All of us serve clients. They may be an internal business group or an external company that your firm depends upon to keep the lights on.
Research by a leading training organization showed that clients would not necessarily give their repeat business to firms they are satisfied with. They will only automatically contract with organizations that leave them “dancing in the streets.”
Here are five ways to do that.
1. Never Forget that you are Working With People.
You may think you are working with your Operations or Finance departments, but not really. You are working with Tina, Jim, and Joan. People who have hopes, wishes, and dreams.They certainly expect to get what they asked for out of this project, but they also expect to get something for themselves. Maybe it is a promotion, recognition, or a new set of skills.
No matter who you are working with on a project, there is one thing you must always remember: They are employees of your client’s organization and you are not. You can never afford to forget that. I don’t care how important you think you are. Clients are much closer to their own staff than they are to you. You need to treat everyone in your client organization like gold.
2. Set Reasonable Expectations.
Peter Block in his book FlawlessConsulting (1981) talks about the importance of being up front with your clients about what they can expect of you and what you can expect from them. He also discusses a consultant’s natural inclination to avoid talking about his or her expectations and needs for fear that it may blow the project.
There are clients who would like you to be able to complete projects without any involvement on their part. There are even be some organizations within your company who feel that you know need to rely upon them to direct even the smallest of activities. However, the truth lies in the middle. Completing a successful project involves a collaborative effort. Getting this out up front is a good way of planning for success instead of avoiding failure.
3. Be Flexible.
Stuff happens! Stuff that you and your could not have foreseen. The consultants of those clients who are “dancing in the streets” know that a good relationship requires flexibility.
4. Give Just a Little Bit More.
Getting the job done is not enough. For your client organizations to be “dancing in the streets delighted,” you have to give them a little bit more. I cannot tell you what that is. It could be being flexible about their need to slip the schedule for a couple of weeks or it could be revising that module after it was set in concrete. Your client organizations expect a little bit more, and they will get it from you or someone else.
5. Do a Darn Good Job.
To retain clients and be invited to do other projects with them, you have to do a good job. Whenever you can, quantify the success of your project by its return on investment. The bottom line is that cream rises, just average does not.
Block, Peter. Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used. San Diego; Pfeiffer & Company, 1981.
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