One of the areas of my search practice that I absolutely love is face-to-face Business Development meetings. It allows the opportunity to connect with new and long term clients and hunt for the next big retained executive search to work on.
In my 15 years of “selling” executive search services there is one thing that I believe is crucial in developing long term relationships (whether a client uses my services or not). I attempt to ask at the end of the meeting “is there anything that I can do for you now to help you with your goals (not related to executive searches)?” Perhaps they need a key introduction or need to help a friend who needs a job or need a key resource for an issue they are working on.
ALWAYS keep your client’s best interests on your radar and be willing to add value for them. It is refreshing for them to hear and they sense that you are in the business relationship for the long haul.
