Here is what will happen when you invite clients and prospects to your firm’s peer advisory council
- June 20, 2022
- STRATEGIC GROWTH COUNCIL
- Blog
You will grow your firm more rapidly by inviting clients to join your peer advisory councils. Here is why:
Here are the benefits of hosting peer advisory councils for your clients:
Remain on the clients’ radar screen
Hosting a monthly moderated roundtable discussion is an excellent way to remain top-of-mind, relevant, and in communication with past and prospective clients in the pipeline.
Client intimacy
Over time, the net benefit is deeper, more intimate, and lasting personal connections with these clients, enhanced understanding of them as individuals, and of their needs, interests and wants.
Share your intellectual property
In addition to listening and learning from your clients, you will have opportunities to speak, as well, both formally and informally. At the start of each meeting, you may socialize with members as they join the virtual discussion. And each month, 20-to-40 minutes is allocated to education – your lessons learned, best practices, insights and words of wisdom shared with a captive and interested audience. As a professional, you can showcase your expertise with the groups by leading roundtable discussions or briefly presenting a topic of interest to educate the group before the meeting. Clients learn about all the service offerings and benefits without being “sold.” Your ability to demonstrate expertise, in ways your clients may not naturally experience, is valuable.
Actionability
By focusing the meetings on solving real business dilemmas (ideas, opportunities, challenges, risks, problems), rather than mere networking or education, then they serve to demonstrate value, and actionable results.
Receive performance insights on individual clients
You would also gain unique perspectives and insights on your clients. Quarterly, you would receive reporting on the performance of each group member, relative to their stated goals and objectives. The moderator holds group members accountable, and you gain the performance reporting.
Learn about client needs and interests
The insights gained from a year’s worth of observations shared by your clients, in intimate, intentional, candid conversations with their peers (also your clients) can be incredibly valuable for your firm in strategizing about how to serve client needs more effectively.
Brand impact
The overall impact on your relationships with these clients, your understanding of their needs, their affinity for your brand, are all significant. Ensure a holistic, comprehensive, and seamless client experience – and ensure that clients are exposed to all that your firm has to offer.
To summarize, you will likely experience the following:
- Service revenue increases
- Client retention rates improve
- Clients may grow more rapidly
- Increase your firm’s value or worth
- New or prospective relationships blossom
- Clients will make better growth decisions and solve their individual dilemmas — challenges, opportunities, problems, and ideas (we call them “cases”) — each month.
- Clients gain fresh perspective, insights and feedback. Your clients will establish meaningful connections – with peer C-level executives.
- Clients will experience a strategic impact. Each month, members focus strategically “on” their businesses, rather than working myopically “in” their businesses.
- Your clients will improve upon their “speed to success.” The top concern that business leaders express about joining a group is time commitment. Counterintuitively, those same executives eventually report that the single greatest benefit of being in a group is the ability to “save time” by solving business dilemmas more efficiently.
- Your clients will gain professional feedback — Be held accountable for goals and objectives with the opportunity for Quarterly Achievement Planning sessions.
- Your clients will benefit from learning sessions from your firm’s Partners and outside speakers – Members will learn best practices and discover resources they were unaware of previously.
- Intangibles – Clients will reduce their stress levels and enhance their positive mindset by gaining fresh perspective, insight, and wisdom. Members are not judged or criticized; it is a safe harbor and meetings take place under strict adherence to a confidentiality policy.