Trusted Advisor Self-Diagnostic--With a Twist

A Self-Assessment for Trusted Advisor Status. The following 20-question quiz gives you a score on your trusted advisor level. We have used it in our seminar sessions for 5 years, and have collected a large amount of responses.

But wait. Before you fill it out--do you really trust a 20-question quiz that purports to tell you how trustworthy you are? Hopefully not--but by all means, take it anyway. Answer the questions using the pull-down menus. Click the "calculate score" button and the page will add up your score. Having gotten a score, click the "Proceed for Interpretation" link at the bottom to read about what it means.

(Hint--it's about much more than just ranking you on a scale from thief to saint).

1. You have, on several occasions, called your client just to touch base--no agenda
2. The client calls you in to jointly develop next year's budget for your firm
3. Sometimes the client calls you just to talk, no specific agenda
4. The client has told you how (s)he really feels about his or her boss
5. You know the name of your client's spouse or significant other
6. You know the name of your client's children, or parents, or siblings
7. Your client discusses firing or hiring or promoting people who report to him/her
8. Your relationship with your client is better than the relationship (s)he has with other outside professionals
9. You know more about your client than do other professionals (s)he deals with
10. Both you and the client have asked each other personal favors outside the business context
11. Your client calls you specifically to discuss things outside the scope of the engagement
12. Your client refers to you as a "vendor"
13. Your client has asked you several times to justify invoice amounts and cost levels
14. You haven't talked to your client in the last 14 days
15. You found out indirectly that your client is talking to a competitor
16. Your client refers you to the purchasing department to talk about additional business
17. You know your client's annual corporate revenue number within 20%
18. You don't know your client's annual corporate revenue number within 50%
19. If a new client says to you, "I want to be sure you'll only assign your best staff," you would respond: a. I assure you we will b. As a matter of policy we do c. We only have the best d. Lets define "best" together for you e. Have you had a negative experience before? Can you tell me about it?
20. If a sales prospect said to you, "We are particularly interested in functional expertise," you would respond: a. I'm glad, because we have the best b. I'll be happy to give you referrals c. Tell me what that means to you d. Tell me more about why that's so critical to you

Score is expressed as your score out of 28 (the highest score possible).