Clients for Life: How Great Professionals Develop Breakthrough Relationships (Hardcover)

by Jagdish Sheth (Author), Andrew Sobel (Author) "IN JANUARY OF 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Wendell Willkie, who had lost his own bid for the presidency the year before, to visit..." (more)
Key Phrases: great client advisers, selfless independence, deep generalist, United States, Peter Drucker, George Marshall (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Whereas most professionals aim to develop long-term relationships with their clients, many find that their clients may treat them more like a one-shot expert-for-hire than that trusted member of the inner circle. Arguing that in today's competitive era, clients are always looking for those who can distinguish themselves from the othersDwhether it is by being available 24 hours a day or by solving a difficult problemDSheth, a marketing professor, and Sobel, a consultant, draw on the insights of the CEOs of such corporations as GE and American Express to present a simple, strategic approach designed for anyone who wants to serve clients better. Even more important than availability and creativity is the consultant's objectivity and ethics, Sheth and Sobel aver. The best consultants always demonstrate they are putting their client's interest foremost and never recommend projects as a means to advance their own objectives or extend their agreements. Furthermore, the authors argue, the most successful consultants don't take on work merely for the money, but because they believe in a product or service and want to maintain a relationship with the client. The authors present their message clearly (highlighting their points in sidebars throughout the text) and understand that clients aren't always perfect; sometimes they want free advice or someone simply to confirm that their established plans are appropriate. One of the best "client-relationship" books published recently, this practical guide offers powerful insights for professional advisers and customers alike.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Regis McKenna Chairman, The McKenna Group, and author of Real Time and Relationship Marketing Sheth and Sobel lift us out of our present one-to-one transactional thinking about professional-client relationships and into the transcendent and lasting values of relationships based on knowledge, integrity, insight, and wisdom. It is a powerful approach of substance for all professionals. -- Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (September 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684870290
• ISBN-13: 978-0684870298
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #369,416 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Answers to Fulfilling a Professional's Dreams!, October 11, 2000

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "a Practical Optimi... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Every professional I know feels uncomfortable about the fact that at some point in the future they see no revenues coming in, after current assignments and contracts are completed. In private discussions, many professionals have told me how deeply they ache for the security of having long-term client relationships. Many find it difficult to attract new clients, don't enjoy that role, and know that it is time-consuming and costly.

Anyone who feels that way should definitely read this book. Primarily drawn from the experiences of the authors and of top advisors they interviewed, the answers ring true for me. Having been a management consultant for 30 of the past 33 years, all of my long-term relationships had the qualities described here.

The book outlines the characteristics that clients are typically looking for. These include:

Balancing detachment and dedication to the client's cause to act in selfless ways (you are especially warned against the 45 minute hard sell for the next assignment at the end of the current one.)

Becoming empathic with your client at such a level that you pick up on tiny, unspoken clues about what is on their minds

Moving beyond being a specialist into becoming a deep generalist so that you can help connect the perspectives of your specialty to adjacent issues

Seeing the big picture so that you can help synthesize solutions that no one else would have thought of

Improving your judgment so that you can sift the winning options from the losing ones (this section is particularly well done)

Acting from conviction by operating from your values rather than your self-interest

Having earned a deep level of trust you can draw on based on the integrity and competence you have shown in the past

The authors make these points very well by contrasting the role of experts (the one-time assignment of a specialist in a narrow area) with advisors (the broader role). For example, professionals often make the mistake of focusing on presentations and reports while clients often most value working sessions and one-on-one discussions.

There are also many examples in the book of great advisors like Gertrude Bell, David Ogilvy, George Marshall, Peter Drucker, Henry Kissinger, and Harry Hopkins. These role models help make the points clearer.

The authors also have a good section on evaluating whether or not you should want to have a long-term relationship with certain clients.

Now having praised the book, let me also point out that I disagree with the book's premise as it relates to management consulting. In my experience, it is bad for clients and consultants to focus on lifelong relationships.

