By Michael W. McLaughlin
Over the years, I’ve asked my clients variations on the question, “What’s your take on what makes for an effective consulting relationship?”
As you’d expect, the answers are all over the map, and there’s no real science to my approach. But several key points come up over and over, regardless of industry, project type, or the client’s position in the organization. I thought I’d share those ideas with you and see what you’d add to the list.
Get the Client’s View
Once a client agrees to hire a consultant, a not-so-subtle shift takes place. The client’s assumptions about what it will be like to work with you transform into expectations. Clients emphasize this more than any other point: they want consultants to understand and meet those expectations.
Though some consultants strive to exceed expectations, most clients I’ve met are thrilled when a project simply goes according to plan. They are grateful to be pleasantly surprised with over-the-top results, but most don’t bank on any consultant’s promise to go beyond what’s expected.
The client’s primary expectation is that you will finish the work on time, on budget, and with minimal disruption. Most clients also appreciate consultants who help their people succeed, believe in the client’s future, and don’t surprise them with late-breaking bad news.
The client’s appreciation grows when consultants apply their skills to both solve the current problem and help the client’s team improve its own capabilities.
Be Enlightened by Your Expertise–Not Blinded
Clients I’ve talked to express a natural wariness of pre-baked solutions, and it’s not hard to understand why.
Consultants often try to differentiate themselves in the market by touting the combination of their expertise and the standard tools they use for conducting projects. Clients appreciate the speed and efficiency that standard consulting processes offer, but they want you to leverage those tools, rather than using them as a crutch.
The same principle applies to your knowledge. Clients value consultants whose minds are freed, not hamstrung, by their deep expertise. You’ll find that clients gravitate to consultants who solve problems in the context of what they’ve seen before, and don’t just automatically apply what worked last time.
In one case, for example, a consultant designed a performance management system using a standard model that had been developed for the client’s industry. It wasn’t until the program was constructed that the project team realized their fatal error: The program was unable to collect some essential data that the company’s executives used on a daily basis. The project lost its initial momentum as the team scrambled for a solution.
It’s easy to be blinded by your expertise and fall into the ninety-five percent trap. Relying on a solution that almost fits new problems is to risk damage to the project’s success and the client relationship.
Win the client’s approval by validating your diagnoses before suggesting solutions. And always bring your client along with you during the discovery phase of the project so your observations are tempered by the client’s reality.
You may think you have all the answers on day one, but take the time to be sure they are correct. In the client’s eyes, being ninety-five percent right is often no better than being completely wrong.
Ready, Set, Stop
In the well-known Toyota Production System, some workers are authorized to bring the production line to a screeching halt if they see a problem. Clients also want their consultants to “stop the line” under the right circumstances, and they appreciate the courage it can take to talk straight about how things are really going.
Clients complain about consultants who fail to act as an objective early warning system when something isn’t right. Many clients recognize that their own view can be obscured by optimistic reports from subordinates or a general lack of knowledge about what it takes to get a project done. One of the reasons they hire us is to keep everyone honest.
Earlier in my career, I was conducting a series of client interviews to confirm how an upcoming project would get done. A key member of the client team laid a long list of other company initiatives on the table between us and asked, “Which of these other top priorities should we stop doing so my people can work on this project?”
As we continued to discuss the skills his people would need to support the new project, it became clear that the client team wasn’t ready to start–in spite of assurances made by the project sponsor.
We recommended that the project be delayed until the client’s people could reorganize themselves to take on the new project. The client commended our team for encouraging the delay, even though it meant we unsold the project that we had competed so hard to get.
In addition to making the call on initial preparation, you must also reassess the client’s situation on a continuous basis. One project team neglected to test the readiness of a group of inventory planners before implementation of a new process for placing supplier orders. The team reasoned that earlier training had been adequate to equip the staff for the new process.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Once the client began to use the new process, the work of the planners fell apart. The result was three weeks of misplaced orders and a decline in customer service. They also lost out on additional opportunities for cost savings. A potentially flawless project was derailed because the client’s people were not ready–and the consulting team didn’t see it and take action.
Clients may resist it if anyone tries to “stop the line.” But they do value consultants’ honest, objective opinions on the probability of success–especially if you turn out to be right. They’ll always appreciate the consultant who is there with the straight answer to the question, “Are we ready?”
Exit Stage Left
We’re all aware of the importance of follow-on sales to the health of a practice, and our clients recognize it too. That’s why they appreciate it when we do the work and go home, rather than grasping for reasons to stick around.
I can’t resist telling you one client cautionary tale. After this client built an information system to manage the company’s transportation scheduling, they asked the consultant who helped with the project to manage the process until things stabilized.
This short-term solution morphed into what amounted to a tenured position for the consultant. As time passed, this small, but important, program got lost in the corporate shuffle. After a handful of key executive changes, the only one in the company with any substantive knowledge of the program was the consultant. He had a permanent office at the company, kept his own schedule, and refused to cede control of the system to anyone else.
He was finally asked to leave just before his seven-year anniversary with the company.
Of course, that was a unique situation few clients would tolerate. But clients do like it when you explicitly discuss the details of your exit strategy—at the outset and again at appropriate junctures.
Clients appreciate that your primary interest is in reaching their objectives, not building your business. Surprise them by showing your real intentions. Stay focused on how and when you plan to exit. You may find that intent leads to more requests for additional work than any efforts to sell follow-on projects.
I am not suggesting that you go into hibernation. One of your valued roles is to help clients find opportunities to improve their businesses. But sometimes, a pull is better than a push. And there’s no better way to pull a good client toward you than focusing on how and when you will be gone from the scene.
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