste

of time!

Urgency

Imp

ort

ance

URGENT NOT URGENT

IMPORTANT

NOT IMPORTANT

The Power Questions MatrixThe Client Growth Matrix

The Stephen R. Covey Time Management Matrix


Application Exercise OneCreate Simplifying Frames

Think about a client issue or problem that you address in your work. What are the two key dimensions that frame it—that help categorize different conditions or solutions? Spend some time exploring this, using the blank matrices below. Yours could be factors that go from low to high or they could be yes or no conditions like the Covey matrix—“Urgent versus Not Urgent.” In each case list the issue or issues that your framework addresses.

Dimension One

Dimension Two

Framework Title _________________________

Framework Title _________________________

Dimension One

Dimension Two


SESSION 7 Big-Picture Thinking

Use Big-Picture Thinking Techniques

Think about a client issue or problem you are addressing right now. Write it down at the top of the worksheet on the following page. Could you improve your big picture thinking around this issue by using one or more of the techniques listed in the left-hand column? Check the ones that you think might be fruitful and write down a possible next step.


Application Exercise TwoUse Big-Picture Thinking Techniques

State the Issue or Problem:

Big Picture Thinking TechniqueOpportunity area? (Check)

Next Step or Idea

Foundations: • Clear client purpose or goal• Understanding of the whole picture• Highest priority issues identified

Simplifying Frames

Analogies and Metaphors

Multiple Perspectives

Patterns and Commonalities

Set Aside Your Judgment

Make Time for Reflection

Observe and Concentrate

Get Your Hands Dirty—Dig In!

Others


Session Eight: Become a Deep Generalist

Lessons Covered: 8.1 Master Three Levels of Personal Learning 8.2 Build Four Levels of Client Knowledge 8.3 Become a Lifelong Student


1. What is your own core specialty? How would you define the sweetspot of your expertise?

2. What do you think would help you have better and more value-‐added conversations with your most senior clients? What areas ofknowledge, for your practice, should you develop and know moreabout?

3. As you think about the four levels of client knowledge—client asperson, client’s organization and strategy, client’s industry, andclient’s general business, economic, or regulatory environment—which ones are you strongest at and which ones do you need tounderstand better?

4. Can you think of an example when you very clearly showed a clienthow your offerings—your solutions—supported their higher-‐levelgoals and aspirations? How did you do that? What was the result?


Summary Many professionals are trusted experts. But only a few are trusted client advisors. One of the important differences is that while experts are specialists, advisors are deep generalists. I didn’t say “generalists.” I said, “deep generalists.” There’s a big difference. In this session, which covers three lessons, we’ll explore that difference and the importance of adding knowledge breadth to your knowledge depth. Before I go on, I want to re-‐emphasize the importance of branded expertise. The more you become an acknowledged expert in your field, the easier it is to attract new clients and command high fees. But that’s only half the equation. If you are seen as too narrow an expert—someone who lacks the ability to understand the client’s big-‐picture issues—you’ll work mostly on transactions and always be looking for you next client. You need more.

A deep generalist is someone who has a core expertise—say, organizational development or financial accounting or engineering—onto which they layer broader-‐based knowledge. They are a specialist who also has generalist knowledge in other areas. The result is a business advisor with technical depth rather than a technical specialist. Except for in instances when there is a temporary shortage of a particular skill, purely technical specialists are, ultimately, interchangeable commodities. The truly valued professional is someone who not only brings functional or industry expertise but who also understands the totality of their client’s business.

The Importance of Becoming a Deep Generalist

1. When you have breadth, you see knowledge connections that others miss. Youmight be working in IT and systems but to succeed, you need to understand howtechnology intersects with organizational processes and human behavior.

2. It helps you put your work in the context of a client’s overarching strategy andgoals—their agenda. Unless you can do that, you may be treated more like aplumber than a doctor or architect.

3. Deep Generalists are better able to relate to senior executives. When you talk to amid-‐level manager, they may be quite interested in your five-‐step methodology. Butwhen you talk to an executive vice president, they are more interested in how youare supporting the accomplishment of their key business goals.

4. When you are a deep generalist, you have more of an appreciation for theintangible aspects of relationships. You tend to be a bit more tuned in to thepersonal and emotional side of interactions.


Three Levels of Professional Knowledge

1. Core expertise

2. Business know-‐how3. Personal interests

Four Levels of Client Knowledge

1. Your client as a person. You don’t need to become their friend, but you do need tounderstand them as people.

2. Your client’s company. What is the organization’s strategy? Who are theircustomers? What is the culture like?

3. The client’s industry. How is your client positioned in their industry? Who aretheir competitors?

4. The general environment the company and industry operate in.

How to Become a Lifelong Student: When the student is ready, the teacher will appear

• The student: Great learners think of themselves as perpetual students.

• Ready: Having a student mindset isn’t enough, however. You have to be ready tolearn, often by unlearning old precepts or concepts that are no longer valid.

• The teacher: Most of us think about teachers in a fairly formal sense—universityprofessors, mentors, authors, and so on. But avid learners know that teachers comein every shape and form and are often disguised.

• Appear: Ready students are constantly on the lookout for people and experiencesthey can learn from and they know these teachers can appear at any time.

Strategies to Develop into a Deep Generalist

1. Read widely. Start by taking an extra 20 minutes a day to read:a. General management.

b. The industry and functions you work in.

c. People: relationships, selection, development, team building, etc.d. History, biography and other types of non-‐fiction.

e. And also, fiction.2. Learn from the interesting people you’re with. Ask them about their work, what

they think of important current events, and so on. Be a sponge!


3. Learn from experience. Research shows that most people don’t learn from theirexperiences. Ask this question often, of yourself and of others: what did you learn?



SESSION 8 Become a Deep Generalist

Application ExerciseBecome a Deep Generalist

Write down at least one action step for each of the four learning categories listed on the left.

In the next 12 months:

Domain Reading you would like to do*Actions you’d like to take to deepen your knowledge**

Your core specialty 1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

Client knowledge

• Client as a person• Organization/strategy• Industry• Others

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

Business environment

• Management• The economy• Trends• Competition• General business• Others

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

Personal interests

• Hobbies• Travel• Family• Others

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

*Reading: e.g. books (specific titles or just “a book” that you’ll identify later), magazines, web sites, etc.

**Actions: e.g. attend an industry conference, go through a training program, work with a new client in a different sector, get the SCUBA diving certification you’ve alwas wanted, etc.

AndrewSobel

Sticky Note

Marked set by AndrewSobel


CHALLENGE THREE

Build a Powerful Network


Session Nine: Relationship Capital

Lessons Covered: 9.1 Build Your Personal Brand 9.2 Identify the Critical Few 9.3 Develop Six Types of Relationship Capital


1. How strong, on a scale of 1 to 5, is your personal brand today?2. How would describe your or your firm’s “value proposition” thatyou offer to clients? That is, what is the end result or benefit youconfer?

3. What are the 2–3 most important personal qualities you want to beknown for?

4. Go through the relationship capital exercise that asks you to listyour 15–20 most critical relationships across six categories. Whatare your reactions? Where do you think you’re strongest and wheredo you need to develop more relationships?


Summary It’s essential to develop strong relationship-‐building skills, but if you don’t choose the right relationships to develop in the first place, you’ll be frustrated. So, you have to ask, often, “With whom should I be trying to deepen my relationships?”

You also can’t just focus on client relationships. My research shows that success with clients—and professional success in general—is based on having a wealth of Relationship Capital with a broad array of individuals. If you work for a firm, for example, you need strong relationships with colleagues in order to grow your relationship with your clients. And if you’re an independent professional, you need a network of collaborators and catalysts who may refer clients to you.

Five Strategies to Build Relationship Capital

1. Become known for something—for a particular expertise—if you want to attractothers to you. You must develop your personal brand.

2. Identify the critical few relationships that you want to develop over the next sixto 12 months.

3. Build relationships with a number of different types individuals, not justclients.

4. Manage the rest of your network—what I call the middle few and the many.5. Create a systematic “staying in touch” or outreach plan and follow it.

Building Your Personal Brand

The concept of your personal brand comes down to this: why would someone want a relationship with YOU? The short answer is that people are interested in you in a professional setting when they perceive you have something of value that they need or want. And this is why becoming known for something is the foundation for building a powerful network. Think about these questions:

• How would you like a client or potential client to describe your area of expertiseand what you do?

• How would you know you had a strong brand? What would proof look like?

• What personal qualities do you want to be known for?

• And finally, what steps can you take to strengthen your brand and overallprofessional platform in the coming months?

Identify the Critical Few

Most professionals need a core group of 15 to 25 trusted relationships with individuals who will help them, support them, and refer them to others. I call this the “Critical Few.” This is the first, and in many ways most important, of three groups of people in


your overall network. Among all your contacts, these “critical few” individuals add huge value to you and your firm. And depending on your particular industry and role, you should concentrate anywhere from 50% to 75% of your relationship building time with them.

Develop Six Types of Relationship Capital

1. Clients. They are the lifeblood of your business. Your list of critical fewrelationships may have quite a few client names on it. But there are more types ofrelationship capital.

2. Prospective clients are another group you must focus on. Even if you have a veryhigh client retention, you must add new clients on a regular basis to push andstretch you and to provide additional revenue growth.

3. Catalysts represent the third category. These are individuals who can help makedeals happen, introduce you to others, and influence decisions. In chemistry, acatalyst accelerates a chemical reaction without taking part in the reaction—andyour catalysts play a similar role. A catalyst might be a board member, a retiredexecutive, a politician, and so on. Catalysts can be very powerful.

4. Collaborators. These are individuals or firms who may collaborate with you toserve clients and share leads back and forth. A law firm might be a collaborator toan investment bank, or a business school academic to a consulting firm.

5. Colleagues. If you work with a firm, relationships with colleagues are also essentialto building client relationships. In fact, your internal relationships may be just asimportant as your external ones.

6. Counselor. We all need counselors who can coach and mentor us. Do you have amentor? If not, you should think about someone you admire and respect who couldbecome one to you.



SESSION 9 Relationship Capital

Application ExerciseStrengthen Your Brand

Write down two or three activities you’d like to undertake over the next 6–12 months, to strengthen your personal brand and reputation in the marketplace. Review the lists, below, to help you think about the activities that are right for you.

Activities I want to commit to in order to strengthen my brand and reputation in the marketplace:

1.

2.

3.


Session Ten: Managing Your Total Network

Lessons Covered: 10.1 Identify the Middle Few and the Many 10.2 Implement a Staying-in-Touch Plan


1. Are you able to identify your “middle few”? These are usually 25–75relationships or contacts that are not strong enough/ importantenough to be part of your critical few but which are stillmeaningful—e.g. they are past clients, contacts you’ve known formany years, etc.

2. How much of your relationship-‐building time do you spend on yourcritical few—your 15-‐20 top relationships? Do you feel that’s aboutright? Too much? Too little? What would you change?

3. What has worked for you in the past to stay in touch with peoplewhen there is no business?

4. What content do you have or could you develop that you could youshare with your network on a regular basis?


Summary Manage the Middle Few and the Many

• The middle few. These are a cut above the hundreds or thousands of names youhave in your contact database. These could be past clients, prospects you neverquite won a sale with, professional contacts that you’ve had a relationship with butwhich aren’t really important enough to be part of your critical few list, people thatyou went to school with, and possibly colleagues from an old employer. Therecould be anywhere from 25 to 75 people on your list of the middle few, dependingon how far along you are in your career.

• The many. These are your hundreds or even thousands of contacts that you’veaccumulated over many years. Some of these contacts you may have only met once,while others may be social media connections who you’ve never actually met faceto face.

Four Strategies for Cultivating Your Network

1. Share valuable ideas that demonstrate your expertise and experience: Theperception of value—a feeling you can help with an important issue—is theprimary driver for prospects to want to engage with you.

2. Understand their agenda: Where possible, find out what their toughest problemsand opportunities are.

3. Evoke curiosity: You need to get people to reach towards you and feel drawn toknow and understand more about your ideas, points of view, and solutions.

4. Maintain frequent contact: You cannot predict the ups and downs of the stockmarket and similarly, you can’t tell exactly when a potential client will have a needthat you can address.

Implement a Staying-‐In-‐Touch Plan

1. For your broader network: create packages of value (blogs, articles, white papers,etc.) that go out to everyone on a regular basis. The key is to leverage your contentand ideas in a way that requires low labor intensity.

2. For the middle few: in addition to that regular set of articles, newsletters, blogs, orthought pieces that are delivered to your broader network, I would single out themiddle few for some more personal attention. What would that look like? Here aresome examples:

• A phone call to catch up, find out what’s on their agenda, and talk about some ofthe latest work you’re doing

• Breakfast in their home city, where you happen to be visiting on behalf ofanother, active client


• A special article mailing to all of your top contacts with a personal note attached

• A note of congratulations when someone gets promoted, with an articleattached that has helpful ideas for their new role

3. The critical few: anyone on this list merits regular interaction—at least two orthree times a year, if not more, as well as face-‐to-‐face time, if possible. If theindividual is a client, then you’ll see them frequently because of the work you’redoing for them. Think about four ways of staying in touch with the critical few:

• Ideas and content.

• Connection. You can add great value by connecting your key contacts to otherpeople in your network. Your relationships and networks are proprietary—noone else can copy them and offer them to their own contacts. I am alwaysthinking, for example, about whom I could introduce my clients to.

• Personal help. Occasionally you will have the opportunity to give a helpinghand to a client or colleague.

• And finally, there’s fun. Some people still do like to have fun and would enjoyan invitation to a special sports event, concert, gallery opening, dinner, and soon.



SESSION 10 Managing Your Total Network

Identify and Focus on Your High-Priority Relationships

You cannot build deep, trusted relationships with every single person in your professional life. You must focus on the individuals who are or could be the most important to you. People for whom you can also make a difference and have an impact. Between 15 and 25 individuals is a manageable number. This exercise asks you to list these critical few in six essential categories of relationship capital:

1. Clients. Many of your names will probably be in this category. But you need other relationships aswell...

2. Prospective Clients. These could be individuals you have never worked with before, former clients,dormant clients, or new executives within an existing client.

3. Colleagues. If you work within an organization, strong internal relationships with colleagues areessential for success with clients.

4. Catalysts. Catalysts are individuals who can “make things happen” and introduce you to others.Often, they are uninvolved in the actual transaction or program. Catalysts could include a boardmember, a retired CEO, a former client, someone involved in private equity or venture capital, and soon.

5. Collaborators. These are often other professional firms or individual practitioners that complementyour services and may be a source of opportunities for you.

6. Counselors. These are individuals who coach and mentor you. Especially in difficult times, theserelationships are an importance source of valuable advice and perspective.

On the next two pages, fill out the left-hand side of each worksheet by listing the 15-25 critical few relationships that you’d like to focus on in the next six months. Write down the organization (for clients) and the person’s name. If you can, list an important need or issue you believe you can help them with.


Application ExerciseIdentify and Focus on Your High-Priority Relationships

My Staying-in-Touch Plan for High-Priority Relationships

A. Organization B. IndividualC. A Need or Issue that You Can Help With

D. Next Step With This Individual

1. Current Clients

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

2. Prospective Clients

1.

2.

3.

4.

3. Colleagues

1.

2.

3.


My Staying-in-Touch Plan for High-Priority Relationships (continued)

A. Organization B. IndividualC. A Need or Issue that You Can Help With

D. Next Step With This Individual

4. Catalysts

1.

2.

3.

5. Collaborators

1.

2.

3.

6. Counselors

1.

2.

3.



