Who Knows You?
๐ช๐ต๐ผ ๐๐ป๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐?
To all the CEO / Owners / Leaders out there...
If you are planning to step away as CEO of the company, you need to make introductions sooner rather than later because if clients see you as irreplaceable (as in, โI am loyal to Smith & Rogers because Iโve known John Smith for over 20 yearsโ) they may view your successor as a โstrangerโ and at that point they are equal to ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ โ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณโ in the clientโs mind.
In other words, if you donโt ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐บ, then they will feel free to shop around to find a new [insert your profession here] just like you felt free to look for a new dentist when yours announced their retirement.
๐ก๐ข๐ง๐: This is especially important if you are not only the CEO but also the sole business development person.
๐ใฐ๏ธ๐ใฐ๏ธ๐
This missive came about from a conversation I was having with a client last week.
๐๐ client wants to wait until the last minute to tell ๐๐๐ clients that he is stepping down as CEO.
D A N G E R!!!
Think about it from the loyal client's perspective:
Why are you being sneaky about it?
You don't respect me enough to give me a heads-up?
What will this transition mean for me?!
YOU (Mr./Ms. CEO) have thought it through... but announcing it to your clients like it is no big deal will cause fear, anxiety, and even anger.
Trust me, there is an order and a process for transition, and part of that process is giving stakeholders an early heads-up.
I happen to be mentioning external clients here... but there are internal clients as well.
Don't undermine your well-intentioned transition by keeping it under wraps.
