Manage Your Book of Business Like A Pro with Jamie Kirmess

We all know that acquiring a new client is several times more expensive and time-consuming than simply retaining an old one. But with so many accounts to manage, how do you ensure that everyone remains engaged and accounted for? In this episode of the Love Selling Hate Sales podcast, your host Josh Wagner talks to Shift Paradigm’s Managing Director Jamie Kirmess about managing a book of business, retaining old clients even after kickoff, and how to make your Quarterly Business Review more engaging and useful to clients. 

 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Always create value for your client first
• How to probe for the kind of value that your clients need 
• Earn your client's trust by acting as their consultant
• Effective consulting takes experience, practice, and learning 
• Anecdotal information can be very powerful 
• Portfolio management is all about scaling you 
• How to retain your executive sponsor after kicking off 
• The tools that help keep Jamie's life in order 
• Why you need to do Quarterly Business Review
• How Jamie gathers information on market trends, insights, etc.

 

QUOTES

Jamie on providing value to customers: "Customers can pick up on when you're being disingenuous or when you have an ulterior motive. And so the first thing that I always say is figure out what value means to the customer. What do they care about? What are they being measured against? What are some of their fears?"

Jamie's overview on portfolio management: "Portfolio management is conceptually the combination of all the different strategies and tactics that you can use to really get the most value out of your portfolio. This is where you have to be a bit self-serving. Put the needs of your customer first, and realize that you are only one person." 

Jamie's opinion on QBRs and their importance in customer success: "QBRs to me, become less a report card on what we did and become more of an opportunity to reflect on that, celebrate wins, and also think about what's next. That doesn't mean asking the customer to present a roadmap to you. That means preparing for that QBR to understand the roadmap and to infuse insights or market trends so that the session becomes really valuable to your customer."

 

Connect with Jamie and her work using the links below: 

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiekirmess/

 

About Josh Wagner: 

Josh is a growth advisor and the host of the Love Selling Hate Sales podcast. He specializes in helping executives understand modern marketing and sales to drive growth in a scalable way. 

 

To learn more about Josh and his work, follow the links below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshwagneraz/
• Company website: https://www.shiftparadigm.com/
• Personal Website: https:///www.joshuadwagner.com
• Podcast: https://www.lovesellinghatesales.com