CHALLENGE FOUR

Create Buyers


Session 11: Contact to Client— The Sales Process

Lessons Covered: 11.1 Understand the Six Preconditions to Buy 11.2 Recognize Four Types of Sales Meetings 11.3 Build Rapport 11.4 Establish Your Credibility 11.5 Uncover Their Issues and Explore the Need 11.6 Get a Next Step


1. What parts of the sales process do you find the most difficult orchallenging? Why?

2. What has characterized those sales that have gone very smoothly foryou and launched the start of a mutually satisfying relationship?

3. What are the implications of your answer to question 2 for eitheryour client selection criteria and process or your businessdevelopment strategies and tactics?

4. What do you do that is most “engaging” to clients during the salesprocess? What draws prospects into a meaningful dialogue with youabout their toughest issues? What compels them to action?


Summary When you’re talking to a potential buyer, your overall goal is to build a trusting relationship and find and agree on an important issue that you can help the client with. It’s that simple. That’s a big, broad goal, however. This extended set of lessons takes you through the specific steps that will help you accomplish this goal and close more business with prospective clients. First, I’ll review two foundations. One I call the preconditions for someone to become a buyer of your services. The other is a framework for how to sequence your agenda for four types of sales meetings. Second, I’ll talk about how to properly prepare for your meeting.

And third, I’ll take you through the five goals of any business development conversation and the conversational tools that will help you accomplish those goals and win the sale.

The Six Preconditions for a Prospect or Client to Become a Buyer

1. The client must perceive a significant problem or opportunity. You may thinkthere’s a problem, but if they don’t, there is no sale.

2. You must be talking to the executive who owns the issue—who can take action.Sometimes the first person who contacts you is a feasibility buyer—someone whois just scouting out possible vendors. They can say “no” but they can’t say “yes!”

3. There must be a healthy dissatisfaction with the rate of change or improvement.The client must feel some urgency around addressing their need because thingsaren’t happening fast enough or at all.

4. The client must trust that YOU are the best alternative to take on the issue.Remember, the biggest competition is often internal. The client has to believe youare a better solution than internal efforts or a competitor.

5. The client must believe that the key stakeholders are aligned. The first fourconditions may all be in place—it’s a big issue, your client owns it, they trust youare the best solution, and so on—but often a client will hesitate if the organizationsupport is not in place in the form of endorsement from key stakeholders.

6. A client must be able to see tangible next steps—a clear and compellingsolution—in order to move forward.


Manage Four Types of Sales Meetings

1. Who asked for the meeting? You or the client?

2. Is this an existing client? Or a prospect who doesn’t know you very well or at all?If you combine the four choices that are inherent in these two questions, you get a two-‐by-‐two matrix with four quadrants. Your conversational strategy will be somewhat different for each quadrant.

Preparing for Your Meeting

1. Discuss and agree on the agenda, in advance of the meeting, with the prospectiveclient. At a minimum, try to find out—through a phone call or email exchange—ifthere are any particular topics they would like to cover.

2. Find out who is going to be there on the client’s side.

3. Research the client and their business as thoroughly as possible. Make notes.

4. Pick out a couple of relevant client examples to share.5. Prepare a short point of view about what you see going on in the client’s industry

or market. Talk about what your other clients in the sector are doing.

6. Develop four or five thoughtful questions.


Achieve Five Goals in The Sales Process

1. Build Rapport

2. Establish Your Credibility3. Understand the Client’s Issues

4. Develop a Need

5. Get a Next Step (and begin gaining stakeholder alignment, if necessary)

Build Rapport

1. The latest studies show that the first thing people look for when they meet you iswarmth and trustworthiness. But remember, that’s necessary but not sufficient.

2. Build rapport in a genuine manner. Find real connections, not trumped up ones.

3. Establish or reconfirm the agenda. For example:

“In the time we have together, I suggest I start by sharing some examples of recent work we’ve done with other clients in your industry, as a way of illustrating what we do and how we approach our client engagements. Then, I’d like to ask you to talk about your current priorities and goals and, in particular, any areas where you wish you were making faster progress. My guess is that when we finish the discussion, we’ll both know if it makes sense to continue the dialogue on another occasion. How does that sound as an agenda? Is there anything else you’d like to cover?”

Establish Your Credibility

There are three main ways to build your credibility: 1. Share a short point-‐of-‐view about the client’s industry or function and the

challenges your other clients are facing. Think of it as a conversation starter thatprecedes your describing one or two client examples. This should be very brief.

2. Ask thoughtful questions. A “credibility building question” demonstrates yourknowledge and experience. It starts with an observation and ends with a question.For example:

You might say something like, “Our clients in your industry are responding to low cost competitors in several different ways. Some are moving to lower their infrastructure costs and shift operations overseas, while others are moving upmarket and leaving the commodity business behind. What’s your thinking on this? How would you characterize your response?”


3. A third way of establishing your credibility is through providing short clientexamples. A client example should be short—only around 75 to 100 words—and itshould have three parts:

• The client issue

• How you solved the problem or helped the client capture the opportunity

• The results

Uncover Their Issues

Here are three ways to uncover a client’s agenda:

1. By doing careful research. That gives you enough information to formulate somethoughtful questions, but rarely enough to really know what an individual’s agendais within a large organization.

2. By asking “Why?” This helps you uncover the client’s underlying goals. You mightsay, “Why are you thinking about leadership training at this particular point intime?” or “Why do you need to upgrade your systems right now?” If you think“Why?” will come across as too harsh, phrase it more gently: e.g. “I’m curious—what’s the overall business need that’s driving that initiative?”

3. Using Agenda Setting, or what I call aspirational, questions.

• Unless you know a prospect pretty well, I would not ask general questions, suchas, “How’s business?” Your questions should be more thought provoking thanthat and—ideally—show more preparation.

Explore the Need

1. Value. If there isn’t substantial payoff for the client, why would they hire you? Butyou want the client to define the impact—to describe the value to them and theirorganization. You can help them, but they have to buy into it.

• Remember that impact can take many forms. There’s tangible impact, such asrevenue growth, cost reduction, risk reduction, and so on. Then there’sintangible impact on softer things like motivation, relationships, decisionmaking, culture, and so on.

2. Personal impact. You could ask, “How will this initiative affect you and your ownrole?” or “How does this program support or impact the goals that your leadershiphas set for you this year?”

3. Urgency. Is there really a burning platform for you to help them with? Are they justtalking or do they really want to move forward?

4. Stakeholders. You might ask, “Who are the key stakeholders that need to be alignedwith any solution or approach you come up with?”


5. Implications. How is the problem or opportunity affecting other areas of thecompany?

6. Prior efforts. What you’d like to hear is that they have tried to fix the problem oraddress the opportunity but have not gotten very far! That’s why they need you.

Get a Next Step

1. In the last five or ten minutes of the meeting, you should transition into discussingwhat the follow-‐up will be to your meeting. It should be a step that advances therelationship and your mutual understanding of both the scope of the issue and ofthe potential solution.

2. You must evoke your client’s curiosity. You need to get them curious and interestedin pursuing the conversation. Perhaps it’s an offer to interview several of theirteam members to create a point of view on the issue. Maybe it’s an offer to puttogether an initial framework around a potential approach to the problem at hand.

3. Get your client to commit to something. Ideally, they should have some skin in thegame so there is mutual—not just one-‐sided—engagement and commitment.Perhaps they can put a package of materials together for you to review on the issue.Maybe they will agree to speak to their boss about getting him or her involved inthe next meeting, and so on.

4. If you don’t feel like you’re getting any reach from your prospect, you could tryletting them suggest the next step. You might say, “Based on what we’ve coveredtoday, what do you think would be the most helpful next step for us to take toadvance this issue?”

5. After a sales meeting—or any client meeting, for that matter—try to add somevalue immediately as a follow-‐up.


Summary: Creating a Buyer



SESSION 11 Contact to Client—The Sales Process

Application Exercise OneIs Your Sale Stuck?

Identify a current sales conversation you’re having, with either a new prospect or an existing client that is either “stuck” or not moving as fast as you think they should. Review each precondition for the sale and identify possible action steps to help the sales process move forward. Get into groups of two and share your challenge for this particular client opportunity.

Client Organization:

Precondition YesNot Sure No

What action can you take to meet this precondition? What information do you need?

1. Clear, perceived problem oropportunity (sense of urgency)

2. Your executive contact “owns”the issue and can move itforward

3. Client has a dissatisfaction withthe current rate of improvement

4. Trusts you/your firm are the bestchoice to address the need

5. Client believes the stakeholdersare aligned

6. Client sees tangible next stepsto move forward


SESSION 11 Contact to Client—The Sales Process

Application Exercise TwoDevelop Your Own Credibility-Building Questions

Credibility-building questions inherently demonstrate your knowledge and experience. They make an observation and then ask a question. For example, here’s something I might say to a prospective client:

“Many of my clients encounter three major barriers to building trusted-advisor relationships with senior executives. First, the expert mindset that focuses you on the details rather than the client’s overall business goals. Second, a misunderstanding about how to add “value for time” with senior executives. And third, too much telling and not enough high quality questioning and listening. I’m curious—what particular barriers do you encounter in your own organization?”

Develop a “credibility building question” that is appropriate for the area you work in and the prospective clients you are targeting. Write it in two parts, as indicated below. After everyone has finished, share your observation plus the “credibility building question” with your table group.

Part 1: Observation

Part 2: Credibility Building Question


Session 12: Tough Client Objections and Questions

Lessons Covered: 12.1 Use Objections to Engage 12.2 Turn Tough Questions into Opportunities


1. What are the most common objections you encounter during thesales process?

2. Which objection or barrier to the sale do you have the most troublewith? Why? What strategies have worked in the past to overcome it?

3. How do you answer the question, “How are you different?” or“What’s unique about your firm?” Going forward, can you improveand sharpen your answer?

4. What are the most difficult questions you get asked during the salesprocess? How have you responded to them? Again, going forward,do you think you can improve your answers based on principles ofshowing not telling, evoking curiosity, etc.?


Summary The Four Basic Objections to Making a Purchase

1. No need. The client simply says, “We really don’t need what you have to offer.”

2. No urgency. You’ll hear something like this, “The timing is just not right. We havetoo many other competing priorities. Maybe in six months we’ll be in position tomove ahead.”

3. No trust. The client might say, “We like you, but we’re not sure your solution isexactly what we’re looking for.” Or, “We like your solution, but we don’t feel youhave enough experience in our industry.”

4. No money. “We just don’t have the budget for this right now.”

Responding to The Four Objections

1. No need. This statement could be a symptom of the fact that you haven’t made aclear enough connection between an important problem or opportunity the clienthas and your solution.

2. No urgency. This objection could mean several things: 1. The problem being solvedisn’t that serious or urgent. 2. There are other priorities that are more important.Or, 3. The client feels it will take too much time and effort to engage with yoursolution relative to the benefits they will receive. One way of dealing with the nourgency objection is to try to make it easy for the client to get started. In effect, toreduce the start-‐up costs for them.

3. No trust. To increase the level of trust you need to make, you understand whichpart of the trust formula is lacking. If the client isn’t sure you’re competent and thatyour solution really works, you might try and have a past, satisfied client talk tothem. Or, have them make a site visit to another client who is using your product orservice. If the client isn’t yet comfortable with your integrity—your honestly,reliability, and consistency—you may need to spend more face time with them todevelop more trust. If the client isn’t sure you are really focused on their needs andtheir agenda—the third element of trust—consider backing off a bit and not tryingto sell so hard. Share ideas and suggestions with no thought of payback.

4. No money. The first thing to remember is that there is always money. The questionis, what has the client decided to spend it on? You need to explore the no moneyobjection and find out what’s really behind it. Then your strategy will be a bitclearer. Is the client truly in a financial pinch? Maybe you can show them how thesavings or increased productivity from your solution will create surplus funds topay for the investment. Is it a mid-‐level executive who cannot get enough budgetout of the system, and do you need to move up higher in the organization?


Answering the Question, “How are you different?”

Any effective response to this question must be characterized by honesty, by showing rather than telling, and by actually role-‐modeling how you are different during the meeting.

You might ask the client to be more specific: “Can you say more about what you’re interested in learning about us? What particular aspects of my firm would you like to know more about?”

If you work with a larger company and if you’re not sure how familiar the client is with your firm, you might ask, “I’m curious—have you had any experience with my firm in the past?”

Here are some different ways of answering the question, “How are you different?” by “showing” rather than “telling”:

1. “When we interview our clients to get their feedback, there are typically threethings they say about working with us. They say that we are…[list three salientpoints of differentiation].” Then you add, “Let me give you an example of one of myclient relationships where I think we’ve delivered on those attributes in a verytangible way.”

2. “First, let me say that all of the major companies that we compete with have strongtechnical competence. Where you would really see the differences come out is inthe specific team of professionals who work with you day-‐to-‐day. I personally focuson a small number of clients, invest significant personal time to get to know themwell, and continually strive to bring them the best that our firm has to offer. Mystarting point is always building an understanding of my client’s most importantgoals and key priorities. Perhaps we could begin there?”

3. “The best way to help you understand the kind of work we do and how weapproach our engagements would be to describe a couple of recent assignments wecompleted for clients in your industry…” (or, “…for clients who have faced verysimilar challenges”). “These examples will give you a better sense for the way wework with clients.” After sharing a couple of brief examples—which you will havepicked out in advance because you believe they will resonate with the client—youcan then turn the conversation over to the prospect and ask them about theirissues and how they are reacting to competitive or environmental trends.

4. “The best way for me to demonstrate how we are different is by showing you howwe would think about and approach a particular issue you face. Could I ask you todescribe your most important priorities right now or an important issue you’retrying to make headway with?”



SESSION 12 Tough Client Objections and Questions

Application ExerciseDescribe Your Practice/Firm to Prospects

Part 1: Your Value Proposition

Articulate your value proposition—what you do for clients and the benefits you convey—in one sentence. For ex-ample, Andrew Sobel’s is “I help companies and individuals build clients for life.”

My value proposition:

Part 2: Describing Your Practice or Firm to Prospects

For you, what is the most effective way to answer the question, “Can you tell me about your firm?” or “How are you different?” Below, fill in what you think your key points of differentiation are and the examples you would use to bring them to life. (Remember that your points of differentiation may vary depending on the type of client you’re talking to). Then list the major challenges you help clients with.

Key DifferentiatorsClient Examples or Other Illustrations that Support Them

1.

2.

3.

Major Challenges: “I typically help my clients address one or more of several important challenges...”

Challenge 1:

Challenge 2:

Challenge 3:


Session 13: Winning the Pitch

Lessons Covered: 13.1 Eight Preconditions to Writing a Proposal 13.2 Lay the Foundations for a Successful Pitch 13.3 Create a Collaborative Working Session


1. Think about the proposals you’ve won against the competition.What are the characteristics of the winning ones and of the overallcontext in which they were submitted? Come up with a few specificexamples.

2. When do you tend to lose to other competitors or even just toinertia—client inaction? What patterns do you see? Try to think of afew specific examples.

3. What strategies or techniques have worked well for you in makingsales pitches to clients? What do you find most engages the client?

4. Have you ever been rushed or pressured into writing a proposal—orsubmitted one prematurely? In retrospect, what could you havedone differently?


Summary The ideal sales pitch doesn’t exist. That is, in the ideal sales process you wouldn’t have to make a formal presentation of your proposal because it would have already been accepted by your client! You would have discussed the issue, agreed on the approach, and the client would have said, “Why don’t you put that into a brief proposal, and we’ll get started!” But in the real world, you often do have to make what many would call a “sales pitch.” Personally, I don’t like that imagery—it’s a kind of mixed-‐up sports metaphor, as if you’re hurling a proposal at the client at 90 miles an hour, hoping they’ll somehow catch it and love it!

