What Clients Need From a Trusted Partner
When clients see you’re focused on helping them succeed, even hard conversations end up pulling you closer instead of pushing you apart.
Sandra Struebing, Microsoft Alliance Senior Account Executive
My name is Shundrian Green, Senior Service Delivery Manager at Beyondsoft, and I lead our Real Talk blog series.
Throughout my career, I’ve worked closely with clients, stakeholders, and team members to remove obstacles, simplify how work gets done, and help teams reach their goals in ways that make sense for their business.
Business has changed a lot over the past few years. Technology continues to move quickly, but the bigger challenge is often figuring out how to keep work moving forward when the old playbook no longer fits.
Budgets are tighter, teams are stretched, and leaders are wearing more hats than ever. So, I asked my friend and colleague Sandra Struebing, our Senior Account Executive for Microsoft Alliance, to share how she helps turn complex business conversations into practical, tangible outcomes for clients.
In her role, Sandra works with clients who use Microsoft services to support their business, operations, and productivity needs.
Shundrian: Tell us about your role at Beyondsoft.
Sandra: I’m a Microsoft Alliance Senior Account Executive at Beyondsoft. I build relationships with Microsoft and help clients use what they’re paying for, whether that’s Copilot, Azure, security tools, or whatever else fits their world. I work closely with Microsoft sellers, customers, and Beyondsoft delivery teams to identify opportunities, develop solutions, and clients achieve business outcomes. My job is simple: match the client’s real problem with the right people and the right tools, so they can get more done and worry less.
Shundrian: What changes have you noticed in how we build and manage client relationships?
Sandra: Client relationships have gotten a lot more serious this past year.
Clients are looking for trusted advisors who understand their business goals, industry challenges, and growth priorities. The conversations have shifted from selling solutions to helping clients achieve outcomes that matter to their business.
Over the past year, I’ve seen three key trends:
- Clients want proof, not promises.
They’re asking, “what do I get for this money?” and not “what features does it have?” - Trust matters more than ever.
That means being honest, showing up consistently, and admitting it when something goes wrong. - Everyone’s curious about AI, but nobody wants to be the guinea pig.
Clients want help going from “let’s try it” to “let’s use this without breaking anything.” This isn’t account management anymore. It’s being the person a client calls when something’s on fire.
Shundrian: I’m going to switch gears and talk about client struggles. What are the most common struggles you see clients dealing with today?
Sandra: When working with enterprise clients, the biggest struggles I see are business and organizational challenges.
1. Moving from AI interest to business value.
Everyone wants AI. Almost nobody knows where to start. Clients get excited, then stall out because they haven’t defined what success looks like.
2. Aligning stakeholders across the organization.
Getting different teams aligned is half the battle. Keeping that agreement alive past kickoff is the other half.
3. Data readiness and governance.
Clients want to move fast, then hit a wall. Their data is scattered across different systems and nobody’s sure who owns what.
4. Change management and user adoption.
Implementing technology is the easy part. Helping people change the way they work is much harder. Companies underestimate the importance of training, communication, and executive sponsorship needed to drive adoption and realize value.
5. Balancing innovation with risk.
Leaders are stuck between “move fast” and “don’t break anything.” Security, budget, and compliance don’t disappear just because there’s pressure to innovate. Finding the right balance between moving fast and governing responsibly is a constant challenge.
My job is to get the right people in a room, match the tech to what they’re trying to solve, and hand them a plan they can follow, not a slide deck. The most successful engagements are those where we focus less on technology and more on the business outcomes our clients want to achieve.
Shundrian: I’m reflecting on a conversation I had with another colleague about building strong connections and turning your clients into advocates. Tell us how you establish strong connections with your clients or sponsors, and turn them into advocates?
Sandra: Let me answer that in three parts. First, building strong connections isn’t a transaction, it’s a relationship. Before I pitch, I want to understand their strategic priorities, challenges, success metrics, and what matters most to their leadership team. This allows me to have conversations that are relevant to their business, not just about technology.
Second, I show up as someone who’s there to help, not someone who’s there to sell.
Third, I do what I say I’ll do. Every time. That’s what builds trust, more than any pitch does.
I also make sure the right people are talking to each other. Half my job is just introducing people who should already know each other.
Finally, I don’t disappear when the project ends. I want clients to think of me as part of their team, not a vendor they call when they need something.
It comes down to three things: be credible, be consistent, and be empathetic.
And when it comes to turning clients into advocates: I make sure they get the credit, not me.
It’s not flattery. The best advocates are the ones who trust you.
