Respected Vendor, Part of accepted Vendor Pool

Trusted Partnership Group

Consultant for Hire Trusted Individual Advisor

Consultant Trusted Advisor

Niche Focus

Enterprise or Industry Focus

Building Trusted Partnerships Using PE-ERFocused on Solopreneurs in Services

Potential Roles• Consultant – Expert for hire. Relationship usually begins here and can remain here depending

on approach and focus. If one remains niche focused then could be a good place to be albeit generally short term. Generally reactive to client demands.

• Trusted Advisor – You now have a proven track record of understanding the issues, keeping commitments, having good judgement, trustworthy and broader focused than just a consultant.

• Respected Vendor – you and your firm have made it to being a preferred vendor and part of the PV pool. Typically company is focused on a specific project or process.

• Trusted Partner Group – The ultimate goal of collaborative group but highly unlikely due to the nature of hierarchical governance in most businesses today – you participate in the planning, strategizing and operations of the client. You and your company have a demonstrated history of meeting an array of client needs, cross interaction with multiple trusted, strong, relationships within the client. It is based on a many-to-many matrix rather than one-to-one.

6 Steps to Move to Trusted Partner• Agenda Setting – part of strategizing efforts at client – Earned – Learn to be proactive as opposed to being

reactive. Demonstrate a solid understanding of the issues being faced by the client – understand the pains, obstacles and roadblocks. Know the top 3 – 5 priorities of the client and help them be successful in those as long as they are in your value stream. Be sensitive of power structures and human matrix within the client organization.

• Relationship Capital – build relationships based on the ability to meet commitments and to deliver professionally. Understand the personal and professional needs of each member of the matrix that you are involved with.

• Engagement – building a solid matrix of internal/external relationships that can make a difference. Encourage a solid practice of client listening.

• Live Values – Understand what the client values and determine how you can always expand on the desired value. You must also be transparent about your values and principles and live those on a regular basis. It also means living up to the expected values of the client.

• Collaboration Building – must be able to foster familiarity, trust and the frictionless movement of people, ideas, and resources into client relationships.

• Client Experience – All of the above should lead to building the experience of the client in all aspects. The better the experience the more apt they are to accept you as a Trusted Partner.

• Based on the work of Andrew Sobel