Are Your Client References an Asset?

Every night, as the well-worn saying goes, a consulting firm’s primary asset—its people—walk out the door. The rest of a consulting firm’s assets, including its intellectual property, are largely intangible.

One powerful, but often neglected intangible asset is a firm’s list of client references. When consultants toot their own horn, clients usually ignore the noise. They have become immune to the typical marketing puffery served up by many consultants. But it’s a different case if the superlatives flow from your clients.

During the proposal process, consultants typically pick a handful of past clients who will “give us great references.” Many consultants settle for clients simply vouching for their qualifications. But that’s just not enough.

Let’s say a client responds to a reference call with “Oh sure, I remember that team. They did a great job on our sales force reorganization project.” That’s a decent reference.

When that same client says, “Oh yeah, they helped us improve sales force productivity, and that led to a 3% increase in quarterly sales,” now that’s a winning reference.

The difference between a good reference and a winning one is determined by how you actively manage your client relationships—during and after projects. You need to develop the kind of relationships that allow you to ask clients to substantiate, in a quantifiable way, the results you helped them achieve.

That means you have to work with your client to measure the long-term impact of your efforts, so they have a specific outcome to report. You also have to stay in touch to obtain a reference that makes you stand out in the crowd. Let your relationship fade into the woodwork and you’ll have to settle for what you can get.

At a reasonable interval after a project, ask your client to put in writing the kind of reference you want so you can include it in future proposals.

Keep the balance sheet for your intangible assets strong by managing client references. Your ongoing investment in this overlooked asset will often make the difference between winning and losing.

Comments

[Michele]

Once again Mike, you are right. I have been pursuing an account for the past 18 months with no results. Suddenly, yesterday afternoon, I received a call from the new BMOC in that corporation. He was calling because someone in his organization sent him an Email touting the benefits of using McGarraugh Company.

[Chris]

Great advice, Mike. A client you've delivered "wow" results for will nearly always be interested in helping you with referrals - even organizations who have strict policies against endorsements can find a way to help.

Asking for the reference - in writing - is like asking for the order. If you don't ask, you'll rarely get it. When I had a little 8 person consultancy, we did a job for a very influential Fortune 50 company. We asked for a brief letter detailing the value we'd delivered, and then held our breath. The customer said he'd look into it. Three weeks later we got a letter that used the terms "world class company", "outstanding results" and "exceeded all expectations". We were wowed our selves - and used that one piece of paper to incredible advantage. We didn't think we'd get anything, much less than this, but we never would have gotten anything if we hadn't asked.