Articles
Explore over 350 articles that will help you grow your client relationships and improve your personal effectiveness.
Questions to Ask Yourself
In the 1960s, a journalist asked the great artist Pablo Picasso what he thought about mainframe computers. Picasso replied, “Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” I am continually surprised at the power of good, provocative, unexpected questions—and by how infrequently we ask them. I experienced this just a few days ago as […]
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Managing Client Crises
I recently interviewed a client of mine on the topic of client crises, in preparation for a program I was designing for her organization. “Do you have all night?” she asked, laughing, “They’re continuous!” Every professional who works with clients faces periodic crises or “rough patches” in his or her relationships—it’s inevitable. Because of the […]
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Adding More Value
At one of my recent workshops, the participants were discussing what is different about managing client relationships today compared to ten years ago. A hand shot up: “Clients want twice as much value for half the price!” I hear this lament frequently, in fact. No question: Today’s clients (often former consultants, law firm partners, or […]
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The Ring of Power
In JRR Tolkien’s trilogy The Lord of the Rings, there is a gold ring, forged by an evil demon, which is the centerpiece of the plot. The owner of the ring is granted near-immortality, and placing it on a finger renders the bearer invisible. The ring’s immense power is a corrupting influence, however, and eventually […]
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Friends and Clients
Consider this (true) scenario: You are a human resources consultant, and your client is Bill, the head of HR for a Fortune-500 company. You do great work for this company, and build relationships at multiple levels in the organization. Over time, you become quite close to Bill–really good friends. You get to know each other’s […]
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15 Pitfalls of Advising Clients
Advising Clients Doesn’t Have to be Hard Serving clients requires constant vigilance. While we are forced as consumers to tolerate personal computers which constantly malfunction (usually due to software problems), we know that a single mistake during a client engagement could seriously damage—or at worst end—a client relationship. Here is a compendium of what I […]
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The Porsche and the Client
In workshops, I’m often asked, “How do you build a relationship with a client who is much older than you are? The flip answer is, “The same way you build a relationship with anybody!” For a more thoughtful answer, keep reading. Oh, the Porsche definitely appears at the end, in case you’re wondering about the […]
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Preparing for Any Client Meeting
A client meeting doesn’t start when you walk in the door and say good morning to your client. Rather, it should begin a day or two earlier, as you mentally prepare and reflect on how to make that meeting a success for both of you. Too often we are preoccupied with a key message we’re […]
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