Feed your Monster - How to conduct successful client meetings

Currently, I am tasked to work on 14 projects within a PMO environment within my client´s organisation. And it reminds me again that there are a few things which are vital for any consultant – be structured, prepare your meetings, and work on your tasks efficiently and effectively.

The use of “we” and “us”

First of all, whenever a consultant speaks he should speak in “pluralis majestatis” – the “we”. “We have created..., we have achieved..., we have worked on..., we have managed...!” It should emphasise that consultants work as a team and we do things together. Ramobs are no consultants!

Client Meetings or “How to feed your Monster”

Whenever you meet your client you need to “feed him”; this is mainly with information and to help him with decisions he has to make. Apart from the odd morning tour where a simple “How are you?” suffices, usually one should never go empty handed or without any reason to the client. Never!

So, before seeing him, prepare your meetings:
- What do you want to get out of the meeting?
- What information do you want to give him?
- What decisions do you want to be made?
- In case you need a decision, what options do you give him from which he can make a decision (do not come empty, always give him options to choose from!)?
- How do you respond to any of his potential objections?

Once the meeting has started, shut up and listen, listen, listen. Oh yes, and listen! You should not talk, the client should. Always listen to what he says. Successful consultants have good listening skills. Do not talk too much, do not always repeat what you said, and do not fall into the trap to try and educate your client. If he wants coaching he will say so. Otherwise, treat him with respect and the way you want to be treated. Look at your client´s body language and read it. You will see when he gets bored, impatient, relaxed, excited, agitated, etc, and manage it. Never forget, opposite you is your monster and you need to feed it. Your client is your tamagochi. You are in control. 

When you attend a client meeting with a colleague the golden rule is – if you talk your colleague shuts up, and when your colleague talks you shut up. Give feedback afterwards, but do not correct your colleague during a meeting (unless he makes the worst ever blunder!) and always act as a team. When the consultant asks a question to the client the other consultant should not answer! Often, questions are of a sheer tactical nature. Oh yes, and do no forget the pluralis majestatis even if you alone did something.

When the meeting comes to an end, summarise! Tell the client what decisions have been made during the meeting and which actions are coming out of it. After the meeting, either do those actions straight away or write them down on an action plan and work on them systematically.

And that is it! Sounds simple, is sometimes not so simple, but it is the only way forward!

The Wheat

Stories about the good ones probably sound rather dull, but the vast majority of colleagues fall under this category (good, not dull).

One consultant hated his suit so much that every Friday when we drove to Vienna airport he stopped on the motorway, got more or less publically undressed and jumped into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

Some consultants, the Dutch ones, who were the majority on German speaking projects in those days, tried to teach me Dutch by buying me a Marco Borsato CD. If you are Dutch you know what a torture I had to go through.

Well, the good ones are the ones that help you out in times of need, don't act like sharks in a fish tank, are pleasant to be with on long project nights, and have a great sense of humour. That is one of the the most important features.

One thing I learned when hiring a consultant. After an assessment centre or interview I normally ask myself whether this would be a consultant who I would like to have breakfast with every day on a project.

Sorting the Wheat from the Chaff

Let's wash the dirty laundry first.

The best thing is to read my Milwaukee notes which is probably the worst which I have experienced as a junior consultant.

One of my early project managers made us juniors pay for his lunch every day. Don't forget, he was the one who decided whether we had work or not, so we paid for his lunch.

Also on on one of my first projects I got blackmailed. I have forgotten why she did it, but that was quite a shocker for me as brandnew consultant.

One project manager did not pay me for 2 weeks because I gave him some feedback about the way the client perceived him. He thought I was plotting. It took me months of internal rubbish till I got paid.

Talking about team-building, one project manager stayed in a luxury hotel whilst he let his consultants stay in an extremely cheap one far outside the city centre. He wanted to keep his project cost down so that he got a higher bonus.

The more I think about it, the more stories keep on popping up in my mind, but I will leave it with that. It only shows how inexperienced and actually stupied one is as junior consultant.

Consultants, a Special Breed

It is quite interesting to sit here and think about a certain aspect of the job and write down some thoughts. What kind of people did I meet?

First it must be said that us consultants, we are actually a strange bunch of people. We lead our private lives at the weekends solely, fly out every week to the projects where we then spend days together with our colleagues - we have breakfast together in the hotel, go to work, spend all day on the project, and in the evenings we all go for dinner. The only time we are alone is in the hotel room after dinner and before breakfast. One gets used to it though. But it is apparent how important good team-building skills of a project manager are.

Once you are a good team and well fuctioning the project is over and new teams of consultants build up on new projects, and the whole work of building a team, etc, starts all over again.

With 2 of my colleagues I managed to stay in touch over all those years. And funny enough, these are my 2 American colleagues Julie and Chad, who have become great friends. With the Europeans I managed to get in touch with a few again. Websites like LinkedIN, XING and Plaxo triggered this development; without them it would have been impossible. With a few of my old colleagues I am in a more or less regular e-mail contact.

Maybe I should write 2 more entries on here about good and bad examples of colleagues within that first company I worked with...