Articles
Explore over 350 articles that will help you grow your client relationships and improve your personal effectiveness.
Does Money Make You Collaborate?
I once had a client whose leadership constantly talked about teamwork. They wanted professionals from disparate areas of the organization to work together in unison in the service of their customer base. They even installed monetary incentives for better “Teaming.” But, the same leadership group got along very poorly. They were rarely seen together. In […]
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Seven Ways to Connect With Someone 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 chief financial officer who is male. It may seem, on the surface at least, that you have very […]
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The Final and Most Important Step in any Relationship
In December, my father went to bed and did not get back out. He was 96—about to turn 97. He was in fairly good health and of sound mind. No, better than that: His mind was still razor sharp. He was a decorated WWII combat physician and a noted pioneer in 20th century psychiatry, his […]
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From Impossible to Loyal: Seven Types of Difficult Clients and How to Win Them Over
Early in my consulting career I had a client who slowly became downright abusive. When we first met he was relaxed, confident, professional, and even charming. But underneath that veneer he was a mean-spirited tyrant. As time passed, he became every-more demanding and even vicious. One day, I walked into his office with a three-page […]
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From Impossible to Loyal: Seven Types of Difficult Clients and How to Win Them Over
By Andrew Sobel Early in my consulting career I had a client who slowly became downright abusive. When we first met he was relaxed, confident, professional, and even charming. But underneath that veneer he was a mean-spirited tyrant. As time passed, he became ever-more demanding and even vicious. One day, I walked into his office […]
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This Move Can Transform a Client Relationship
On November 26, 2008, Citigroup executive James Bardrick was having dinner with the CEO of a major client at the Royal Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai, India. At the time, Bardrick, an old client of mine, was one of the heads of Citi’s European and Middle Eastern banking business. He and the CEO had traveled there […]
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The Seven Deadly Sins of Client Advisors
Executives tell me it’s not easy to find an advisor with the right balance of experience, expertise, relationship skills, and client orientation. That’s not surprising. It’s a difficult role to pull off well. There are also lots of bad habits that professionals fall into when it comes to serving clients. Here are seven types […]
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Should You Trust First Impressions?
A large body of research shows that when we meet someone for the first time, we make judgments about their trustworthiness and competence in a fraction of a second. We do this based on a variety of clues, including physical appearance, facial characteristics, posture, gestures, and so on. This makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. […]
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