Being a More Trusted Advisor
Retain and Build Client Relationships
Finding good clients can be a challenge. Even with good clients, maintaining the relationship and improving it takes a few easy steps. In this article, the author shares steps a firm can take to improve the relationships and minimize the chance of losing the client.
Finding good clients can be a challenge. Even with good clients, maintaining relationships with them can be improved by a few easy steps. Consider the following ideas, which require minimal time or expense.
Visit your client’s website once a month. Look for announcements about recent changes such as new products, new employees, and new locations. Also look for human interest news involving company employees and their families.
Join LinkedIn groups devoted to your clients’ industries. Have a large client in the pharmaceutical industry? Find a group that discusses issues affecting that industry.
Take a little time to learn about regulatory issues affecting your clients. You can be sure that each executive is constantly concerned about regulations affecting his or her company. In fact, many executives think that their industry is the most highly regulated of all industries. This is true regardless of whether they run a bank, an investment management firm, an insurance company, a nursing home, a petroleum wholesaler, a childcare center, or a restaurant chain.
Promptly acknowledge every piece of correspondence your client sends you. It takes only seconds to send an e-mail letting the client know that you received their message and will be looking at it soon.
Follow up. Nothing shows that you care quite like taking a moment to follow-up. This one step alone will set you apart from many of your competitors. Did the client receive your memo? Did your letter answer their questions? Did they understand your report?
Listen carefully. As odd as it may seem, few professional advisors take the time to actively listen to their clients. After a discussion with the client, take a moment to find out whether you were actively listening. Simply ask yourself these two questions: What did the client say? What did the client not say? It is important to understand what they did not say because it is so easy to have an expectation going into a conversation. In other words, we may think they said something simply because we expected it.
Know when to keep quiet. Clients share confidential information almost every time you talk with them. It may be tempting to share some of that information with other members of your firm, assuming that they will not repeat it. However, your client shares sensitive items with her coworkers only on a need-to-know basis. Trusted advisors do likewise.
Tell the truth. Do not be a yes-man no matter how tempting it may be. People value the opinions of those who they know are being honest with them.
Ask for feedback often and listen very carefully when it is provided.
Fire clients that are not a good fit for you. Do not let them distract you from spending time with your best clients or adversely impact your more valuable relationships.
Mail handwritten thank you notes. Whether a client invites you to a company event or gives you a testimonial for your website, promptly show your appreciation. If they recommend you to a potential client, mail a note even if the prospect does not become your client. They will notice and appreciate it, because that thank you note may be the only one they have received in weeks.
Stay in your lane. And do not be reluctant to refer a client to someone else who has more expertise in a certain area. By doing so, you demonstrate that you are a specialist and not trying to be a jack of all trades. This strengthens your relationship with the client since they tend to believe that problems are resolved by specialists, not generalists.
These same steps may apply to developing and maintaining relationships with referral sources.
To be a trusted advisor, you need to be genuinely interested in your client and the people within the company. It is hard to fake interest; they can tell. But you should be interested in these people. Nothing is more fascinating than the human race. If you feel like you are not as interested in someone as you used to be, spend some time to get to know them better. You will be surprised and fascinated by what you learn about them.
Stephen Kirkland, CPA, CMC, CFF, is a compensation consultant and expert witness at Atlantic Executive Consulting, LLC. He serves as an expert witness in cases involving potentially unreasonable compensation.
Mr. Kirkland may be contacted at (803) 724-1414 or through ReasonableComp.biz, at Stephen.Kirkland@AECG.biz.
