Grow Your Client Goldmine

Turn client relationships into lasting partnerships

 

You’ve fueled the pipeline, you sealed the deal – now it’s time to build on every win! 

Winning a client is just the beginning – the key lies in nurturing and expanding those relationships. This workshop gives you the tools to strengthen client partnerships, secure more work and create a steady stream of opportunities without over-reliance on one or two big accounts.

 

Who Should Attend

Design studio owners, agency leaders and freelancers who want to deepen relationships with existing clients, unlock repeat business and develop a balanced portfolio of work across multiple accounts.

Programme objectives – what you’ll take away

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

• Build stronger, lasting relationships with your design clients
• Turn first meetings into repeat business with practical strategies
• Overcome common networking and relationship-building challenges
• Create balance by avoiding over-dependency on a small client base
• Confidently identify when (and how) to step away from the wrong clients for you
• Make time for client development and business growth in your busy schedule

What you will Experience

This is not just theory –  it’s a hands-on, interactive workshop packed with practical tools, resources and strategy you can start applying straight away to your client relationships.

Schedule

1 x 2 Hours online session

Tuesday, January 20th 2026 – from 12pm to 2pm

Fees

Member Price (IDI, IAPI, ICAD, 100 Archive members)*: €129

Non-Member Price: €170

 

*Current Members of  IDI, IAPI, ICAD, 100 Archive working in the private or commercial semi-state sector and based in the Republic of Ireland can avail of subsidised fees on the workshops! Find out how to become a member and avail of the subsidies.

 

This workshop is part of our Turn Leads into Lasting Partners . Start with Fuel Your Client Pipeline to master lead generation, continue with Seal the Deal to sharpen your conversion skills, and finish with Grow Your Client Goldmine to unlock long-term growth.

About the trainer

Derek is the founder and CEO of ‘The Customer’ and will lead and deliver this workshop for Design Skillnet. He brings excellent knowledge and understanding of the B2B services sector having trained as a chartered accountant with PwC and then spent 20 years in senior Business Development, training and executive coaching roles.

Derek is passionate about helping leaders and their teams to build stronger client relationships and win more business. Always with a focus on excellent service and strong commercial results. He has developed and delivered bespoke training and coaching programmes for a wide range of clients including Design Skillnet on all aspects of sales, pitching, fee negotiation, relationship building, networking and key account management.

Derek works with other experienced sales and people specialists to coach, train and advise clients in meeting their growth ambitions. A qualified executive coach from Smurfit Business School and an accredited member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Derek coaches and advises senior executives and their teams on their business growth, people engagement, talent development and teamwork and in developing and delivering impactful presentations and communication strategies.