It Starts with Clients is a double entendre (actually triple"): (1) It’s about helping people when they are starting out to build a client base in their careers; (2) It affirms that when you start a business, it’s best to start with a potential client/customer already in hand; and (3) All business strategy should start from an understanding of the needs of the client/customer. Over the last 20 years Sobel has developed the single most significant, diverse, and widely-read body of work in the world on how to build enduring client relationships–and more generally, on establishing trusted business relationships. His client base includes many of the leading professional service firms (e.g., McKinsey), banks (e.g., Citibank), and technology firms (e.g., Cognizant, SAP) in the world. It Starts with Clients will be, in a sense, the prequel to his most popular books on the subject. It’s a book many of his clients have asked for as the Millennial generation has fully entered the workforce. A typical comment has been, “We love your content, and we’ve put all our experienced people through it–now, do you have something for our younger professionals in their 20s and 30s who are just starting to work with clients and build their own client base?” It Starts with Clients will set out all of the key strategies and skills required to acquire and grow new clients, and then sustain lifelong relationships with them. It is NOT a “Millennials” book but rather the ultimate guide for anyone who is in their first five years or so of working in a client-facing role in sales, delivery, or service. It is based on the most extensive and wide-ranging research ever done on the ingredients of enduring client relationships. There is actually no book like this on the market–nothing with a similar or even vaguely similar title. The closest would be Alan Weiss’s Getting Started in Consulting, which has been quite successful (after 20 years on the market, he’s launching a revised edition this …