There are three important phases to winning a sales pitch. First, setting yourself up to win by making sure you only submit a proposal when all the important preconditions for success have been met. Second, preparing properly for the actual presentation. And third, turning the sales pitch itself into a collaborative working session that is a role-‐model outlining what it’s like to work with you.

Eight Preconditions to Write a Proposal

1. The right client. Is this an appropriate client, given your strategy?

2. A well-‐defined issue—a specific problem or opportunity. You must have athorough and mutual understanding of the issue or issues you are being asked toaddress.

3. Agreed-‐upon objectives. First, you must understand the client’s overallobjectives. Second, you and the client must have agreed on the specific objectives ofthe work—on the desired outcomes.

4. An understanding of the value that you are going to provide for the client.

5. An understanding of the buying process. You have to understand the client’sprocess for deciding and approval, if required. Usually, you will have to ask aboutthis.

6. A relationship with the economic buyer. You need to have spoken to or met theeconomic buyer. This is the individual who can make the decision to hire you andyour firm.

7. Agreement on the outlines of the proposal. You must have discussed theessential elements of your proposal with the client and reached “conceptualagreement” about it before you submit it.

8. A scheduled follow-‐up discussion. You really need to have an agreement todiscuss the proposal with the client after you submit it.


The Most Common Mistakes in Writing a Proposal

1. You fail to meet the economic buyer.

2. You have not understood the total problem or opportunity.3. You fail to invest in building a trusted relationship with the client.

4. You don’t add enough value in the proposal process and in the proposal itself.

5. You spend far too long writing the proposal, thinking a more comprehensiveproposal will “convince” the buyer.

6. You spend time writing a proposal for a client who is just not serious about hiringanyone.

7. You jump on any and all RFPs—requests for proposals—without weeding out theones you really have no business investing in and have no chance of winning.

The Foundations for a Successful Pitch

1. Focus your agenda on your client’s interests.

2. Always determine who the players are and should be from their side and your side.

3. Get as much face time as possible before your pitch.4. Get coaching from someone in your client’s organization.

5. Make sure you’ve thought about every possible risk and concern relating to yourselection as the provider of choice by the client.

6. Decide on your media strategy. How are you going to present?

7. Prepare thoughtful questions and relevant client examples that will resonate withthe prospect.

8. Think about how you’re going to frame your message—e.g. in a single sentence? Aword? A picture? A question?

Create a Collaborative Working Session

1. Reset the agenda once more at the start of your session.

2. Focus the discussion mostly on their business, rather than on your business.3. Pace the presentation and make it engaging. Have a great conversation—don’t talk

at your client.

4. Use your media effectively.5. Make it entertaining and memorable. Use humor. Tell relevant stories about work

you’ve done with similar clients.6. Role-‐model what it’s like to work with you. If it’s your firm making the pitch, bring

key members of the delivery team who will actually do the work.




SESSION 13 Winning the Pitch

Application Exercise OneEnsure Your Proposal Will Succeed

For a proposal you have been asked to submit or are working on, review each precondition, assess whether it has been fulfilled, and if not, what steps you can take to address it.

Name of Client:

PreconditionCheck if Present Required Action

1. Right Client?

2. A Well-Defined Issue?

3. Clear Objectives?

4. Value Has Been Defined?

5. You Understand the Buying Process?

6. You’ve Met the Economic Buyer/ExecutiveSponsor?

7. Agreement on Proposal Outline? (“ConceptualAgreement”)

8. Scheduled a Time to Discuss the Proposal?

Other steps you need to take to ensure this proposal will succeed:


SESSION 13 Winning the Pitch

Application Exercise TwoTurn Your Next Sales Pitch into a Collaborative Working Session

Review the different strategies in the left-hand column. For an identified sales pitch or sales presentation you have to make, choose the strategies that you should consider using to turn the meeting into a collaborative, value-added working session.

Area Ideas for what to use or how to bring it to life

Illustrating with client examples

Using thought-provoking questions

Demonstrating your solutions and methodologies in an engaging way

Using media (slides, charts, video, etc.) creatively

Showing the composition of your team

Educating the client: Creating learning during the presentation

Entertaining the client: Making it fun

Being truly memorable: Making sure you stand out from the crowd



CHALLENGE FIVE

Grow Your Client Relationships


Session 14: Project to Relationship

Lessons Covered: 14.1 Deliver on Your Promises 14.2 Build the Foundations for Relationship Growth 14.3 Create a Repeat Buyer


1. Think about a couple of examples of projects that have smoothlygrown into relationships. What were the characteristics of thosesituations?

2. What about projects that don’t go anywhere—those times when therelationship pretty much ends at the completion of the project?What patterns do you see? Why don’t you get any follow onbusiness?

3. When a project leads to another engagement—how much of theoutcome is in your control versus due to circumstances beyond yourcontrol? What are those circumstances?

4. How is the sales process different for a new prospect versus anexisting client you’re already working with? What’s easier? What’sharder?


Summary For many professionals, the toughest part of building long-‐term client relationships is getting the client in the first place. Once you’re in the door, it’s easier to build trust, get to know the client’s business, and show how well you can deliver. But moving from project to relationship has its own challenges. In fact, it requires careful planning and thought—starting on the very first day of your new relationship. The sales process you use with a new prospect is fairly similar to what is needed for an existing client. Just like in the first sale, the client has to feel there’s a specific problem or opportunity that you can address. But this time around, other factors also come into play. For example, many clients want to see that you can work well with their people and that you understand their culture and values. For a product sale, service and support become important factors as well.

Some initial engagements are the beginning of a steady, long-‐term relationship. Often, it’s hard to put your finger on exactly why this is the case. Everything seems to click: the client loves the work you do, your relationship with them grows, and they keep asking you to do more things for them! The truth is, smart clients know that it’s not always that easy to find trustworthy, reliable providers who do great, high-‐quality work. And so they gravitate towards people and firms who exemplify these qualities.

Some projects, however, end up being one-‐off events. Or, there may be a gap of months or even years between engagements. It’s possible that you provide a service for which there is only a very intermittent need—but that’s only one of several explanations.

So the challenge is: how do you maximize the potential of your relationship and grow it beyond the first engagement?

Step One: Deliver on Your Promises

1. Execute well.

2. Continue to build trust.3. Deliver on the results you promised, but also add some surprise and personal

value.4. Take time during the first engagement to develop your likeability

5. Demonstrate “ease of use.” You want the client to be thinking—they did a verygood job. I trust them. They added value. I like them, too. AND ideally—on top of allthat—“they’re very easy to work with!”


Step Two: Build the Foundations for Relationship Growth

1. Take this opportunity to walk the halls of the client’s organization and increaseyour informal interactions with not just your immediate contact but other relevantexecutives as well.

2. Continue to be agenda setting as well as delivering. Agenda setting does not stopjust because you got the first sale—it’s an ongoing process.

3. Be on the lookout for additional ways to be helpful to your client. This is a timewhen you especially want to be going the extra mile. For example:

• Can you help your client prepare for a big presentation or meeting?

• Can you share some unsolicited thoughts on an issue your client is grapplingwith?

• Can you offer to review a plan or program they’ve developed?

• Think about where your second and third sale might be. Again, this is not beingpushy—if you believe in your service or product, and you see opportunities toadd value, you owe it to your client and to yourself to put them on the table.

Step Three: Create a Repeat Buyer

1. Begin early. If you wait until your very last meeting with a client—with yourproject ending—and then start talking about follow on opportunities, you are goingto have an uphill battle.

2. Add value, don’t sell. To your client, the process should feel like you’reconstructively pointing out problems and opportunities that you can help themaddress with your know-‐how.

3. Follow the business development process! It’s a common and serious mistake toassume that, since you have an existing relationship, you can jump from initialdiscussion to signed contract in a single leap.

• Is there an important problem or opportunity?

• Are you talking to the person who actually “owns” the issue?

• Have you established your credibility to address the issue?

• Have you discussed and agreed the value that your work will deliver?

• Have you painted a picture of what the new reality will look like?

• Are key stakeholders aligned?


Challenges You May Face

1. Your relationships are not senior enough—you don’t know the economic buyer andthe key influencers.

2. Your relationship with your immediate, work-‐with buyer is not deep enough.

3. You are positioned as part of costs, rather than part of growth and profits.

4. There is no loyalty—other competitors are getting the business.5. The company or organization is too small to afford an ongoing relationship.

6. Lack of enthusiasm for your work—there is a perception that yourdelivery/execution was just average or even poor.

7. There is no further perceived need right now.

Questions to Ask Yourself

• Does the client believe you are delivering high-‐quality work and meeting the goalsof the project or transaction?

• Are you communicating frequently and actively deepening trust with your keywork-‐with client?

• Are you making it easy to work with you?

• Have you made time to have “agenda setting” conversations with your client?

• Are you making opportunities to walk the halls and also connect with more seniorexecutives?

• Are you adding not just “core value” but also surprise and personal value?



Application ExerciseTurn a Project into a Relationship

For a current client project or engagement, assess each key factor, below, and indicate a potential action step to address it if it’s weak or lacking.

Name of client (individual):

Current Project:

Key Success Factors: Are They Present?

Rate Yourself (check one)

Required Action

1 2 3 4 5


Neither agree nor

disagree AgreeStrongly

agree

1. Relationship of trustwith your immediateclient

2. High client satisfactionwith the quality ofdelivery

3. Client perceivessignificant value added

4. You are interactingand communicatingfrequently with yourclient

5. You are “agendasetting” with your client

6. You’ve identified severalpotential follow-onopportunities

7. You are following theselling process to createa buyer

Additional steps you can take to turn this project into a relationship:

SESSION 14 Project to Relationship


Session Fifteen: Growing Relationships

Lessons Covered: 15.1 Select the Right Clients to Grow 15.2 Make Investments to Spur Growth 15.3 Leverage Growth Catalysts


1. What are the characteristics of your “ideal” client? How did youarrive at this profile—why are those particular descriptorsimportant?

2. What kinds of investments in an existing client relationship haveyou found helpful in deepening and growing the relationship? Thinkof a specific example that worked well.

3. For your particular business, what are the most common “triggerevents” that can help create a need for your products or services?Make a list of these.


Summary How do you grow a client relationship? You might start by looking at your own relationships. What has characterized the ones that have grown and developed over time? What about the relationships that have not done so well? Make your own list. What does it reveal to you? In retrospect, could you have done anything to improve the relationships that did not go so well? Obviously, a number of factors can contribute to relationship growth. And in this Challenge, which is number four in the program, we’re looking at growth from many angles.

Focus on the Highest Potential Clients

1. Your A clients will be your number one priority for investment. These could bewell-‐established, large client relationships or small relationships with highpotential.

2. Your B clients are those solid, middle of the road relationships that are your breadand butter. These might represent 50% of your portfolio.

3. The third tier is your C clients, which might account for 25% of your relationships.Some of these could probably move up into the B group, but others are going to becandidates for pruning.

Select the Right Clients to Begin With

1. Is it the right client organization to work for? Does the organization fit yourstrategic client target profile? In other words, is it in the right industry? Is it theright size? What about location? And so on.

2. Is it the right issue for you and your firm? Do you have a strong level ofcompetence in this area? Is it in your sweet spot as a firm or as an individualprofessional? Does this issue present the opportunity to learn, improve, anddeepen your experience base? Does the client have a sense of urgency to addressthe issue?

3. Are you working with the right executive—the right individual client? Theright executive is capable and motivated. Think about this: whose star would yourather be hitched to—someone who wants to really make a mark or a manager whois risk averse and just trying to stay out of trouble until they retire. The rightexecutive is confident. An insecure client, as I’ve mentioned, can be a nightmare.They have the confidence of their own leadership. This means they willdemonstrate clout and not allow themselves to be second-‐guessed at every turn.


Make Investments to Spur Growth

1. Provide especially high levels of client service and responsiveness.

2. Go the extra mile in your delivery and execution.3. Invest in additional face time with your client.

4. Add surprise value, where you help solve or add value to problems that were notpart of your original mandate.

5. Choose an issue that is of importance to your client and put together some kind ofanalysis or in depth review.

6. Be willing to do small extras for your client, even if they are outside the scope ofyour contract.

7. Think about network value and how you might connect your client to other clientsor contacts in your or your firm’s network.

8. Invest in a way that makes sense for your particular client. Each client will valuesomething different at different points in time.

Leverage Growth Catalysts

1. For example:

• A change in company strategy or direction

• A company crisis—perhaps a financial crisis

• A client’s personal crisis

• A reorganization

• A new executive

• A client dissatisfaction

• A competitive incursion or attack

• A new technology

2. Use these catalytic events as an excuse to be in touch with your client and have aconversation with them about what they think it means for them.

3. Provide your client with a point of view.

4. Be in front of the change with your client. If two competitors are considering amerger, don’t wait until the deal is complete to share your thinking about what itmay mean for your client.

5. Stand out by being a contrarian—or, at least, by having a different or unique pointof view than everyone else.


Create Your Own Catalysts

1. Do a relationship review—ask for feedback.

2. Increase your agenda setting activities, which I talked about in the first Challengesection of this program.

3. Find a new buyer!

4. Change the relationship environment. Get your client out of the office.5. Talk to your client’s customers. Customer feedback, and the implications for their

business, is always refreshing and valuable to a client.6. Propose a longer-‐term partnership agreement with your client.

7. Bring new players from your firm into the relationship.

8. Leverage any possible balance of trade for the reciprocal purchase of each other’sproducts or services.



Application Exercise OneClient Priority Assessment Checklist

Use this assessment worksheet to evaluate some of your clients. It lists a set of selection criteria that will help place clients in the different tiers on the following page.

Client Name: Yes/#Points No

1. The Right Client

Fits your target client profile (industry, size, location, etc.) 2 0

Willing/able to invest in your full suite of products/services 2 0

Good name which will enhance your own reputation 1 0

Treats service providers/vendor well 1 0

Has a history of building long-term relationships 1 0

Has a bias for action so your work will have an impact 1 0

2. The Right Issue

Important for the client—it’s a priority 2 0

In your “sweet spot”—you have strong competence 2 0

Opportunity to learn and deepen your experience 1 0

You can achieve meaningful results 1 0

3. The Right Executive

Is authorized to decide and act 2 0

Capable and confident 1 0

Enjoys the support of their broader leadership 1 0

Motivated and ambitious 1 0

Is loyal and will give others credit 1 0

Treats you with personal respect 1 0

4. The Right Financials

Meets or will shortly meet benchmark for profitability 3 0

(Total Possible Points) 24

TOTAL POINTS FOR THIS CLIENT

Evaluation: 19–24 points: Probably Tier A 12–18 points: Probably Tier B Less than 12: Probably Tier C

SESSION 15 Growing Relationships

AndrewSobel

Sticky Note

Accepted set by AndrewSobel


Application Exercise TwoEvaluate your Clients by their Growth Potential

and Overall Importance

Based on what you learned from the Client Priority Assessment Checklist on the previous page, sort each of your clients into Tier A, B, or C. What actions does your tiering suggest you need to take?

Tier A: Invest

These are clients that have the highest potential to grow or that you need to invest in to maintain and protect.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Tier B: Maintain

These are good, solid clients that are your “bread and butter.” Some of these may evolve into Tier A clients.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

Tier C: Evaluate and Prune or Promote

These are client relationships that have an uncertain future and may be a drain on your resources. You need to decide whether to prune or wind them down gradually; or to restructure/reframe the relationship so it can become a Tier B client.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

SESSION 15 Growing Relationships


Session Sixteen: Client Account Planning

Lessons Covered: 16.1 Ask Eight Key Questions 16.2 Establish an Account Planning Process 16.3. Understand Why Account Planning Fails


Does your organization have a client account planning process? If so, answer the following questions: 1. Is it widely used? Why/why not?2. Is it top-‐down (more of a financial/budgeting exercise) or is itclient-‐up (based, first of all, on an understanding of client needsand priorities)?

