A law firm I advised had a long-standing client that was one of the world's largest corporations. Every year, the chairman of the law firm asked the partner in charge of the account how things were going. “Great, we have a terrific relationship,” he inevitably told the chairman. This company had, after all, been a client of the firm for decades. But something insidious was happening: each year, the firm's revenues from this client shrunk. Even though this was a full-service, global law firm, their business with the client had diminished to just a few engagements. As a result, they were no longer on the General Counsel's radar—they had ceased being strategic for the client.
Yes, at the end each year this client still went in the “retained” column, and there was inevitably some light applause for the partner in charge of it. But the relationship was a shadow of its former self.
The new retention is expansion. If you're not growing a client relationship in some way, you may very well be backsliding into irrelevance. If you aren't broadening your footprint and impact, you are effectively losing ground.
Put another way, if you aren't one of a client's top two or three advisors or suppliers in your area of expertise—or on your way to becoming one of them—then you risk becoming increasingly irrelevant. You're a vendor to be “managed,” ...
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