Clients for Life: How Great Professionals Develop Breakthrough Relationships

Citation

Keyes, S. (2001), "Clients for Life: How Great Professionals Develop Breakthrough Relationships", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 5, pp. 449-457. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.2001.18.5.449.2

If you are, or aspire to be, a professional who is a “deep generalist” rather than an expert, you must read this book. Sheth and Sobel claim that advisors are usually one of two types: experts or deep generalists. They plead a wonderful case for taking the role of the deep generalist, citing a series of people who have gained the respect of many. Harry Hopkins (p. 21) was a person who gained President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s respect because he was willing to put his own possible aspirations to rest and serve his president as a faithful and brilliant advisor. In contrast, the authors claim that ex‐president Richard Nixon and his advisor, Henry Kissinger, dropped each others’ names or positional titles too frequently – something that loses rather than gains respect. Throughout the book, the authors use examples of the learning habits of this series of people they refer to as “great professionals”.

Every chapter has checklists, and, in Chapter 4, “Building knowledge depth and breadth”, the checklist (p. 111) contains items to answer the question “Are you a deep generalist?” Of five points on this list, the first three are:

1. 1.

   (1) “Clients ask for your advice and respect your judgment about issues that extend beyond your core professional experience.

2. 2.

   (2) You enjoy exploring subjects that have nothing to do with your work.

3. 3.

   (3) You find something interesting about everyone you meet and every situation you encounter.”

In the “Introduction” (p. 19) the authors make a nice distinction between a customer and a client by saying, “If you have customers, your relationships will tend to be narrow in scope, whereas if you serve clients, you have the opportunity to develop collaborative, broad‐gauge relationships that are the focal point of this book”. They continue later to say that at a time of professional respect, many clients are not happy with the quality of work they get from advisors.

The most grasping technique in this book was that the authors themselves followed the pattern of what they were talking about through every part of the book and referred to earlier coverage regularly; for example, they say, “Based on our discussions with many extraordinary professionals and demanding clients, as well as on our own experiences as advisers, we’ve identified the most important pitfalls for professionals. The first set of pitfalls relates to the seven attributes we’ve described in this book” (p. 220).

While I have had the advantage of consulting with many organizations for many years, the authors reinforced all the precepts I learned and more. Now that I am in the academy, I believe this book could also have as its target executives and employees involved in internal marketing. I even envision college students gaining great tips from Clients for Life. The authors give fine lists of what to do and what not to do to gain clients’ admiration and faithfulness for long‐term relationships instead of a once‐in‐a‐life need for consultation.

With respect to learning, Sheth and Sobel say that the best learners go well beyond experiential learning. Learning by doing is helpful, but learning must evolve from disciplines that extend well beyond the consultant’s field of expertise. Selecting critical issues, when looking at the “big picture” (Chapter 5, which also involves synthesis) is noticeably lacking among businesspeople, and, thus, it is a main reason for managerial failure. Top managers have to address priority issues in their interpersonal dynamics.

The authors criticize people who make promises without ever delivering what they promised. Part of their suggestions for keeping commitments include:

Don’t be cavalier with promises… Being known as a person of your word is a powerful thing.

If necessary, make conditional agreements.

If an event or occurrence could get in the way of a promise, avoid surprises by stating it clearly up front.

Let people know as early as possible if you cannot keep a promise.

The longer you wait to reveal the bad news, the worse things get.

Be selective about what you agree to do (p. 209).

Near the end, the authors again comment on the deep generalist, saying that person “in balance is a professional with a passion for earning, who has great expertise in one subject, but also deep knowledge about his clients, the industries he works in, and the business functions that influence his work” (p. 221).

Sheth and Sobell say the best client advisers read widely and have interests in a variety of subjects and disciplines (p. 243). Here again they expand on people they have discussed throughout the book, such as Peter Drucker and David Ogilvy. These people had deep interest in Japanese art and the French culture respectively.

The final chapter, Chapter 11, “The soul of the great professional”, brings back the theme Sheth and Sobel stress throughout the book: the deep generalist. They observe “Deep generalists, for example, make investments in learning and acquiring knowledge that may have no immediate payback but bring rewards two or three years down the road” (p. 249).

I have reviewed quite a few books for this “Book reviews” section and this is the most useful one yet. It is a book I could continue discussing for many more pages; however, I urge you to get this book and review the parts I’ve discussed and then read the rest!