For the past 20 years I have been on a quest to help anyone — regardless of seniority (junior to senior), tenure (new veteran, in between), or expertise (little to lots) — in a client-service role restore and reinvigorate trust with clients.

We live in a transactional world.  Our politics, our purchases, virtually every aspect of our daily performance is characterized by a loss of faith and focus on what truly matters:  relationships borne of trust.

As an example, take advertising:  a 2017 report from the firm Advertising Perceptions concludes, “Nearly two-thirds of leading U.S. advertisers are planning creative agency reviews in the next year .“  According to Association of National Advertisers EVP Bill Duggan, “trust between advertisers and agencies is lower than it’s ever been.”

Client service people at advertising and marketing agencies are the ones primarily charged with establishing, nurturing, and sustaining trust, but they have lost their way.  Squeezed by Account Planners on strategy and by Project Management on execution, they found their skills diminished and their confidence eroded, no longer knowing what their remit is and how to fulfill it.

Regardless of profession – be it consulting, banking, legal, accounting, medical, real estate, advertising and marketing, any business dedicated to and driven by providing stellar service – my intent is to equip people with the insight, knowledge, and skills needed to rebuild trust with clients and colleagues.

This explains why I wrote The Art of Client Service, conduct workshops, and serve as both an Executive and Organizational Coach and, for the better part of the last nine years, a frequent blogger at Adventures in Client Service.

My goal in all of these initiatives:  deconstruct what drives trust-based client service, allowing practitioners to be better equipped to convert counsel into action that delivers results, for clients, for colleagues, and, needless to say, for your ever-improving capabilities and accelerating career.