News

Webinar: Resuming face-to-face contact with clients and contacts

13 October 2021

With the easing of lock-down restrictions and more professionals returning to the office, many are looking to resume face-to-face contact with clients and contacts.

The business landscape, however, is very different to what it was before the pandemic. While some businesses continue to work remotely; others are adopting a hybrid approach which blends remote and on-site working.

Most professionals recognise that strong business relationships are built on in-person interactions and are keen to…

Keeping in touch in the hybrid business world

16 June 2021

As a result of recent years’ events, virtual communications platforms such as Zoom and MS Teams have helped many organisations to reshape their working practices.

There has also been a recognition of the benefits that being ‘on-site’ with colleagues can have on an individual’s wellbeing and effectiveness.

Subsequently, and as many countries ease their restrictions in response to the pandemic, organisations are now planning for and adopting a hybrid approach. This is one…

Webinar: Making the most of your referral relationships

09 June 2021

A professional’s network can be a major source of work opportunities and referrals – and it makes great commercial sense to aim to attract work from those who know and respect you. The opportunities they bring are often easier and less time intensive to convert and are often less fee-sensitive too. What’s not to like about all that?

In reality, though, many professionals are disappointed by the volume and quality of referrals…

Webinar – Strengthening Contact Relationships Remotely

25 March 2020

On 24 March we ran a webinar on how to strengthen contact relationships remotely.  You can access the slides and a recording of the event on this page.

Background

The current global situation, and the need for remote working, has led many professionals to rethink how they manage their client and contact relationships and work.

Now more than ever, your clients and contacts need advice and support to navigate their way through challenging and unchartered…

Strengthening contact relationships ‘remotely’

16 March 2020

The current global situation and the need for remote working has led many of us to rethink how we manage our client and contact relationships and work.

Now more than ever, your clients and contacts need advice, and support to navigate their way through challenging and unchartered circumstances.

In this article we have shared ways we’ve been discussing with professional services clients to help them maintain and strengthen their working relationships remotely, and in…

Adding relevant value

10 December 2019

Added value is always in the eye of the beholder – what’s valuable to one contact or organisation might not be valuable to another.

Typical ‘added value’ approaches used by firms, such as bulletins, training and even secondments have now become commonplace with clients expecting them as part of the standard service. In some cases, added value originally designed to foster greater goodwill and client loyalty has been reduced to commodity status.

At…

2 things you should know about your client

22 July 2019

2 things to know about your client blog postThe summer holiday season often gives professionals some quieter time to review how their client relationships are developing.

During busy times much attention is diverted to tasks and projects at hand.  Whilst it’s important to deliver as promised, if a professional doesn’t adopt a wider outlook they may miss valuable insight or potential opportunities for client work in the long term.

To build trust with a…

Managing and developing client relationships

12 March 2019

Often the key to a firm’s business growth lies in their current client portfolio. Work stemming from existing clients often offers greater profitability through a lower cost of sale and shorter learning curve for the firm’s team.

To check you are effectively managing your client relationships and developing opportunities, it’s good to periodically review your current client relationships and consider how robust they are.

 

 

In doing so, ask yourself if you:

  • have too many…

Spotting and converting new business opportunities with your client

21 May 2018

Spotting opportunities in businessA key skill of a client-focused professional is the ability to spot opportunities to further support a client – or target client – and then gain the decision-maker’s commitment to work with them.

In this article we focus on some of the skills for spotting new work opportunities in your client base. We have also shared techniques to help you convert those opportunities into business, without the need for you…

Strengthening your overseas client relationships

01 November 2017

Strengthening overseas client relationshipsAs international business becomes an increasingly strong revenue stream of many firms, some professionals find they now need to manage relationships with clients who are not in the same country or continent.

 

Just because you are miles away from a client doesn’t mean you can’t build a really valuable long-term relationship with them.   To be successful though, and retain and develop the long distance client relationship, a different approach…