Articles
Explore over 350 articles that will help you grow your client relationships and improve your personal effectiveness.
The Three Types of Independence You Must Cultivate with Clients
You need to cultivate and exercise three kinds of independence from your clients: Intellectual independence. Sometimes, advisors and service providers forget that one of the reasons they are being employed is to provide independent perspectives. They want to be supportive of a client at every stage of the relationship, and sometimes this desire compromises intellectual […]
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The extraordinary Harry Hopkins–President Roosevelt’s most Trusted Advisor
In January of 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Wendell Wilkie, who had lost his own bid for the presidency the year before, to visit him at the White House. Sitting in front of the fireplace in the Oval Office, Wilkie steered the topic of conversation to Harry Hopkins, who was Roosevelt’s most trusted advisor. […]
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The Secret to Winning Your Next Sales Pitch
Clients hate sales pitches. You probably do, too. How do you like to sit still while someone presents PowerPoint slides to you? Clients don’t like boring pitches, but they love to learn. So turn your next sales presentation into a collaborative, value-added session for the client. Role model what it would be like to actually work with […]
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Eight Reasons Why You Lose Clients – And What To Do About It (Part II)
Sometimes client relationships end for appropriate reasons. But you never want a good relationship to end avoidably. In Part I of this article I described four of the eight most common reasons why client relationships end. These were: 1. A reorganization or executive turnover 2. A one-off or temporary need for your services. 3. A financial crisis or […]
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Eight Reasons Why You Lose Clients – And What To Do About It (Part II)
By Andrew Sobel Sometimes client relationships end for appropriate reasons. But you never want a good relationship to end avoidably. In Part I of this article I described four of the eight most common reasons why client relationships end. These were: 1. A reorganization or executive turnover 2. A one-off or temporary need for your services. 3. A […]
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How Do You Get Your People to Collaborate More?
Every executive I speak to would like to see more collaboration among their professionals, especially to better serve clients. Collaboration among different service or product lines, and also between support functions, is essential to fuel relationship growth. Here’s what doesn’t encourage collaboration: • Telling people to collaborate. Collaboration is a behavior, and people don’t change […]
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Eight Reasons Why You Lose Clients – And What To Do About It (Part I)
The playwright Oscar Wilde defined a gentleman as someone who “is never unintentionally rude.” Likewise, you never want to have a good client relationship end unintentionally and without a sound reason. Unfortunately, relationships often avoidably come to an end. Clients usually just vote with their feet and don’t carefully explain to you why they are not giving […]
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Eight Reasons Why You Lose Clients – And What To Do About It (Part I)
By Andrew Sobel The playwright Oscar Wilde defined a gentleman as someone who “is never unintentionally rude.” Likewise, you never want to have a good client relationship end unintentionally and without a sound reason. Unfortunately, relationships often avoidably come to an end. Clients usually just vote with their feet and don’t carefully explain to you […]
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