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Clientelligence by Michael B. Rynowecer Kirkus Star

Clientelligence

How Superior Client Relationships Fuel Growth and Profits

by Michael B. Rynowecer

Pub Date: Aug. 11th, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9964134-3-5
Publisher: The BTI Press

An in-depth study of what it takes to develop and maintain superior relationships with clients.

Every business that provides a service has clients, and any successful service business understands how to cultivate lasting client relationships. Rynowecer has discovered the “secret sauce” to do just that, which he eloquently describes in this debut work. The author enumerates 17 “specific and unique activities driving superior client relationships” derived from an exhaustive study in which, over decades, he collected insight in 14,000 telephone interviews with senior executives. Rynowecer organizes this intelligence into a “Clientelligence Matrix” that divides the activities into four quadrants. The top right of the quadrant, which represents “high differentiation” and “higher importance,” is labeled “Relationship Bliss” and contains what Rynowecer claims are the four most important activities: commitment to help, client focus, understanding the client’s business, and providing value for the dollar. The author explains the portions of the quadrant and provides sufficient detail about each of the 17 activities, tossing in some pertinent war stories along the way. The genius of Rynowecer’s approach is twofold: first, he delivers his treatise within the context of solid research, which provides a great deal of credible support. Second, by employing such a facts-based approach, the author can address even the most emotionally charged aspects of client relationships in an objective way. Rynowecer’s sage observations are doled out at the end of each short chapter in sections called “Clientelligence Master Class.” Here, he offers specific, sometimes-blunt advice: “Superheroes don’t stop until the client’s goal has been met,” he writes. Superheroes “take bullets for their clients [and] tell clients the truth, no matter how unpopular the opinion may be.” A cleverly devised road map closes the book to help professionals master their client service skills.

Deftly written and well-presented; principals of any service firm will appreciate this treasure trove of useful intelligence for business improvement.