Are you a Trusted Advisor?

Credence-UK - maximising profits through growth relies on that one key ingredient - TRUST

It has been estimated that on average it costs 4 - 7 times the amount to secure new business from new clients than it does to secure the same amount of business from an existing client. In my experience as a consultant, where it can take anything up to 6 months to get a new client onboard, I would say this estimate is on the low side.

But what would make an existing client, put you at the top of the list when a new project comes up, in a word TRUST. Be seen as a Trusted Advisor and the chances are that they will reach for your advice without going through the 'beauty parade'.

If that's not enough, there are many other benefits of being seen as a Trusted Advisor by your clients including:

• Referrals to their friends and business acquaintances
• Pay your bills without question
• More inclined to accept you recommendation and trust you judgement
• Give you more information that helps you help them
• Forgive you if you make a mistake
• Make your work much more enjoyable

How can this be achieved?

The major components of Trust are:

Credibility - do you understand your client effortlessly, always seek a fresh perspective, challenge assumptions, and give you reasoning and not just conclusions?

Reliability - are you consistent and dependable, always truthful and honourable, always have their best interests at heart?

Intimacy - do your clients feel comfortable discussing difficult subject with you, do you stay calm, can you diffuse tension in a tough situation, and do you help them to separate logic from emotion?

Low self Orientation - do you help clients think through their own decisions without imposing your solutions, does the client see you as a co-equal, and do they see you as being on their side?

How do you measure up?

Rob Hook
Credence-UK - Maximising Profits through Growth
Accelerating Business Growth and Maximising the Exit Strategy

Keep the cash in for long term success

Increasing numbers of small firms are taking too much cash out of their business according to Trevor Williams of The FD Group.

Experience has shown that in a fast changing world, cash is king. Keeping hold of it will ensure that your business can survive the downturns and the lean periods. It also allows for continual investment in the business in terms of assets and more importantly in the people.

So make sure that you take out only what you need after having thought through what the long term needs of the business are. After all it is this that keeps the cash flowing in every month.

Some pointers as to how to manage the cash include - avoid the lavish life styles, stick to the knitting and avoid investing in other peoples ideas, go for the long term, invest in the talent in the business.

The boats, the holidays, the jewellery are all justifiable after years of hard labour, but just make sure that they don't jeopardise the capital value of the business.

Politics and leadership do not mix

This blog is not a political statement. The issue of leadership in a political world affect political parties the world over.

What I am referring to here is the mess Gordon Brown got into when he told us that he did not take into account the latest upswing in the Tory support in the latest opinion polls. The truth or the fact is that we all know that he did. The problem is that some would rather not acknowledge that fact. So he and his reluctant supporters would rather argue a lost point than lose face.

That is not great leadership. A great leader inspires through depth of character. They know that in the times of great adversity they will be called on to make tough decisions. The supporters expect the decisions to be made with the right motives, not through acts of spin to save a faltering reputation.

As a business leader, what would you have done? Would you have continued to argue the point despite all around you acknowledging that you were in the wrong or would you have acknowledged the truth of the situation and demonstrated true leadership?