Introduction: Beyond the Transaction

In business, revenue is rarely generated by a single transaction alone. Sustainable growth depends on understanding customers, building trust with key stakeholders and recognising opportunities that might otherwise remain hidden within an existing client relationship.

Having worked as a Customer Success Manager at Scott Wilson PLC, now part of AECOM, I experienced first-hand how commercially valuable these relationships can be. My responsibilities extended beyond maintaining client contact. I managed internal and external stakeholders across 10 strategically identified and existing clients within the business plan, representing a combined portfolio worth more than £10 million in revenue.

This required a commercial perspective: understanding client priorities, identifying gaps in service delivery, facilitating communication between teams and recognising opportunities to strengthen existing accounts.

Two experiences stand out. Both reinforced my view that strong customer relationships are not simply a customer service consideration. They are a competitive business advantage.

1. The Value of Being Close to the Client

One of the most important lessons in customer relationship management is that meaningful commercial insight often comes from being close enough to the client to understand what is happening beyond the formal business relationship.

During my tenure at Scott Wilson PLC, I visited BBC MediaCity in Manchester, the major development associated with the BBC’s relocation to Salford Quays. The project represented the scale and complexity of a multimillion-pound construction and infrastructure environment, involving multiple stakeholders, significant commercial considerations and demanding delivery requirements.

I remember visiting the site, putting on my hard hat and seeing the project environment first-hand before sitting down with the project director.

That experience illustrates an important distinction between managing an account remotely and investing time in understanding the client’s operational reality.

A conversation with a senior stakeholder, supported by first-hand knowledge of the project, can reveal much more than a scheduled account review or a discussion about the next invoice. It can help uncover service delivery gaps, evolving client requirements and opportunities to provide additional value.

In this instance, the engagement helped identify potential upselling opportunities and areas where service delivery required closer attention.

The commercial significance is clear. When a business understands what its client is trying to achieve, it is better positioned to identify relevant services, strengthen the relationship and respond to needs before they become larger problems.

The lesson for business leaders: Customer relationships should be developed around an understanding of the client’s objectives, not simply the products or services already being purchased.

2. Understanding the Issue Behind a £1 Million Payment

Another experience involved visiting a waste management plant managed by Costain.

The client had an outstanding fee of approximately £1 million. From a purely transactional perspective, the immediate concern might have been to pursue payment, escalate the outstanding balance or ask the commercial team to resolve the issue.

However, I wanted to understand the circumstances behind the non-payment.

Visiting the facility gave me an opportunity to engage with the client, gain a better understanding of its operating environment and explore what might be preventing the payment from being resolved.

An established relationship made a practical difference. I could pick up the phone, obtain direct access to the relevant client contacts and establish whether there was an underlying issue that needed attention. I could then communicate that information to the commercial team so that the matter could be addressed with a clearer understanding of the client’s position.

This is an important aspect of customer success that can be overlooked when businesses focus too narrowly on financial reporting and payment collection.

An outstanding invoice is a commercial fact. The reason behind it is a separate question.

There may be a dispute, an unresolved service issue, a contractual misunderstanding, an administrative delay or another operational concern. Each requires a different response. Assuming the cause without investigating it can create unnecessary friction and potentially damage a valuable client relationship.

The ability to establish direct communication, understand the circumstances and connect the client with the appropriate internal team can help a business move from pursuing a symptom to addressing the underlying issue.

The lesson for business leaders: Commercial teams need more than financial data. They need reliable client intelligence that explains what is happening, why it is happening and what action is most likely to produce a positive outcome.

3. Existing Customers Are a Source of Growth

Businesses understandably invest considerable resources in acquiring new customers. Sales teams pursue new prospects, marketing departments generate leads and senior leaders monitor the pipeline.

However, an exclusive focus on acquisition can cause organisations to overlook the commercial potential of their existing customers.

An established client relationship provides a foundation of knowledge that a new prospect cannot immediately offer. The business may already understand the client’s operating model, decision-making structure, commercial priorities and service requirements.

That knowledge can support several growth opportunities:

• Cross-selling: Identifying complementary services that address additional client requirements.
• Upselling: Recognising when a client needs a broader or more sophisticated level of service.
• Account development: Building relationships with additional stakeholders and business units.
• Service improvement: Addressing delivery gaps that could otherwise undermine retention.
• Long-term revenue: Developing the relationship beyond the scope of the original contract.

My experience managing a portfolio of more than £10 million across 10 strategically identified and existing clients reinforced the importance of viewing account management as a commercial discipline.

The objective is not to sell more for the sake of it. It is to understand where the business can deliver additional value and where that value aligns with a genuine client need.

When that alignment exists, growth becomes a natural extension of the relationship rather than an isolated sales exercise.

