post # 423 — Monday, August 27, 2007 — a General post
Getting Hired by New Clients - new client videocast & audiocast
The 21st episode of this series, Getting Hired by New Clients, will focus on the challenges involved in building a trustworthy reputation and the importance of demonstrating rather than asserting your capabilities. As you will see, as with any relationship, it is up to you to go first.
Audio Timeline
00:39 – Introduction
01:03 – A personal account of the power of recommendations and reputation
03:37 – The cycle of mutual recriminations the client/provider relationship
05:31 – How to “go first” as a provider
12:11 – Demonstrate, don’t assert
14:22 – Conclusion
You can download Getting Hired by New Clients or sign up to receive new Maister Moments videos automatically with iTunes or other video players. (Click here for step-by-step instructions on how to subscribe.) My seminars are always available for download at no cost.
Order your copy of David Maister’s new book, Strategy and the Fat Smoker today!
Ed Kless said
www.verasage.com
David, neat video.
I am sure this will not surprise you coming from a VeraSager, but one of the key problems that you describe in this video is that of a relationship which is adversarial in nature. When professional firms bill by the hour this is always the case because it is in the best interest of the client to reduce the hours and in the interest of the firm to increase them. (See Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan's excellent post on responding to a client who wants hours.)
In addition, you mentioned an example of a lawyer quoting you a fee of $30,000 or 10% whichever is higher. I hope your viewers do not confuse this with what we would call a value price. What this attorney did, however poorly, was offer a test price which may or may not have been successful. He certainly got you to hang up, which may have been his strategy all along.
posted on Monday, August 27, 2007