Articles - Page 41 of 47

Sgt. Pepper’s and You: Evolving Your Songs (Part I)

Forty years ago, on June 2, 1967, the Beatles released their breakthrough album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It rocked the music world, shooting immediately to number one on the record charts and winning four Grammy awards. Although there is much debate about whether it is the Beatles’ best overall recording (some would opt […]

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Differentiating Yourself

A client of mine—a senior partner in a large professional firm—recently voiced the following frustration to me: “We are unique in the way that we work with clients, and we offer a clearly superior service. But clients don’t seem to recognize this. We should have even more than our share of business.” “Well,” I responded […]

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Does This Client Make Sense for Me?

A client of mine, who is a partner in a large professional firm, recently lamented to me that many of his colleagues were spending huge amounts of time chasing low-payoff RFPs. “It’s a very tough way to get new business, and it distracts us from investing more deeply in high-potential clients that we already know […]

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The Beatles Principles (Part III)

The Fab Four sold over 1 billion records, tapes, and CDs, and 36 years after their breakup they remain, in many ways, the world’s most popular band. Most importantly for us, they managed to create a whole that was far greater than the sum of the parts—no doubt the goal of any services firm. This […]

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The Beatles Principles (Part II)

The Fab Four sold over 1 billion records, tapes, and CDs, and 36 years after their breakup they remain, in many ways, the world’s most popular band. Most importantly for us, they managed to create a whole that was far greater than the sum of the parts—no doubt the goal of any services firm. This […]

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The Beatles Principles (Part I)

Entrepreneur Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, is known for his adroitness at building creative, motivated teams in his operating companies. Furthermore, he insists that “fun” is one of his chief criterion for starting any new enterprise. When I mentioned this to a senior executive I know at a large investment bank, he shook […]

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Getting Comfortable with Getting Personal

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 […]

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Six Models for Building a Client Franchise

“How do I build a following?” “How can I increase my leadstream?” “How do I create a brand for myself in the marketplace? These are important questions, and I get asked them frequently. The answer to all three is–it depends. There is no one right approach to building a client franchise, no single model that […]

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