4. Trust Creates Access to Better Information

Trust is frequently discussed as a desirable characteristic of business relationships. Its practical commercial value, however, deserves greater attention.

When clients trust a business partner, they are often more willing to share concerns, discuss changing requirements and raise issues before they become more serious.

That access to information can give an organisation an opportunity to respond earlier, improve service delivery and protect the relationship.

Without that trust, a business may only discover a problem when it appears in a formal complaint, a contract review, a delayed payment or a decision not to renew.

The difference is significant.

A business that understands a client’s concerns early can investigate the issue, coordinate the appropriate internal resources and agree a response. One that lacks access may find itself reacting to a problem after the commercial consequences have already emerged.

Trust does not eliminate disagreement or guarantee customer loyalty. It does, however, create better conditions for addressing difficult issues constructively.

For customer success professionals, account directors and commercial leaders, this makes relationship-building an essential part of risk management as well as growth.

5. Internal Relationships Matter as Much as External Ones

Strong customer relationships cannot be sustained by the account manager alone.

In complex organisations, delivering a positive client experience requires coordination across commercial teams, project directors, operational staff, finance and senior management. Each function may hold a different piece of information about the same client.

A project team may understand a delivery challenge. Finance may see an overdue payment. A commercial director may be responsible for the contractual position. The account manager may have the relationship and contextual knowledge needed to connect these perspectives.

If these teams operate in isolation, the organisation risks making decisions without a complete picture.

For example, pursuing an outstanding payment without understanding a client’s unresolved concern may produce a different outcome from approaching the issue with the relevant operational context. Similarly, identifying an upselling opportunity without consulting delivery teams may create expectations the business cannot fulfil.

Effective customer relationship management therefore depends on strong internal stakeholder relationships, clear communication and shared accountability.

At Scott Wilson PLC, managing both internal and external stakeholders was central to my role. The ability to communicate client intelligence across the business helped connect commercial objectives with the realities of project delivery and client requirements.

This is particularly important in organisations selling complex professional services, construction, infrastructure or other business-to-business solutions, where customer outcomes depend on multiple teams working together.

6. Customer Success Is a Commercial Responsibility

Customer success is sometimes treated as a function concerned primarily with satisfaction, engagement or resolving complaints. Those activities matter, but the commercial contribution is broader.

An effective customer success approach should help an organisation understand whether clients are receiving value, identify risks to the relationship and recognise opportunities for sustainable growth.

That requires a combination of relationship management, commercial judgement, communication and an understanding of the client’s business.

It also requires businesses to measure the right things.

Revenue growth and retention remain important, but leaders should consider additional indicators, including:

• The health and depth of relationships across key client stakeholders.
• The number and significance of unresolved service delivery issues.
• Opportunities identified within existing accounts and their subsequent outcomes.
• The causes of payment delays, disputes or customer dissatisfaction.
• Client renewal, retention and expansion performance.
• The effectiveness of collaboration between commercial, operational and finance teams.

These measures help shift the discussion from whether a business has maintained contact with a customer to whether that relationship is producing value for both parties.

The distinction matters because activity does not necessarily equal progress. Regular meetings, account reviews and customer communications are only valuable when they improve understanding, support decisions or contribute to better outcomes.

The Competitive Advantage: Relationships That Deliver Commercial Value

The experiences I gained at Scott Wilson PLC demonstrated that valuable customer relationships are built through practical engagement, direct communication and an understanding of the commercial issues affecting clients.

Visiting a major construction project provided an opportunity to understand the environment in which services were being delivered and identify potential upselling and service improvement opportunities. Visiting a waste management plant helped me investigate the circumstances surrounding an outstanding £1 million fee and communicate relevant information to the commercial team.

Neither example was simply about maintaining a customer relationship for its own sake. Both involved using that relationship to gain insight, connect people and support better commercial decisions.

For business leaders, the wider implication is that customer relationships should be recognised as part of the organisation’s commercial infrastructure.

They can help protect revenue, identify new opportunities, improve service delivery and provide access to information that would otherwise be difficult to obtain. Their value becomes particularly apparent when an organisation faces a challenge that cannot be resolved through a report, a contract or an automated process alone.

Technology can strengthen customer relationship management by improving visibility, organising information and helping teams identify patterns. However, systems are most effective when supported by people who can interpret the information, ask the right questions and engage stakeholders constructively.

The competitive advantage lies in bringing these elements together.

Final Thought

Businesses do not always need more customers to achieve growth. Sometimes, they need a better understanding of the customers they already have.

That means looking beyond transactions, investing in meaningful stakeholder relationships and ensuring that information gathered through those relationships reaches the people who can act on it.

My experience managing a £10 million-plus client portfolio reinforced a principle that remains relevant across industries: the strength of a customer relationship is measured not simply by how long it lasts, but by the value it helps both parties create.

