In the current business environment, the importance of managing and developing client relationships has never been more centre stage; particularly as new business is so hard to come by in a tight, highly competitive market and losing a big client can have such a massive impact.

Indeed, many firms have client care teams in place which are specifically focused on protecting and building business from existing clients. These teams are high-profile and frequently backed with significant investment and resources.

However, the way in which firms approach the task varies enormously and the skill with which it is conducted has a major impact on the business result. With that in mind, here is a short best practice checklist to help you consider how your firm measures up in a number of key areas:

Do you really have a comprehensive 'programme' in place?

A programme is much more than simply a client satisfaction survey. It certainly involves a careful analysis of client relationships, but it also embodies such things as embracing change, evolving culturally, embedding change internally and demonstrating it externally.

Is the programme a continual process?

An effective programme needs to be an ongoing part of how the business operates. It cannot simply be turned on and off. You cannot stop looking after your clients. Continuous relationship monitoring is also crucial to evaluating the success of the firm's responses to the issues identified.

Are you measuring or simply monitoring?

Don't underestimate the importance of quantifying clients' evaluation of your services. A warmish comment can very quickly be put in context when the client scores the service five out of 10. Qualitative questions are essential for depth of response, but carefully crafted quantitative questions are the key to evaluating performance across time, as well as to benchmarking, both internally and externally.

Are you really asking the right questions?

A good client management programme must be based on an effective evaluation system and it is vital to ask the right questions

The skill with which questions are used makes a huge difference to the quality of the responses generated. For example, are you measuring satisfaction or commitment? They are very different things, as an apparently satisfied client can easily move their business. And do your questions both stimulate and enable your clients to tell you what they want to?

The questions are crucial. You should also always remember that the experience of giving feedback is an experience of your firm. Are the questions you ask intelligent, thought-provoking and rewarding to consider or simply a task to be completed?

Are you using feedback most effectively?

The way in which feedback is received and then used is very important. All feedback should be welcomed and never taken personally. It should be seen as looking backwards to help the relationship move forwards. And feedback should be seen to provoke a reaction – you need to respond and be seen to respond.

Are you best allocating resources?

With budgets under such pressure, it can be very tempting to cut corners or scale down client development programmes. While a good programme should pay for itself many times over, and thus defend its budget, there are ways to improve the allocation of resources. For example, using external expertise to implement a programme and then running it yourself can control costs and potentially mop up downtime for some members of the firm's staff…

As a final thought, the key to protecting and developing client business is a strong relationship. Relationships transcend the mere transactions of day-to-day client business and depend on people. Businesses don't have relationships with businesses, people have relationships with people and, like personal relationships, business relationships require constant love and attention. Remember, your clients are someone else's targets. Don't risk neglecting them.

Carey Evans is joint managing partner of Relationship Audits & Management.