3. Do people find it useful? Why/why not?4. What parts of the current process or tools do you find mosthelpful?

5. What suggestions would you make to improve it?If you or your company do not have an account planning process, do you think you should institute one? Why/why not? What would your first step be if you were to go in this direction?


Summary Client account planning is an essential process that will help you grow and sustain your client relationships. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a solo practitioner, a partner with a large professional firm, or a sales executive at a corporation. Stepping back and spending time to think deeply about how to improve a key client relationship is a valuable investment of your time. For a firm, an effective, widely used account planning process is a real asset. Account planning becomes the place where many different strategies for growth come together and get programmed into solid action plans. I’ve seen a small handful of studies conducted by some of my clients on the impact of key account planning and management. A well-‐executed key client account program with an accompanying account planning and development process should result in well above average revenue growth—20 to 30 percentage points of higher growth—in those client relationships included in the program. Account planning can become a pretty complicated exercise. If you think about it, there are dozens of aspects to a large client relationship that you could analyze. Measuring share of wallet with precise percentages. Doing in-‐depth profiles of all your competitors. And so on. For a very large-‐scale account, it might just be appropriate to go to this level and leave no stone unturned. But in most cases, I find that the following eight important questions can guide your thinking about how to deepen and develop a key client relationship that is important to you today or could become important tomorrow.

Ask Eight Key Questions

1. What is your current position with this client?a. How do you rate the quality, depth, and breadth of the relationship?b. What have your financial results been?

c. Where are you working in the organization, and what relationships do youcurrently have?

d. And finally, how would you summarize the central challenge you face inmanaging and growing the relationship?

2. What are Your Aspirations?a. What quantitative or qualitative goals do you have? How would you like to

be positioned with the client? And so on.b. If you’re the relationship manager for a client account, one of your

important responsibilities is to establish your firm’s aspirations for therelationship. Where do you want to take the relationship?

3. What is this Client’s Agenda?

a. What is the company’s overall agenda of essential goals and priorities?


b. And then, what are the business and personal agendas of the individualclients you work with?

4. What are the major opportunities for expansion in this relationship? What arethe most promising opportunities to deepen and grow this client relationship,given their goals and priorities and your capabilities? Within this question, here aresome things to think about:

a. What opportunities are you currently working on developing?b. What growth areas or directions make the most sense?

c. Are there external or internal “growth catalysts” you should be respondingto (e.g. a new executive, a reorganization, a change in strategy, a changingcompetitive environment, etc.)?

d. Are there multiplier strategies you could suggest to the client to partnerwith them more closely?

e. And finally, does your client appreciate the value you are currently adding?Why/why not? How could you create an enhanced perception of value?

5. What investments can you make in this relationship to demonstrate yourThought Leadership to the client and be a more proactive agenda setter?

a. Relationships grow when you put extra time and thought and energy intothem. What investments could you make to catalyze deeper engagement?

b. What specific thought leadership can you bring to this client?6. What are the Key Client Relationships you need to deepen or develop?

a. What senior executive relationships must you cultivate to capture theopportunities that you’ve identified and prioritized?

b. What are your specific relationship-‐building strategies for each individual?

c. Who will be the primary and secondary relationship managers for eachperson?

7. What Resources do you need?

a. What internal or external resources and people do you need to leverage inorder to capture the best near-‐term opportunities and reach your ultimateaspirations for the relationship?

b. What other relationships (internal and/or external) do you need tostrengthen or develop in order to support this client?

8. What is Your Plan?a. What are the critical action steps, when do they need to be accomplished,

and who is responsible?

b. And, when will you have an opportunity to touch base and discuss progressin relation to your plan?


èThe core of the client account planning process is a team planning session to reflect on the questions listed above and strategize how to improve and grow the relationship.

Five Important Elements of a Good Planning Process

1. Upfront client involvement to provide input on key issues, needs, and goals for thecoming year.

2. Periodic meetings with the full team that serves the client to reflect and strategize(for a smaller account, these might occur once or twice a year, for a largerrelationship, they might be held quarterly).

3. Development of a brief, written account plan.

4. Weekly or monthly update calls or meetings.5. Individual follow-‐up between the relationship manager and individual team

members.

15 Account Planning Best Practices You Should Follow:

1. Concentrate on the quality of your thinking, not the planning forms.2. Involve your client in designing your account plan.

3. Constantly refine your understanding of your client’s goals and strategy.4. Find a colleague who can serve as a disinterested, honest broker to participate in

the planning process. If you’re a solo practitioner, get a friend who works in asimilar field to spend half an hour or so with you to react to your assessment of therelationship and your proposed action steps.

5. Make sure you first deliver on what the client has asked you to do. Don’t overreach.6. Focus on the key executive relationships you need to build or strengthen.

7. Map out all of the key buying influences.

8. For each key executive, understand both rational and personal agendas.9. Map out your competition. Who else is serving this client? How does the client view

them—that is, how are they positioned in the client’s eyes?

10. Examine your share of wallet or your market share. It’s important to calculate thisproperly. A narrow definition will make you look good. A broader definition of themarket for your services will make you think harder about the growth potentialand how to capture it.

11. Conduct an independent client review. This is when someone senior who is not apart of the relationship interviews the client about their satisfaction with yourwork and with the management of the relationship.

12. If you’re the relationship manager, ask yourself every year: “Am I still the rightperson to lead this account?”


13. Consistently track and assess value added, asking “What have we done to reallyhelp this client? How else can we add value?”

14. Always, always follow-‐up and make sure each team member feels “on the hook” toaccomplish his or her part of the plan.

15. Ask yourself tough questions about your relationship. How good is it, really? Wouldthis client give you an enthusiastic referral? How do they perceive the value we’veadded? What have you done that has really delighted the client? Is it the best it canbe? Why or why not?

The Reasons Why Account Planning Fails

1. There is a lack of ongoing sponsorship and leadership commitment.

2. There’s no real follow-‐up.3. Account planning is top down and financially driven.

4. There is not broad participation in creating client plans.5. It’s not a client centric process.

6. The necessary client relationship skills and behaviors are lacking among front-‐lineaccount managers.

7. You’re too self-‐satisfied and insufficiently ambitious. When all is said and done, askyourself one last question: “Is this the best we can do?”



Application ExerciseCreate a Ten-Minute Account Plan

Give a brief answer to each of the questions in the worksheet.

1. What is your current position with this client?

1. Contact 4. Vendor—Steady Supplier

2. Acquaintance 5. Trusted Advisor

3. Expert-for-Hire—Transactional 6. Trusted Partner

2. What are your aspirations for this relationship?

(E.g. for revenue, growth, profitability, positioning, role, levels of relationships, etc.)

3. What is this client’s agenda?

Company:

My Individual Client:

4. What are the major opportunities?

1. 3.

2. 4.

5. What investments can you make in thought leadership/agenda setting?

Agenda Setting Ideas:

1. 3.

2. 4.

6. What are the Key Client Relationships you need to deepen or develop?

Top Three: 1. 2. 3.

7. What resources do you need?

8. What is your plan?

Your Next Actions Steps:

1. 4.

2. 5.

3. 6.

SESSION 16 Client Account Planning


Session 17: Building C-Suite Relationships

Lessons Covered: 17.1 Walk in Their Shoes 17.2 Gain Access 17.3 Add Value for Time


1. What barriers prevent you from accessing senior executiverelationships? Make a list of these.

2. Think about occasions when you had good access to the C-‐Suite.What enabled that access? Can you repeat these strategies withother clients?

3. Do you have any current relationships in the C-‐Suite or with seniorexecutives at your clients’ organizations? Why have theserelationships, in particular, been successful?

4. It’s hard to get a first meeting with a top executive, but even harderto get a second meeting. In your experience, what kinds of first-‐meeting conversations tend to lead to a second and third meeting?

5. What do you think your firm could do to help you build more seniorlevel relationships?


Summary Can you think about a senior level relationship you have had that was really helpful to you in your client work? Not only was that top executive probably helpful to you—they may have had a transformational effect on your whole career.

There are many reasons why it’s important to build relationships at the top. Because these executives are setting strategy and making operational decisions, they are the people you need to influence in order to implement real change and have an impact. These executives can also help you understand the context for your own work, which will enhance your effectiveness in the organization. Most top executives are also revenue rather than cost focused. Of course, everyone is worried about costs, but the most senior executives have a direct if not indirect responsibility for revenue and profit growth. This means they are more willing to entertain and fund a growth-‐oriented proposal. They are concerned about the upside and willing to pay for it. If you are a mid-‐level executive with a cost budget, however, you are more likely to go for the cheapest supplier and ignore the growth benefits that are inherent in the proposal.

Senior decision makers can also unblock a sale that’s stuck and get a decision made. Often, mid-‐level buyers become paralyzed. They may be afraid of making the wrong decision—or a politically incorrect decision—and their own limited budgets may not be sufficient to take action on your proposal.

Finally, it’s always easier to start at the top and move down into the organization than it is to start at a mid-‐level and work your way up!

Understand the Concerns of C-‐Suite Executives

1. Growth and innovation. Whether the company is publicly or privately held, theonly way to create value on a sustainable basis is through growth and innovation.

2. The senior team. You thrive as a manager by being personally successful, but yousucceed as a leader by helping others be successful.

3. Personal concerns: These include career development, personal wealth creation,expanding their networks, and helping their families succeed.

4. Pressure to perform. Studies show that executive turnover has accelerated inrecent years.

5. Many choices to analyze and absorb. A massive amount of information is thrownat executives daily, and they have to make more strategic choices than ever before.

6. People vying for their attention. Many individuals and companies want theirbusiness, making lots of outlandish claims about how they can help them. As aresult, many executives are less trusting than they used to be.

Gain Access


1. If this is not a current client, always—always—try to get a warm introduction.Always try to network your way in.

2. Try to put your request in the context of what you believe to be the client’s mostpressing priorities right now.

3. Gain access through a more junior executive.

4. Focus on something that you/your firm is unique or highly differentiated at.

5. Find out where they spend their time. Is there a particular conference they attend,for example? Are there certain publications they read?

6. Create a meeting around a non-‐threatening agenda, such as a research study orpanel you’re putting together for a conference you’re organizing.

7. Have one of your company’s leaders set up the meeting. Some clients are veryhierarchal, and you’ll need to engage your own CEO to get into their c-‐suite.

8. Try something unusual!

a. One of my clients wanted to get a meeting with the founder and former CEOof Southwest airlines, who was known to love Wild Turkey Bourbon. Theyhad an associate dress up in a turkey costume and walk around in front oftheir executive offices. Believe it or not, they got the meeting!

Emphasize Key Behaviors

1. Walk in with a sense of confidence.2. Communicate clearly, succinctly, and efficiently.

3. Have an opening hook, like a great pop song that grabs your attention.4. Challenge them.

5. Add “Value for Time” in the conversation (next).

Add Value for Time

1. Align yourself with their agenda. What are this executive’s 4–5 most importantissues or goals right now?

2. Provide insight about the external world. Are you offering valuable (andinteresting) information and insights about trends, customers, markets,competitors, the economy, or government policies?

3. Provide insight about the internal organization. Can you enlarge their perspectivesbased on your intimate familiarity with their organization and people?

4. Understand what’s important right now. Short-‐term pressures and events oftenhijack an executive’s long-‐term agenda.

5. Like a great pop song, have an opening hook. You only have a few minutes to grabtheir attention and get them interested in continuing the dialogue.


6. Add value on different dimensions. Do you have an idea for them to consider? Canyou suggest a valuable introduction to expand their network?

7. Be willing to say “no” and challenge them.

8. Have a point of view.9. Help them use their time effectively.

10. Understand how they like to communicate.

11. Be memorable, not bland or boring. The executive you’re seeing probably has 10 or15 meetings each day—why will you stand out from the crowd of wannabe trustedadvisors?


Andrew Sobel’s C l i e n t R e l a t i o n s h i p s R e - I m a g i n e d ®©2014 Andrew Sobel117

Application ExerciseDevelop Your Top Executive Relationships

Pick two senior executives with whom you would like to build or deepen a relationship. If possible, have one be an executive with whom you have an existing relationship at a current client and the other should be a new executive who works with either an existing or new client organization and with whom you do not currently have a relationship. Complete the worksheet on the next page, listing what you know about the client’s agenda of key priorities, ideas to gain access, and so on.

Senior Executive 1 Senior Executive 2

Name

Company

His or her agenda

(Major goals or priorities)

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

How can you gain access? 1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

How can you add value for time?

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

Action steps to build this relationship

1.

2.

3.

4.

1.

2.

3.

4.

SESSION 17 Building C-Suite Relationships


Session Eighteen: Building Personal Relationships

Lessons Covered: 18.1 Get to Know Your Clients as People 18.2 Use Nine Strategies to Connect 18.3 Avoid the Pitfalls of Getting Personal


1. For you, what does it mean to build a personal relationship withyour clients?

2. What are the challenges you face in getting to know clients as peopleand building a personal relationship?

3. Think about a client with whom you have built a strong personalrelationship. What are some of the strategies you used or things thatnaturally happened that enabled this relationship?

4. Have you had a client that didn’t seem to want any kind of personalrelationship at all? Why was that? How did you handle thissituation?


Summary I recently met with a client of mine, a managing partner at a large professional firm, to discuss an upcoming workshop with a group of his partners. “Please don’t tell them that they have to become best friends with their clients!” he told me, adding, “It’ll terrify them, and they will tune out right then and there.”

Lurking behind his comment is a common fear about getting “too personal” with clients. Many professionals, I have found, are fearful about how and when—if ever—to shift the conversation to more personal issues. We’re all quite comfortable discussing market trends or an interesting piece of analysis that we just completed, but turn the subject to the personal realm and things become a bit scary.

There’s good news: you don’t have to become friends with your clients. In fact, in most cases, you won’t and probably shouldn’t become good friends. There are two reasons for this:

1. If you get too close to a client, you may not be able to give them truly objectiveadvice.

2. You need to maintain a healthy separation between your professional life withclients and your personal life.

Here’s the main point: your goal should be to get to know your clients as people as opposed to becoming good friends. To be an effective advisor, you need to understand their likes and dislikes, risk tolerance, values, beliefs, background, and experiences. You need to understand what their preferred communication style is and how they like to make decisions.

Barriers to Getting to Know Your Clients as People

1. Differences in background, experience, and age. A 60-‐year-‐old executive withgrown children may not be naturally drawn to building a personal relationshipwith a 34-‐year-‐old single professional and vice-‐versa.

2. Some clients just don’t want to have a personal relationship with their outsideproviders. They prefer to keep their professional and personal lives quite separate.

3. Many times people get so focused on operational execution and delivery that theycompletely ignore or discount the need to get to know the client on a morepersonal level.

4. Our client interactions are often solely confined to the office.

Use Nine Strategies to Connect

1. Always follow your client’s lead. If a client is a bit standoffish and has refused yourinvitation to have lunch twice, take it easy. Don’t force things.


2. Be intensely curious about other people. A personal relationship becomesestablished when you spend face time together and when you learn about eachother.

3. Look for similarities and commonalities. These enhance a sense of rapport.4. Invest face time in building the relationship.

5. Use humor. Humor is a universal catalyst for relationships.

6. Practice self-‐disclosure.7. Be human and accessible.

8. Look for breakthrough moments.

9. Change the relationship environment. What I mean is, get your client out of theoffice.

Avoid Four Pitfalls of Getting Personal

1. Don’t overdo it and make your client feel suffocated or uncomfortable.2. Don’t overreach and try to socialize with someone who really does live in a

different world than you do or with whom it’s just not appropriate.

