Are Your Biggest Clients Really Your Best?
Use a More Effective Approach for Classifying, Managing and Growing Your Client Portfolio.
It is no longer enough to simply assume your biggest clients are your best clients. You need to know which clients really are your best – and why. We begin all client development assignments by classifying the firm’s clients using the Concata Quadrants (see below).
With this completed, we have a specific starting point for developing each client. Working with firm leaders and/or the relationship attorneys (RA) we then develop customized client development approaches for each one.
For the firm, this results in a truly strategic portfolio of clients. It also gives firm leaders a way to work with the RA to approach and grow their clients. For the relationship attorney, it tells them which clients are worth investing in and which they may want to cut loose.
This is a simple and meaningful method that leads directly to a effective growth strategy.
Overview of Concata Quadrants
Quadrant I: Periodic. The clients in this quadrant provide the firm with periodic or one-off work at higher margins. Your goal should be to try to move them closer to Quadrant II by increasing volume.
Quadrant II: Optimal Few. The clients in this quadrant provide a high volume of high margin work to the firm. Your goal is to work hard, by offering extraordinary value and awesome service, to keep them in this quadrant.
Quadrant III: Steady Work. The clients in this quadrant provide the firm with a steady stream of work at decent margins. Your goal with these clients is to increase your margins.
Quadrant IV: Up or Out. Clients in this quadrant provide a low volume of work at lower margins. Your goal is to evaluate them for their strategic potential and then either move them up or out.