Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships. (Second Edition) (Paperback)

by Ross Dawson (Author) "In 1980, the U.S. economy was worth $4.9 trillion, producing 1.3 billion tons of goods..." (more)
Key Phrases: knowledge cocreation, key client program, enriching mental models, New York, Advanced Human Technologies, Harvard Business Review (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Dawson has pulled off the nigh-impossible: improved on what was already a terrific book. Even more than before, this is essential reading for professional service firms."
-- David Maister, author, Managing the Professional Service Firm, The Trusted Advisor

"Dawson really cuts through with the book, highlighting the essential ingredient for establishing strong client relationships. His perspectives on how knowledge catalises relationships should be read by industry professionals and users alike. It is a penetrating, yet practical guide."
-- Martin L North, General Manager, Strategic Consulting, Fujitsu Australia

"Law, accountancy and other professional firms have long recognised that acquiring, creating and developing knowledge and relationships is critical in providing value. As knowledge and relationships become the only sustainable escape from global commoditisation, Dawson uses a wide range of relevant examples to show how professional firms really work, and urges public and private sector leaders everywhere to adopt the professional firm model. Required reading."
-- Richard Chaplin, Founder & Executive Director, Managing Partners' Forum

"For many professional firms, there is no bigger challenge than deepening their relationships with key clients. In this arena, Ross Dawson is a master and his book, for those prepared to study and change, can provide off-the-shelf competitive advantage."
-- Professor Richard Susskind, OBE, Author of The Future of Law

"The second edition of Dawson's work is packed with even more relevant insights and models aimed at maximizing the value derived from knowledge and relationships. Professional services firms seeking sustainable growth with their clients would do well to absorb and apply its lessons."
James C. Spohrer, IBM Services Research

"Ross Dawson was the first among the world's business thought leaders to pursue the intersection of knowledge and client relationships in professional services. No matter what your business, if you want to know more about your clients or customers, you'll find this book useful."
-- Thomas H. Davenport, Professor and Director of Research, Babson College and Accenture Fellow

"Ross Dawson is the closest student I know of knowledge based client relationships. From his perch in Australia, his frequent fact finding world tours and his wide reading he keeps as close a watch as possible of the pell-mell networking developments in this field and he writes about them in a simple uncluttered way which make it easy to understand what is actually happening and who is involved."
-- Napier Collyns, Co-founder, Global Business Network

"The first time I read Developing Knowledge Based Client Relationships, it provided me with an fantastic understanding of the powerful role knowledge and technology play in client relationships. I knew it was a book that was ahead of its time. This second edition of the book brings forth a much further developed vision of knowledge based relationships that really brings into focus all of the potential and promise a knowledge enabled business world would deliver. As we venture forward into the idea and information age, this book provides a valuable guide to what we can hope to expect in the future."
-- Guy Alvarez, Founder, Business Development Institute, LLC

"This fresh new edition of Developing Knowledge-Based Client relationships is simply amazing! Not only has Ross Dawson's revolutionary view of the future been realized, but the practices and methods he laid out so beautifully in the first edition have been expanded, fine tuned, chiseled and polished into a truly masterful guide and tool set. From simple but powerful strategic frameworks to comprehensive principles of knowledge-value creation this book converts the "big ideas" of the knowledge economy into practical assessments, heuristics and processes for making intelligent choices about professional service offerings and strategic relationships. Insightful, practical and beautifully straightforward - this should be essential reading for anyone offering professional or creative services."
-- Verna Allee, author, The Future of Knowledge: Increasing Prosperity through Value Networks

Book Description
Completely updated edition of our bestsellering book on client relationships for the professional services and financial services industries.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann; 2 edition (June 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750678712
• ISBN-13: 978-0750678711
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #496,929 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Upgrade in the second edition, August 12, 2005

By	S. William Ives "Portals and KM" (Cambrdige, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ross Dawson has recently produced the second edition to his successful Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships. Opening sentences set the tone: "Knowledge and relationships are where all value resides in today's economy...Moreover, knowledge itself is all about relationships." This resonates well with my experience. In this book, Ross looks at this issue in the context of professional service firms, a market in which I spent over 20 years of service. In this case, a client is not simply purchasing the services of the smart individual assigned to them, but the collective knowledge of the entire firm. That is where the unique value lies. Otherwise a simple placement service at much lower rates would be sufficient.

