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Within
the first two weeks of your consulting career you heard all
the usual consultant jokes. Sad but true, some of those
jokes have a barb in them.
Even the
thickest-skinned consultants are sometimes stung by the fact
that they are not universally loved and welcomed by clients.
Why do clients sometimes fail to appreciate consultants?
The consultant types no one likes:
Take
a deep breath and look at things through the clients’
eyes. There are four types of consultants they hate to see -
with good reason!
Dr. Doom:
Dr.
Doom specializes in identifying 16 reasons why it - whatever
“it” may be - just won’t work. These good doctors take
great pride in their knowledge of what a disaster your shop
is. They don’t necessarily know how to fix it, but they
sure know it’s broken (and, of course, you, the person who
oversees the shop, broke it)!
The Wizard of Oz:
The
Wizards love to play with flipcharts, slides and PowerPoint
presentations while making booming pronouncements. Much of
the time no one can understand these pronouncements or
relate them to the need of the business. And sometimes
Wizards make the client wonder if, like Dorothy and Toto
discovered, there’s more than a little more smoke and
mirrors than real wizardry.
The Busboy:
The
kid who cleans tables in the restaurant probably isn’t
going to cook your meal, change your oil or help you with
estate planning. He’s just there to clean the tables,
okay?
Some
consultants, despite their talents, are essentially busboys
- they do their jobs, no more, no less and leave clients
with the sneaking suspicion that the consultant doesn’t
really care if the overall enterprise succeeds or fails.
The Tinkerer:
Tinkerers
are as good as the best mechanics at taking things apart.
Unfortunately, they don’t quite know how to put it all
back together! And sometimes, those parts scattered about
makes the client wonder if they aren’t worse off than they
were before the consultant showed up!
OUCH! Clients may
not use the funny names above, but I promise you, they know
those consultants. A single experience with one of the
consultants described above - and they are not uncommon -
could be the reason some clients are less than ecstatic when
you show up.
In some cases those
labels and lack of respect are not deserved and in other
cases … well, if you’re Dr. Doom, the phony Wizard, the
Busboy or the Tinkerer you may deserve just what you get,
despite your good intentions. (Oh, and by the way - if you
aren’t thick-skinned, forget consulting as a
career).
This presents an opportunity for you!
It doesn’t matter
whether you actually are one of these types or just
perceived to be one. If you do find yourself being perceived
incorrectly, take some action. For example if you are seen
as the “Busboy” then be more proactive, demonstrate your
expertise beyond the immediate technical challenge and go
from being a contractor to a true consultant.
Think in terms of
you, the consultant, again. Here are the things you can do
that will keep you from falling into one of those horrible
types above. And by avoiding being one of those
dysfunctional types you have an opportunity to add real
value to your clients' efforts.
Help the client save face.
Do not read this as “sweeping
problems under the rug.” That cover-up approach is a
disaster for everyone. But good consultants know that
problems occur even in the best-run departments. You, the
consultant, can face brutal reality and still find ways to
support people.
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Use positive
vs. negative language. Think about these two comments
from consultant to client: 1: “The way you have
done it works but it’s only half the speed it
should be” vs. 2: “The way you have done it
works and we know a way to make it even faster,
maybe even twice as fast.” (Note the difference,
without changing meaning, that comes from using “and”
in place of “but.”)
-
Assume the best
of intentions and actions. Comments from consultant to
client again: 1. “If you had spent a little more
time looking you could have found five software packages
better than this one. This is the worst one” vs.
2. “With your busy schedule you probably needed to
find a software package that worked and this one does.
We have the time to look at a lot of packages.”
(Note that you put your firm up without putting the
client down.)
Know the big picture.
Your clients aren’t
running their department in a vacuum. Good consultants
listen to their clients and try to understand the overall
context.
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THINK
LIKE A CLIENT
Often
preached, seldom practiced. Actually pretend
that you are Judy, John, Maria or any of the real
people WITH whom you work at client locations.
Think about their boss, their boss’s boss.