Shundrian: I want to go deeper and ask a sticky question. How do you de-escalate a discussion when it starts heading in the wrong direction?
Sandra: I’ve learned that when we’re working with people, we’re dealing with feelings. The first step is to listen and acknowledge the concern. That immediately lowers the temperature and shows I’m there to partner, not debate.
Most “disagreements about technology” aren’t about the technology. They’re about budget, timing, or somebody’s boss breathing down their neck.
I redirect the discussion toward shared objectives. A phrase I often use is, “Let’s come back to what success looks like for the business?” As an Account Executive, I find that aligning everyone to the desired outcome helps move the conversation from positions to solutions.
If we messed up, I say so. Owning a mistake builds more trust than defending it ever will.
The goal was never to win the argument. It’s to keep the relationship and the project moving.
In short, my approach to de-escalation is: Listen → Acknowledge → Clarify the root issue → Re-align on business outcomes → Create a path forward.
When clients see you’re focused on helping them succeed, even hard conversations end up pulling you closer instead of pushing you apart.
Shundrian: That makes sense. As clients’ needs continue to change, what sales tactics have you seen fall flat or become less effective in today’s landscape?
Sandra: I think several traditional sales tactics are becoming far less effective in today’s business landscape.
First, pitching the service before you understand the problem. Nobody wants to hear about what you want to sell. They want to know what changes for them.
Second, betting everything on one sponsor or champion. If your only friend in the building leaves, so does the project.
Third, fake urgency. “Buy now or lose the deal” doesn’t work on people who use LLMs to find answers in ten seconds. It just burns trust.
Fourth, selling technology without a clear adoption strategy. Clients are increasingly focused on budget, governance, change management, user adoption, and ROI. If you can’t say why it matters, the deal stalls.
Finally, treating it like a one-time sale. Clients want a partner who sticks around, not someone who vanishes after the contract is signed.
Today’s most effective sales approach is built on trust, business outcomes, stakeholder alignment, and long-term partnerships. When you focus on helping clients solve strategic business challenges rather than selling a solution, the sales conversation becomes much more productive and valuable for everyone involved.
Shundrian: After you’ve completed a project, how would you approach your client to do a follow up project with you since you know their environment, team culture, and stakeholders?
Sandra: Once a project is delivered, I schedule an executive business review to evaluate what was accomplished, what value was realized, and what lessons were learned. I want the discussion to be centered on outcomes, lessons learned, and not on selling the next project.
Because I’ve worked closely with their teams, stakeholders, and know their organizational culture, I’m able to spot the next problem before they do. For example, a Copilot project turns into a conversation about their messy data, or their security gaps. We do a quick brainstorm session on dependencies, sequences, and identifying the right problems to solve next.
Clients appreciate that we already understand their stakeholders, decision-making process, culture, and risk considerations, which reduces onboarding time and accelerates value realization.
Ultimately, follow-on business happens when clients view you as a trusted advisor rather than a vendor. If you’ve delivered measurable results, built credibility, communicated transparently, and stayed focused on their success, the conversation naturally shifts from “Should we work together again?” to “What’s the next challenge we should solve together?”
Shundrian: If you could go back in time, what is the single most important advice you would give to yourself?
Sandra: “Talk less, listen more.”
Early in my career, I thought success came from having all the answers, knowing every product detail, and presenting the perfect solution. Over time, I learned that the most successful client relationships are built by asking better questions, listening carefully, and truly understanding the clients’ business, challenges, and goals.
What I’ve learned is that clients rarely remember the presentation or the proposal. They remember whether you truly understood their situation, how effectively you helped them navigate complexity, and whether they trusted you to have their best interests in mind.
B2B selling requires both discipline and empathy. The real value isn’t in knowing the technology, it’s in connecting business strategy, people, and outcomes.
Deals come and go. Trust is the only thing that compounds over an entire career.That’s the lesson I wish I had learned earlier in my career.
Shundrian: Thank you Sandra for sharing your insights. It’s been great catching up with you. What stood out most from this conversation is that the strongest client relationships are built when challenges arise and people work through them together.
Clients do not just need solutions; they need trusted partners who understand their business and help move things forward. Lead with trust, listen well, and focus on outcomes to create partnerships that last.
At Beyondsoft, that’s the focus. We’re not chasing quick sales. We’re building relationships that last. That means going past the tech stack conversation and getting into what’s really keeping our clients up at night. Then connecting the right technology to what their business needs, so they get value on their terms, not ours.
Sandra put it best: “It comes down to three things: be credible, be consistent, and be empathetic.”
If you’re looking for a partner to help you move your business forward with new technology, we want to build that with you, reach out.