3. Don’t lose your objectivity because you’ve gotten too close to the client.4. Don’t start to substitute “schmoozing” for adding value in the relationship.

Summary

You don’t have to become good friends with your clients, but it’s important to get to know them well as people. This is a gradual process. Start by picking out two or three important relationships. Review the checklist that follows (“How Well Do You Really Know Your Client?”) to help you think about some of the things you might want to know about each of these clients. Then, start with your very next meeting. Ask a few questions about topics you haven’t broached before. Identify some ways you could connect with your client outside the confines of a formal office setting. Soon, you’ll be on your way to enhancing the personal side of your relationship.



Application ExerciseHow Well Do You Really Know Your Clients?

Client name:

THE BASICS

As a Person As a Professional

Level of Knowledge Level of Knowledge

Needs work Good

Needs work Good

Spouse/partner, childrenPreferred means of com-munication (e-mail, phone, face-to-face, etc.)

Other family: parents, sib-lings

Work style (early/late, week-ends, etc.)

Educational backgroundPersonal assistant: back-ground, interests

Where he/she grew upCareer history: accomplish-ments, positions held

Interests outside of workProfessional and alumni associations

Favorites: restaurant, author, movie, vacation, etc.

Conference participation

SESSION 18 Building Personal Relationships


Application ExerciseHow Well Do You Really Know Your Clients? — continued

DEEPER KNOWLEDGE

As a Person As a Professional

Level of Knowledge Level of Knowledge

Needs Work Good

Needs Work Good

Formative life experiencesStrengths and weaknesses as an executive

Personal issues he/she may be grappling with

Role models, mentors

Non-profit or charitable in-volvement

Career goals and aspirations

Personal style: introvert vs. extrovert; detail oriented vs. focused on the big picture, etc.

Most concerning issues right now

Risk toleranceQuality of relationship with his or her boss

Relationships with key direct reports (do you know them?)

Corporate directorships, other affiliations

Other executives he/she associ-ates with

Most important networks and relationships

SESSION 18 Building Personal Relationships


CHALLENGE SIX

Multiply Your Relationships


Session Nineteen: Institutionalizing Relationships

Lessons Covered: 19.1 Strengthen Your Client Network— Build Many to Many 19.2 Strengthen Your Internal Network 19.3 Intensify Relationship Management


1. Can you think of a good example of an “institutionalized”relationship that you or your firm has developed? Whatcharacterizes that relationship and the strategies you’ve employedto build it?

2. What benefits do you see in having more of these kinds ofrelationships, which are characterized by many-‐to-‐manyrelationships and the use of a broad range of your products orservices?

3. What are the internal (firm) barriers that you face in buildinginstitutional relationships?

4. What external (client or market) barriers do you face in buildingmore institutional relationships?


Summary Some years ago, one of my clients suffered a major loss when a senior partner left and took several major clients with him. Later, the CEO told me that he never wanted this to happen again. “We need to institutionalize our relationships so that they do not depend entirely on a single partner,” he said. A few days later, one of the other partners in the firm pulled me aside and said, “I understand our CEO’s sentiment—not wanting to lose clients—but it seems to me that, ironically, someone shouldn’t be made a senior partner in the first place if they aren’t capable of taking a client with them if they leave the firm!” I believe this story highlights the difficulties of moving from an individual relationship to a firm relationship. In order to evolve from a trusted advisor (what I call Level 5) to a trusted partner (which is Level 6), the individual who developed the relationship in the first place needs to gradually take on a new and different role and consciously make room for other colleagues. This is not always an easy step for someone who enjoys a trusted advisor relationship and the feeling of being indispensable to the client.

Characteristics of an Institutionalized Client Relationship

1. There are many-‐to-‐many relationships between your firm and the client’sorganization.

2. Several or more trusted advisor relationships have been built.3. You have good relationships with one or more senior economic buyers.

4. The client views the relationship manager, who is in charge of the overallrelationships, as a gateway to your firm’s expertise and resources as opposed tosimply “the expert” that they always revert to.

5. The client buys multiple products or services from you, possibly from differentbusiness areas or geographic offices.

6. There is some history to the relationship. It’s hard to build a truly institutionalizedrelationship in just a year or two.

7. The client considers your firm to be an important partner in growing and managingtheir business. If asked, they would rate you as an important, if not strategic,provider.

Build Many-‐to-‐Many Relationships between Your Firm and The Client’s Organization, with:

1. Economic buyers: These are the executives who have the budgetary authority toapprove the decision to hire you. Their main concern? Return-‐on-‐investment. Theyare asking about your service: “Is this a good investment for our company?” I alsolike to refer to these individuals as executive sponsors, since they are the ones whocan initiate and sponsor major initiatives.


2. Work-‐with clients: These are the executives with whom you will work on a day-‐to-‐day basis. They are concerned with what it will be like to interact with you andyour colleagues. They are asking about your firm: “Are they right for me, and canthey help me get the job done?”

3. Influencers: There may be individuals, ranging from a board member tosomeone’s trusted executive assistant, who can influence a decision to retain anoutside firm—but who are otherwise uninvolved in the actual project.

4. Technical buyers: These are procurement managers who screen vendors andoutside service providers. Their main concerns are, “Do their services meet ourspecifications? Is the price appropriate?”

5. Coaches. A coach is someone inside the client organization who wants you tosucceed and who can educate you about the ins and outs of the organization andthe various agendas of different executives.

Strengthen Your Internal Network: Expand your Relationships with at Least Six Different Types of People within your Firm

1. Delivery capability: You need access to and knowledge about the right deliveryresources for your particular project or transaction.

2. Practice group or product group leadership: If you are to grow the relationship,you need connections with the leadership of the practice groups, departments, orproduct groups within your firm in order to access their know-‐how and people.

3. Branded experts. From time to time, you are going to want to engage the client bybringing in some of your firm’s “branded experts”—that is, colleagues who havedeveloped strong marketplace notoriety around a particular area of interest to theclient.

4. Relationship management. For particularly large client relationships, you mayneed and want help in relationship management. For example, you might ask one ofyour firm’s most senior executives to meet with your client’s CEO.

5. Geographic capability. If your client is a multinational, it’s important to havestrong relationships with the heads of your geographic units (offices, countries,regions) around the world.

6. Service and support. These relationships are especially important if you sell aproduct or solution that requires ongoing service.

Broaden the Client’s Perception of your Capabilities

1. Have your client visit another client with whom you have had a very broadrelationship. Let the second client implicitly sell your capabilities.

2. From time to time, introduce colleagues who are “branded experts” and can talkauthoritatively about issues of interest to the client.


3. Consider holding a “capabilities workshop” where you bring in your best experts ina particular area to spend an afternoon sharing their experiences with counterpartsin the client’s organization.

4. Invest time in developing a point of view on an issue of importance to the clientthat is not part of your current assignment.

5. Ask your client to participate in research that your firm is conducting and follow-‐upafterwards with a presentation on the results.

6. Add surprise value by offering ideas and suggestions to address problems that youhaven’t been asked to solve.

Intensify Relationship Management

1. From informal to formal. Every professional takes responsibility for their clients,but trusted partner relationships require a formally appointed relationshipmanager who is held publicly accountable for results.

2. From gate-‐keeper to door-‐opener. One of the biggest changes that must occur inorder to evolve from trusted advisor to trusted partner is a mindset shift fromfeeling like you “own” the relationship, to considering yourself as a steward whoacts on behalf of the firm.

3. From expert selling to strategic selling. The relationship manager must lead amore complex, multi-‐phase selling process, which links to the client’s strategicagenda, takes into account a broad range of buying influences, and usually requiresa significant investment of time and resources.

4. From content expert to business advisor. The relationship manager must movemore into the role of strategist, big-‐picture thinker, and business advisor. He or shewill still wear the “expert” hat some of the time, but that role must increasingly betaken over by other colleagues on the team.

5. From hands-‐on delivery to walking the halls. Increasingly, a relationshipmanager must focus on the expansion of relationships—the first pathway, asdescribed above—rather than purely delivery.

6. From narrowband to broadband communications. The scope and frequency ofcommunication between you and the client’s organization have to increasedramatically.

7. From sitting across the table to sitting on the same side of the table. The clientmust increasingly see the relationship manager as its advocate –someone whomakes sure that it is getting the absolute best that the firm can offer.


Improve Team Management

1. Get the right skills on board and in particular, calibrate the right mixture ofspecialists and deep generalists.

2. Spend more time developing and nurturing the professionals on your team.

3. Increase and enhance communication with the team.



Application Exercise OneInstitutionalize Your Client Relationships

Pick a major (or potentially major) client relationship that you feel can be more effectively institutionalized. Rate each strategy in terms of the opportunity to improve where 1=already doing very well and 5=this is a significant opportunity to improve. List any action steps you’d like to take.

Client Opportunity to Better Institutionalize this Relationship?

1 5Already Significant doing opportunity very well to improve

1 2 3 4 5 Action Step?

1. Expand your clientnetwork: Build many-to-many relationships

2. Strengthen your internalnetwork: Deepen keyrelationships within yourfirm

3. Broaden the client’sperception of yourcapabilities

4. Improve and intensifyyour client relationshipmanagement

5. Improve your teammanagement

SESSION 19 Institutionalizing Relationships


Application Exercise TwoRate Your “Institutionalization” Behaviors

Using the worksheet below, rate yourself in terms of how often you engage in these institutionalization strategies with you clients.

Effective Behaviors to Institutionalize Client Relationships

Rate yourself: How often do you engage in each of the behaviors?

1 5Rarely Nearly Always

1 2 3 4 5

1. My account plans include a relationship-building plan tocreate multiple levels of contact between my firm andthe client.

2. Every team member is assigned one or morerelationships to develop, and we monitor progressagainst their goals.

3. We have developed a strong network of relationshipswith key buying influences in the client’s organization,including senior economic buyers.

4. I personally have a broad network within my own firm,and I know where to go to find the right resources formy client.

5. I ensure that my client is exposed to my firm’s full set ofcapabilities.

SESSION 19 Institutionalizing Relationships


Session Twenty: Adding More Value

Lessons Covered: 20.1 Understand the Dilemmas of Value 20.2 Use Five Value-Adding Strategies 20.3 Leverage Your Firm


1. What are the principle types of value your clients receive from your products orservices? Make a list of these.

2. On the whole, do you think your clients fully appreciate the value you add? Why orwhy not?

3. What could you do to enhance your clients’ sense of value adding from theirrelationship with you?

4. What do you think are opportunities to increase value in your client relationships?For example, what could you do that would not be very expensive for you butwhich would add more value for your clients?


Summary Over the last five years, I’ve conducted several large-‐scale studies on the state of professional-‐client relationships. The most prominent trend that emerges from this research is that clients want more VALUE out of their relationships with external providers. They are being asked to do more for less, and now they are putting that pressure on their external providers of products and services. What is value? And, how do you add more of it? That’s what these three lessons on value are all about.

Value, technically, is benefits minus price paid. But value means many different things to different clients, and the value being sought out will vary from one engagement to another. Before we look at strategies to add more value, I need to highlight what I would call some paradoxes or tensions that are inherent in any discussion of client value. They illustrate why this is a tough subject for people to get their hands around. 1. Value is quantitative AND quantifiable.

2. Your value legacy is often different from your value promise.

3. Clients often expect extra value that is just part of the package—they don’t want topay extra, for example, for special customer service or extra meetings that they askfor.

4. Clients can tell you about their frustrations and their needs, but they rarely are ableto tell you exactly how to add more value to their business. You have to put thattogether yourself.

5. Sometimes clients will seem to need no proof of value and other times they mustsee compelling evidence that you can add value before they hire you.

Use Five Value-‐Adding Strategies

1. Communicate current value. You need to track and assess your value added. Youthen need to communicate that to the client on a regular basis.

2. Increase client dialogue. When you are able to spend more face time with yourclient—ideally, in a more informal setting—you will learn additional things abouttheir concerns, frustrations, and needs.


3. Identify new opportunities to add value. See the matrix, below:

4. Leverage your firm and/or your network to add value (see next point, below).5. Add value during all phases of client development (see final point, below).

Leverage Your Firm

1. Relationship Leverage. This is when you use more senior individuals to help youconnect at the top and converse at a more strategic level.

2. Organizational Leverage. This entails introducing subject matter experts, veryselectively, from your firm to your client.

3. Network Leverage. Can you make a valuable or interesting introduction for yourown client? Can you enhance their professional and personal connections?

4. Market Leverage. What insights can you bring about the markets that your clientoperates in?

Institutional Personal

Intangible

Tangible

Increased revenue!Reduced cost!Speed!Balance sheet improvement!Transaction completion!Outsourcing!Share price enhancement !Specific problem solving!

Wealth creation!Career advancement!Skill acquisition/Learning!Expanded personal network!Personal life—family, health!

Personal satisfaction!Professional accomplishment!Increased organizational status!Improved relationships!Fun!

Innovation!Improved culture!Morale!Organizational effectiveness!Decision quality!Reputation enhancement!Reduced risk!

Type of Value

Focus of Value

TIME

The Value Matrix


5. Innovation Leverage. Can you share best practices with your client that you’veidentified, from your or your colleagues’ work with many different companies?

6. Technology leverage that enhances communications and collaboration—whichitself is highly valuable.

Add Value throughout the Client Relationship Lifecycle

1. The best rainmakers, the best-‐trusted advisors, add value at all stages of clientdevelopment.

2. Ideally, clients should gain value from you before you even meet. This might bethrough your website, for example, or an article you have published.

3. During the sales process, the most fundamental way you build trust and credibilityis by adding value—not overly focusing on a sales process or a list of cannedquestions.

4. Add value between engagements.5. Add value long after a one-‐off project is over. For example, do you ever go back

after six months and interview the client about their progress and their satisfactionwith the work you did?

6. Add value to people that the client knows—to others in their network. For example,a child, a protégée, a friend, an employee who is leaving, and so on.



Application ExerciseAdd More Value

For a current client, review the list below and identify possible action steps for each value strategy. Think about how well you’re currently doing in each area, and what you could do to improve.

Name of Client:

Value Strategy Possible Action Steps

1. Effectively communicate the current valueadded

2. Increase client interaction and dialogue tobetter understand their needs

3. Add more personal value to your client

4. Add surprise value: Provide insight into otherissues and problems

5. Add “intangible” value (e.g. aroundteamwork, motivation, decision making,risk, etc.)

6. Leverage your firm and/or your network toprovide:

• Relationship Leverage

• Organization Leverage

• Network Leverage

• Market Leverage

• Innovation Leverage

• Technology Leverage

SESSION 20 Adding More Value


Session Twenty-One: Becoming a Thought Leader

Lessons Covered: 21.1 What is Good Thought Leadership? 21.2 Tap Into Three Sources of Thought Leadership 21.3 Broadcast Your Ideas Widely and Often


1. How important is thought leadership in terms of differentiating youand/or your firm in the marketplace?

2. Can you give an example when your thought leadership provided anentree with a prospective client or helped you expand an existingrelationship?

3. In which areas do you believe there is potential to develop ordeepen your thought leadership? Why do you think these are themost promising ones?

4. What are the barriers, for you, to becoming more of a thoughtleader?

5. Whose thought leadership do you admire? Why?


Summary Wouldn’t you like your clients to refer to you as a “thought leader”? It has a nice ring to it. And who doesn’t love a thought leader? In fact, if you want to distinguish yourself and your firm from your competitors, thought leadership is a great way to do it.

