All for One: 10 Strategies for Building Trusted Client Partnerships

13

Answers to the Most Commonly Asked Questions about Building Client Relationships

In this chapter, I set out and answer 17 commonly asked questions about client relationships. These address issues that I am asked about again and again. They represent the common, day-to-day dilemmas that many professionals face as they work with clients, and their answers should help provide some additional tactical advice to supplement the main chapters of All for One.

1. I have my hands full just keeping up with my current clients and meeting short-term delivery pressures. How do I find the time to invest in long-term relationship building?

Like a healthy living program, cultivating your relationships is not a one-off event but rather a lifestyle. Here are seven suggestions to help you make more regular investments in building your relationships:

1. Start by developing the right mindset and attitude. Make a commitment to elevating the quality of your relationships to the same level as your professional mastery.
2. Focus significant effort on a small handful of key relationships—15 to 20—as opposed to every name in your contact database.
3. Set aside time each week to invest in relationship building. This could be two hours every Friday morning, or something small that you do every day (e.g., call someone, send an article, write a note, make a lunch appointment).
4. Create small rituals, such as sending handwritten thank-you cards or writing a short summary of every client meeting and distributing it ...