Are you a good or bad client?
It is inevitable that, as an entrepreneur, you will use the services of consultants or agencies to help grow your business. But how do you treat these consultants? Do you micro-manage them, or do you give them the room to perform their job?
As the client, you will naturally expect a great deal from your consultant or agency and should rightfully demand excellence in their work. However, in turn, they will require some things in return to ensure you receive their best advice and guidance:
1) Provide a proper brief
Unless you have been working with your consultant for many years, don’t expect them to know your business as well as you. Make sure you give them a full brief of your assignment so they have a complete understanding of the project background and detailed knowledge of your specific requirements. Just like data processing, a consultant’s output is only as good as the client’s input.
2) Trust their ability and commitment
If you have undertaken due diligence and conducted thorough background checks when selecting your consultant, then you should be confident they could fulfil the task for you. In this case, give them the appropriate trust and freedom to do the work. Set agreed delivery deadlines and by all means question the consultant or agency strongly if these are not met; but don’t contact them every day to check on their progress. This is a sure-fire way to erode goodwill.
3) Maintain communication
Communication is critical to ensure healthy client-consultant relations. If elements of the project or assignment change, communicate these as soon as possible to the consultant so appropriate adjustments can be made. It is extremely frustrating for a consultant to do significant volumes of work, only to find that the parameters have changed because someone forgot to tell them. Excellent communication will develop trust and confidence between the two parties and ensure there is a higher standard of work produced.
4) Be constructive
Whilst you have the right, and the responsibility, to provide feedback on work delivered, it should be conveyed in a constructive manner. Vitriolis not conducive to good client-consultant relations and creates barriers and distrust. If both parties work together in a constructive and positive manner, it is more than likely that the best outcome will be achieved.
5) Pay on time
Just as you would expect your own clients to pay on time, then it is more than reasonable that you pay your consultant or agency according to the agreed payment schedule. Not only is this professional business courtesy but it helps to maintain the level of trust needed to ensure mutual respect and optimum output.
Working with consultants and agencies is a vital part of the entrepreneur’s pathway to success as they will provide essential support in areas where you are not strong. Respect their skills and expertise, treat them professionally and you will find that you move along that pathway much quicker and, at the same time, develop enthusiastic and loyal allies to help you reach your goals.
By Ian Mason
