As a young consultant right out of graduate school, I immediately noticed there were two types of partners in my firm: Those who fed off the business brought in by others, and those who were getting phone calls directly from…

By Andrew Sobel When you meet with a senior executive, there’s one factor that usually determines whether you get a follow up meeting: Have you added value for time? It the client benefits from your conversation, you’re on your way. If…

By definition, serendipity is unforeseen—you can’t plan for it. Another synonym is “good luck.” When it happens, it feels great: A former client calls you out of the blue and within a few days you suddenly have a major new…

Read Jerry Panas’ encouraging Thanksgiving exhortation, below. It’s for every day, not just Thanksgiving. And, read about why he had such an impact in the world: My coauthor for two books (Power Questions and Power Relationships), Jerry was arguably the…

Willie Nelson, the acclaimed country singer-songwriter, has written over 1000 songs. A journalist once asked him, “How do you do it—how do you keep coming up with new songs?” His reply: “Songs are everywhere.” John Lennon and Paul McCartney of…

Are your client relationships growing, staying the same, or shrinking? How much influence do you really have over the direction they take? The answer to this second question is, I believe, a whole lot. While many factors influence whether or…

The CEO of a Fortune-100 company I was advising got an unexpected call from the CEO of their largest technology supplier. The technology company CEO said he was going to be in New York City the following week and wanted…

One of my clients, a global consulting firm, wanted to build a relationship with a Fortune-50 company in the Midwest. This company never used consultants, and my client had virtually no preexisting relationships with their management. However, my client was…

Why do some client relationships slowly diminish and die, while others thrive for years? A key secret to keeping clients for life has to do with treating old clients like brand-new clients. You can learn how to do this in…

The playwright Oscar Wilde defined a gentleman as someone who “is never unintentionally rude.” Likewise, you never want to have a client relationship end unintentionally and without a sound reason. Unfortunately, relationships often avoidably come to an end. Clients usually just vote…