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Helping your team develop productive client relationships

3 people sat at a business table, 1 person shaking the hand of another who is standing next to the table smiling.

What are the features that differentiate your business from the competition? If you work in professional services, such as law, accounting or insurance, the technical skills in your firm are likely to be similar to those in the firm down the road (sorry!). So the way you differentiate yourself is by your service levels, culture and approach. This all comes from your people.

In many cases, developing a successful firm or business is about developing good quality, long-lasting client relationships. Not only is this generally a ‘good’ thing to do; it results in better client retention, more referrals, a better local and profession-wide reputation and increased staff loyalty.

In short, it’s a win-win. Most senior leaders and team managers know this, and want to make sure that their people put client relationships at the heart of everything they do. I’ve had conversations with senior managers, however, that suggest this isn’t happening as much as they would like it to. Their teams don’t see the link between good client relationships and successful business development, and so don’t put in the time and effort needed to build these relationships up.

If this sounds familiar, here are some of the reasons why I think your teams may not be prioritising client relationships, and what you can do about it.

 

Is a focus on client relationships part of your culture? This is fundamental to your success, so it should be a natural part of your business. When you recruit, you should be looking for people who understand the importance of nurturing these relationships and are willing to learn new skills and contribute to business development by focusing on this area. You can also make this part of your personal development review process, so there it is clear that you value progress and effort in this area.

Are you role modelling good client relationships? It’s one thing knowing that building client relationships is important – it’s another to be actively doing it yourself. Think about how you manage your own relationships and how that contributes to business development overall. What skills or insights can you share?

Do you know where the skills gaps are? Organisations often recruit for technical skills, but ‘softer’ skills are equally important to success. A proactive learning and development programme will look at individual skills and experience, helping people to understand how client relationships fit into their working lives and develop the skills they need to contribute more fully to the business.

Is there support for the activity in your business? For example, are your people encouraged to network externally, or take part in industry events and conferences? Do you welcome ideas about building relationships and allow time for development, rather than pushing billable client work ahead of everything else? Building strong client relationships takes time – if you want to reap the benefits you must be prepared to invest the time.

Do your people understand the role of client relationships in the sales cycle? Every organisation has a sales cycle. Understanding your clients and the way they find, select and use your services will help you to see what kind of action people need to take and where each element of relationship building is most important. This starts with engaging potential clients, maintaining open communication with them, listening to what their needs are, giving advice and recommending solutions and then delivering a quality, personal service.

 

How can we maintain good client relationships?

When I am working with teams on building the skills that help to retain clients and build bigger portfolios of work around them, I remind people that they are dealing with other people. Clients have likes and dislikes, lives outside the office and want to feel that you care about them personally as well as the work you do. So I often talk about ‘nudges’ – ways in which you can keep in touch with clients even when you are not actively working with them on a project. These include:

  • Arranging a coffee or lunch to have a general catch up

  • Sharing articles, videos or updates that you think they would find interesting

  • Marking an anniversary or relevant event

  • Remembering important personal events or plans

  • Inviting them to face-to-face events

My book, Getting On: Making work work, covers the importance of client relationships, and includes practical resources that you can share with your team to help them see where they are doing well, and where there is an opportunity for development. For example, you can download the Building External Relationships resource, or contact me to book a call to see how I could help your teams build client relationships that contribute to your company’s success.