ROBERT PAY
Designing a Key Relationship Program:
Building Strong Client Relationships
Designing a Key Relationship Program: Building Strong Client Relationships
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Designing a Key Relationship Program:
Building Strong Client Relationships
ROBERT PAY
PUBLISHED BY IN ASSOCIATION WITH
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Contents
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Contents
About the author ...VII Acknowledgements ...IX Dedication ...XI Introduction ... XIII
About this guide ... XIII Content and approach ... XIII Our audience: Management team and practice leaders ... XIII
Chapter 1: Does your firm need a key relationship program? ...1
Key relationship program: A definition ...1
Relationship management approach ≠ selling ...2
Reasons to implement a key relationship program ...3
Evidence for success of the KRP concept ...9
Client relationships: Personal or partnership asset? ... 10
Where is your firm? ... 11
Key relationship management self-diagnostic ... 11
What your score means… ... 15
Chapter 2: Designing your program – Getting started and process overview ... 17
Preconditions for successful adoption of a KRP ... 17
Setting the program objectives ... 19
Relationship program design team ...20
Launching the concept ...23
Relationship management program readiness survey ...24
Barriers to key relationship programs ...27
Chapter 3: Designing your program – Scope ...33
Criteria for inclusion ...33
Specific criteria for inclusion ...37
Developing specific criteria ...39
Chapter 4: Designing your program: People – Roles, responsibilities, and skills ...45
Client relationship teams ...45
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Client team structure and overview ...47
Team selection and metrics ...53
Client team performance metrics and rewards ...54
Steering group composition and role ...56
Building client relationship skills ...56
Appendix 1: Involvement of C-suite personnel ... 61
Appendix 2: Sample client team job descriptions ...63
Chapter 5: Designing your program – Processes, policies, and documentation ...67
An approach ...67
Designing a relationship planning process ...68
Relationship action planning ...68
Technology: Policies and guidelines to support your KRP ...71
One firm, one client code! ... 74
The near future ... 74
Appendix 1: Salesforce – Key relationship program contact management guidelines ... 75
Chapter 6: Designing your program – Relationship metrics ...79
Quantitative measures of a relationship ...79
Qualitative dimensions of a relationship ... 81
Client metrics: Service and relationship reviews ...83
The value of the client voice in action ...88
Chapter 7: Relationship management in action – Setting objectives ...93
The relationship action planning process ...93
Step one: Analyzing the client’s business ...93
Step two: Mapping the relationship ...95
Planning to compete ...97
Step three: Identifying and qualifying opportunities ...98
Step four: Developing relationship objectives ...100
Documentation: Specification for a relationship action plan format ... 101
Appendix 1: Guidelines for facilitating a relationship planning meeting and using the relationship action plan template ... 104
Part 1: Preparing for a relationship planning meeting ... 104
Part two: Using the relationship action plan template ... 106
Chapter 8: Relationship building in action – On assignment ...117
Client relationships: Value, service, and cost ...117
Relationship building activities: A practical guide ...119
Relationship management approach ... 126
Appendix: Note on qualities for a secondee ... 132
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Designing a Key Relationship Program: Building strong, sustainable client and referral relationships
V
Chapter 9: Relationship building in action – Off assignment ... 133
Relationship building away from the day-to-day work ... 133
Firm initiatives and the client team ... 135
Contributing to client objectives ... 142
Helping individuals off the job ... 144
Conclusion ... 145
Appendix: A client team leader’s guide to social media ... 146
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About the author
ROBERT PAY started his career in London where he first worked in advertising as an account manager for a number of multinational clients. He then moved to Deloitte Haskins & Sells as marketing manager for the banking and securities practice both for the UK and the international firm; it was here that he first got involved in key relationship management for US, UK, and Japanese banks. He was then recruited by Clifford Chance to establish its first marketing function and set up a key relationship program, the first in a major law firm.
Robert then served at the London Stock Exchange as head of marketing where he partnered with investment banks to develop a successful campaign to compete with NYSE and Nasdaq for international IPO business; he also launched and served on the board of Aim, working with regional and national legal and accounting firms to promote this successful growth companies market. He then became managing director of Jaffe Europe, working with a wide range of law, accounting, and consulting firms, largely on client relationship and satisfaction programs. Moving in-house, he then led the marketing functions of BSI Management Systems, a global certification body, and international law firm Taylor Wessing LLP.
Based in New York since 2008, he currently works for Alvarez & Marsal LLC, a global professional services firm best known for restructuring and performance improvement. He is also an associate of InfiniteSpada and Z/Yen Group.
Robert is a graduate of Oxford University where he majored in history. He has an MBA (distinction) from Cass Business School, City University, London; he holds a UK Market Research Society Diploma (distinction); and is a certified business coach. He is fluent in French, German, and Spanish. He has designed and implemented key relationship programs for accountants, lawyers, and consultants, and in financial institutions.
He is contactable at robert@robertpayconsulting.com.
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Acknowledgements
I WOULD like to acknowledge some of the people who both gave me the chance to develop my knowledge of relationship management as an organizational skill and who consistently showed me what “good” looked like in terms of superb client relationship management.
