Читать книгу How to Win Client Business When You Don't Know Where to Start - Tom McMakin, Doug Fletcher - Страница 40

This week I signed a new work agreement with a previous client for a coaching program for his consulting firm. I've known Paddy Fleming, the managing director, for about 20 years. We first met when we were both in our early 30s and my firm was doing some work with his.

At the time, Paddy was just getting started with his organization. Years later, Paddy was chosen by his firm's board of directors to be the managing director. When How Clients Buy was published, Paddy reached out to me to see if I would lead a client development workshop with his team. That was about 18 months ago. Last month, Paddy reached out again with a more extensive coaching program in mind.

The fastest work comes from those we have done good work for in the past. What I didn't appreciate earlier in my career is why this is so. Clients face a litany of risks they struggle to mitigate in hiring us: performance, cultural, reputational, financial, and career risks. These intangibles make it difficult in hiring us for the first time.

There are exceptions to this pathway that we'll discuss later on. Some of us provide services that a client hopes they will never need – and hopefully will never need a second time. Think about the clients of a bankruptcy attorney or a crisis PR consultant. If you do great work, hopefully the client will never need your services again. Yet, doing great work – even for once‐in‐a‐lifetime services – can lead to referrals. This leads us to the second pathway.