Post-acquisition of a business, decisions need to be made today about the future of three kinds of client relationships:

1. Ideal clients (how best to nurture and expand)
2. Clients that needing adapting to be ideal clients (how best to evolve the product, service, relationship, management, fees)
3. Clients that will never be ideal clients (how best to transition or let go)

My very best clients have a fast and high quality process, which applies a mixture of science (tangible benefits) and “art” (intangible and peripheral benefits).

1. They remove the emotion (“we have known John and his family for over 30 years….”) to make a rational determination about the “next steps” with each client.
2. They focus on superb communication with each client, irrespective of their future relationship. In person, phone and email communication in that order.
3. Both parties self-interest is put at the forefront of their thinking.
4. Once a decision is reached on how each client is best served, they stick to what they are proposing, and crucially, how they are proposing to move forward.
5. They are scrupulously fair and equitable with each client.
6. They know being “cheap” has repercussions (word-of-mouth marketing) and eschew a poverty mentality (clinging onto unprofitable clients for short-term revenue benefits).
7. If the relationship must end, they seek to offer the client options (transition or termination process, timing and so forth) but remain steadfast in telling the client the relationship will end.
8. They accept that there may be a need for midcourse changes in their determination, where there is “new” information or evidence presented or their earlier assumptions are clearly wrong (ex. pre-deal due diligence).
9. Where there is a need to adapt client relationships, they are superb in articulating the enhanced value (how the client is better off) such that additional fees or remuneration are put in the appropriate context. They try to offer options (none of them keep the status quo).
10. Clients are the lifeblood of their businesses and that is reflected in all the client facing individuals’ expected behaviour, accountantibility, performance and reward.

Contrast this with any number of businesses you have been a client of or indeed bought or been acquired by. It looks so simple to apply common sense. What was missing in your examples?

Tags: clients, integrating businesses, leadership, techniques, transition