Beside talent and a sterling portfolio, what can world-class consultants like Deloitte & Touche, Societe General and Towers Perrin boast has helped them achieve success in our entrepreneurial economy? They all have the inside track on the indispensable "Trusted Advisor" model for client relationships, created by renowned experts Charles Green and Robert Galford. Now Green and Galford have teamed up with the acclaimed David Maister in order to help their latest high-profile, fast-forward client: you. In this straightforward guide, Maister, Green and Galford show readers that the key to professional success goes well beyond technical mastery or expertise. Today, it's all about the vital ability to earn the client's trust and thereby win the ability to influence them. In these high risk times, trust is more valuable than gold. With this critical, highly detailed and accessible resource, readers will learn the five crucial steps for developing, managing and improving client confidence. For both emerging and established entrepreneurs and consultants, THE TRUSTED ADVISOR is the first truly indispensable business book of the decade.

A practical guide to being a trusted advisor for leaders in any industry In this hands-on successor to the popular book The Trusted Advisor, you'll find answers to pervasive questions about trust and leadership—such as how to develop business with trust, nurture trust-based relationships, build and run a trustworthy organization, and develop your trust skill set. This pragmatic workbook delivers everyday tools, exercises, resources, and actionable to-do lists for the wide range of situations a trusted advisor inevitably encounters. The authors speak in concrete terms about how to dramatically improve your results in sales, relationship management, and organizational performance. Your success as a leader will always be based on the degree to which you are trusted by your stakeholders. Each chapter offers specific ways to train your thinking and your habits in order to earn the trust that is necessary to be influential, successful, and known as someone who makes a difference. Self-administered worksheets and coaching questions provide immediate insights into your current business challenges Real-life examples demonstrate proven ways to "walk the talk" Action plans bridge the gap between insights and outcomes Put the knowledge and practices in this fieldbook to work, and you'll be someone who earns trust quickly, consistently, and sustainably—in business and in life.

The best and the brightest use advisors and experts. In fact, one could say that they are the best and the brightest because they utilized trusted advisors throughout their careers. Whether in business, sports, entertainment, academia, or politics–expert help is a fundamental enabler of success. That means that the demand for expert advice will grow and the competition will increase for such help. This isn’t a matter of “certificates” and “universities,” it’s a matter of specific skill and behavioral sets that create a trusting bond and reliance. Trusted advisors are beyond coaches—they are comprehensive resources and supporters. The Modern Trusted Advisor employs important mastery traits, such as subordinating ego, applying shared experiences, and managing emotional, mental, and intellectual health. We are entering a world of “no normal” today and leaders must inspire others daily. This is the book that prepares you to inspire those leaders.

Sales and Sales Engineering leaders across the world have used the Trusted Advisor label hundreds of times over the past twenty years. Yet it really doesn't mean that much without a lot of explanation. You may be thinking about some of these questions right now. Becoming a Trusted Advisor is not as simple as it sounds, which is why so many organizations either never try, or make a half-hearted effort. Trusted Advisor - two words, five syllables and fifteen letters hide a massive complexity. For the first time ever, there is now a book specifically designed to start the individual Sales Engineer on the journey to becoming a Trusted Advisor. Section One covers how to define and actually measure trust with your clients. Section Two looks at the practical aspects involved in building trust through Discovery, Presentations, Demos and all the other standard activities of an SE. Section Three examine how to get started and put it all into practice - both for individuals and for SE teams. This is not one of those tiny 40 page eBooks. It's over 150 pages of thoughts, ideas, best practices and real life examples based on dozens of clients and thousands of students who have already taken the workshop.** Note the 2020 Paperback version is a reformatted version of the original eBook with a only few minor edits and updates. **

Being your clients’ Most Trusted Business Advisor is not about selling and making pitches. It’s really about showing an interest in your clients, asking the kind of questions that will help you learn what is important to them, and then listening. Based on the AICPA’s successful Trusted Business Advisor Program and intended for CPAs who want to take their consulting practice to the next level, this workbook provides approaches to help you do just that. By the time you finish working through the book’s helpful forms and exercises you will be better able to: have critical conversations with your clients ask the right questions effectively be a better listener easily identify services that will add value to your clients’ organizations avoid administrative pitfalls throughout the process effectively market your services, and profitably grow your practice Find out how to uncover critical client needs in ten minutes or less, how to help your clients prioritize their wish lists, and how to help them quantify the value of addressing each of the issues that keep them awake at night!

