Clients fall into two categories - those who view you rather mundanely as simply a supplier of a necessary service (hopefully a valued supplier, but a supplier nevertheless) and those with whom you truly have a relationship.

How can you tell if you have a relationship in place? Quite simply, you get the benefit of the doubt when clients are disappointed with performance or when there's a hiccup on admin.

Another tipoff to a good relationship is that clients with whom you have a strong relationship will take you up on offers to meet and take an open minded approach when markets have been tough - they are prone to listen to what you have to say before voicing any concerns, unhappiness or even hostility.

In good times, relationships are nice but not essential. It's during tough times that strong relationships are the lifeblood of a successful advisor's business -- it's during challenging markets that you need the goodwill, patience and benefit of the doubt that comes with relationships. Without that goodwill you are merely a supplier, easily substituted with another supplier who promises better quality advice, more attention or a lower price.

There are some clients whose nature is such that a relationship is impossible - they are simply not open to a relationship or the barriers to creating a relationship are very high. The challenge is to move as many clients as possible into the relationship camp.

In interviewing both satisfied and dissatisfied clients, three things consistently drive relationships that stand the test of choppy markets.

1. Respect - clients need to be confident in your judgement and advice. They truly have to believe that you provide depth of knowledge and high quality advice on investment issues.
2. Trust - clients have to be absolutely certain about your integrity and that your actions and recommendations are driven by their needs, not yours. You may want to glance at the April 28 post on "Expert advice on building trust" for some ideas on raising your trust level.
3. Rapport - for a relationship to exist clients have to like dealing with you. That doesn't mean you need to be bosom buddies, but at a minimum they have to be modestly positive on how much they enjoy your interactions. One way to build rapport is by implementing activity that communicates that you care beyond the revenue you generate - a couple of recent posts talked about ways to send clients the right signal on this issue.

As you think about interactions with key clients in the next while, think about where you stand on the three relationship drivers of respect, trust and rapport. Consider putting plans in place to strengthen your positioning with key clients on each of these. And for top key clients, you might want to assess which one of these three areas needs the most work and focus on that one area in your communication and interaction with that client in the next while.

Make a conscious effort to concentrate on these three aspects of your business - respect, trust and rapport - and stronger relationships will follow.