FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE QUALITY OF A RELATIONSHIP


For the remainder of this chapter we will be looking at client relationships in the context of a consultancy project. Every consultancy project starts with a fund of goodwill from the client towards the consultant. There is no particular reason under normal circumstances why this should be exhausted during a project - except by mismanagement! So, what a consultant needs to know is the anatomy of client satisfaction (or dissatisfaction), which can be derived from an understanding of the client relationship. The quality of a client relationship will depend on:

  • features of the consultancy practice;

  • characteristics of the client;

  • the consultancy project being undertaken and its effect on the relationship.

Given an understanding of these, a consultant can plan and manage a client relationship to optimize it. The chapter therefore concludes with some suggestions of the skills and activities that will help to create satisfied clients.

Features of the Consultancy Practice

One reason that client relationships suffer is that there is a natural conflict between the needs of a consultancy practice and those of its clients. This is illustrated in Figure 9.4.

Clients want:

Consultancies want:

The most appropriate consultant

Instant attention

To pay only for the time spent on the job

Experienced consultants

To use who's available

To service a number of clients

To bill as much time as possible

To train inexperienced consultants

To spread experienced people thinly


Figure 9.4: The different wants of clients and consultancies

This conflict becomes focused on the individual consultant, who is subject to demands from several sources. Consultants often have more than one client, each with their own requirements and seeking a level of service as if each was the only client. The consultant also has duties to his or her own employer and superiors (see Figure 9.5).

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Figure 9.5: Conflicting demands on a consultant

Taken together, these demands may present a consultant with a dilemma; does he look after client A or client B first? Does he or she carry out the additional work that he or she knows client C requires, or does he or she take on the more lucrative work of client D? Consultants will also have their own preferences in terms of the type of work they undertake or clients they deal with, which will also influence the choices they make. The skill with which consultants can deal with these conflicting demands has a considerable influence over their ability to manage the client relationship.

Characteristics of the Client

Not only does the consultant have a responsibility for the quality of a client relationship - the client also has a responsibility. This is not simply policing the services being provided by the consultant - it is active cooperation. The relationship between consultant and client should be a partnership, working together towards the same project goals.

The individual with whom the consultant is dealing will also be subject to demands, as shown in Figure 9.5. Sometimes these change and in turn so too do his or her requirements of the consultant. The consultant must be sufficiently flexible to respond to these changes where necessary.

Another important consideration is how well the client uses consultants. Being an employer does not automatically make someone a good manager. Similarly, although the client is paying a fee, this does not make them expert at using consultants.

What makes for a good client? Eve Bingham, writing in Management Consultancy magazine cited the following, based on her research. 'Good clients bring to [the] relationship:

  • a clear picture of desired results, but not how to achieve them;

  • a tough, questioning approach to proposals, demanding to see how a course of action will deliver;

  • a recognition of the importance of feedback, so the consultant constantly learns about results, positive or negative, of their interventions;

  • an appreciation that it needs time to build a relationship by keeping in touch, taking time to explore the brief and encourage questions, to review feedback and to redesign the project if necessary;

  • a sensitivity to the importance of acknowledging a positive contribution: the ability to say thank you.'

Helping the Client Become a Good Client

In recent years, more attention has been paid to the skills of being a good client. The Institute of Management Consultancy sponsors a Client User Group, which has studied the characteristics of a good client. These are being updated continuously, and so refer to the Institute's Web site (www.imc.co.uk) for the most recent thinking on the topic.

Not all clients, sadly, exhibit these characteristics, so one of the tasks of consultants is to help their clients to become good clients. After all, if the client has never used consultants before, there is no reason why they should be able to use them well. And, even if they have used them, they may be misguided. So here are three, contradictory, precepts to remember in dealing with clients:

  • The client is always wrong. The popular adage is, of course, 'The customer is always right.' This cannot - must not - be the case in consultancy, where the consultant's role is to take a view independent of the client. You should therefore question the assumptions, objectives and constraints set by clients and ask, 'Are these appropriate?'

  • The client is often right. Having done the questioning above, the consultant will often come to this conclusion, but there is more to this precept. Sometimes it can be easy as a consultant to develop a mind-set that clients are misguided incompetents, who can do nothing without the help of a consultant. So you need to be aware of the strengths of a client's thinking and decisions as well as the weaknesses.

  • Sell them what they need in terms of what they want! This is well worth repeating. Occasionally there may be a need for confrontation, but the rest of the time - go with the flow. In this sense, dealing with clients is like the art of judo. In judo, skill lies not in opposing your opponent but in directing their energy so that they throw themselves. The art in dealing with clients is to direct their energies so that they move in the desired direction. A technique for doing this is to start in their preferred direction, but to educate them by use of data feedback so they start to look at things differently and move in a more appropriate direction.

The Effect of the Project on the Client Relationship

A consultancy project will affect the client relationship not just in terms of its technical quality, but also through the quality of project performance and the quality of the personal relationship between client staff and consultant. Figure 9.6 shows the key elements in each of these.

