Most professionals can name their best clients easily. But ask them if those are the right clients for next year, and suddenly they're not so sure.
As the year winds down and the professional services world shifts into holiday mode, there’s finally time to take a break. For a few short weeks, the constant deadlines take a back seat.
As well as a well-earned breather, it’s also one of the most valuable business development opportunities of the year. It’s when you can step back and take a strategic look at your client relationships, rather than relying on last minute coffee meetings to meet BD metrics.
When the constant demands quieten you can get an objective view of your client relationships, gain some clarity on which of them matter the most, and how to nurture them. Ask yourself these key questions:
Who have I worked with most during the year and who didn’t I work? Were these the relationships I really wanted, or just the ones that demanded attention (or were simply easy)?
Has my work been in the area I want to focus on? Or have I been in reactive mode, taking whatever work that comes to me?
Where have my BD efforts gone? Are they aligned with my strategic priorities, or just responding to what’s in front of me?
In short, am I focusing on the right clients and is my BD time going to the right people? Many professionals have good instincts about who their ‘best’ clients are, but very few are deliberate about their choices or have an up-to-date overall view.
Someone who was valuable in the past might be less so now because the focus of the practice has shifted or maybe they’ve failed to meet the potential they once promised. Or maybe the relationship has become more demanding than it's worth, high maintenance without the returns to match.
A key client map helps you answer these questions by showing you which relationships drove the best value during the year, which are growing or declining, and where you should concentrate your BD efforts.
Choosing which clients you really want to be working with is a matter of quality over quantity. It’s not just that your time and energy is limited, it’s about the strategic direction of your practice. Where you focus shapes what your practice becomes.
A key client map doesn’t have to be complicated. Actually, it should be very simple so you and your team can act on it easily. It should separate the clients you want to grow (invest in), sustain (keep and protect), and establish (new).
It’s an exercise you can do on your own or with your team. When everyone maps it together, they understand the direction for the year and buy into it. That sets the foundation for the creation of a powerful and inclusive BD plan.
Save it for early January when everyone's fresh and ready to commit. Maybe, you could incorporate it into that strategy day we suggested recently in our insight Dragging your arse to the end of the year?
That way, you all start your year motivated, deliberate, not reactive. Start 2026 that way, and you're already ahead.
