there are times to be silent.
by martin bissett
passport to partnership
ask yourself and answer these questions when considering the current and future “commitment” behaviors that you’ll employ.
more: selling isn’t hard | how are you showing your commitment? | nine points to check before hello | selling happens all the time | five questions about your network | why clients struggle with growth | do you make your firm look good? | seven things that good advisors skip
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1 – what is my first reaction to being asked to work outside of my normal hours?
2 – how well do i understand the history and ethos of this firm and do i appreciate what the current partners have had to do to get this firm to where it can afford to pay me today?
3 – is my focus on my own progression at any cost or are my colleagues and their feelings and futures on my mind at the same time?
a case study
deborah had been the toast of the firm after landing what was widely regarded as being the major client on the firm’s wish list.
although it had been a team effort, deborah had led the engagement team, built the relationships, written the proposal and closed the deal.
this had provided her with a huge amount of kudos from colleagues and peers alike.
she was committed to developing the relationship ever further as well as she formed excellent relationships with all key stakeholders in the client’s business.
on a call to set up some training for the client, deborah’s contact expressed that they wanted her and not the firm’s managing partner involved on the session. they cited the managing partner’s lack of likeability and – embarrassingly – personal hygiene as the reasons behind this.
deborah, nervous and not having been put in this situation before, quickly agreed with the client, instantly placing her commitment in the wrong place.
in deborah’s firm, all calls were recorded and randomly sampled. she felt she’d taken a calculated risk in not reporting the details of the call to her managing partner as the chances of that particular call being selected for the review were almost nil.
luck was not on her side.
the managing partner heard the call and was personally hurt by deborah’s willingness to agree with the client’s assessment of him. this was compounded by her lack of disclosure that it had happened after the fact.
the managing partner was unwilling to discuss this with her personally this time and simply sent an official letter advising her of her misconduct and the possible future repercussions of any repeat of this behavior.
deborah realized that her commitment to the firm was what had gotten her to where she was in the first place and that no matter how big the client, professional distance was always to be maintained in the interests of her keeping the trust of the partners that she was committed to the cause and worthy of further advancement in the firm.