All For One: 10 Strategies for Building Trusted Client Partnerships - Hardcover

Sobel, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470380284 ISBN 13: 9780470380284

Publisher: Wiley, 2009

Synopsis

Corporate clients are demanding more value from their external advisors, and consolidating their business around a smaller number of firms. These trends are forcing a variety of service providers—from consulting firms to large banks—to confront a series of difficult challenges:

• How do we create an ‘all-for-one, one-for-all’ culture in which the whole is greater than the sum-of-the-parts and we succeed in leveraging our global network to deliver value to clients?"
• How do we mobilize the right people, resources, and ideas—across a multitude of organizational and geographic boundaries—into each and every client relationship?"
• How do we evolve from a trusted advisor to a trusted partner and build multi-year, institutional relationships?

All for One answers these questions with an innovative and comprehensive model for developing enduring, institutional client relationships—what Andrew Sobel refers to as Level 6 Trusted Client Partnerships. It offers readers ten specific strategies that are thoroughly supported by case studies, best practices from leading firms, and implementation tools. The individual professional is principally responsible for five of these strategies, while the firm—the institution—must support and drive the other five. When you successfully execute against all ten of these building blocks, you develop long-term, professional-client partnerships that provide great value to the client and high levels of personal satisfaction and profitability for the service provider.

 

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Corporate clients are putting relentless pressure on their professional advisors. They want more value and better service. They are consolidating the number of firms that they are willing to work with. They are scrutinizing, more than ever, the fees they pay.

To respond, service firms must turn individual relationships into broad-based, institutional ones and build a collaborative culture that mobilizes the right people, ideas, and resources—from across the organization—into each client relationship. The goal is to build a trusted partnership that adds value, reduces risk, and creates stability for both your clients and your firm.

Based on a five-year study of leading firms in professional services and other advice-based businesses, relationship authority Andrew Sobel has created a comprehensive guide to developing what he calls "Level 6" clients—those flagship relationships that are broad, deep, and endure for many years. In Sobel's first book, Clients for Life, he laid out a clear path to take you from expert-for-hire to trusted client advisor. All for One takes you and your firm to the next level—trusted partner—with practical advice illustrated by more than 100 examples of best practices from the world's top services firms.

All for One presents ten essential strategies for building an all-for-one culture and systematically growing your client relationships. Incorporating a wealth of detailed, tactical advice, these powerful strategies include:

Institutionalizing relationships—employing five growth pathways to expand existing clients

Building a client leadership pipeline—developing and supporting relationship managers who can lead trusted client partnerships for your firm

Promoting collaboration—creating an all-for-one, client-centered culture where people and ideas easily cross organizational boundaries

Adding multiple layers of value—tapping into six sources of value leverage for clients

Employing rich examples from Booz Allen Hamilton, Lloyds Banking Group, Ernst & Young, and dozens of other leading firms, All for One is a definitive guide for professionals who aspire to trusted partner status with their clients.

From the Back Cover

Praise for All For One

"Andrew Sobel clearly understands that trust is not an abstract concept—it is a personal bond forged over time in the best relationships. All for One is thought-provoking and actionable, making it a valuable road map for building trust and mutual benefit between clients and advisors."
—Ralph W. Shrader, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Booz Allen Hamilton

"In All for One, Andrew Sobel takes an important further step in defining great client relationships by eloquently describing how to build trusted partnerships. At a time when corporations are seeking more in-depth and fewer relationships, the concept of partnership and how to achieve it is highly relevant and topical."
—Sir Winfried Bischoff, Chairman, Citigroup

"Successful professional service firms will have more than their share of 'trusted advisors.' The great firms will be those that have converted their individual relationships into trusted client partnerships for their institutions. In All for One, Andrew Sobel shows the way to do this. This book is not to be missed by leaders of professional service firms with the high aspiration to be great."
—Steven B. Pfeiffer, Chair, Executive Committee, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP

"Andrew Sobel's techniques have been instrumental in building our client-first culture at Cognizant. As our market continues to evolve, All for One will help us chart the course towards trusted partner status with each of our clients."
—Francisco D'Souza, Chief Executive Officer, Cognizant

"All for One is a gold mine of best practices for building a culture around personalized relationships and then supporting these through collaboration and the mobilization of resources. Five years' scrutiny of fifty major service-based relationships—combined with the author's deep expertise on what makes service firms successful—make Andrew Sobel's guidance accessible, credible, and invaluable."
—Edward E. Nusbaum, Chief Executive Officer, Grant Thornton LLP

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0470380284
• ISBN 13: 9780470380284
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320