Tag Archives: relationship building

TNF #129: Snippets of attention

Welcome Professionals…

…my mother used to do this all the time. She even does it today. Whenever she reads something in the newspaper that could be relevant for me, she cuts it out. During my studies at university, when I was returning home only once a month, I would find a thick stack of newspaper articles waiting for me. To be honest, I did not read everything, but it conveyed one message very clearly: My mother was thinking of me and she cared about my interests.

Back in the days, the habit of my mother seemed a bit awkward, but very nice. It never occurred to me that anybody else could also have a mother collecting newspaper snippets for her of him. The funny thing is, that we now live in a world of snippets. With the rise of social media it seems like everybody is cutting out pieces of random information and spreads it around for others to like that stuff.

Now, think about this crazy idea. Next time you see something interesting that you would like to cut, paste, and spread – pause and think for whom this could be specifically relevant. Send it to this person privately with a note. When you do this occasionally for your important client relationships, they will love you for these snippets of attention. Because they will know: You were thinking of them and you care about their interests!

I will be grateful to receive a snippet from you!

Malte

TNF #086: Building a platform

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Welcome Professionals…

…As top management consultants, we continuously strive to attract clients to our services and to build a strong reputation as an expert. Both can be enhanced by establishing your own platform.

A platform is a format to connect with your target audience and to share value. Typical formats are a regular lunch/dinner table, a blog/podcast/YouTube channel, an E-Mail newsletter, a conference/networking event, a service club. Note: a simple LinkedIn profile is not a platform!

The goal of a platform is to build relationships with a long-term focus. Value is shared generously to the target audience usually for free or for minor a subscription fee, but it is never transaction-based. You cannot pay directly for the value received. The value contribution of the platform builder needs to be different to the professional services that are provided for a fee. It needs to go beyond the typical scope of the business in order to stand out and attract the target audience. Then, a platform can be very powerful to reach and attract new potential clients.

In summary, here are the main success factors for building a platform:

Target a specific audience
Share relevant value generously
Stay persistent and establish a regular format
Foster multi-lateral relationships within the platform
Focus on building relationships, never transactions

A successful example for a platform was built by one of my friends, who is Partner at a leading strategy consultancy. He set up an expert circle for industrial service businesses about 8 years ago. Twice a year he organized a key note speech and discussion round for leaders of the service business. He has now reached a stage where the participants themselves suggest new members and funnel them into the circle. Members take a strong part in organizing events and even sponsoring the catering. Still, my friend is seen as the founder and chief curator of the platform and stands out as the expert for industrial service businesses which has finally led to many new assignments in that area.

Thursday Night Flight and the LinkedIn Group “Trusted Advisor – Success for Consultants” is a platform that was founded on the same building blocks, as you may have already noticed. We are well above 1’000 professional consultants now and for the future, I would like to see more interaction among members. So, feel free to connect and reach out.

What is your platform?

Malte

Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!

TNF #078: Moment of Truth

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Welcome Professionals…

…Every great client relationship has its root in a moment of truth. There are some good relationships that can do without such special opportunities. But all great client bonding typically links back to a moment of truth.

For this to happen, three things must come together. Firstly, a client with a rational task of high importance. Secondly, an emotionally intense situation, like a feeling under pressure. Thirdly and finally, a consultant who can help.

But as a consultant you need to be careful. Only if you help with generosity, you will win a client for a lifetime. If you exploit the situation, the client is likely not to call you again.

Here is one of my real life examples for illustration. One of my colleagues had recruited a candidate for a joint client of ours. He had charged the maximum fee for this mandate. But the candidate turned out not to be suited and was dismissed soon after. By this time, my colleague had already left our company and took all revenue credits with him. The client now turned to me and asked for a reparation. There was no guarantee clause within the contract and we all knew this.

The client was under high pressure. The responsible HR person had obviously made a bad deal. He had accepted a candidate which turned out to be a failure, paid a fortune as a success fee for a consultant who was not in business any more, and had overlooked to form a decent contract with a guarantee clause.

What could I have done? I could have insisted that it wasn’t my fault, which would have looked silly. I could have negotiated to charge a fraction of the original fee for my help which would have been unsatisfying for both of us. I decided to make a generous investment.

I said I would make it a guarantee case on my own. I would do the full mandate again for free and guarantee full satisfaction. The client was stunned. I had not yet finished the work, when an additional assignment came. Since then, we have been partners on many further projects. I am really glad we had this moment of truth.

Yours truly

Malte

TNF #068: Client visit

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Welcome Professionals…

…Sometimes we want to visit prospective clients in order to establish or deepen a relationship. We do not have ongoing project work and we have not been invited to a specific subject discussion or proposal. Yet, we want to engage into a conversation on current or future challenges, getting to understand our client better as a person and as a company.

When the time is ready to arrange such a client visit, I have made good experience with a rather casual approach. I tell the client that I will be close to his/her office on a specific day or week and that it would be nice to drop-by if he/she can make up for some time in the agenda. Placing the request this way highly increases the likelihood for the client to say yes. Moreover, if the answer is no, it is much easier to ask for another meeting when the opportunity comes again.

The casual offering takes a lot of pressure out of the request. If we tell our clients, that we are willing to make a long journey for a fully dedicated meeting with them it does not really flatter them. They immediately think that they will have to offer something in return. If the supplier is going to invest time and energy into a client visit, the client feels obligated to offer some proposal opportunity or similar in return. While this reciprocity rule works for us once we can engage in actual proposal work, it is risky to overwhelm the client in the very early stage.

This approach has another great advantage. It allows to combine various client appointments on one trip. It can dramatically increase efficiency. When arranged well in advance, it is usually possible to to find some other prospects on the way. I have made it a habit for scheduling. For every client meeting that I arrange, I ask myself who else at this client site could I visit? Who else in the the same area or along the way could I visit? Sometimes it makes sense to plan the route first and then fill it with appointments.

Wishing you a productive client visit!

Malte

TNF #028: Dig your well before you’re thirsty

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Welcome Professionals…

…imagine an unknown person, a stranger, who approaches you the first time with a product you do not know, that you may never have heard of. Will you buy? Most likely not. You might ask, what a ridiculous question. What a setup for failure you might say.

Yet, it happens all the time.

In my profession as executive search consultant I get unsolicited requests by email, phone and social networks all the time, many per day. Which is completely fine because I am even asking for it. The misconception is for some candidates to believe that I will immediately drop everything I am doing in order to promote their CV to my key contacts although I do not even know them, yet. Some of the candidates get a bit more pushy, few of them get angry if they do not get what they expect.

Why am I telling this? Because I made the same foolish assumptions. I met target clients for the first time, jumped into the meeting, told them – unsolicited – about my credentials and expected them to buy on the spot.

It takes a lot of time to build a brand, a reputation, and finally a relationship to the individual that will become our client. So we better start digging our well before we become thirsty!

Dig deep!

Malte