For organisations seeking sustainable growth, that is a commercial advantage worth developing.

A Practical Framework for Turning Customer Relationships into Commercial Growth

Strong customer relationships do not deliver commercial value simply because they exist. Businesses need a structured approach to translate client knowledge into action, measurable outcomes and sustainable growth.

Drawing on my experience managing key accounts at Scott Wilson PLC, I would focus on six practical steps.

1. Prioritise the Right Customer Relationships

Identify the customers that matter most to the business based on revenue contribution, strategic importance, growth potential and the risk associated with losing the relationship.

Do not rely exclusively on current contract value. A smaller client with significant expansion potential or strategic influence may deserve as much attention as a larger established account.

Action: Develop a prioritised account portfolio with a named relationship owner, key stakeholders, current revenue, growth opportunities and known risks for each client.

Measure: Percentage of priority accounts with an up-to-date account development plan.

2. Get Closer to the Client’s Business

Move beyond scheduled reviews and routine communications. Understand the client’s operating environment, strategic priorities, delivery challenges and changing requirements.

This may involve site visits, conversations with project directors, meetings with operational teams or direct engagement with senior decision-makers.

My experience visiting BBC MediaCity in Manchester reinforced the value of understanding a project first-hand. The opportunity to engage with the project director and see the delivery environment provided a more informed basis for identifying potential service gaps and additional commercial opportunities.

Action: Schedule meaningful client engagements that explore business priorities, operational challenges and future requirements—not just contract performance.

Measure: Number of priority accounts with documented client objectives, current challenges and agreed follow-up actions.

3. Identify Risks and Opportunities Early

Use client conversations to identify issues that could affect retention, payment, service delivery or future revenue.

An outstanding invoice, for example, should prompt investigation into the circumstances behind the delay rather than an assumption about its cause. Equally, a discussion about changing operational requirements may reveal an opportunity to provide additional services.

My experience investigating an outstanding fee of approximately £1 million connected with a waste management plant managed by Costain demonstrated the value of direct client access and understanding the issue before communicating it to the commercial team.

Action: Maintain a live account register recording emerging risks, potential cross-selling and upselling opportunities, client concerns, responsible colleagues and next steps.

Measure: Time taken to resolve material client issues, value of qualified opportunities identified and percentage of agreed actions completed.

4. Connect Client Intelligence with Internal Decision-Making

Customer insight has limited value if it remains with the person who manages the relationship.

Ensure that relevant information reaches commercial, finance, operational and delivery teams so that the organisation can respond with a coordinated approach.

Action: Establish a regular cross-functional account review for priority clients. Review service performance, outstanding payments, stakeholder feedback, commercial opportunities and decisions requiring management attention.

Measure: Percentage of material client issues assigned to an accountable owner, with agreed actions and deadlines.

5. Convert Insight into Mutual Commercial Value

Do not treat every client conversation as a sales opportunity. First establish whether the client has a genuine requirement and whether the business can deliver a suitable solution.

Where an opportunity exists, connect the client’s needs with relevant services, develop a credible proposal and agree how success will be evaluated.

Action: For each qualified opportunity, document the client problem, proposed solution, expected commercial value, delivery requirements and next decision point.

Measure: Opportunity conversion rate, incremental revenue from existing accounts, client retention and evidence of improved service outcomes.

6. Review, Learn and Strengthen the Relationship

Customer relationship management should be continuous rather than a one-off exercise. Revisit account priorities, check whether previous concerns have been resolved and assess whether the relationship is developing in line with the client’s needs and the business’s objectives.

Action: Conduct quarterly strategic account reviews for priority clients, adjusting the approach when commercial circumstances, stakeholders or client requirements change.

Measure: Account revenue trends, retention and renewal rates, client feedback, outstanding risks and progress against account development plans.

Putting the Framework into Practice

Business leaders can begin with a focused 30-day exercise rather than introducing a complex new system.

• Week 1 — Assess: Select five priority accounts and review their revenue, relationship strength, stakeholder coverage and current risks.
• Week 2 — Engage: Speak directly with key client contacts to understand their priorities, concerns and changing requirements.
• Week 3 — Connect: Share relevant findings internally and assign owners to material risks, service improvements and qualified opportunities.
• Week 4 — Act: Agree priorities with each account team, establish measurable actions and set dates for reviewing progress.

At the end of the month, the business should have a clearer picture of where existing relationships are strong, where intervention is required and where realistic opportunities for growth exist.

The objective is not to introduce another administrative process. It is to ensure that the relationships a business has already invested in contribute more effectively to client outcomes, commercial resilience and sustainable revenue growth.

• Learn about the Business Partner services
• Visit the Strategy Growth Call page
• Access Keynotes & Workshops