Senior candidates are hired for the relationships they can open and the revenue they can grow — and judged by how precisely they talk about both.
Ten items. Work through the activities and say your answer out loud before you reveal it.
Three terms: land and expand · churn · renewal. Say the right one, then reveal.
A composite scene, built for teaching: the people and figures are invented, but the pattern is one that client-facing leaders describe again and again.
A director at an advisory firm wants to win a national healthcare provider. The client spends about a million euros a year with three competing firms and has no single adviser on digital strategy. The director has never worked with the provider, but a former colleague now sits on its board.
She asks the colleague for a short introduction, not a recommendation. In the first meeting, she does not talk about her firm at all. She has spent a week reading the provider’s annual report and offers a view on one of its three stated priorities: reducing the time between a patient’s referral and treatment.
The provider’s chief operating officer says it is the first time an outside firm has told her something she did not already know. She proposes a six-week pilot, priced at about €400,000, with a clear question to answer.
1. How did the director get her first meeting, and what did she ask for?
2. What did she do differently in the meeting from most suppliers?
1. A warm introduction from a former colleague on the board — she asked for an introduction, not a recommendation.
2. She did not talk about her firm; she offered a view on one of the client’s own priorities, which she had researched.
The pilot answers its question and identifies two more problems. Instead of proposing a large programme at once, the director asks the chief operating officer for a standing quarterly conversation, and keeps it separate from the billing cycle. Each quarter she brings one idea that may or may not lead to work.
In year two, the provider commissions a second programme worth €1.2 million. In year three, the chief executive begins calling her before board meetings. The account grows from €400,000 to €2.5 million, and the provider introduces the firm to two other organisations.
She now says that the pilot was the smallest part of the relationship. What mattered was that for three years every conversation produced something useful, even when nothing was sold.
1. How did the account grow from the pilot to the programme?
2. What did the director say mattered most in the relationship?
1. She kept a standing quarterly conversation with an idea each time; this led to a €1.2 million second programme and then a larger relationship, growing the account from €400,000 to €2.5 million.
2. That every conversation produced something useful for the client, even when nothing was sold.
In year three the provider’s budget is cut by almost a fifth. The director has a choice. The cut makes part of the programme unnecessary, but the programme is worth €700,000 a year to her firm. Her finance colleagues want her to defend the full scope.
She does the opposite. She tells the chief operating officer that about a third of the scope can wait, and proposes a smaller programme at a lower fee. Her firm’s revenue from the account falls by about 15% that year.
The next year the provider doubles its spend with her firm. But a colleague asks whether she would have made the same choice if her own bonus had depended on the quarter’s numbers. She says she is not sure.
1. What did the director do when the client’s budget was cut?
2. What was the colleague’s challenge, and how did she answer it?
1. She told the client that about a third of the scope could wait and proposed a smaller programme at a lower fee; her firm’s revenue on the account fell by about 15% that year.
2. Whether she would have done the same if her own bonus had depended on the quarter’s numbers; she said she was not sure.
A senior candidate is expected to talk about numbers precisely. Imprecision with prepositions and percentages can make a strong result sound unreliable.
Complete each sentence with one word.
“The account grew €400,000 €2.5 million in three years.”
“Renewal rates rose six per cent.”
“We achieved an increase eighteen per cent year on year.”
from · to · by · of
By = the size of the change; from/to = the two ends of it; of = after the noun.
Complete each sentence.
“Our margin improved from 20% to 23%, an improvement of three .”
“Churn fell from 10% to 5%, so it .”
“Revenue was €10 million in 2022 and €15 million in 2023, an increase of fifty .”
percentage points · halved · per cent
Percentage points describe the gap between two percentages; per cent describes the change relative to the starting point.
A panel asks: “Tell me about your largest account.” Complete the answer.
“It was a seven-figure account. Over three years it grew €400,000 €2.5 million, which is an increase of five hundred per cent. The renewal rate above 90%, and the client has introduced us to two other organisations.”
from · to · more than · was
Always give both ends of a change, or the size of it, so the panel can check your arithmetic if it wants to.
Take these into the Speak tab: you will use exactly this language under time pressure.
This is a composite scene, so there is no real balance sheet to check. What follows is the argument about what a client question actually tests.
Most senior panels score on the same five things, whatever the question. You will use this scorecard to mark your own mock interview in the Speak tab.
| Criterion | What the panel is listening for |
|---|---|
| Structure | The listener can follow the shape of the answer (headline, steps, result). |
| Evidence | A specific example, with a number, instead of a general claim. |
| Ownership | It is clear what I personally decided or did, and what the team did. |
| Relevance | It connects to the role and the organisation I am talking to. |
| Delivery | Calm pace, no long fillers, finished within the time. |
A business-development question is not about charm. It is a probe for three things: whether you have a repeatable method rather than a lucky break, whether you understand the client’s problem rather than your own product, and whether you can speak about money with the precision of a person who has been accountable for it.
In the scene, the director’s breakthrough was not the pitch: it was the quarterly meeting that produced something useful regardless of whether it led to work. This is the logic of trusted-adviser relationships: value first, revenue as a consequence. The risk is that your own firm sees the unbilled time as waste.
The principled reading: she put the client’s interests first and was rewarded when they doubled their spend. The sceptical reading: she judged that candour was good for the long-term account, which is also a commercial calculation. A senior answer does not claim to be purely altruistic.
All of it out loud, against the clock. These are the rooms in which a senior client-facing leader has to talk about relationships: the panel, the client, your own firm and the market.
Decide before you click, and say why.
A client story has three parts. Choose one real relationship, write your own words in each part, then compare with a model.
“Tell me about a significant client relationship you built or grew.”
Context: “A national healthcare provider was spending heavily with three competitors and had no single adviser for its digital strategy. I saw an opportunity to become that adviser.”
Approach: “I secured an introduction through a former colleague, prepared a short point of view on their data challenges, and proposed a six-week pilot. After the pilot, I met their chief executive every quarter and used those conversations to identify two further programmes.”
Impact: “The account grew from €400,000 to €2.5 million in three years. They are now one of our top three clients, and they introduced us to two other organisations.”
Notice: a clear opportunity, a repeatable method, specific numbers and evidence that the relationship lasted.
Close your notes and give the answer aloud in about two minutes. Then give it again with one improvement.
Fill in your own details, then answer whatever the cards give you. Draw a question, answer it, then draw a follow-up.
A major client’s budget has been cut by 20%. Say it four ways, one minute each.
Prefer a different situation? Take one of these instead:
A panel member says: “Anyone can grow an account in a good market. What did you do that your predecessor could not?”
Answer properly: concede what the market contributed, isolate your own contribution with a number, and say what you would do differently. Then do it again in ninety seconds.
Six questions in a random order, as in a real interview. Use the timer for each answer, give each one two minutes at most, and do not stop to correct yourself. Score yourself at the end.
Choose the three you find hardest. Prepare a structure for each, then answer them aloud.