Sales based on trust are uniquely powerful. Learn from Charles Green, co-author of the bestseller The Trusted Advisor how to deserve and, therefore, earn a buyer’s trust. Buyers prefer to buy from people they trust. However, salespeople are often mistrusted. Trust-Based Selling shows how trust between buyer and seller is created and explains how both sides benefit from it. Heavy with practical examples and suggestions, the book reveals why trust goes hand-in-hand with profit; how trust differentiates you from other sellers; and how to create trust in negotiations, closings, and when answering the six toughest sales questions. Trust-Based Selling is a must for anyone in sales, is especially invaluable for sellers of complex, intangible services.

This indispensable sales tool shows you the ropes of lead qualification, the RFP process, and needs analysis and discovery, and explains how your technical know-how can add invaluable leverage to sales efforts at every step. You learn how to plan and present the perfect pitch, demonstrate products effectively, build customer relationship skills, handle objections and competitors, negotiate prices and contracts, close the sale, and so much more.

Finally, the book that all professionals frustrated with fleeting client loyalty and relentless price pressure have waited for—the first in-depth, guide to developing lasting client relationships. Millions of 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. Clients for Life sets forth a comprehensive framework for how professionals in all fields can develop breakthrough relationships with their clients and enjoy enduring client loyalty. Supported by more than 100 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. Readers will learn, for example, to develop selfless independence, which tempers complete emotional, intellectual, and financial independence with a powerful commitment to client needs; to become deep generalists and overcome the narrow perspective caused by specialization; to systematically build lifelong trust; and to cultivate the power of synthesis—big-picture thinking—that is so highly valued by clients. Portraits of history's most famously successful advisors, including Machiavelli, Sir Thomas More, and J. P. Morgan, underscore these timeless qualities that modern professionals need to develop to excel in today's competitive environment.

As today's headlines remind us, trust is the hot-button issue in business today, especially for investors, managers, workers, and consumers. More than ever before, the success of an organization depends on leadership that fosters strong connections across teams and among bosses, colleagues, and subordinates. Companies are in urgent need of trusted leaders, but how can managers meet that need? "Be trustworthy" is the short, logical answer, of course. But being trustworthy and building trust in an organization are not one and the same thing. The former is an inherent part of a person; the latter requires developed talent and considerable skill. Based on highly specific research and experience that covers a wide spectrum of managers and organizations, The Trusted Leader identifies the three critical types of trust that leaders need to master: strategic trust, organizational trust, and personal trust. It introduces a practical and effective formula for building organizational confidence, and provides a unique analysis of the obstacles to trust and the sources of resistance to the building of trust inside organizations. Through a series of interactive exercises, executives will learn how to determine where trust is missing and how it can be supplemented in people, departments, and even whole companies. Perhaps most timely are the book's series of diagnostic tools and skills that help executives rebuild trust that has been broken or betrayed. As business insiders and authors Robert Galford and Anne Seibold Drapeau show, trust inside a company provides focus, fuels passion, fosters innovation, and helps employers to hire and retain the best employees. Trust inside, the authors argue, also builds trust outside by gaining credibility with today's skeptical consumer. Trust is all too frequently overlooked in other leadership books, and is even more important today as companies face uncertain customer demands and the pressures to compete successfully in a whiplash market. Crises, restructurings, mergers, downturns, and executive departures are often trust-destroyers. The Trusted Leader examines those defining moments, and helps leaders turn such situations into trust-building experiences, creating a culture and legacy of trust throughout the organization at large. Rich in true stories, examples, and practical advice, The Trusted Leader guides leaders on how to climb the ladder of trust and how to secure their legacy as trusted leaders. For managers of all levels, The Trusted Leader is the only comprehensive guide for building trust inside an organization -- the key to every company's long-term survival and success.

In this 2nd edition of the book, Matt focuses on the post-digital world driven by technology where power shifts to the buyer. Chances are when you arrive for the sales meeting, the prospect already knows more about you than you do about them. However, with technology comes opportunity. Today's buyer is overwhelmed with data and information and they need help - they need a trusted advisor. Trusted advisors: Get to "yes" faster Keep their products sold Stay embedded during the "budget" cuts Have more referrals Have higher customer satisfaction In this book, you will learn from the years of research, observation and personal experiences of Matthew Hudson and Mark Hunter. They have spent decades immersed in the sales industry and have taught the concepts in this book to companies with amazing results. If you follow the principles outlined here, you will get more than a sale. You also will get trusted advisor status.