Best Communication Strategies for Consultants

How Sam leads a Marketing team: Communication. During one of my college classes, many moons ago, a guest presenter visited our group one day. They were from a big strategy consulting firm (either McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, or Bain). During the presentation from a consultant, they spoke about a project ranking hundreds of business skills. Hard skills. Soft skills. Quantifiable skills. Unquantifiable skills. All ranked together in a single survey responded to by thousands of people. And you know what the number one skill they found that impacted professionals across every industry, job function, and level - and what leaders valued the most? ⚡ Communication. ⚡ Not strategy. Not management. Not finance. Not [insert software program title]. Not being a savant. It was all about communication, start to finish, top to bottom, bottom to top, and everywhere in between. That lesson has stuck with me, influences my own engagement strategy today, and how I lead teams in marketing. Here are a few examples: ✔ Collaboration: use asynchronous approach where folks can add ideas whenever creative inspiration strikes (think Slack, Discord, Teams), never call someone on the phone randomly to sync ✔ Email: update subject line to actual topic whenever it changes to make later searches more effective, respond directly to sender, start with Why to add context ✔ Live Conversations: practice active listening, where I repeat back key points to ensure clarity ✔ Onboarding: ask how a person likes to receive recognition (group setting, one-one-one setting, via email), share separate timelines for HR onboarding and team onboarding ✔ Presentations: focus on common language, skip using confusing jargon and acronyms wherever possible ✔ Social Media: use a Prolific Engagement Strategy on posts, comments, DMs, and profile viewers ✔ Timing: proactively get back to people without being asked, provide interim updates even if no final answer available ✔ Underperformance: clarify if I communicated goals clearly, and the strategy/tactics to reach them “But isn’t it a super basic bucket, where we all communicate every day - text, calls, meetings, etc. - and it’s simply standard operating procedure to communicate at a decent level?” Negative ghostrider. If we were to think about amazing acts of communications in the past, and then put them side-by-side with poor ones, they would look - and feel - quite a bit different. Communication is one of those buckets that I like to classify as: simple, but not easy. If the audience doesn’t “get it,” many folks are quick to point fingers out the window. Instead, let’s look in the mirror on how to be better at communication - and be patient with results. When I went on a tangent explaining something to my mom, she said: “Sam, I asked for your two cents, not your two dollars worth!” 😂 So, I’m working on being more succinct as well. (And I still somehow speak in 3rd person perspective occasionally. 😊)

As a Founder and Consultant, I hop on a lot of client calls every week. And this is how I approach each one: One thing we all need to understand as consultants is that the level of understanding between two parties is not always the same. I did this mistake during my early years as a consultant, but not anymore. Be it an introductory call with new prospect or a daily scrum call with existing client, I let them talk. How does this help? You get to know what they know. And this is super important. You can’t convince a prospect unless you understand their pain, problem, and understanding. You can’t work with a client unless they freely communicate what’s working and what’s not working for them. You need to let people communicate without them fearing the pressure of judgement. So, if you’re a professional hopping on calls all the time, use the formula of listening 60% and speaking 40%. #consultants #salesforce

Do you have a strange obsession other people don’t seem to care about? Here's mine: Writing short, clear, “easy to respond to” emails. 🤓 When I first started my marketing agency 8 years ago, clients needed a giant mug of coffee to read my inbox novels. Walls of text. A dozen questions. Endings like “What are your thoughts?” (don’t ask that). If you want a simple way to make yourself more valuable, remember this: The busier someone is, the shorter your email needs to be. Don’t say things like…. ”I have 3 options for you… I love X because… Y is great because… and Z to give you options. Instead, try this: Here are three options: * Option A [linked] * Option B [linked] * Option C [linked] I recommend #1. Do you agree? I’ll admit. This style of communication is scary. 🙈 You have to believe in the quality of your work, make clients feel safe to disagree, and you can't rush your emails. But here’s the thing… If you’re a consultant your clients pay you to THINK for them and be the expert. Don’t give them a ton of decisions to make—give them great work to review and sign off on. Anything that is a part of our daily lives (like email!) is worth asking an important question, “How can I be better at this?” This is why I geek out on email communication. What are YOU into that nobody else seems to care about?

The single most important thing to do as a consultant: Close the loop. When companies hire consultants, they're either floundering or exploding. In either case, things are typically in a mild (or extreme) state of disarray. What they need MOST is consistent, clear, and timely communication. Yes, they need your expertise, your years of knowledge, your special sauce. But what they REALLY DON'T need is for you, as their consultant, to drop the ball on all the things they're passing your way. So don't forget to close the loop. Even if it's a quick "Hey, I haven't forgotten about {this task}, and I'll have more info for you on {this day}." Closing the loop will make THEIR life easier and their trust in you will grow, which is really what the beautiful world of consulting is all about.