Client Business Review For Sales Success | Key Account Management (KAM)

A key marketing technique used by some top firms is the client business review (CBR). The CBR is used only on the firm’s “top 25” accounts, defined by the total size of the annual fees, referral potential, or other criteria.

The CBR takes a business consulting approach to understand and evaluate the systems of your clients. The CBR usually requires about 20 hours per client and is done about every two years. Clients whose businesses are rapidly growing or changing may warrant a more frequent CBR.

Building Client Loyalty

If there is a question of loyalty, during the CBR the client will give you an opportunity to cure the problem, long before they tell your competitor. One attorney said, “But what if I bring up an issue where the client had not been unhappy until I mentioned it.” It’s better that this issue surface with you than your client bring it up with your competitor! When you hold a CBR, you will thwart most competitive advances on your territory.

Your Return on Investment

There are many additional benefits associated with a CBR. It is a way to train staff to market to clients. Well-trained staff can perform the CBR on second-tier “top 25” clients with less partner and total time invested. A CBR will increase the satisfaction level of a client from “satisfied” to “delighted.” And, delighted clients are the ones who provide the best referrals.

The payback on the CBR program is consistently 5:1, whereas that with the new client sales program is about 2:1. In almost every situation, you will come away with a project on which significant fees can be generated. The cross-selling opportunities are endless. Additionally, the CBR program is protecting the large percentage of your fees (over 50%) from your key clients. Your new client marketing program starts each year at zero.

Most of the CBRs are performed during your slow periods, so that the real out-of-pocket investment is usually only the cost of lunch. So on a $20,000 client, a 6% marketing investment (about $2,400 in time) is made and on a $150,000 client, a 1.6% investment is made (done every year).

Summary

Doing a client business review with your best clients will elevate your level of service so that you can make a contribution to your client’s business and organizational decisions. When you make an impact in this manner, you will protect your client loyalty and improve your realization rate. When you can help your clients achieve their strategic and financial goals, you become an in- dispensable part of their team.