The Modern Trusted Advisor

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.

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 financial services world is changing. Technology is enabling an automated approach to investing that should bring down the cost of commodity services. No longer do you have to fund the lifestyle of a broker or advisor to have him tell you how to diversify or where to find the next investment that cannot be missed. This book will provide the tools for calculators that tell you most of what you need to know; from how much insurance you need to have to how you should diversify. The book will help readers with the following: Understand what you have Plan your long-term goals Start to save (maximizing your 401k) Reduce debt Run your Monte Carlo Simulation Determine the appropriate asset allocation Set up your auto-rebalancing and periodically (annually, perhaps) re-examining your asset allocation to account for globalization Deploy the asset mix through low cost, tax-efficient strategies Look at it once per year This book will provide a better understanding of your investment decisions. But, we all cannot be do-it-yourselfers. Advisors serve as an important resource for consumers when they are both capable and understand their duty to serve you, the customer, first. To complement their moral station, they must have the skills to deliver appropriate advice. The book, much like the company Steve founded, will simplify standards for consumers and audit advisors to those standards.

The new edition of bestselling real-world guide to consultancy success, from the “Rock Star of Consulting” Alan Weiss The second edition of The Consulting Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Expand a Seven-Figure Consulting Practice remains the most comprehensive and practical guide to the consulting profession, from launch to high growth, from marketing to implementation. Legendary consultant, speaker, and bestselling author Alan Weiss shows you how to create an independent or boutique consulting practice and take it to seven-figure success. Step-by-step, this invaluable resource guides you through attracting clients, maximizing your value, and achieving your career goals. In the decade since the first publication of The Consulting Bible, an array of significant developments has dramatically impacted the consulting profession: shifts in social consciousness, the Covid-19 pandemic, tele-consulting and virtual meetings, the globalization of the economy, the growth of social media, and many more. This exhaustively revised new edition provides specific approaches and techniques for mastering the new consulting environment and turning volatility and disruption into unlimited opportunities. Designed to help you become the authority and expert that organizations turn to again and again, this book is your one-stop resource for: Building a strong global brand that draws people to you Marketing remotely to reduce costs and allow for higher fees Mastering the latest implementation techniques Forging strong relationships with the buyers of a new generation Selecting the consulting methodology that best fits your requirements Writing proposals and creating testimonials and references Using advanced technology to sell and deliver your services Written for newcomers and veterans alike, The Consulting Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Expand a Seven-Figure Consulting Practice, Second Edition, is essential reading for every solo consultant, entrepreneur, and principal of a small consulting firm.

Finally, the book that all professionals frustrated with fleeting client loyalty and relentless price pressure have waited for -- the first in-depth, client-tested guide to developing lasting business relationships. What separates extraordinary professionals from ordinary ones? Why are some professionals always drawn into their clients' inner circle of advisers, while others are employed on a one-shot basis and treated like vendors? Based on groundbreaking research, 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. Drawing on insights from extensive interviews with both leading CEOs and today's most prominent client advisers, Jagdish Sheth and Andrew Sobel debunk the conventional wisdom about professional success -- "find a specialty, do good work" -- as hopelessly inadequate in a world where clients have unlimited access to information and expertise. The authors replace these tired conventions with an innovative blueprint, supported by over one hundred case studies and examples drawn from consulting, financial services, law, technology, and other fields, for how you can evolve from an expert for hire -- a commodity -- to an extraordinary adviser. Riveting portraits of both exceptional contemporary professionals and legendary advisers such as Aristotle, Thomas More, Niccolò Machiavelli, and J. P. Morgan reveal how great client relationships are achieved in practice. 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. Acclaimed by leading management thinkers, Clients for Life clearly illustrates the most important attributes and strategies of extraordinary client advisers and shows how you can use them to enrich your own relationships. It provides sophisticated professionals with the tools and insights they need to reap the rewards of lifetime client loyalty.

In this thoroughly revised edition of his classic book, Alan Weiss shows how consulting fees are dependent on only two things: value provided in the perception of the buyer and the intent of the buyer and the consultant to act ethically. Many consultants, however, fail to understand that perceived value is the basis of the fee, or that they must translate the importance of their advice into long-term gains for the client in the client's perception. Still others fail to have the courage and the belief system that support the high value delivered to clients, thereby reducing fees to a level commensurate with the consultant's own low self-esteem. Ultimately, says Weiss, consultants, not clients, are the main cause of low consulting fees.

The face of financial services has evolved – and, along with it, the very nature of financial advice. In an increasingly complex world where people are starving for someone they can trust, the time has come for financial advisors to rise to the occasion and reinvent the value they provide to better serve their clients. Of course, to make this evolutionary leap, advisors require a proven, time-tested strategy. A methodology established by one of the most successful advisors in the country and backed by decades of real-world application among thousands of advisors across the country. In Proven in the Trenches: 11 Principles to Maximize Advisor Value and Transform Your Firm’s Future, advisors will receive an actionable game plan touching on the core dimensions of a highly-functioning financial services firm: • Understanding Investor Behavior • Blueprinting Your Life and Your Business • Attracting Talent by Growing Your Own • Putting Process Behind Your People • Building a Brand that Connects and Converts • Wealth Planning and What It Takes to Revive Advisor Value • Creating a Compelling Client Experience • Evaluating Partnerships • Attracting New Clients and the Art of Ethical Persuasion • Plotting Your Succession • Making the Shift from Advisor to CEO