Relationship Audits®, an established strategic commercial relationship management firm, emphasizes the importance of building strong, long-lasting relationships. Founded by service industry veterans Carey Evans and Simon Rhind-Tutt, the consulting firm is dedicated to empowering clients, from blue-chip corporates to burgeoning enterprises, to unlock the full potential of their key strategic partnerships. Operating globally, with a presence in pivotal markets like the US, France, Germany, Australia, India and South Africa, the company harnesses proprietary best-in-class B2B market research tools to glean actionable relationship intelligence.
Relationship Audits®‘ success is attributed to its commitment to innovation and adaptability. Its online survey tools, coupled with in-depth person-to-person interviews, furnish clients with unparalleled insights into their business relationships. Furthermore, the company’s flexible engagement models cater to diverse client needs, ensuring a seamless experience from intelligence gathering to actionable insights. By continually refining their offerings based on client feedback and market insights, they’ve earned a reputation as trailblazers in the field.
Central to Relationship Audits®‘ methodology is the understanding that effective relationship management transcends mere performance metrics. “Our focus began in the marketing services sector, helping companies understand the security of their relationships with strategic clients. Subsequently, we were invited by corporates to help them assess relationships with their service providers so that we now work on both sides of the relationship fence.” shares Mr. Evans.
The company’s tools provide invaluable insights into client-provider dynamics, facilitating informed decision-making. For instance, for service providers, their framework goes beyond conventional loyalty measurements, incorporating elements like opinion and intention to provide a holistic view of the relationship landscape. The company has developed market mapping to determine the result of this framework where the most positive results are known as apostles, while the most negative are called renegades.
According to Relationship Audits®, increasing the number of enthusiasts (Apostles) by a mere 10% can lead to a 20% growth in revenue – an assertion supported by empirical evidence. Armed with this insight, Relationship Audits® doesn’t stop at diagnosis; they prescribe tailored courses of action based on clients’ unique relationship profiles.
Furthermore, their proprietary award-winning online tool, Relationship RADAR® – an acronym for different measurement criteria – Relationship, Attitude, Delivery, Added value, and Recommendation, simplifies the process, offering service providers and buyers a user-friendly interface to gauge and augment relationship health.
Relationship Audits®‘ suite of services extends beyond diagnostics. From assisting procurement teams in fortifying ties with key suppliers to conducting due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, the company’s expertise is indispensable across various domains. Notably, its offerings encompass employee assessments, win/loss evaluations, and tailored training programs, reflecting a commitment to holistic relationship management.
The cornerstone of Relationship Audits®‘ success lies in its belief that positive relationships can act as ‘bubble wrap’ on commercial interactions, insulating them when there are challenges that could rupture those relationships – the intangible yet indispensable element that underpins fruitful collaborations. By nurturing meaningful connections, the company empowers clients to navigate the complexities of business relationships with confidence.
In an industry where satisfied clients are the goal, Relationship Audits® strives for something more: Client Commitment Index®. “Our approach goes beyond satisfaction alone. We truly believe in focusing on anticipation and engagement,” Evans elaborates. The company uses carefully constructed questions (which they refer to as can openers) to unearth deeper insights during interviews. These semi-structured interviews foster meaningful conversations, enabling clients to candidly articulate their expectations and concerns. Evans adds that “many interviewees say that the process is cathartic.” The outcome of this provides a more nuanced understanding of client engagement than traditional satisfaction metrics because it measures both opinion of the performance and the relationship and also the intention to do something as a result of that opinion.
The company’s journey began with catering to marketing services, then expanded into professional services like legal and accountancy, financial services, logistics, construction, and now even NGOs and charitable organizations. What they have found is that relationship issues are consistent across categories.
Reflecting on the company’s journey, Mr. Evans remarked, “We are incredibly focused. All we do is work on relationships.” “We built this business from scratch. We didn’t have ONE client when we started. And it’s been a great ride.” This unwavering dedication to relationship optimization has solidified Relationship Audits®‘ status as a trendsetter in the realm of strategic commercial relationship management.
A strong testimonial to their best-in-class tool, shared by a chief executive of a global pharmaceutical agency, “If understanding your client relationships isn’t central to your business, then I’m not sure what is. There is a conversation happening today with your clients, and you’re not a part of this. Relationship Audits® get you into some of those conversations and allow you to adjust and respond in a way that you just simply wouldn’t without that insight.” For those who haven’t yet worked with Relationship Audits®, the first question I would ask is ‘why not’ and the second would be ‘if not now, then when?’.
