Working with Clients

If there is anything that distinguishes the excellent consultant from the average it is the way that they relate to and work with (and in fact manage) their clients.

This does not simply happen automatically and without effort. To really work effectively with a client the consultant has to invest time and effort in:

understanding the clients world - their business and organisation, and the pressures they face,
understanding how it feels to be the client dependant on the consultants efforts
keeping in touch with the dynamics of the clients situation
keeping the client in touch with how the consultant is progressing
sorting out those things that need to be brought to the clients attention from those which would only confuse and distract.

This section contains some models and analyses from the field of customer service that our own clients have found valuable. Use them to think through what you feel your clients requirements are.