Developing A Client Communication Strategy In Consulting

Over the past 20 years in market research, many project issues I've seen stem from mismanaging client expectations. Whether you work for a research firm, an agency, a consultancy, or any other business that involves regular client discussions, here are 4 pointers. 1️⃣ Communication—Regularly communicate, candidly ask the client how often they want updates, and never let a week go by without touching base, regardless of the project stage. Anticipate questions and answer them before they ask. A client sending an email asking, "What's the status of...?" is a failure on your end - within reason. Lack of responsiveness leads to mistrust, even more micromanagement, skepticism, and other issues that can be snuffed out by communicating openly. 2️⃣ Be Realistic—We all want to say "yes" to clients, but there are often ways to showcase your experience and expertise by being honest about what can be achieved with a given timeline and budget. The expectation could be a lack of understanding about the process or industry norms. Underpromise and overdeliver versus overpromise and underdeliver. Those honest conversations may appear inflexible, but they're often more about setting expectations and setting up both parties for long-term sustainable success. Saying "no" to this project could be a better long-term decision for the account than saying "yes" and failing with no second chance. 3️⃣ Understand Perspective—Take the time to actively listen to your client's needs, goals, and priorities. It goes beyond listening and includes asking smart (and sometimes bolder) questions to get a complete understanding. What drove the need for research? Why is receiving results within 2 weeks crucial? What happens if you don't receive results in 2 weeks? Understanding what's pushing the decisions behind the scenes can be a game changer. 4️⃣ Solutions Over Problems—Never present a problem or an issue to a client without a path forward. "This happened, but here are 3 things we can do to fix it." You need to be more than someone who relays information, you need to be a true consultant. Be able to justify each recommendation and explain the pros and cons of each path. -------------------------------------- Need MR advice? Message me. 📩 Visit @Drive Research 💻  1400+ articles to help you. ✏️ --------------------------------------

Process is a huge differentiator. And more importantly, it can make the difference between a stellar client relationship and one that barely makes "meh" waves. You may not know that I cut my teeth in the creative business world as a traffic manager-slash-account manager-slash-other duties as assigned. That meant understanding the intersection of process and client communications to set and manage expectations and create an exceptional customer experience. When you communicate what's already happened, what's happening now, and what's coming next, clients don't spend time guessing...and you're not chasing your tail to manage seemingly wayward questions or challenges. It's why I build process-driven communciations into sales, onboarding, and offboarding **as well as** actual delivery. Here are some musts for every client-focused business **before you ever begin work**: ✅ Define the steps of your process before sending a proposal or naming a fee ✅ Break phases into the simplest possible terms ✅ Save the minutia for onboarding, but make sure proposals outline major project phases ✅ During onboarding, set expectations for project flow, timeline, communications, and client responsibility ✅ Create a clear-cut path for client updates and make sure they understand how to use it ✅ Reiterate process, current stage, and next steps in every communication ✅ Complex project management systems aren't necessary: simple Gdocs or templated email checklists also work On the other hand, here are some words of caution: 🚫 Never assume clients remember your process or timeline. They have a lot going on, so by reiterating current and next steps, you make it easy for them. 🚫 Never assume clients know what you're thinking. Be clear and make sure they understand. Better to over-communicate than under. 🚫 Never "let" them go dark mid-project. Things come up and it may slip their mind. Follow up regularly (and in those follow-ups share with them when you'll follow up again). 🚫 Never guess at what they want or understand. Practice good communication skills even in writing "What I'm hearing you say is...XYZ -- is that right?" 🚫 Never assume they read or remember your last email. Make sure the information they need is easy to access. 🚫 Never let them go off into the sunset without a debrief or check in. I'm thinking of offering a workshop for creative pros and entrepreneurs on client management. If you're interested in that, drop me a DM, and I'll make sure you get it! ***** I'm Erin Pennings, owner of CopySnacks. As a brand messaging strategist and copywriter, I draw on 20 years of marketing experience to help startups and scale-ups turn their brands into customer magnets with a blend of strategic insights and tactical delivery. For more tips like this, go to erinpennings .com/newsletter (remove the space)

Perfect client communication is not a one-time thing. Nope. That's just not how it works 📣 After many years of frustration, I stopped looking at communication as a destination and embraced it as a journey. No matter how many times I'd try to explain a project plan super clearly, make all the docs, and run an amazing kickoff... we somehow still end up with the clients on their own wavelength. Getting a full alignment is not even wishful thinking. That's fantasy land. And it used to drive me crazy. Not because the clients are difficult. They're not. It's just that we're all human. People hear things through their own filters. They get distracted. They check email during your calls. They remember what matters to them, not what matters to the project. And over time, that perfect clarity evaporates. Over the years, I came up with a strategy that works quite well for our team: ➡️ 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘁. The second you think "we already covered that" - that's when things fall apart. ➡️ 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀. Create meetings specifically to check if you're still on the same page. And don't ask "got questions?" Ask "are we all aligned on the priorities?", “did I understand you correctly?” ➡️ Some people need pictures. Some need bullet points. Some need stories. 𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸. ➡️ 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱. Good. If you're tired of saying it, they're probably just starting to hear it. You'll still have those moments when someone says something so completely off-base that you want to bang your head on the desk. At least, I still do. But if you keep on pushing and treat communication as something you DO on a consistent basis, rather than something you DID in the past - projects start running much smoother. 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲. Not the code, marketing campaigns, or whatever your deliverable happens to be. Welcome to the agency life. 🤝 #AgencyLife #B2B #B2BCommerce #DigitalTransformation #Ecommerce #ClientCommunication #ProjectManagement #ClientAlignment #EffectiveCommunication #Teamwork #ClientServices #CommunicationStrategy #AgencyTips #PeopleFirst #ClientRelationships #Collaboration #CommunicationSkills #ProjectSuccess #ConsistentCommunication #ClientEngagement