Mastering the Consultant Mindset: 'Making It Special' for Clients
Deri Hughes
Helping consulting team leaders develop exceptional teams | Tailored course design | Expert trainers | Lasting impact
Your success as a consultant will hinge on your ability to build exceptional client relationships. In this fast-paced world, you need to make the most of every client touchpoint. From the fleeting, day-to-day interactions to the pivotal moments in a project - the kick-off meeting, clients 1-2-1s, and the SteerCo meeting - understanding how to create the right persona and energy can be your secret weapon for success.
In this article we'll explore two key elements that can dramatically enhance your client relationships:
At Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training we bring these concepts together in a toolkit we call 'Making It Special' (credit to Ian Barker who leads our long-standing client BFY Group for inspiring this). Making It Special is all about a mindset of putting the client at the centre of the consulting project and doing whatever it takes to make their experience of working with you special.?
The Power of Micro-Moments in Today's World
The old school ways of becoming known as an expert consultant were time intensive. Partners would write a detailed white paper and run a series of breakfast round-tables to promote it. Or, you'd be told to walk the halls of your clients' offices. Stop by the water cooler. Get to know your clients as people, not just potential projects. Others would go to networking events and hand out business cards to all and sundry. 'Never Eat Alone', as Keith Ferrazzi famously titled his book about finding success through relationships.
These days, the world has changed and a lot of those interactions happen digitally, and much faster. You write a post on LinkedIn and it's gone within a few days. Share something in an online community and the conversation quickly runs on. Attention spans are stretched thin. People are stressed. Often, they will struggle to give time and head space to the conversation you want to have.
Although many of these interactions are, individually, a lot less time intensive, they are also more fleeting. More micro. As such it can be easy to dismiss the value of them altogether. Wonder to yourself, 'Why should I bother?'.
The crux is, collectively they matter. Strong relationships are not created in a single big bang moment. Most people will value a micro-moment that makes them feel special or helps them in some way. And if you can add up those micro-moments so they get that feeling time and again, you become a valued relationship for them.
The Making It Special Toolkit
There are ample opportunities to create micro-moments. We worked with the Partners at a boutique consulting firm to create a 'Making It Special' Notion toolkit. It captures 55 techniques & tools you can use to make the 1% difference when it comes to delighting clients.
Over time, these actions build your reputation and generate a culture of trust. As a consultant, it pays to invest in building trust and reputation. Which means it pays to invest in making these micro-moments special.
What does that mean practically?
Building habits. Identifying the small things you can consistently do that will add up over time.
Here's a few ideas to get you started:
Creating habits is hard. It takes time. Pick 1 or 2 things to start with and commit to doing them consistently. Once they are part of your routine you can build on them.
Read more about making the most of micro-moments in our article: Micro-moments matter in relationship building
If you'd like to discuss mindset training or implementing a Making It Special Toolkit in your firm, please get in touch: email Deri
The Chameleon Consultant: Adapting Your Persona
When we think about the consultant persona, we centre in on 3 primary interactions: the kick-off, structured 1-2-1s, and SteerCos. Each of those are critical moments during most consulting projects. They represent opportunity, and risk.?
The best consultants are capable of crafting and switching between personas, adapting how they show-up to the situation they are in. This is about playing the role you need to play and bringing the energy you need to bring to get the biggest impact for your client.?
I explain my thinking on persona and energy in this short video:
I believe the consultant persona can be consciously designed for and I use 5 different dimensions for that:?
Let's consider how this may be applied to the three key project moments:
1. Kick-off Meeting: An opportunity to learn
You should treat a client kick-off as an opportunity to learn, not the moment to show how clever you are. You treat the client like someone you want to understand whilst making them feel safe to open up. You seek to be open and engaging. And you facilitate the conversation to bring all voices into the room and co-create the way forwards.?
Your persona may be:
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2. One-on-One Meetings: Building personal connections
In 1-2-1s, your goal is to foster trust and open communication. This often requires a fundamentally different mindset, centred on human connection and relationship building.
Your persona may be:
3. Steering Committee Meetings (SteerCos): Demonstrating competence
SteerCos require a different approach. Being in Learner mode is no longer appropriate. Here, the special experience comes from the confidence you give them to make big decisions. The clarity and depth of expertise you bring to bear. The excitement you engender in them and their team.?
Your persona may be:
Read more in our article The Chameleon Consultant: Crafting the personas you need to succeed
The hurdles to overcome
You may carry a fear that adopting different personas will make you seem inauthentic or fake. There is a risk - it takes real skill and self-awareness to flex your persona AND stay authentic.?But it’s critical you do, because authenticity is key to being trusted. This isn't about changing or hiding the unique individual you are. Instead, it's about emphasising different aspects of your professional self to meet the needs of each situation.
Here's a quick exercise to help you prepare for your next important meeting:
What are your experiences with adapting your persona in different client situations? How have you leveraged micro-moments to build stronger relationships? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
We have two exciting opportunities coming up for you to join Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training in expert-led live sessions. Just register using the links provided below.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
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Training is a major investment of time and money. But, most consulting firms don't have great systems to track the benefits they get from that training. We don't think that's good enough. In this webinar we'll be explaining how we embed Impact Analytics, what data sources you need for different types of training, and sharing examples of the measurable impact that's possible. You'll be able to take our approach and apply it to your own training sessions.
Thursday, 24 October 2024, 14:00 (BST) - REGISTER HERE
Developing your Network as a Consultant: Taster Session
A lot of consultants have a fear of Sales. Even the word has a bad rep. But Sales is really about relationships. Having a network of strong relationships can set you up to make the sales part easy - you're just helping solve problems for people you know. In this taster session we'll be digging in to some important building blocks. Join us to learn a systematic approach to developing your network as a consultant, with practical tools to apply during and after the session.
Wednesday, 20 November 2024, 14:00 (GMT) - REGISTER HERE
?? Thank you for reading. I’m Deri Hughes. I run a training business that helps consulting team leaders develop exceptional teams.
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