What do each one of those people have to
benefit from you, the consultant, in term of how your
help the business unit for which they have
responsibility? How do they benefit on a very
personal level?
What damage could you do if you didn’t
do your job right?
What could you, the consultant, do to
gain their trust? |
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Listen! Odd but
true, consultants often skip the step of listening to
their clients!
-
Put things in
context. Find out a little about what the organization
is trying to do this quarter, the next few years; find
out the same thing for this subsidiary; this department;
the person across from you. It may not affect your work
to see this big picture; it may have tremendous impact.
This is not “playing politics” in a negative or
deceitful sense; it is trying to find that
corny-sounding (but real) win/win we should always look
for.
Speak their language (and listen!)
Einstein once said
the test of a good theory of physics was whether you could
explain it to the average 8th grader. There is no reason
cutting edge technical information cannot be explained in
the clients’ terms.
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“Helpful”
things that actually hurt
There
are some things that look helpful to the novice –
or experienced – consultant that actually backfire
in the long run on both the consultant and the
client.
Don’t
“go native!” It’s easy, especially
with fun clients, to become “one of the gang”
and think like they do, act like they do, dress like
they do, go for drinks after work, etc. This
is an area where you need a mentor at times because
there is a fine but definite line you must not
cross. You are the coach to their team but you
are not on their team – you’ll be leaving.
You should be a friendly consultant but you are
their consultant, not their friend. Maintain a
professional distance by being a notch or two more
formal at all times than you would with coworkers.
Stay
away from “sugarcoating.” Clients will
often like you better if they never get bad news;
but keeping them informed means sometimes giving
them bad news. Be tactful but be direct enough
that they don’t miss the message. Bad-news items
often snowball into big problems.
Submit
a solution with every problem. It’s never
enough to communicate the bad news. Work up a
recommended solution before you give bad news. |
Say
it more than once. To be heard, the message needs to be
repeated in the same meeting. You may use slightly
different phrasing but you should say it more than once.
Let me say again: when people hear a message the
second time they hear it even better. (Just as you
just did.)
Care about the clients’ success
The Dallas-based
consulting firm of CDG and Associates has a core belief, a
foundation concept: “We will never let the client fail.”
How do you think that makes the client feel?
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Keep
“client success” in mind! The simple act of having
this goal written down where you see it will remind you
of it and help orient your thinking.
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Build
an organization founded on this concept. This
orientation can come from you as an individual but
primarily it needs to be a part of the culture of the
entire consulting firm.
Some consultants are welcome
Good
consultants build their business on repeat business. They
are asked back not only by the top decision makers but by
the people with whom they interface. If you want to be one
of those appreciated consultants, practice the tips above!
Also
by Bob Rose: When Clients Get Angry
Dr. Bob Rose, an
industrial psychologist and a Principal of Rose Porterfield
Group (RPG), has been consulting to business in
teambuilding, hiring and solving people problems since 1976.
The Principals of RPG have written books and articles on
psychological assessment and people issues in business. RPG
consults to management teams in a wide range of industries
including consulting firms.
He can be reached at
(214) 234-0266 or e-mail at: rose@roseporterfieldgroup.com.
His web site: http://roseporterfieldgroup.com/
Copyright
© 2002 Brazos Consulting . You may reprint
or distribute this document as long as it has not been
modified and proper credit is given to Brazos Consulting and
The Consulting Academy. Web links are permitted only in a
"new window". |
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Random tips from our
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Random tips from our "73 tips for IT
professionals" booklet:
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Tip #13 (Requirements Gathering) Good consultants do not conduct "interviews." They conduct "conversations": an exchange of facts, ideas, challenges and possible solutions, in a format that's neither free-for-all nor controlling. Preparing questions ahead of time (and keeping them in your head) might help, if you're willing to throw them away when they're not needed.
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Also:
Why are
clients the way they are?
They
never said they needed that
"Is
that your final answer? Consulting and the Millionaire
show"
Surprıses
are for Valentıne's Day
Managing
scope creep
When
clients get angry
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