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Figure 9.6: Perceptions are all

The Quality of Project Performance

It is rarely the technical quality of a project that leads to client dissatisfaction; clients are more interested in ends than means. The key aspect of a project that influences a client relationship is therefore deliverables - what the consultant is to provide to the client. It is for these that the client has engaged and will pay the consultant. The timing of deliverables is also crucial; clients get upset when deliverables are behind schedule.

Methods are the means used to create the deliverables. Problems arise with methods when there is disagreement about the details, or which of the consultant or client was meant to carry out a particular task. Every consultant activity has an impact on the client system. Problems can also occur therefore when a project has an unwelcome effect on the client. It is a rare project that does not involve some client participation, so it is important to be clear about who should be involved and how they should be involved.

The basis of reporting to the client should also be clear; clients become irritated when they do not feel adequately informed. So this applies to progress reports as well as assignment reports.

The Quality of Interpersonal Relationships

As already mentioned, it is reasonable to assume that at the start of an assignment the consultant team begins with a fund of goodwill from the client. So the aim must be at least to avoid disappointing the client and, preferably, to improve the client's view of the consultants.

As the relationship is between individuals, the quality of the interpersonal relationship between the consultant and the client's staff will have an effect on the total relationship. The important factors are shown in Figure 9.6.

The needs of the client must be considered, both in terms of the project and how it is to contribute to the client's personal objectives. Problems occur if a consultant does not discern a client's real needs. Sometimes a client might have a hidden agenda, either as a principal or ancillary objective of the project. (Usually these agendas are political in nature!)

If clients' expectations are not met they will be disappointed and relationships will suffer. You must therefore take care to manage the client's expectations so that they can be met. These expectations relate not only to the project but also to you yourself, for instance, in the way in which you conduct yourself. For example, if you are working on client premises, the client may have firm expectations about:

  • what time you should arrive and leave;

  • whether you can spend time on the telephone on business other than that to do with the project in hand;

  • style of dress;

  • your access to people in other departments or at more senior levels;

  • the degree of formality in your relationship with client staff.

Infringing these expectations can have just as serious repercussions on the consultant/client relationship as failing to meet the formal terms of reference. Consequently, many consultants use the period of familiarization at the start of an assignment to collect data on the 'code of conduct' they are to follow within the client organization. In a similar way, you can have quite legitimate expectations of a client. You can reasonably expect the client:

  • to be accessible;

  • to provide the resources promised;

  • to cooperate in the execution of the project;

  • to be supportive of the project;

  • to tell you of changes of circumstances that may influence the project;

  • to discuss any concerns or apprehensions about how the project is proceeding.

Although these are all the responsibilities of the client, you should monitor that they are being provided. If they are not, it is your job, as the expert, to alert the client to any difficulties and advise on how they should be resolved.

How the client and consultant view each other will depend on the other items already mentioned. That relationship will in part be a self-fulfilling prophecy; a client who loses confidence in a consultant will be far more difficult to satisfy.

Occasionally you find that there is conflict between a client and a consultant, or among members of client staff. A good diagnostic rule in analysing conflict is to remember the sequence:

  1. goals;

  2. roles;

  3. procedures;

  4. personal animosity.

What this sequence suggests is that if you do run into conflict, do not assume it is necessarily a matter of personal animosity - there are other possible causes, which are shown in the order of the list above. The easy way to remember the sequence is to imagine two people undertaking a car journey, who are arguing. They will argue if:

  1. They have not agreed on where they are going (goals).

  2. Although they have agreed where they are going, they have not agreed who is to drive (roles).

  3. Although they have agreed on where they are going and who is going to drive, they have not decided the route they are to take (procedures).

If, after agreement on all these points, they are still arguing, then perhaps it can be put down to personal animosity!

Perceptions are All

Also illustrated in Figure 9.6 is that all the transactions between consultant and client are viewed through their respective perceptions. It is not 'objective reality' that matters but how you each see things. The client's opinion will be affected by how he or she evaluates progress on the project compared with the promises you have made and the impression the client has of the overall professionalism of the practice.

The former is about communications and expectations. A key job for a consultant in managing client relationships is to reassure the client that the project is proceeding satisfactorily. This means not only communicating progress, but also ensuring that the client's expectations accord with those of the consultant. For example, returning to the ICC case study in Chapter 6, John Smith may embark on a project to study alternative methods of producing cutlery, and in doing so, he might choose to discuss the pros and cons of present methods with the operatives at ICC. If, however, the General Manager's view is that there should be no consultation, there is a mismatch of expectations. Keeping the client informed is not just about reporting the past but also managing his or her expectations for the future.

The impression of the professionalism of a consultancy practice depends on the administrative as well as professional staff. The client comes into contact with switchboard and secretarial staff, receptionists, and with accounts people in respect of invoices. Most contacts will be fleeting and will not be face to face, but all will contribute to the client's impression of the practice. Many professional practices have therefore trained all their staff in key aspects in delivering good client care.




The Top Consultant. Developing Your Skills for Greater Effectiveness
The Top Consultant: Developing your Skills for Greater Effectiveness
ISBN: 0749442530
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 89

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