But...what is thought leadership? Does it mean you have to write a best-‐selling book? Do you have to be written about in the New York Times or interviewed on television? Well, reality TV stars and notorious criminals have all achieved those things, so I wouldn’t hold them up as the ultimate litmus test for being a thought leader.

Thought leadership can mean different things to different people, so let me give you a working definition of someone who exercises it—a thought leader is recognized by his or her clients as having fresh and insightful ideas, strategies, and perspectives on an important area of their business. Put another way, a thought leader is someone who is a recognized authority in a particular area of specialization. That recognition starts with your target client market. Eventually, and ideally, being given recognition as a thought leader will also come from competitors, colleagues, the media, and other constituencies.

Three Types of Thought Leaders

1. Innovators. Author and Harvard Professor Howard Gardner wrote a famous bookcalled Extraordinary Minds. In it, he analyzes and categorizes geniuses. He refers tothe first category as “Makers.” These are individuals who create a completely newfield. His example of a maker is Sigmund Freud, who created the field ofpsychoanalysis.

2. Synthesizers. I would put Jim Collins, who wrote Built to Last and Good to Great inthis category. He studied many companies and synthesized a framework forlooking at how you built a great, enduring organization.

3. Masters. A Master is the ultimate practitioner, someone who exemplifies thehighest level of excellence in a particular field. A Master thought leader is seen byclients as a superb practitioner who is one of the most experienced and expertpeople in their field.

The Tests for Good Thought Leadership

1. Relevancy. Your thought leadership pertains to issues of importance to yourclients.

2. Originality. You are not simply regurgitating other peoples’ ideas.

3. Availability. You’ve disseminated your ideas broadly, possibly through things likearticles, blogging, newsletters, books, your website, and so on.

4. Visibility. This means your thought leadership comes up on the radar of yourprospects and clients when they need your type of expertise.


5. “Rule-‐Making.” That is, you are defining the rules of the game—perhaps even thevery vocabulary that people use.

Tap Into Three Sources of Thought Leadership

1. Your experience and your client work. You need to make your implicit knowledgeexplicit.

2. Primary research. You interview executives, you do surveys, you analyze data, andso on.

3. Existing knowledge that you synthesize and integrate in a new way. MalcolmGladwell, as an example, has done a great job of synthesizing sociological andeconomic research into popular books like The Tipping Point and Blink.

Three Challenges

1. How to regularly develop and disseminate your thought leadership.2. How to use all available distribution channels.

3. How to cut through the clutter and get your ideas the attention they deserve.

Conclusions on Thought Leadership

• Don’t fall in love with your own ideas and constantly talk to clients about how“unique” your approach is.

• Encourage the use of your ideas. Generally speaking, ideas are not copyrightable—only the specific expression of those ideas are—e.g. the actual text in a book or aninvention that you can then get a patent for. Give your ideas away to clients, freely,during the business development process.

• You generally don’t make money directly from your ideas, unless you can license orfranchise them. Your ideas—your thought leadership—are a magnet that pullsclients towards you. You then earn fees through the application of your thoughtleadership to improving your clients’ business.



Application ExerciseBecome a Thought Leader

1. Describe the topic(s) or client challenge(s) around which you would like to deepen and grow yourthought leadership:

2. Assess your current thought leadership:

My Thought Leadership Is:

1 2 3 4 5


Neither agree nor disagree Agree

Strongly agree

1. Highly relevant to my clients and other keystakeholders.

2. Original rather than re-rehashed or recycled.

3. Available to my clients through a variety of mediaand channels.

4. Visible in the marketplace to clients and otherswho are researching or searching for my area ofexpertise.

5. Rule-Making in that it defines the subject and itskey dimensions—perhaps even the vocabularypeople use to describe it.

SESSION 21 Becoming a Thought Leader


Application ExerciseBecome a Thought Leader—continued

3. What platforms or channels do you use today to disseminate your thought leadership? Which onesdo you want to develop in the future?

Thought Leadership Platform Current Future Next Step

1. Conceptual frameworks(e.g. 2x2 matrix, five step process, etc.)

2. White papers

3. Best practice checklists

4. Commercial articles

5. Firm publications

6. Blogging

7. Website content

8. Weekly/monthly newsletter

9. Teleseminars, webcasts

10. Video (e.g. Youtube, Vimeo, etc.)

11. Podcast

12. Social media updates(e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)

13. Book chapter

14. Book

15. Ebook

16. Special reports

17. Keynote speech

18. Conference participation (panel, etc)

19. Research study or survey

20. Academic collaboration

21. Press release (e.g. research results, etc.)

22. Others

Review your worksheet for question 3, above. What are your three key priorities for the next six months?

1.

2.

3.


Session Twenty-Two: Multiplying Relationships

Lessons Covered: 22.1 Capture the Benefits of Long-Term Relationships 22.2 Select Your Multiplication Strategies


1. Think about your longest-‐term client relationships. What benefitsdoes each client gain from them? What benefits do you gain?

2. Can you cite some examples when you have successfully used“multiplication” strategies with your own clients? For example, co-‐authoring an article, getting active referrals to new clients, orgaining introductions to the client’s own network, etc.?

3. What other kinds of multiplier relationships do you have or couldyou develop with other important stakeholders besides clients?


Summary A lot of hard work goes into client development. First, you build your network. Second, you turn contacts into clients. And third, you then grow your client relationships over time. There is a fourth stage, which I call Multiplying. This is where you partner even more closely with your clients and in doing so, realize powerful benefits for both of you. Before we review what I call “Multiplication” strategies for your best client relationships, let’s first review the benefits and also the pitfalls of long-‐term clients.

Some Benefits of Long-‐Term Relationships

1. You become more valuable to your client as you build a deeper understanding oftheir strategy, their organization, their operations, their industry, and the marketsthey operate in.

2. Your client trusts you to do things for the organization that they probably wouldnot hire you for on an arms-‐length basis where you had to compete against otherso-‐called experts.

3. You learn a great deal from your longer-‐term relationships. You learn about whatworks and doesn’t work because you get to stick around to see the results.

4. Your long-‐term clients spread valuable word-‐of-‐mouth recommendations aboutyou and your firm.

Pitfalls of Long-‐Term Client Relationships

1. You may lose your edge and your drive and start taking the relationship forgranted.

2. You push less and forget to invest in the client.

3. You or your team members get “burnt out” working with the same client over timeand lose your enthusiasm.

4. You become less objective about your client’s business and no longer are anunbiased sounding board.


The Multiplication Matrix

Examples of Multiplication Strategies

1. Referrals. This should be your number one multiplication strategy. How manyreferrals did you get last year? How many do you wish you had gotten? How manyclients did you ask to give you a referral?

2. Personal networking. This is another low-‐cost way of multiplying yourrelationships. A referral is to a potential client, whereas there may be many othervaluable types of connections a client can make for you—and vice-‐versa.

3. Joint account planning. Why not make this a truly joint effort? Say, “We want toensure we’re organized and prepared to meet your needs and respond to yourmost important priorities for next year, and we’d like to sit down and talk aboutyour plans and how we can be supportive.”

4. Written or video testimonials. These can be used with great effect on yourwebsite, in promotional literature, and in the business development process.

5. Lending staff to a client, also called “secondment” in the UK. Law firms andaccounting firms sometimes do this with their best clients.

6. Certification programs, where you certify your clients as proficient in yourprocess or product.


7. Building communities with your clients. A community links your clients uptogether so that they can share experiences and best practices, learn from eachother, and encourage each other.

8. Client advocacy programs. The basic idea is this: if you have a particularmethodology or approach, say six sigma quality control, you give an award to thoseclients who have done an exemplary job of implementing it successfully.

9. Co-‐design and co-‐market a joint service offering. One of my clients, for example,co-‐designed a manufacturing efficiency system with one of their clients, and theysell it all over the world.



Application ExerciseChoosing Multiplication Strategies for a Client

Choose a client that you feel is a good candidate for one or more “multiplication” strategy. Review the list, below, and check the ones you think are most promising. Then, write a potential action step in the right-hand column for the highest-potential ones.

Client Name:

Multiplier Strategies

High Potential Strategy for this Client?

(Check the Box) Action Step to Explore this Strategy

Testimonials (Written)

Testimonials (Video)

Joint Intellectual Capital Development (e.g. co-author an article)

Referrals

Personal networking

Joint account planning

Certification

Seconding (lending an employee to the client)

Client communities

Business partnerships

Advocacy programs (e.g. awarding “hall of fame” status)

Other

SESSION 22 Multiplying Relationships


Session Twenty-Three: Becoming a Person of Interest

Lessons Covered: 23.1 Six Strategies that Earn You a Seat at the Table 23.2 Continuously Improve with Deliberate Practice


1. Based on your experience, what are some of the qualitites thatsenior executives are attracted to and value in outsideproviders and advisors?

2. If you have lunch or dinner with one of your executive clients, what do you talk about? How much of the conversation is about business and how much is personal? Do you think this can vary by culture or geography?

3. What do you do to sharpen your own skills each year? Do you think about it intentionally, or is your approach more opportunistic?


Summary Often, you are the one trying to get access to and build relationships with senior executives who have power and influence. With the individuals who can make the decision to buy your products and services. And then, get everyone in their organization aligned around choosing you. And we all know it’s never easy getting time scheduled with these types of company leaders. They are incredibly busy. Everyone wants to meet with them.

But what if it were the other way around? What if those executives were seeking you out? What if, when you called, they were not just happy to make time for you but truly looked forward to having you come and see them?

This lesson is about how you can achieve this. How you can become a person of interest to top executives. I’m going to talk about what a person of interest is and some strategies for developing yourself into one. Of course, I’m not using the law enforcement definition of “Person of Interest,” which in a police investigation is someone who is a subject of interest but who has not been charged or accused of any crime. Rather, I’m talking about someone who top executives are drawn to and want to spend time with. I’m going to focus on three aspects of you as a professional and as a person. My main point is this: as you develop and deepen what you know, who you know, and what you are, you become more and more interesting to others.

I’ll repeat that: you become a person of interest because of what you know, who you know, and who you are.

Six Strategies that Earn You a Seat at the Table

1. Develop your knowledge breadth. In session eight, I referred to this as becominga deep generalist. A “deep generalist” is someone who has both knowledge depthand breadth. Deep generalists build knowledge in multiple arenas. For example:

• In their core, professional specialty.

• About their client as a person, the client’s business and organization and theindustry/competitive landscape it operates in.

• About the business “ecosystem” that surrounds the client.

• And also, deep generalists develop their personal interests, which I’ll talk aboutin a moment.

2. Strengthen your thought leadership. Remember that you can develop yourthought leadership in three ways. First, as an innovator, who comes up with trulynew ideas and approaches. Second, as a synthesizer, who builds upon existing ideasor an existing body of knowledge. And third, as a master—as a craftsman whoexcels at their work and builds a reputation for excellence.


3. Be seen as someone who is at the crossroads of the marketplace. You achievethis by getting out and talking to lots of people in your field and reading widely onand around your specialty. If clients see you as being in the flow of things, they willalways make time to see you.

4. Cultivate your own interests. In my experience, many successful seniorexecutives attack their work and personal lives with equal gusto and intensity. Youreally should think about what you’re going to talk about with a CEO over lunch,because much of your conversation will end up not being about business.

5. Build an eclectic network. A person of interest knows interesting things andassociates with interesting people.

6. Use deliberate practice techniques to improve your skills. That’s what I’mgoing to talk about next, below.

Continuously Improve with Deliberate Practice

There are four principal characteristics of deliberate practice:

1. Isolation. Great performers isolate very specific aspects of what they do andpractice them until they are improved. Think of a tennis champion practicing aparticular type of serve, again and again.

2. Repetition. A high degree of repetition is essential to improve each aspect ofperformance. It’s not uncommon for master practitioners to repeat the same stepsor movements hundreds and thousands of times in order to raise their skill.

3. Feedback. That’s why musicians have teachers, athletes have coaches, andprofessionals have mentors.

4. The practice is difficult because of the intense concentration and focus that isrequired. As they say, nobody got in terrific shape by sitting on an exercise cycle for20 minutes while they lazily pedaled and read the paper at the same time!

Metacognition

1. High performers engage in what is called “metacognition.”

2. Engaging in metacognition means that while high performers are in the midst ofactually performing, they are also able to observe themselves and what’s going onaround them. In practical terms, imagine you’re in a large client meeting with twoof your colleagues and five client executives. As you’re presenting to the group, youare able to both present and discuss your material AND survey the room and assesshow people are reacting, possibly using that information to adjust the flow of yourpresentation.

3. You’re also able to gauge your own performance and make observations about howyou’re doing. That’s metacognition.




Application ExerciseAre You Developing into a Person Of Interest?

Read through the description of each characteristic. Does it fit you? Mark 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 based on the extent to which you Disagree or Agree with the description as it applies to you right now.

“Person of Interest” Strategies

1 2 3 4 5


Neither agree nor disagree Agree

Strongly agree

Deep Generalist: I am a Deep Generalist who com-bines strong knowledge depth in my core specialty with wide knowledge breadth. I comfortably discuss broader business issues with my client that extend beyond the specific engagement I’m hired for.

Thought Leadership: My clients view me as a thought leader in my specialty—someone who brings strong ideas, frameworks, and perspectives around an area of their business. I have or am building broader market-place renown in my field.

Marketplace Crossroads: I actively talk to many people in and around my market, and my clients con-sider me a source of interesting, relevant, and current information.

Personal Interests: I have cultivated my own personal interests and passions and am able to have vibrant con-versations with my clients about both mine and theirs.

Eclectic Network: I have built a network of interesting and diverse individuals who are accomplished in their own fields.

Mastery Through Deliberate Practice: I intentionally build my professional mastery and skills through inten-tional practice: including repetition, isolation of areas I need to improve, and objective feedback.

Other

SESSION 23 Becoming a Person of Interest

151 Andrew Sobel’s Client Relationships Re-‐Imagined®

©2015 by Andrew Sobel

CHALLENGE SEVEN

Overcome Tough

Relationship Issues

NOTE

This section does not have application exercises since the lessons directly address a specific relationship-building problem or issue with clearly identified strategies and “how-tos”



Session Twenty-Four: Sales Challenges

Lessons Covered: 24.1 Move from the Feasibility Buyer to the Economic Buyer 24.2 Unseat an Incumbent Competitor 24.3 Build Relationships with Procurement 24.4 Manage Discount Pressure


1. What are your biggest sales challenges? Have these changed over the last few years? If so, how are they different?

2. What part of the business development and sales process would you personally like to get better at?

3. Who do you know who is outstanding at sales? What do you think they do that is effective?

4. Do you think there is a “type” of person who excels at sales? 5. Do you think good salespeople are born or made?



Move from the Feasibility Buyer to the Economic Buyer

It’s not uncommon for a low-‐level manager to call around and ask for proposals from prospective providers. There are many problems with this, however. First, usually they are “feasibility buyers.” These are people who can say “no” but cannot say “yes.” Only a more senior executive can actually hire you. Second, they are often just shaking the bushes to see what will fall out, without any real intention of buying. And third, these individuals can mislead you because they don’t understand the context for the potential work and what the real goals of the initiative are. Usually, about 20 minutes into the conversation, they’ll ask you, “What would something like this cost?” or, “Can you send me a proposal?”

Dealing with Feasibility Buyers

1. Treat them with respect. Don’t brush them off right away—these individuals, remember, can say “no” even if they can’t say yes. Plus, you can learn a lot from them about their organization, the key players, the history to the issue, and so on.

2. Ask lots of questions and find out the background. Here are some of the initial questions I like to ask on a phone call like this:

• How important is it for them to solve this issue? When are they thinking of taking action or launching a program or purchasing a solution? What is the payoff from solving the problem or capturing the opportunity?

