29.5 Marketing to existing clients

There are two groups of existing clients – those for whom a consultant is currently working (current clients) and those for whom he or she has worked in the past (former clients). In all professions, firms try to keep their clients and to sell further services to them. In management consulting, this strategy results in an impressive amount of repeat business, which in some firms attains 75–80 per cent of all work. Box 29.4 shows that the cost of marketing efforts is not a negligible factor.

Marketing during assignment execution

It has been stressed many times that marketing to existing clients starts during execution of an assignment. It includes:

●being alert to any sign of the client’s unhappiness or apprehension concerning the approach taken, the progress made, the costs incurred, or the behaviour of the assignment team;