Every Customer Wants to be Most Important

In a previous post I discussed how every customer or client wants to feel special and how we, as consultants can make that happen.  This discussion, however, takes a different slant.  The prior post was more around making individual people feel special through you remembering specific items that are important to them (child's name, prior conversations, recent promotion, etc.).  That is great advice, but is really directed at people and not organizations.

Recently, one of my team members, we will call him Frank, who is burdened with participating on multiple projects, each with a different client, inadvertently made a client feel less than important.  We have all been there, so I was not too hard on Frank, I have done the same thing in the same circumstance.  Under duress from his primary client, working a difficult situation in which a product we are implementing is failing to live up to all the capabilities that was so emphatically promised, Frank commented to the client that he was working an issue at a different client and would not be able to address his issues until the next day. 

Nobody want to be thought of as number two - clients are not the exception.  It is not their problem that somebody else has issues and they definitely do not want to be reminded that they are not the only customer.

Perhaps Frank provided too much information in his response, putting one client in front of another.  If he left the comment more open for interpretation it may have been more palatable.  Perhaps saying "I will address this first thing tomorrow morning" would have given the perception that they are first in priority.  Regardless, we should never indicate that we are dating other clients.

Mistakes We All Make (from time to time)

At the beginning of our engagements, there are many opportunities to make mistakes. Unfortunately, mistakes at such an early stage in an engagement can often become overwhelming later in the process and can lead to disastrous results. Here's a list from Brown & Kirkwood to watch out for.

• Accepting without question the accuracy of the business partner's stated objective or description of the problem.
• Failing to check for alignment of state objectives with departmental or corporate goals.
  Immediately focusing on a solution, implementation, and "the fix". (This is one we make all too often)
• Jumping to conclusions about how to go about conducting the project.
• Not asking clarifying questions regarding resources, results, timelines, and measurables.
• Agreeing to unrealistic timelines.
• Being intimidated by the title of the presenting sponsor or client.
• Not raising issues you feel uncomfortable with.
• Not challenging what is being avoided e.g. the facts, the risks, accountability, and defined results.
• Not asserting what's needed to be successful.
• Fear. "I'm not good enough."
• Overconfidence. "Been there, done that."
• Not tuning in to the potential value-drivers that can help to build the value proposition for the inevitable costs of the project.

We all know that there are many, many things during a project that can go wrong. But if we do not initiate the engagement the right way, many times it does not matter how well we can deliver - we may be delivering the wrong thing or we not in the correct fashion.