David Maister, Charles Green, and Robert Galford--consultants on professional-service management and customer-relation issues--believe nobody can become successful as a business guru until they first gain the confidence of their clients. In The Trusted Advisor, the authors effectively build their case through anecdote and illustration, then relay a solid series of relevant suggestions applicable to both would-be consultants and those already active in the field. Among their most potent suggestions is a practical, five-step development process that encourages outsiders to engage clients by focusing attention on the issues and individuals at hand; listening both to what they say and what they leave unsaid; framing the immediate problem from their perspective; envisioning with them how a solution might appear; and committing jointly to the actions and resources that will bring it about. Also particularly useful is the examination of trust-building during four phases of a client-advisor alliance: at the time the relationship is consummated; during the assignment; after the assignment; and when "cross-selling," or establishing affiliations with the customer's associates. Boosting its utility, the book is filled with concise, easily adopted tips like "return phone calls unbelievably fast" and "always tell the truth and not what the client wants to hear." --Howard Rothman


Review
Carl Stern CEO, Boston Consulting Group An invaluable road map to all those who seek to develop truly special relationships with their clients.

Tom Peters author of The Professional Service 50 This is a brilliant -- and practical -- book. In our "world gone mad," trust is, paradoxically, more important than ever.

William F. Stasior senior chairman and former CEO, Booz-Allen & Hamilton This book is engaging, enjoyable, and absolutely on target. It is packed with truth. The Trusted Advisor will guide success not just in the advisory professions but in leadership and life as well.


Review
Professor Charles Fombrun Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University The Trusted Advisor gets to the heart and soul of the advice business. This path-breaking book is a must-read.


George Colony, Chairman and CEO, Forrester Research
Our company's development has been guided by and benefited from The Trusted Advisor concepts--and they work!


Michael Bray, Chief Executive, Clifford Chance
The authors have produced a readable, helpful guide to a central issue for all professional services firms. They provide sensible and practical advice, making the components of trust appear clear and straightforward. The book is easy to read and use, and many of the checklists are very valuable. I will encourage my partners to read it and to keep it close at hand.


James E. Copeland Jr., CEO, Deloitte & Touche, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Trust is the key that can unlock a priceless dialogue with your clients. The Trusted Advisor tells you how to build relationships that can last a lifetime.


Carl Stern, CEO, Boston Consulting Group
The Trusted Advisor offers an invaluable roadmap to all those who seek to develop truly special relationships with their clients.


Review
Professor Charles Fombrun Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University The Trusted Advisor gets to the heart and soul of the advice business. This path-breaking book is a must-read.


Book Description
In today's fast-paced networked economy, professionals must work harder than ever to maintain and improve their business skills and knowledge. But technical mastery of one's discipline is not enough, assert world-renowned professional advisors David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford. The key to professional success, they argue, is the ability to earn the trust and confidence of clients. To demonstrate the paramount importance of trust, the authors use anecdotes, experiences, and examples -- successes and mistakes, their own and others' -- to great effect. The result is an immensely readable book that will be welcomed by the inexperienced advisor and the most seasoned expert alike.


Download Description
In order to survive, today's professionals must earn the trust of their clients--and re-earn it throughout their careers. This is a dynamic must-read for successfully negotiating relationships in today's bold new economy.


About the Author
David H. Maister, a leading authority on the management of professional service firms, is the author of the bestselling Managing the Professional Service Firm, True Professionalism, and Practice What You Preach. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.


Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1: A Sneak Preview Let's start with a question: What benefits would you obtain if your clients trusted you more? Here's our list. The more your clients trust you, the more they will: Reach for your advice Be inclined to accept and act on your recommendations Bring you in on more advanced, complex, strategic issues Treat you as you wish to be treated Respect you Share more information that helps you to help them, and improves the quality of the service you provide Pay your bills without question Refer you to their friends and business acquaintances Lower the level of stress in your interactions Give you the benefit of the doubt Forgive you when you make a mistake Protect you when you need it (even from their own organization) Warn you of dangers that you might avoid Be comfortable and allow you to be comfortable Involve you early on when their issues begin to form, rather than later in the process (or maybe even call you first!) Trust your instincts and judgments (including those about other people such as your colleagues and theirs) We would all like to have such professional relationships! This book is about what you must do to obtain these benefits. What changes would you make to this list? What would you add? Delete? Next, let's consider three additional questions: Do you have a trusted advisor, someone you turn to regularly to advise you on all your most important business, career, and perhaps even personal decisions? If you do, what are the characteristics of that person? If you do not, what characteristics would you look for in selecting your trusted advisor? Here is a listing of traits that our trusted advisors have in common. They: Seem to understand us, effortlessly, and like us Are consistent (we can depend on them) Always help us see things from fresh perspectives Don't try to force things on us Help us think things through (it's our decision) Don't substitute their judgment for ours Don't panic or get overemotional (they stay calm) Help us think and separate our logic from our emotion Criticize and correct us gently, lovingly Don't pull their punches (we can rely on them to tell us the truth) Are in it for the long haul (the relationship is more important than the current issue) Give us reasoning (to help us think), not just their conclusions Give us options, increase our understanding of those options, give us their recommendation, and let us choose Challenge our assumptions (help us uncover the false assumptions we've been working under) Make us feel comfortable and casual personally (but they take the issues seriously) Act like a real person, not someone in a role Are reliably on our side and always seem to have our interests at heart Remember everything we ever said (without notes) Are always honorable (they don't gossip about others, and we trust their values) Help us put our issues in context, often through the use of metaphors, stories, and anecdotes (few problems are completely unique) Have a sense of humor to diffuse (our) tension in tough situations Are smart (sometimes in ways we're not) What would you add to (or delete from) this list? Using the Golden Rule (we should treat others as we wish to be treated), we can probably make a fair assumption (or at least a good first approximation) that this list, or your list, is not much different from a list your clients would make. So, if you want your clients to treat you as their trusted advisor, then you must meet as many of the "tests" on this list as possible. Ask yourself: Which of these traits do my clients think I possess? (Not what you think you possess, but what they think you do!) If you suspect that you might not demonstrate all these traits, then how do you get better at each of them? That's what this book will try to answer. Note that this book is not (just) about the wonderful benefits that wait at the end of the rainbow for the full-fledged trusted advisor, who does (or is) everything listed here. The early benefits of beginning to earn trust are substantial and can be obtained quickly. The ability to earn trust is a learnable skill, and we shall try in the succeeding pages to show "the yellow brick road" that leads to success. Copyright © 2000 by David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In today's fast-paced networked economy, professionals must work harder than ever to maintain and improve their business skills and knowledge. But technical mastery of your discipline is not enough, assert world-renowned professional advisors David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford. The key to professional success, they argue, is the ability to earn the trust and confidence of clients. The creation of trust is what earns the right to influence clients; trust is also at the root of client satisfaction and loyalty. The workings of trust are even more critical in the new economy than in the old.

Maister, Green, and Galford enrich our understanding of trust -- yet they have also written a deeply practical book. Using their model of "The Trust Equation," they dissect the rational and emotional components of trustworthiness. With precision and clarity, they detail five distinct steps you must take to create a trust-based relationship. Each step -- engage, listen, frame, envision, and commit -- is richly described in distinct chapters. The book is peppered with pragmatic "top ten" lists aimed at improving advisors' effectiveness that can be put to use instantly. It also includes a trust self-diagnostic in the appendix.

This immensely readable book will be welcomed by the inexperienced advisor and the most seasoned expert alike. The authors use anecdotes, experiences, and examples -- successes and mistakes, their own and others' -- to great effect. Though they use the professional services advisor/client paradigm throughout the book, their prescriptions have resonance for other trust-reliant situations -- selling, customer relationship management, and internal staff functions like HR and information technology.