MANAGEMENT OF THE

CLIENT RELATIONSHIP
GROUP 8

DEFINITION OF TERMS
CLIENT
Are individual(s) with whom the
consultant has the initial and/or ongoing
contracts wherein they discusses the
engagement and its process with the
consultant and at the completion of the
engagement, accepts the fi nal report
from the consultant.

TWO KEY RELATIONSHIP

- a consultant must maintain the following

relationships:
Relationship between
the

Relationship between
the

CONSULTANT

CONSULTANT

and the

and the

PROBLEMSOLVING
PROCESS.

CLIENT

OTHER PERSONNELS A CONSULTANT

MUST HAVE ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP
WITH:
Administrators and employees
Who have information and facts concerning the
problem situation

Managers and Employees

Who have likely to be affected by the
implementation of solutions to the problem
situation.

Managers and Employees

Who are assigned to perform tasked under the
consultants guidance.

Managers and Employees

Who are assigned to serve as liaison on a daily basis
between the consultant and higher-level managers
or other organizational units with the support
system.

HOW TO DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN

HARMONIOUS RELATIONSHIP
Consultant should aim to develop a sense
of trust and openness.

Specific measures:

Introducing consultant to the managers

and employees
Answering the urgent questions that have
formed in their minds

Written announcement and Oral

Presentation
Round get-acquainted interviews
Consultant should reflect an attitude of
helpfulness
Consultant should not directly tell the
client what decision to make

MANAGING CLIENT
EXPECTATION
When communicating what the
consulting project can do for the
business, the following should be
observed:
1. Be clear as to what can be offered
2. Be positive about what can be offered
3. Be honest about the limitation of the
project.
4. When talking about limitations put
them between positive statements.

CREDIBILITY AND CONFIDENCE

CREDIBILITY
Credibility- recipients
perception of the
sender's ability to
satisfy the
expectations being
generated

CONFIDENCE
Confidence- occurs if
the level of credibility
suggests that
expectations will be
achieved to a degree
that satisfies
concerns about those
outcomes not being
achieved

Maintaining Client Interest

ONE RULE:

COMMUNICATE

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES
FOR CLIENT BUILD-UP
SOURCES A CONSULTANT COULD TRACE
MOST OF THEIR CURRENT BUSINESSES:
Business contract gains throughout
the business community
Speeches in professional and
business organizations
Books written from experience
Referrals from speeches, books and
articles
Word-of-mouth referrals

OTHER SUGGESTIONS:
Join at least three (3) organizations that
off er regular meetings and the
opportunity to interact with peers in the
industry.
Examples: (PICPA, MAP, EAP, FEP, etc.)

Create a reference library that includes

marketing resources and other
publications that will assist the
consultant in marketing ,
implementation and even travel.
Establish a circle of informal advisors
and make it a point to contact them
once a month.
INNER CIRCLE should include other
consultants, clients, vendors(printer or
graphic artist), professionals, and others
whose judgment can be relied upon such

 Establish collaboration with other

consultants
Mail to clients items of interest
Mail to prospective clients items of
interest
Publish articles in relevant periodical
Offer probono work for community,
government and non-profit
organizations
Accepts speaking engagement at
trade associations and conferences
Create website
Business listing in phonebook or
yellow pages.

FOUR
MAJOR
AREAS
FOUR
MAJOR
AREAS
PRESSENT CLIENT
ACTIVITIES

NONCLIENT
RELATIONSHIPS

PUBLIC RELATIONS
OR PROMOTIONAL
ACTIVITIES

POTENTIAL CLIENT
ACTIVITIES

PRESENT
CLIENT
ACTIVITIES

START-UP
CORE
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

RETENTIO
N
GENERATIO
N OF
REFERRALS
FOR NEW
BUSINESS

EXPANSIO
N OF
SERVICES

RETE
NTIO
N

GATHER EVALUATION OF
PERSONNEL AND
PERFORMANCE
ENSURE REGULAR CONTACT
WITH SIGNIFICANT CLIENT
DEVELOP CLIENT SERVICE
PLANNING

EXPAN
SION
OF
SERVI
CES

CROSS MARKETING
FULL RANGE
CONSULTING
SERVICES
MEETING WITH A
FELLOW PARTNERSPECIALIST

GENERATION
OF
REFERRALS

SATISFACTION
OF CURRENT
CLIENTS
AWARENESS OF
CURRENT
CLIENTS OF
THE FIRMS FULL
RANGE
SERVICES

NON- CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS:

THIRD-PARTY REFERRAL SOURCE ACTIVITIES
Another important activity that
will facilitate building a consulting
practice is the development of
relationships with significant thirdparty
referral
sources.
These
referral services oftentimes are
fellow professionals who serve
mutual clients.

Promotional and Public

Relations Activities
Professional
services
are
highly
personal, thats why most authorities
agree that promotional activities should
be viewed primarily as vehicles for
creating and enhancing awareness of
the
firm.

Example Promotional/
Public Relation
Activities:

Institutional advertising
Product and service- oriented advertising
Newsletter
Seminars and workshops
Speeches
Articles in professional or industry
publications
Press relations
Trade shows
Participation in community trade and
professional organizations
Symposia and panels

Effective Promotional Activity

It is important to remember that all public
relations/ promotional activities should be
designed to establish contacts that can be
enhanced on a personal basis as a followup to the activity.
Seminars
Seminars remain a popular tool for many
professionals primarily because they offer
an opportunity to meet a large number of
people and to demonstrate indirectly the
quality of the firms people and expertise.

Community
Involvement
From an idealistic standpoint, community
involvement
in
civic
and
charitable
organizations offer professionals the opportunity
to
repay
their
communities;
more
pragmatically,
they
also
meet
fellow
professionals and future business contacts.
Participation in such activities should be based
primarily on the individual professionals
interests and desire to contribute to the
community.

Abandoning Clients
Gracefully
#WalangForever
The Vast majority of consultants fail to
grow their business because they refuse
to abandon business. Growth depends
on abandoning some lines and types of
business in the pursuit and acquisition of
other, more productive lines of business.
Growth is not just financial. It includes
broadening experiences , higher-level
contacts, more sophisticated work and
an enhanced reputation.

Alternatives to simply dumping

clients
(some samples)
Explain to the client that certain
assignments cannot be cost-effective
handled anymore.
Establish alliances with younger
consultants who may want to align
themselves with more establish
practitioners in order to learn, obtain
business and network.
Provide the client with advance notice
that the consultant will be accepting
lesser assignments and doing workshops
and appearances.
Offer to transfer the skill to the client, if

Conditions that will justify

abandonment

Beneath the growing fee structure

Unchallenging
Providing a reputation that does not fit the
consultants growth strategy
Overly specialized
Unable to attract the kind of talent the
consultant wants in his firm
Unable to attract the kind of references the
consultant needs
In areas and industries that themselves are not
growing
Unpleasant and/or has rude and offensive
people
Unethical in its actions and/or borderline illegal
Harsh in its demands for travel, support, and

THANK
YOU!!!!!!!