• What are the implications—how is this particular issue affecting other areas of the organization? Depending upon your specialty, you’ll know what implication areas to ask about.

• What are the objectives of the potential work?

• What efforts have been made in the past to solve the problem? (If none, then how urgent or important can it be?)

• Who are the key stakeholders? What individual executive, or group of executives, is responsible for addressing the issue?

• How will they make a decision to choose an outside provider?

• Is this one of their top three or four priorities? It may be worthwhile going after it even if it’s not that high on their list. But you might think twice about how relevant you are going to be if it’s not really a priority.

• What solutions are they considering? 3. Find out who the executive sponsor is. Explain why it’s important:

“In order to write an effective proposal, it’s important, early in the process, for us to speak to the executive sponsor for the initiative—the individual who ultimately will be responsible for the results and for supervising and evaluating the people involved. Getting his or her perspective and understanding their goals is really essential to understanding the challenge.”



Remember the Eight Preconditions that Must Be in Place before You Write a Proposal

1. Is this truly the right client for you?

2. Is the issue or problem clearly defined? 3. Do you understand the client’s objectives?

4. Have you agreed on the value of the work? 5. Do you understand the client’s decision-‐making process?

6. Have you met the executive sponsor or economic buyer?

7. Do you have broad agreement on the outline of your proposal and approach? 8. Have you made an appointment to discuss the client’s reaction to the proposal?

Unseat an Incumbent Competitor

Trying to build a relationship with a client who already has well-‐established relationships with your competitor(s) can seem pretty daunting. But look on the positive side. At least you know that the client, to the extent they have existing, established providers, has a practice of developing long-‐term relationships in your market. Also, if you play your cards right, you can become an excellent alternative to a long-‐established supplier.

1. Look for trigger events. There are a number of circumstances that will make it easier to break in. These could include things such as:

• A conflict, where your competitor is precluded from a certain piece of business

• Executive changes

• Reorganizations

• Economic events or shocks

• Turnover or retirements at the competition

• A service or quality failure on the part of your competition

• Any of these can present an opening for you and impel a client to consider a new supplier.

2. Try to identify something small or non-‐threatening that you can work on. If, in order to hire you, a client has to dump an existing advisor with whom it has a good relationship, your chances of success are very small.

3. Focus on an area where you are clearly differentiated or have a tangible strength vis-‐à-‐vis your competitor. Ask yourself, “Where do we have a special strength we can leverage?”



4. Invest to earn the client’s trust and respect. The incumbent has the advantage, and you’re probably going to have to go above and beyond in terms of making an up-‐front investment in understanding the client’s issues and organization.

• One of my clients wanted to penetrate a new account. They met with the client, who told them they were well served by several existing providers. However, they kept at it. They called on the client regularly over the course of a full year. Each time, they brought value-‐added suggestions and small ideas for the client to improve their business and use of their particular product. They were pretty persistent in their efforts to win some of this client’s business. Finally, after one year, they were awarded a major contract. The client said to them, “You know, we didn’t think this would happen but you’ve earned it. For a year now you’ve basically been treating us as if we were already a client of yours. And so now you’re getting some of our business.”

5. Identify executives in the client organization who are not as loyal to the other provider. You’ll certainly be able to capture the attention and interest of these executives more easily, potentially dividing and conquering.

6. Emphasize innovation and new ideas. Clients are always looking for fresh perspectives and they will usually not let an existing relationship get in the way of, at least, listening to someone else’s good ideas. Develop a contrarian position about one of their important issues, and you’ll most likely get a hearing.

7. Stay in touch so you are there when your opportunity comes up. This applies to any new business development situation, but even more so when there is a major, established competitor. You want to be on their radar screen when the dam breaks.

8. Pick your shots. It takes investment, so be selective about investing your time and focus on opportunities where the potential payoff is highest. Sometimes, it’s better to wait until you perceive a major trigger event, which was number one on this list, before investing your time to try and unseat the incumbent.

Build Relationships with Procurement

Working with procurement is a very thorny challenge. This is true partly because some procurement managers are indeed just focused on getting the lowest price—as opposed to the best value. But it’s also due to the fact that most professionals have a very negative attitude towards procurement, and so they approach the relationship with a negative bias to begin with. And that negativity—possibly even condescension or scorn—engenders even more negativity from the other side. 1. Understand the needs and goals of procurement. All of the basic principles that

guide relationship building with other types of clients also apply here. Good procurement managers are not just focused on obtaining the lowest price—quality, service, and other factors invariably enter into the equation. Generally,



procurement wants good value—quality at the best price, with a reliable supplier that can offer ongoing support and responsiveness.

2. Help them achieve their goals and improve their own processes. Can you make suggestions to improve your client’s procurement process? Are there additional questions they should be asking the various competitors? Could the program they are seeking bids on be restructured in a more efficient manner?

3. Within the RFP constraints, be creative. While you generally do have to fill out all the forms and check all the right boxes, there’s no rule in an RFP that says you cannot be creative and demonstrate original thinking in your approach—including challenging the client’s assumptions and proposed methodologies.

4. Bring the actual team to the presentation. Often, companies send a “pitch” team to an RFP presentation, but few if any members of this group will actually do the work if they win the bid. You can differentiate yourselves by showcasing the specific individuals who will constitute the delivery team. The message is, “What you see is what you get.”

5. Engage the buyers during the pitch. During most procurement processes, you will have the opportunity to make a presentation to a selection panel that includes some of the senior executives who will make the final decision and with whom you will work during the actual engagement. During this time, you have the opportunity to look and feel differently from your competitors. Turn the “pitch” into a collaborative working session. Inquire as to which aspects of your presentation they would like to focus on. Ask the panel thoughtful questions and pause frequently to get their reactions to what you are saying. Describe specific examples to illustrate your points. Use multiple media to make your points.

6. If it is a current client, try to help shape the RFP. If you have a pre-‐existing relationship with the client, you may be able to influence the focus and scope of the procurement before it is finalized. You can influence an RFP both through the line executives and through the procurement staff. Cold RFPs where you don’t know the client and have had no input into the RFP can be a tough wall to climb.

7. Don’t go around them. Procurement managers play an important role, and the best ones are just as focused on quality, performance, and finding a suitable fit as any other client would be. Don’t treat them like annoyances but rather as important individuals and never give them the feeling that you are going around them to senior management to unduly influence the procurement process.



Manage Discount Pressure

Clients ask for discounts for different reasons. Of course, you can simply say “no” to a discount request, adding, “My price is fair and that’s what I charge.” However, you might learn some important information by asking a few questions. I’ll come back to these in a minute.

Five types of clients who ask for discounts: 1. “Red Ink”

This client is under extraordinary budgetary pressure due to a decline in profits and really is having trouble funding your work. Try in earnest to structure your work to help the client meet internal budget pressures. You should also think about ways the client can become more efficient and productive. There’s no point in recommending a solution that will take two years to pay off if the client is having trouble paying its bills today.

2. “Competition Czar” This type of client usually solicits proposals from a number of your competitors and then says you are too expensive. In this case, you need to invest in a value-‐added proposal—with multiple options—that illustrates how you are different from the competition. You might also decide it’s not worth it to compete under these circumstances.

3. “Bargain Hunter” This client always likes to dig around for the best deal, irrespective of who you are or the services you offer. You might try to satisfy this client’s bargain-‐hunting instincts with a small freebie or extra piece of value-‐added work.

4. “King Commodity” The client perceives your service to be a commodity or near-‐commodity, and buys mostly on price. You have three options: avoid them, add value to show that your service really isn’t a commodity, or lower your delivery cost and compete on price.

5. “Chicken Little” This client likes to fret about how expensive everything is, including you. Sympathize and hold your ground. Describe the quality ingredients that go into your delivery and frequently communicate the value you are adding.



Strategies to Deal with a Discount Request

1. You might first react to a discount request by saying, “Before I respond, would you mind if I asked you a couple of questions so I can better understand your request?”

2. You could then add, “Occasionally a client requests a discount, and I find I am able to be more helpful if I understand why they’re asking for one. Can you say something about why you think my fee is too high and would like a reduction?”

3. You could also try to size up your competition by saying, “I know you are talking to other service providers about this project. Do you feel my price dramatically out of line with the market?”

4. You can then say “no” while identifying possible terms for a positive negotiation: “I am able to reduce the price when the scope and breadth of the proposal is also cut back. Would you like me to prepare an option for you that would do that?”

In Every Case, Be Sure to:

• Always link your proposal to the client’s critical issues, needs, and objectives.

• Clearly articulate the value of the work you are proposing.

• Make an effort to identify what the client truly values about your proposal. Which elements of your proposed approach represent most of the perceived value?

• Respond to fee pressure by offering lower-‐cost options that restructure the work. Propose doing less, giving tasks to the client, or starting with a small assessment phase.

• Talk about the integrity of your fees. One top executive told me, “If I challenge an invoice, I actually don’t want the firm to immediately knock 20% off it. If they do, it makes me think I should question every invoice, and then the whole billing process loses integrity.”

• Propose discounts, rebates, or other pricing mechanisms that are tied to creating a larger, stronger relationship with the client as opposed to just cutting current prices.

• Reduce the client’s risk of doing business with you rather than cut fees. For example, break a large engagement down into small pieces with checkpoints along the way.

• And finally, don’t chase down every lead or RFP—if you cannot invest the time to develop a highly tailored, value-‐added proposal, don’t bother.



Session Twenty-Five: Relationship Growth Challenges

Lessons Covered: 25.1 Build a Relationship When the Client Doesn’t Want One 25.2 Building Your Own Relationships in a Large Firm 25.3 Broaden a Client’s Perception of Your Capabilities 25.4 Move up in the Organization


1. Think about one or two of your client relationships that have grown steadily over time. “Growth” could be in overall size, and also in depth and breadth. What have the characteristics of these clients been? What strategies have you employed that have contributed to this growth?

2. What about client relationships that have not grown—or have ended. What were the contributing factors in those cases?

3. What are some of your “best practices” for developing and deepening your client relationships?



Build a Relationship When the Client Doesn’t Want One

Some clients seem standoffish. They may balk at making time for you in their schedule—at least, as often as you think you ought to meet. They may also seem uninterested in talking about anything else besides the work at hand. Perhaps they turn down your efforts to socialize or even have lunch together! In a worst-‐case scenario, a client like this may treat you like a commodity vendor—someone who’s expendable.

Some Questions You Should Honestly Answer:

1. What are your expectations versus your client’s expectations for a “relationship?” You see, your and your client’s definitions of what is needed may be at odds with each other. It’s possible that they feel you have a relationship that is perfectly fine and which gets just the right amount of time and attention. Your vision of a relationship with them may be for a deeper, more personal connection than they feel is normal or appropriate. No one is “wrong” in this situation—you just have different views of what constitutes an effective relationship.

2. Is what you’re doing for this client relevant enough to merit a close relationship? You may have a close relationship with your personal attorney, for example, or your accountant, but with regard to your electrician—well, you probably feel that’s best left as an arms-‐length relationship that is based on providing a quality service for a fair price, period. It’s just not something that is very important to you personally.

3. Does this person have a track record of building relationships with service providers and other suppliers? Do they have any trusted advisors? By the way, that’s a question you can ask a prospective or new client: who would say are your trusted advisors? And, how did they earn that standing with you? Most clients are happy to open up about that subject. It could be that this is a client who keeps their own counsel and wants to maintain very businesslike, even impersonal relationships, with external service providers.

4. Do you really, truly understand this client’s agenda of key priorities? Do you know what makes them tick? What motivates them? What their hot buttons are?

5. Are you and this client personally compatible? Is there adequate chemistry? Do you have some things in common that you can discover and connect around?

Additional Factors to Think about

1. Does your client lack a relationship orientation or have a different view than you as to what constitutes a good relationship? If so, you have to decide: do I need this business? Am I happy being, at best, a Trusted Expert—and at worst, a vendor? To be honest, even the best professionals have some of these relationships, and they can be productive and valuable for both sides. You might ask your client, “What are the ingredients of an effective, successful relationship for you?”



2. If there’s a lack of chemistry, you may need to get a better-‐suited colleague to try and build the relationship—or just accept that you’ll never really hit it off.

3. If there is a lack of perceived relevance, you need to dig deeper to really understand your client’s business and personal agenda. Maybe you just haven’t discovered what’s important to them—and how you can help. Everyone has a hot button—everyone has a need they are looking for help with. Your job is to uncover it and demonstrate your relevance.

Building Your Own Relationships in a Large Firm

This relationship challenge is especially relevant if you work for a firm or corporation. Sometimes, professionals at the managerial or directorial level tell me that it’s tough to establish their own relationships because the partners, managing directors, or senior vice presidents they work with “own” the most senior relationships in their client’s organizations.

Two principles 1. It is very hard to transfer a trusted relationship from one person to another—

especially a more junior one! You can share a relationship with a more senior executive at your company, but it’s rare that the executive can just pass it on to you. It really goes against human nature. So you need to set aside the hope that you’ll inherit these trusted, senior relationships—it happens, but infrequently.

2. Relationships can take many years to develop and deepen. Building them requires patience, and you need to take a very long-‐term view.

Three strategies 1. Develop relationships with the other “Number twos and threes” at your major

clients. Sit down with your leadership and talk explicitly about relationship mapping at your client’s organization. Who are they going to focus on? Which executives will you share responsibility for? And for which executives are YOU going to be the primary relationship manager?

2. Cultivate your own network. Identify different sub-‐networks that you should be engaged with: alumni from your college or graduate school, perhaps a professional association, industry contacts you meet at conferences and through social media, and so on.

3. Develop your own thought leadership through writing, speaking, and other channels. You need to be seen as someone with a point of view about the industry, function, and markets that your clients work in.



Broaden a Client’s Perception of Your Capabilities

This is a very common challenge: how do you broaden your client’s perception of your capabilities? Clients tend to pigeonhole their providers and put them in little boxes. Often, they are not even familiar with all of your capabilities. Here are eight things you can do:

1. Have broad conversations. Always take the deep generalist perspective in your client conversations, tying your particular expertise and solutions to the client’s broader agenda.

2. If you work with a firm, introduce colleagues who have other areas of expertise. You obviously have to do this in a way that naturally responds to an interest or need the client has, as opposed to simply pushing different services on them.

3. Use other clients to persuade. Introduce your client to another client with whom you already have a broader relationship. If your client hears another executive say that your firm has done great work in a certain area, it is far more persuasive than if you are trying to convince them.

4. Show breadth through points of view. Invest, selectively, in building a tailored “Point of View” around other issues of interest to the client, even if they are not directly related to the immediate project.

5. Offer a “capabilities showcase.” Identify an issue of importance to the client and develop a ½ day working session between you or you and your experts and the client’s own specialists in that area.

6. Change horses. Think about replacing some of your team members in order to provide a new set of perspectives to the client from individuals with different backgrounds.

7. Seek new buyers. Your existing contact may have an overly fixed view about who you are and what you can do for them. Find new buyers and new areas of the organization to build relationships with.

8. Always go back to your client’s priorities. Ask implication questions, get the client to talk about linkages to strategy, and test and re-‐test for evolving priorities.

Sometimes, you have to be a little bit assertive about educating your client about what you can do for them. Don’t be afraid to sit down with your clients and say something like, “You may not be aware that I also help my clients implement and actually make the changes in the systems and processes needed to drive behavioral change. Let me give you an example...” Or, “I haven’t told you about the coaching work we do, but I think that some one-‐on-‐one work would really help accelerate this initiative...” If you don’t take the lead, no one else will.



