Clients for Life: Evolving from an Expert-for-Hire to an Extraordinary Adviser

by Jagdish N. Sheth, Andrew Sobel

An Innovative Blueprint for Enduring Client Relationships
More than 15 million people in this country earn their livings by serving clients, and their numbers are growing every day. Unfortunately, far too few develop the skills and strategies needed to rise to the top in a world where clients have almost unlimited access to information and expertise. Supported by more than one hundred case studies and wisdom gleaned from interviews with dozens of leading CEOs and prominent business advisors, Clients for Life identifies what clients really want and lays out the core qualities that distinguish the client advisor -- an irreplaceable resource -- from the expert for hire -- a tradable commodity.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[Meeta Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whenever we go to meet clients, what is it that plays on our minds? Is it our focus to see what the clients want or is it what we can provide to them? Well, most of us go prepared to provide solutions and bargain with the client to get a good deal. This may get us a one off project but is this makes them our clients for life?
In this book, “Clients for Life” Jagdish Sheth and Andrew Sobel tell us the difference between those Consultants who are Experts for Hire and those that are Extraordinary Advisors. According to them, whilst many of us earn our livings by serving clients, we don’t invest in developing our skills and strategies which is so important in today’s world where the access is unlimited to information and expertise. The book features over one hundred interesting case studies and interviews with eminent CEO’s.
This book takes you through a journey from being an “Expert for Hire” to becoming a “Client Advisor”. The key elements that enable this transition are being a deep generalist, having selfless independence, deep trust, being able to synthesize and provide insight and wisdom.
Quoting an example of Aristotle, Sheth and Sobel, explain the concept of a deep generalist. How Aristotle personally owned one of the largest libraries in Greece and about his system for classifying animals which endured for 2000 years.
Talking of trust and independence, Sheth and Sobel refer to these values as the most powerful and greatest allies respectively. Giving great examples of Harry Hopkins – Franklin Roosevelt’s most trusted adviser and Merlin – King Arthur’s adviser, this has been well explained.
On synthesizing and seeing the big picture, the authors have narrated to story of Niccolo Machiavelli, the adviser to Florentine Council, who was accused of being a traitor, imprisoned and tortured before being released. How during his seven year exile, he produced one of the most penetrating and enduring political analyses about Italy, which then did not exist as a country but was divided into five states that vied with each other for power and influence.
Clients for Life is an inspiring and powerful book which is a must read for professionals who serve clients.
A little about the authors – Jagdish N. Sheth is the Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing at the Goizueta Business School of Emory University. He is an internationally recognized business consultant whose client list includes AT&T, BellSouth, Ford, GE, Motorola, Square D, Whirlpool and Sprint. He is also an educator, the winner of many awards and honors, and a member of the American Psychological Association. He is the founder of the Center for Relationship Management at Emory University and Center for Telecommunications Management at University of Southern California.
Andrew Sobel is a noted strategy advisor who has consulted with the senior management of many leading corporations such as Citigroup, Cox Communications, and American Express. His newest book “Power of Questions” has been one of the top 30 best selling books in the United States. His client list includes Citigroup, Xerox, Bank of America, Hess, UBS, to name a few. He is the President of Andrew Sobel advisors and Executive Director of the Client Leadership Forum, a best practices consortium of International Services Firm.

[Wil · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than a business book, this book provided sound advice on how to stop becoming an expert at anything, but rather culture the mind to expand and encompass knowledge on a broad basis; the difference between knowing something specific, and being able to apply that rather specific knowledge to a wide variety of situations.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first third or so was a solid 5 stars, then it slowed and picked back up at the end. Not what I was expecting but a solid read for anyone who wants to be a trusted adviser to clients. It is not going to help sell to customers. There are some good questions and ideas for reflection throughout.

And now I need to find a book about Thomas More...

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes very salient points about being a consultant and how to become an extraordinary advisor. Definitely needs a bit of a refresh given that it's over 23 years old now, and some of the anecdotes are very dated. Would be good to include more women and people of color as example experts/advisors as well.

[Yorick H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good insights worth checking out once in a while that remain relevant

[Ankit Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

In today’s world everything is global and for sale, starting from a simple stationary item to big company everything has a price. We for all, have also to sell ourselves in doing tedious physical and skilled labor. So it has become our tendency to see everything in terms of money and provide our services by balancing the quality and quantity of our services to the payment that we are going to receive for providing it, and thus causing the major flaw in the market of service providing, leading to a frail and mercurial relation between the clients and their service provider.

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[Raj Shankar · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are involved in any kind of professional services activity, this book has ideas that can help you move up the value chain. The central theme behind the book is worth contemplating on if you are one who is interested in evolving in the area of advisory. While some truths may be difficult for those who may not agree - they remain what they are. I relished and take away some serious stuff as i continue my journey as a consultant. The book also helps me in a big way as i set-up and build (from scratch) a think tank in India.

[Kugan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review might be a little biased because this is the first professional selfhelp book I read.
I would definitely recommend this book to fellow professionals who work on an "advisory" basis with clients i.e. laywers, accountants, consultants etc. The book covers some core principles/characteristics a professional advisor should develop and maintain. It draws on a number of real life examples, both historic and recent.

I didn't read the entire book (I rarely do). Read the main chapters and understand the spirit of the book. I use it as a go-to reference.

Highly recommended.

[Giovanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just cannot get into this. People rated it so highly, and I love non-fiction; it is my favorite genre... but this is just so boring, dry, and slow I can't even get into the second page of the second chapter. UGH. If my husband doesn't want it, it will go in the give-away/donate pile... Waste of my money. I won't be finishing it...

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The strategies in this book were helpful, although most were intuitive, it was beneficial to have these strategies identified and but into words. The examples, however, are very dated. I found myself getting caught up in the authors being complementary of business decisions of companies that no longer exist. Overall, there were many helpful main ideas, surrounded by musings from 19 years ago.

[Sonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book further inspired my way into consulting. It also exposed me to actions and skills central to my life now such as synthesis (big picture thinking), conviction, trust through integrity, and the importance of continually learning every single day.

[Tyson E. Dewsnup · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super dry and very boring. It got better after about page 200, which is over 2/3 of the book. It has great information and is useful for I think any professional who deals with customers on a day-to-day basis. However, they should've presented it in a funner way.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an okay book, with some interesting premises. As with many business books, there seem to be a lot of sections that are glossed over, or that could offer much more detail...but a good overview.

[gilavee · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are few interesting points and good tips in this book but many of the author's points are things that should be pretty intuitive or that could have been explained better.

[Fernando Aguerrevere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente lección sobre como mantener clientes para toda la vida!