In both of those categories, I include Rosemarie Ghazaros, my former boss and chief marketing officer of Deloitte UK and my business partner at Jaffe Europe. Also of note are Derham O’Neill and Keith Clark, both colleagues of mine at Clifford Chance who were the first to let a law firm adopt systematic relationship management. And of course Tony Alvarez and Bryan Marsal, founders of Alvarez & Marsal, for explicitly putting the client first as part of the firm’s values – and for regularly reminding everyone in the firm!
For showing me what “good” looked like, I also thank my first boss, the late John Button of Ayer Barker, Charles Barker Group, and my late business partner, Jay M. Jaffe. My own expanding “hall of fame” for client relationship team leaders at places I have worked or consulted: you know who you are. For employing me to deploy my skills: Giles Vardey of the London Stock Exchange; Michael Frawley and Wolfgang Rehmann of Taylor Wessing; Steve Wallace, Bill Kosturos, Jeff Stegenga, Bob Campagna, Bryan Ruez, David Gruber, Jonathan Vanderveen, John O’Neill, and Malcolm Wright of Alvarez & Marsal; Gavin Ingham Brooke of InfiniteSpada; all the legal, accounting, and consulting firms for whom Jaffe Europe designed client relationship and satisfaction programs.
I would also like to thank past and present colleagues, including: Michael Belford (Deloitte and Clifford Chance); Linda Sedloff Orton (Clifford Chance); Ronald D. Mathis and Hitesh Mistry (BSI Management Systems); Mary Pasby (Jaffe Associates); Walter Brasch, Dom Caglioti, Jen Hocker, Bud Kelly, Ken McCrory, Al Miller, Glen Parrillo, Steve Treglia, and Jeff Vrabel at ParenteBeard, now Baker Tilly Virchow Krause; Julianne Pressman, Elizabeth Crispino, Jim Weigel, and Peter Wollmeringer at Alvarez & Marsal.
Thanks also to all those who contributed concepts and materials to this book: Don Aronson (D.E. Aronson Associates); Alastair Ross (Codexx Ltd), Graham Duckett (Interrelated); Derek Jones (Acuigen); Richard Hermann (Thomson Reuters); Ben Kent (Merdian West); Michael Mainelli (Z/Yen Group); Alan Melkman (Marketing Dynamics); Michael Rynowecer (BTI Consulting); and Kevin Wheeler (Wheeler Associates).
Special thanks to Susan Steele for contributions on organizational and performance issues and Linda Sedloff Orton of Orton.Marketing, LLC and Intelligent Video Solutions on social media and digital marketing.
Finally, thanks to those who taught me at both the University of Oxford, where this book will sit with the tomes of more scholarly alumni in the library of St. Edmund Hall, and the Cass Business School, City University, London where it might get read.
Robert Pay
March 2015, New York City
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to all my colleagues and clients, past, present, and future.
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About this guide
Every professional services firm has, to a greater or lesser degree, been successful in managing client relationships. Indeed, for some people the ability to manage relationships well is innate and intuitive.
A well-run professional services firm (lawyers, accountants, management consultants, or executive searchers) needs to actively manage its client relationships. These relationships are critical commercial assets. In an increasingly competitive environment depending on a few individuals and intuition is not a sustainable strategy. Of course, you can continue to leave client relationships totally in the hands of individual partners and hope they have the intuitive skill to exploit the latent revenue potential and keep out the competition. You may continue to be lucky. Or you might like to manage your luck, in which case this report is for you.
Content and approach
This is a practical, step-by-step guide that helps you to design a process to help to manage a portfolio of major client relationships on a firm-wide, regional, practice area, or industry basis; it also tells you how to mobilize client teams to focus on the best potential sources of growth. The guide shows you how to avoid false starts and how to address the largely cultural issues that reduce chances of success. Indeed, a key relationship program will not suit every firm and the guide enables you work out if the technique is really suitable for your
firm. It also tells what you need to do to get the program adopted. It will also give you the key tools and techniques to help you to analyze and build profitable and sustainable relationships. In particular, it includes some actual materials from key relationship programs. In short, this guide is a roadmap and toolkit combined.
The subject is approached from the point of view of a firm that is considering whether to get serious about managing its client relationships, and which sets out to design a program to suit its needs. The key issues and pitfalls will be illustrated with real life anecdotes from friends and colleagues, as well as my own experience. The book is divided into two sections: the first part deals with the definition and design of a key relationship program in a professional services firm, while the second part covers a program in action.
Our audience: Management teams
and practice leaders
While developing a formal client relationship program is often seen as the reserve of marketing and business development (BD) professionals, this book is written for management teams and industry group and practice heads considering a relationship problem. It will also be useful for those who may be reviewing and upgrading their current program. In my experience, BD/ marketing teams alone cannot drive the change needed. Indeed, many successful firms have very limited professional BD/
Introduction
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Introduction
marketing support. In addition to BD/ marketing, other functions such as finance, HR, and IT may have a role to play in the design and delivery of a relationship program. We will address getting the critical buy-in, support, and leadership of management at firm, practice area, or industry group level.
Of course, senior BD and marketing people will benefit too. As a former CMO of and consultant to law firms, accounting, and consulting firms, the author has walked in your shoes.
Robert Pay
New York City, 2015
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