Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships. (Second Edition)

An excellent treatment of information and knowledge. More importantly, how you can use that structure for improving your client engagements to help them - and you - be more successful.

The only thing wrong with this book is that more CEOs don't read it. Ross Dawson captures and communicates the strategic and tactical imperatives to help any organization (or person) build lasting and successful client relationships. It is akin to something you always knew but didn't know how to say. Ross does all the work and makes it seem easy. From placing value on your services (do you want to be a commodity or a partner) to implementing collaborative technologies, Ross tells it like it is, in a way that even the most static organization can understand and embrace. A must read for anyone who wants to survive in today's marketplace. Great for marketing communications professionals in particular (at advertisers or at agencies). Tony Keevan www.CSquaredFocus.com

Ross Dawson has recently produced the second edition to his successful Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships. Opening sentences set the tone: "Knowledge and relationships are where all value resides in today's economy...Moreover, knowledge itself is all about relationships." This resonates well with my experience. In this book, Ross looks at this issue in the context of professional service firms, a market in which I spent over 20 years of service. In this case, a client is not simply purchasing the services of the smart individual assigned to them, but the collective knowledge of the entire firm. That is where the unique value lies. Otherwise a simple placement service at much lower rates would be sufficient. This is the second edition of a book which first appeared in 2000. One of the major upgrades came from an understanding that if you clients do not recognize the value you create for them through more knowledge-based relationships and services, it does not help you or your clients. This new edition addresses this issue by proving material on how to lead your clients through knowledge based relations and understand the value they bring. Ross provides a useful model for obtaining a deep partnership with your client. The four stages are engaging, aligning, deepening, and partnering. While there are many such models, I have found them useful focal points for activities. For example, we used a somewhat similar model to design our internal marketing efforts at Ryder. It helps to ensure that you are laying the right foundation for a deep relationship and not getting ahead of the process. You do not what to conduct aligning activities until you are engaged, etc. Sounds simple, but this point is often overlooked in practice without a model to check against. There is a good section on the current and future status of professional service firms and a multi-chapter section on how these firms can add value by promoting knowledge-based relationships with their clients. Being very practical I was especially interested in the final section on implementation. How can you practically do this stuff? As Ross wrote, the real value is making these things happen. I was not disappointed here. He gives a robust framework of the five key domains: strategies, structures, process, skills, and culture. But, more importantly, fills this framework in with specific suggestions. Next, follows a review of the growing communication channels available to connect with clients and their strengths and limitations. There is a tradeoff between efficiency and relationship strength. But the high payoff activities come from the high relationship initiatives. Ross extends this approach to offer ways to expand client contact beyond the initial relationships that brought you into the firm. This expanded contact requires greater guidance and leadership to ensure consistency and alignment with your objectives for the client and this leadership is the subject of the next cha