Improve your Client Relationships

A competitor can copy your product, spend more on advertising, and offer a lower price. But the one thing a competitor can never do is copy your relationships. True customer loyalty is a key differentiator in business, because it represents something that’s incredibly personal.

  • Turn client-vendor transactions into meaningful, valuable partnerships

  • Create evangelists who freely endorse you and refer new business to you

  • Stay top of mind when customers want something, need advice or just want some support

  • Increase client retention and opportunities for broadening your business with current clients

We wrote the book on trust (literally)!

Learn directly from the authors of our best-selling Trusted Advisor book series.

Get the fundamentals of The Trusted Advisor, Trust-Based Selling and The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook delivered to your virtual doorstep—direct from the source via video.

What You Get

Small bites. Fast-paced. On demand.

  • Your Trust Quotient

    Take our online self-assessment and receive your comprehensive Trust Quotient report, full of actionable tips and insights to improve your trustworthiness.

  • Video Lessons

    Learn straight from the source via 18 video lessons, accompanied by reflection questions, "take-action" challenges, and brief quizzes to check your knowledge.

  • Personalized Action Plan

    Use the workbook and worksheets to assess, take action, and immediately improve your most important professional relationships.

  • Bonus Content

    Dig deeper with included bonus content from our books, and explore more resources found in the books and on the Trusted Advisor Associates website.

  • Sustained Learning

    Download the workbook and Action and Results Tracker to monitor your progress and keep improving relationships, long after you've completed the lessons.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Introduction

    • Course Welcome

    • Introduction

    • Get the Most Out of This Course

    • Assess Your Own Trustworthiness

    • Course Resources
  • 2

    Re-Think Your Value

    • Overview

    • What does it really take to become a trusted advisor?

    • Re-Think Your Value

    • What value do you bring?

    • Move toward a Trusted Advisor relationship

    • Five characteristics of successful Trusted Advisors

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources for re-thinking your value
  • 3

    Earn Their Trust

    • Overview

    • What is this ambiguous thing we all call “trust”?

    • Earn Their Trust

    • Reflect on a critical lesson from the video

    • Take action to improve your trustworthiness

    • More ways to improve your trustworthiness

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources about earning their trust
  • 4

    Get Off Your “S”

    • Overview

    • What’s making your “S” look big?

    • Get Off Your "S"

    • What’s making you uncomfortable with your client?

    • Lower your Self-orientation

    • Fast payback actions to shrink Self-orientation

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources to help you get off your "S"
  • 5

    Create Intimacy (Yes, Intimacy)

    • Overview

    • Are you in an intimate relationship with your clients?

    • Create Intimacy (Yes, Intimacy)

    • What’s holding your client relationship at the transactional level?

    • Create more intimacy

    • Fast payback actions to increase intimacy

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources to create more intimacy
  • 6

    Be Counted on for What You Say and Do

    • Overview

    • Credibility and reliability: not as self-evident as they may seem

    • Be Counted On for What You Say and Do

    • What are you holding back?

    • Improve your credibility and reliability

    • Fast payback actions to create credibility and ratchet up reliability

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources to be counted on for what you say and do
  • 7

    Get Your Advice Heard and Taken

    • Overview

    • The hidden driver of influence

    • Get Your Advice Heard and Taken

    • Reflect on an interaction when you weren't heard

    • Overcome barriers to paying attention

    • Masterful listening: Do’s and Don’ts

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources on getting your advice heard and taken
  • 8

    Make it OK for Your Clients to Take Risks

    • Overview

    • Are your clients afraid to take the plunge? Are you?

    • Make it OK for Your Client to Take Risks

    • Reflect on an uncomfortable situation

    • Take one risk to build trust

    • Mind your Ps (and take the plunge)

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources on making it OK for your client to take risks
  • 9

    Be Great Off Script

    • Overview

    • Are you ready for your moment of truth?

    • Be Great Off Script

    • Reflect on a time you reacted defensively

    • Two easy ways to practice being off-script

    • Think out loud

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources on being great off-script
  • 10

    Lead *and* Follow

    • Overview

    • Are you in step with your partners?

    • Lead *and* Follow

    • Reflect on a successful past partnership

    • Be a better partner

    • Partnering traits

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources to help you lead and follow
  • 11

    Know Your Strengths, Find Your Blind Spots

    • Overview

    • How well do you know yourself?

    • Know Your Strengths, Find Your Blind Spots

    • Be honest with yourself ...

    • Find and address your blind spots

    • Five practices that help you look inward

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources to help you know your strengths and find your blind spots
  • 12

    Build Client Trust … Faster

    • Overview

    • How long does it take for you to build trust?

    • Build Client Trust ... Faster

    • Reflect on your trust-building strengths

    • Eight ways to create trust … fast

    • Does trust take time? Some further insight ...

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources to build client trust faster
  • 13

    Build Trust at a Distance

    • Overview

    • How can you build trust when your team is virtual?

    • Build Trust at a Distance

    • Reflect on your virtual team

    • Five ways to use technology to create intimacy

    • Five best practices for managing virtual teams

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources to build trust at a distance
  • 14

    How to Have Tough Conversations

    • Overview

    • How do you raise a difficult issue when it’s really hard to talk about?

    • How to Have Tough Conversations

    • Reflect on a difficult conversation

    • Name It and Claim It

    • When to "Name It and Claim It"

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources about how to have tough conversations
  • 15

    Caveats: Your Conversational Jewels

    • Overview

    • Something awkward happens. What do you do now?

    • Caveats: Your Conversational Jewels

    • Reflect on a time when you said or did something that was awkward

    • Create some caveats

    • How and why to use caveats

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources about using caveats
  • 16

    What to Do When Your Client is a Jerk

    • Overview

    • Do you know what’s making your difficult client so difficult?

    • What to Do When Your Client is a Jerk

    • Reflect on a difficult client

    • Three steps for working with difficult clients

    • Are you thinking of your client as the enemy?

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources about dealing with difficult clients
  • 17

    What if *They* Can’t Be Trusted?

    • Overview

    • What do you do when you’re working with someone you can’t trust?

    • What if *They* Can’t Be Trusted?

    • Reflect on a situation with a colleague or client you didn’t trust

    • Constructive Confrontation: A three-step approach

    • What to do when you can’t confront your partner

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources about working with people you don't trust
  • 18

    Recovering Trust that *You’ve* Lost

    • Overview

    • happens. And sometimes it’s your fault. So now what?

    • Recovering Trust that *You've* Lost

    • Reflect on an experience of lost trust

    • Three steps to recovering trust

    • How to use Name It and Claim It to recover trust

    • Check your knowledge

    • Explore additional resources about recovering lost trust
  • 19

    Next Steps

    • Course Completion

    • Before you go...