All for One: 10 Strategies for Building Trusted Client Partnerships

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Strategy Four: Institutionalizing Client Relationships

Growing Your Clients

Some years ago, one of my clients suffered a major loss when a senior partner left and took several major clients with him. Later, the CEO told me that he never wanted this to happen again. “We need to institutionalize our relationships so that they do not depend entirely on a single partner,” he said. A few days later, one of the other partners in the firm pulled me aside and said, “I understand our CEO's sentiment—not wanting to lose clients—but it seems to me that, ironically, someone shouldn't be made a senior partner in the first place if they aren't capable of taking a client with them if they leave the firm!”

This story highlights the difficulties of moving from an individual relationship to a firm relationship. To cross the chasm from trusted advisor (Level 5) to trusted partner (Level 6), the individual who developed the relationship in the first place needs to gradually take on a new and different role and consciously make room for other colleagues—not always an easy step for someone who enjoys a trusted advisor relationship and the feeling of being indispensable to the client.

In Chapter 1, we looked at the examples of Citigroup and Booz Allen Hamilton and the strategies that they used to build deep, broad relationships with Shell and the U.S. Navy, respectively. Let's look at yet another case study, this time involving a major bank.

Towers Perrin, a leading human resources consulting firm, ...