Let me explain. Here are the problems from the client's point of view. First, if the consultants have done a good job, the company should at some point have learned how to do what the consultants do. Second, the firm is obviously larger than the consulting firm in most cases, and the expertise of the client should grow faster than the consultants. That means that the consultants should run out of relevant, needed expertise at some point. Third, if your clients are wildly successful as a result of your collaboration, they surpass their goals quickly and retire. As Peter Drucker has often said to me, "Don, the last person the new CEO wants to see is you if you have been close to the old CEO." The reason for that is because the new CEO wants to create her or his own mark. Peter Drucker has advised working for every other CEO in a company if you want to have a long-term relationship. Well, CEOs stay in their jobs about 7 years, and that is decling. That's not a lifetime. Finally, the time and money the client spends with you is time and money that they cannot spend with another consultant who may have expertise they need more than yours. I have seen famous, brand-name firms stay on too long in such circumstances and do great harm to their clients.

Now, let's look at the same question from the consultant's point of view. Peter Drucker's first client was General Motors, for example. Yet his biggest contributions have come in assignments for organizations like the Girl Scouts and churches, which came late in life. If he had stayed with only his first clients, even as large and interesting as they were, he would have cut off his opportunity to do his best work. I think that consultants should always be looking for where they can make the most positive contribution. That may not be in a lifelong relationship, and will usually not be.

Also, it is new clients who push you the most because you don't know exactly what is going on. When I look back on assignments, I find that I have usually learned the most from working with a client in the first 6 months. If I had stopped taking on new clients, 90 percent of the ideas I have developed would never have occurred to me.

So for me at least, this book points me in the wrong direction in pursuing the lifelong relationship. I suggest you ask yourself whether it does you or not, as well. On the other hand, it is always good to find ways to be more valuable to clients, and creating what could become a lifelong relationship through being a better advisor is commendable. The book can help you with that goal, as well.

Be a great advisor to your clients, regardless of the length of the relationship!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read Mitchell's Review First, May 16, 2001

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Don Mitchell's review is first-rate. I agree completely with his reasons for praising this book, and, I agree completely with his (and Drucker's) comments about so-called "lifelong relationships." If you are looking for some rock-solid advice to achieve "breakthrough" relationships with clients, Sheth and Sobel provide it. But as Mitchell and Drucker correctly point out, it is possible but highly unlikely that those relationships can be sustained indefinitely, especially now when change is the only constant and occurs at ever-increasing velocity. Give careful thought to the word "breakthrough" because it has so many relevancies to today's competitive marketplace. When in pursuit of a prospective client, first you have to break through clutter to become visible; then you have to break through other clutter to differentiate yourself from the competition; then overcome other clutter to begin the new relationship; finally, you have to break through still more clutter to sustain that relationship. (Think about juggling handgrenades in a minefield at 2 AM...during an electrical storm...while wearing a blindfold.) Sheth and Sobel offer a wealth of information as well as sound guidance. Much of what they share can also help with the formulation of customer recapture strategies. But take no one and nothing for granted. The "life" of a customer relationship should not be measured in terms of years; rather, in terms of how effectively you nourish that relationship while you have it.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Issue with Insightful Guidance, August 27, 2000

By A Customer

In Clients for Life, the authors have succeeded brilliantly at a difficult task: defining the essence of long-term, value-added relationships and the characteristics of professionals who succeed in developing them. This is by far the best and most sophisticated book I have read on the subject of client relationships. It is genuinely insightful, beautifully written, and full of entertaining, relevant anecdotes about working with and advising clients. Sheth and Sobel organize the book around the key attributes of professionals who are able to become great advisors to their clients and develop lifetime relationships with them. They describe these qualities with depth and freshness, and their model rings true. Many people talk about "big picture thinking," for example, or "integrity," but the authors actually define these things in a meaningful way and clearly demonstrate how you can improve yourself. Each chapter profiles a famous historical advisor who was especially skilled at dealing with clients. Much of what I have read on client relationship management has tended to be either simplistic and focused on "techniques" or else overly academic. Clients for Life, in contrast, is a breezy read yet very rich and thoughtful in its approach-it'll make you think hard about your own personal and professional development. I highly recommend this book to anyone who manages clients or large customer relationships.