This is the second edition of a book which first appeared in 2000. One of the major upgrades came from an understanding that if you clients do not recognize the value you create for them through more knowledge-based relationships and services, it does not help you or your clients. This new edition addresses this issue by proving material on how to lead your clients through knowledge based relations and understand the value they bring. Ross provides a useful model for obtaining a deep partnership with your client. The four stages are engaging, aligning, deepening, and partnering. While there are many such models, I have found them useful focal points for activities. For example, we used a somewhat similar model to design our internal marketing efforts at Ryder. It helps to ensure that you are laying the right foundation for a deep relationship and not getting ahead of the process. You do not what to conduct aligning activities until you are engaged, etc. Sounds simple, but this point is often overlooked in practice without a model to check against.

There is a good section on the current and future status of professional service firms and a multi-chapter section on how these firms can add value by promoting knowledge-based relationships with their clients. Being very practical I was especially interested in the final section on implementation. How can you practically do this stuff? As Ross wrote, the real value is making these things happen. I was not disappointed here. He gives a robust framework of the five key domains: strategies, structures, process, skills, and culture. But, more importantly, fills this framework in with specific suggestions.

Next, follows a review of the growing communication channels available to connect with clients and their strengths and limitations. There is a tradeoff between efficiency and relationship strength. But the high payoff activities come from the high relationship initiatives. Ross extends this approach to offer ways to expand client contact beyond the initial relationships that brought you into the firm. This expanded contact requires greater guidance and leadership to ensure consistency and alignment with your objectives for the client and this leadership is the subject of the next chapter. Here he makes use of the four stage model introduced earlier, engaging, aligning, deepening, and partnering, and applies it to a variety of communication channels. I have found that a key to success in most consulting relationships is active involvement by the client. The best initiatives, the ground breaking ones, came from a partnering with some smart client people. The worst were ones were we were forced to do it for them. Ross develops this theme in the next chapter on co-creation with some excellent examples such as the successful London ad agency, Mother.

Ross concludes with an appendix on the nature of mental models drawing on cognitive science. This was my academic field so I read this piece with great interest. He covers the two main types of mental representations, analogical or sensory based like images, and propositional which are abstract in nature and best represented by language and math. These two forms can complement each other but their qualities need to recognized and taken advantage of in communication. The goal of this review of the basic concepts of cognitive science is to provide a grounding in ways to more effectively transfer knowledge. To transfer knowledge we must understand how people acquire this knowledge.

I certainly recommend this book to anyone who wants to develop deeper client relations, create more impactful initiatives and enable their clients to appreciate the significance of this work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Key to developing a modern PS company, November 29, 2007

By	Cary A. King (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

An excellent treatment of information and knowledge. More importantly, how you can use that structure for improving your client engagements to help them - and you - be more successful.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hitting the Suite Spot, September 12, 2005

By	Tony Keevan - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The only thing wrong with this book is that more CEOs don't read it. Ross Dawson captures and communicates the strategic and tactical imperatives to help any organization (or person) build lasting and successful client relationships. It is akin to something you always knew but didn't know how to say. Ross does all the work and makes it seem easy. From placing value on your services (do you want to be a commodity or a partner) to implementing collaborative technologies, Ross tells it like it is, in a way that even the most static organization can understand and embrace. A must read for anyone who wants to survive in today's marketplace. Great for marketing communications professionals in particular (at advertisers or at agencies).
Tony Keevan
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