Move Up in the Organization

It’s always easier to move down in a client organization than to move up. If you start working in the C-‐Suite or with some other top executive, it’s an easy path to get introductions to lower-‐level managers. But if you start at a more junior level, it’s harder to then connect in the C-‐Suite. There are many barriers. Your immediate client, for example, might not want to introduce you to their boss or bosses’ boss for fear of losing control or even looking bad. And, if you are perceived as having your main relationship with someone further down the ladder, a senior executive may not feel you’re at their level.

1. Try to build senior relationships during the sale. • Ask to meet the senior executive in whose areas of responsibility the work falls.

• Insist on meeting the economic buyer—the executive who must sign off on the decision to hire you.

• Suggest that you interview key senior executives to better understand their perspectives on the challenge you’re helping to solve.

• Invest in understanding the agenda of your prospect’s leadership, and connect your proposal to the priorities on it.

• Create a proposal that addresses the client’s specific need, but which also aligns with the strategic context of the problem you’re addressing.

• Ensure that the issue you are being asked to engage around is truly important to the client. Commodity work is rarely going to merit the attention of senior management.

2. As you kick off the engagement, create opportunities to meet company leaders.

• You should include interviews with senior management as part of your start-‐up process.

• With your immediate client, discuss the need to gain the perspectives of key senior executives before you begin planning or implementation.

3. During the engagement, gain exposure for your work. • Try to get on the agenda of other internal meetings or forums where the

audience would find your work relevant.

• Continue to convince your immediate client of the need to gain the perspective and buy-‐in of key senior executives.

• Use your time on site with the client to network, walk the halls, and meet other executives.

• Try to explicitly connect your work to the organization’s broader agenda, therefore making it a natural step for your immediate client to want to involve more senior executives in your work.



4. Understand your work with client’s fears and perspectives. • Make sure you understand your immediate client’s attitude about introducing

you to other leaders in the company. Do they feel threatened that if you will go over their head, they’ll lose control and also lose power as your singular client?



Session Twenty-Six: Trusted Client Advisor Challenges

Lessons Covered: 26.1 Establish Relationships with Buyers Who Are Older than You 26.2 Ask Clients for Referrals 26.3 Manage a Crisis or Service Failure 26.4 Act Like an Advisor When You’re a Deep Expert 26.5 Stay in Touch When There’s no Business 26.6 Make Time for Relationship Building


1. Overall, what are your biggest challenges when it comes to building trusted advisor relationships with your clients?

2. What kinds of executives do you find most interested in and drawn towards this type of “inner circle” relationship?

3. In your experience, what are some of the trigger events are the catalyst for moving a relationship to the next level?



Establish Relationships with Buyers Who Are Older than You

It’s not uncommon to find yourself working with a client who is quite a bit older than you. You might be a 35-‐year-‐old woman, for example, who needs to build a relationship with a 60-‐year-‐old male chief financial officer. On the surface, at least, it may seem that you have very little in common. And furthermore, the client who is older may view you as inexperienced, at least relative to other advisors or providers they use.

Here are six strategies that will help you: 1. Early on, focus on your specific expertise and experience and on establishing

an identifiable area of credibility. If you have 25 or 30 years of experience, a client may be willing to trust your general business judgment and accept generalizations from you. When you’re younger, however, clients won’t accept your judgments or advice on a broader array of topics until you prove yourself in a specific area.

2. Convey confidence tempered by humility. Communicate your willingness to invest time to get to know your client and understand their business—not at their expense, but in a way that also adds value. It’s always bad to be presumptuous or overconfident with clients, but it’s far worse if you’re 30 and the client is 58.

3. Connect around universal and personal themes. When I was 34 and one of the youngest partners in my management consulting firm, I started work with a CEO who was in his late 50s. As we chatted over coffee, I mentioned a story about calling my father for advice on a very important, personal topic. Suddenly I noticed the CEO wasn’t paying much attention—he seemed to be daydreaming—and I asked him what he was thinking. “Oh,” he said wistfully, “I was just reflecting on your story. And I was thinking how nice it would be if, when I’m older, my sons would still come to me for advice and counsel.” After that, we clicked right away, despite our significant age difference. No matter what the age gap, there are always things you can find in common. And commonalities help create rapport.

4. Build knowledge of your client’s operations and organization. When you’re younger, as I mentioned, you can’t pretend to be a guru who has worked with dozens or hundreds of companies around the world. But, if you can develop a deep understanding of your client’s organization and people, for example, you’ll have a platform to be credible and valued in the C-‐Suite.

5. Ask especially good questions. This is always important, but perhaps even more so with a highly experienced, older client. Use good, even provocative questions to tap into your clients’ experience, wisdom, and also biases. Show you’ve done your homework and that you’re not just on a fishing expedition. Ask about what they’ve tried before, what has worked or not worked, where they think the landmines are buried, and so on. Also ask about their career and leadership experience—What was their most important developmental experience? Who were the major influences in their life? And so on.



6. Understand Baby-‐Boomer values. Baby Boomers, for example, are highly competitive—after all, they grew up competing with 79 million others for the best schools and jobs. Through this competitive background, they learned to view work itself as self-‐fulfillment. Typically, they aren’t so concerned with leaving a legacy (a key concern of “Traditionalists,” who were born before 1946), but they do want to have standout careers. They are motivated by money, titles, recognition, and the opportunity for self-‐fulfillment.

7. Don’t be overly solicitous or worse, sycophantic. Arrogance or overconfidence is unappealing, but so is excessive humbleness. Despite an age difference, you are still a professional peer who is there to provide expert advice or a service for a fee.

Ask Clients for Referrals

How many clients did you ask, last year, for a referral? Probably not very many. Maybe no one. Yet, we all know that current and past clients are, in many ways, your best potential source of new clients. There is no more persuasive endorsement of the quality of your work than a happy client who recommends you to a friend or colleague.

1. Make a list of current and past client executives that you believe have a high opinion of you and your work. Start with five or six names.

2. Do some research to determine if there is a specific request you can make. In other words, find out more about each person’s affiliations. Do they sit on boards? Do they belong to any particular professional associations? Who are they connected to on LinkedIn? That way, you can go to your client being very specific.

3. Start by first asking for a written or even video testimonial for use on your website or in response to reference requests from prospects. When someone publicly states their opinion, they become more apt to support that position in other settings.

4. Be sure to follow-‐up. If someone gives you a referral, get back to them and tell them what happened. Thank them. If you win new business, you might consider a small gesture like buying the person a fine bottle of wine or a nice hardcover book. Don’t, however, do something that makes it look like a monetary payment or reward, especially to a past or present client!

5. Consider telegraphing your request for a referral well in advance. One of my own clients was highly successful at getting CEO referrals from his top clients. At the beginning of a new relationship—after just a few months—he would raise the issue, telling his senior client that word of mouth referrals were the lifeblood of their business, and he hoped to someday be able to ask him or her for one! He told me that every one of his clients ended up introducing him to three or four others, at very senior levels.

There’s no reason why a senior client executive, who is delighted with your work, might not refer you to four or five other prospective clients over a couple of years.



Manage a Crisis or Service Failure

It’s bound to happen. Something is going to go wrong with a project. You may get behind schedule. You may underestimate what it will really take to succeed. Or, perhaps your client’s expectations turn out to be unrealistic. In any event, like death and taxes, everyone will face a client crisis or dissatisfaction of some kind. Here are some suggestions for what to do when this happens: 1. Respond rapidly. If a client is unhappy, deal with it immediately. Your willingness

to drop what you’re doing to urgently discuss your client’s concerns will by itself improve the situation.

2. Listen without being defensive. When someone is upset, emotions are like facts. Listen deeply and thank your client for sharing their concerns with you.

3. Say you’re sorry. Even if you think the blame is equally spread, apologizing can help defuse the situation and begin a new dialogue. It’s hard to keep kicking someone when they apologize to you. Interestingly, in the medical profession, doctors were always told not to apologize for patient mistakes because it would open them up to legal liability. Now, studies have shown that when a doctor apologizes, there is less litigation, not more!

4. Collaborate on the solution. Don’t jump too quickly to a solution (“We’ll put a new project manager in immediately…”). Involve your client in developing it, and only do so after thoroughly understanding all of their concerns and the actual circumstances.

5. Consider offering amends. If, in fact, you have fallen short in some way, it can help to restore trust if you offer to make amends: e.g. doing a small piece of value-‐added work for the client or reducing an invoice.

6. Avoid excuses. It’s very natural to want to explain to the client all the reasons why you are not completely at fault and why they may share some of the blame. But save that for later—if ever.

7. Rebuild trust through small, frequent confidence-‐building measures. When trust is lost, you must increase transparency and communication and show you can deliver on small, discrete, and agreed-‐upon follow-‐up steps. In any international crisis, diplomats always work towards small confidence-‐building measures to create or re-‐establish a foundation of trust.

8. Get things out into the open. When negative emotions are kept in the dark, they fester and grow. When you get them out into the light of day, they shrink and often disappear. This is illustrated in the opening stanza of William Blake’s famous poem, A Poison Tree, written about 200 years ago:



A Poison Tree

William Blake (1757-‐1827) I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe;

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

Act Like an Advisor When You’re a Deep Expert

The Dilemma You’re flat out serving existing clients—so how do you stay in touch with past clients or important prospects with whom you’re not yet doing business? Here’s a good illustration of this dilemma: if you are a tax lawyer in a law firm, very often your “clients” are the other partners who are doing transactional legal work that requires tax advice. Your role is not to be the trusted advisor to the client but rather contribute your deep tax expertise. Similarly, you may have an expertise in something that clients only require very infrequently—perhaps you’re an engineer who specializes in mechanical failure analysis.

Experts are Also Advisors Don’t think about this as a black and white distinction—that is, either you’re a broad, trusted advisor who talks about strategy or you’re a technical expert. Here’s why: it’s a continuum. An expert can become a trusted expert and then a trusted advisor in a specific area of competence. I employ a landscaping service that helps maintain the property around my house, for example. You might think of them as narrow and deep subject matter experts—hardly trusted advisors. But in that domain, they are my trusted advisors!

If a tree looks sick, I call them and consult with them. If a wild animal has been coming into my yard and digging up the grass, I call them. And, by the way, that actually happened at my house in Santa Fe. A bear jumped the backyard fence and kept trying to climb up the apple tree and get the apples, ripping the tree branches apart in the process!

If there’s a drought, we consult a trusted professional as to how to deal with it. In the same way, you want your clients to think of you as their trusted advisor, albeit in a very specific competency.

Trusted Advisor Skills are Always Important for Effective Relationship Building But here’s another important point: even if you’re a narrow expert, you will be more successful if you use and exemplify the trusted advisor skills and attributes. Even if you do short projects for many different clients and rarely work for the same client twice,



you still need to ask thoughtful questions and be a good listener. You still need to know how to build trust. You still need to make sure you’re not a screwdriver looking for screws—that you are client-‐centric and focused on uncovering your client’s real need(s) rather than being methodology-‐centric. You still want to be a proactive agenda setter rather than an order taker. Even as a deep specialist, you need to help your client define the problem properly. Even if you sell a very specific product or service, you will still want to put its benefit in the context of the client’s overall business goals.

Stay in Touch When There’s No Business

You’re flat out serving existing clients—so how do you stay in touch with past clients or important prospects with whom you’re not yet doing business?

Segment your Network 1. The critical few—Your top 15 to 25 contacts or relationships—these merit

significant attention.

2. The “middle few”—These might number 25 to 75 relationships. For these, periodic, tailored communications are appropriate.

3. “The many”—the rest of your network.

Remember the Four Different Ways of Adding Value as You Stay in Touch 1. Ideas and content that are relevant to the person’s specific issues.

2. Connection. You can add great value by connecting your key contacts to other people in your network.

3. Personal help. Occasionally, you will have the opportunity to give a helping hand to a client or colleague. Are they new in town and need help navigating schools and medical professionals? Are they in between jobs and need help refining their resume and gaining introductions to executive search firms? There are endless ways you can be helpful to your most important contacts.

4. Fun. Today, unfortunately, clients have less and less time for social activities outside of work, and in many countries, statutory barriers have been put into place to prevent corporate executives from accepting gifts or entertainment. That said, some people still do like to have fun and would enjoy an invitation to a special sports event, concert, gallery opening, dinner, and so on.

Make Time for Relationship Building

Imagine having to carry water to your house from a nearby stream. If you regularly stock your cistern or water tank every few days, you’ll have plenty of water when you need it. But if you forget to go to the stream and let the tank run out, you’re stuck.



You’re thirsty, you need to cook, flush the toilet, and so on—but you have no water left. You can run to the stream but you can’t possibly bring enough back for all your household needs, because you haven’t kept up. So you sit in your kitchen, eat potato chips and other non-‐nutritious food! This is actually an apt analogy for building and maintaining your relationships.

The problem is that you can’t just suddenly light a fire under your network and come up with new business immediately. There’s invariably a significant lead time to turn an initial conversation into a sale.

The most successful trusted advisors and rainmakers I know do a number of important things to make sure they are regularly investing in their relationships:

1. Make a commitment. Resolve to elevate the quality of your relationships to the same level as your professional mastery.

2. Broaden your view of relationship building. Set aside the idea that relationship building is mostly about schmoozing—about dinner and golf. It is based on understanding your clients as people and adding value in multiple ways.

3. Think about an ongoing process, not event. Treat relationship building as you would diet and exercise. Neither is a one-‐off event that takes place on January 1 to kick off the New Year. Both succeed through a lifestyle change—that is, the daily discipline to do small things on a regular basis.

4. Focus. Put 60-‐80% of your focus on your “critical few” relationship hubs—those 15–25 relationships which will really make a difference—not on every name in your contact database. Keep this list on your desk or in your pocket at all times.

5. Schedule weekly activities. Treat yourself like a client and schedule time each week in your agenda for “important but not urgent” long-‐term relationship-‐building and personal brand-‐building efforts.

6. Create small rituals. Come in early one day a week to work on your shortlist of key relationships, send one card a day to people in your network, write a short summary of every client meeting and send it to the participants the next day, spend 10 minutes each week with a colleague you don’t know well, and so on.

7. Enlist others to help you. Use an administrative assistant or junior team member to extend your reach and help keep track of key individuals—use them as a “relationship marketing manager.” Get your team involved, so that everyone working on a client engagement has relationship-‐building responsibilities.

8. Work smarter, not harder. Use existing interactions with clients more productively: ask them about their issues, their backgrounds, and their aspirations.

9. Piggyback where possible. Increase the productivity of trips and visits to different cities by holding one additional meeting with a contact or potential client before you leave town.



10. Lower your threshold for a client meeting. Create more frequent, brief interactions, such as having a cup of coffee to discuss market trends, recent client work you and your firm have done, best practices you are seeing, competitive developments, and so on.

11. Get rid of some activities. Free up more time for relationship building by eliminating, delegating, or streamlining activities that are of lesser importance and urgency.



The Critical Few

The Many

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Andrew Sobel helps companies and individuals build clients for life. He is the most widely published author in the world on how to develop enduring business relationships. His bestselling books have been translated into ten languages and include Power Relationships, Power Questions, All for One, Making Rain, and Clients for Life.

His clients are many of the world’s leading companies such as Citigroup, Cognizant, Ernst & Young, Booz Allen Hamilton, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Lloyds Banking Group, Bain & Company, and many others. Andrew’s articles and work have appeared in a variety of publications such as the New York Times, USA Today, and the Harvard Business Review.

Andrew spent 15 years at Gemini Consulting where he was a Senior Vice President and Country Chief Executive Officer, and for the last 17 years he has led his own global consulting firm, Andrew Sobel Advisors.

You can contact Andrew at http://andrewsobel.com(email: [email protected])


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