Comments on: How personal should you get with clients? http://www.killerconsultant.com/brain-food/how-personal-should-you-get-with-clients/ having fun while doing a great job would be killer, right? Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:17:31 +0100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Arjan http://www.killerconsultant.com/brain-food/how-personal-should-you-get-with-clients/comment-page-1/#comment-153 Arjan Tue, 26 May 2009 08:24:14 +0000 http://www.killerconsultant.com/?p=118#comment-153 Interesting post. Good basic rules, although I think the formal addressing rule can be a bit culturally biased. In The Netherlands, sticking the formal form can be perceived as you being arrogant and too distant to really care about the results of your client. And building rapport, as Kevins said, can be very valuable for our business. I think there is a very fine line we as consultants have to be aware of. Interesting post. Good basic rules, although I think the formal addressing rule can be a bit culturally biased. In The Netherlands, sticking the formal form can be perceived as you being arrogant and too distant to really care about the results of your client.
And building rapport, as Kevins said, can be very valuable for our business. I think there is a very fine line we as consultants have to be aware of.

]]> By: How personal should you get with clients? (Part 2) | Killer Consultant http://www.killerconsultant.com/brain-food/how-personal-should-you-get-with-clients/comment-page-1/#comment-151 How personal should you get with clients? (Part 2) | Killer Consultant Fri, 22 May 2009 13:38:59 +0000 http://www.killerconsultant.com/?p=118#comment-151 [...] part 1 of “How personal should you get with clients?” we looked into keeping your perspective as an external advisor, making sure that a water [...] [...] part 1 of “How personal should you get with clients?” we looked into keeping your perspective as an external advisor, making sure that a water [...]

]]> By: Florian Hollender http://www.killerconsultant.com/brain-food/how-personal-should-you-get-with-clients/comment-page-1/#comment-148 Florian Hollender Wed, 20 May 2009 14:27:40 +0000 http://www.killerconsultant.com/?p=118#comment-148 Thanks for that question, Sebastian! I'll cover that in the next post that will come out this week - let me know then if it answered what you wanted to know in enough detail. Thanks for that question, Sebastian! I'll cover that in the next post that will come out this week – let me know then if it answered what you wanted to know in enough detail.

]]> By: Kevin http://www.killerconsultant.com/brain-food/how-personal-should-you-get-with-clients/comment-page-1/#comment-147 Kevin Wed, 20 May 2009 06:51:32 +0000 http://www.killerconsultant.com/?p=118#comment-147 Great post, Florian. I think another point to add here is that it depends to whom you're speaking - often if it's the day-to-day client team, informal address (assuming it's acceptable) can lead to great rapport and a great working relationship. But if it's senior management/people removed from the daily project work, it's always safer to address formally (with exceptions of course). Looking forward to part 2! Great post, Florian. I think another point to add here is that it depends to whom you're speaking – often if it's the day-to-day client team, informal address (assuming it's acceptable) can lead to great rapport and a great working relationship.

But if it's senior management/people removed from the daily project work, it's always safer to address formally (with exceptions of course).

Looking forward to part 2!

]]> By: Steve Shu http://www.killerconsultant.com/brain-food/how-personal-should-you-get-with-clients/comment-page-1/#comment-145 Steve Shu Sun, 17 May 2009 21:07:31 +0000 http://www.killerconsultant.com/?p=118#comment-145 Seems like a good list and set of recommendations. One thing I will add is that consultants must often walk a fine line between empathy and sympathy. For example, in a prior engagement I was asked by a COO to evaluate a number of VPs running functional areas within the organization. My meeting with some of the VPs turned into discussions about compensation pressures that some of them felt, that competition was paying higher money, that I could go interview external companies to reveal the truth, etc. So in that situation, I had to get some personal information about the client, I had to recognize where they where coming from, but I also had to keep my analysis clinical. When acknowledging what the client managers were saying, I had to clearly differentiate that I understood what they were saying but I was neither agreeing nor disagreeing with their laments. In essence, it was getting an understanding of the culture and the close-to-the-heart issues (sometimes personal issues) going about within the company. Seems like a good list and set of recommendations.

One thing I will add is that consultants must often walk a fine line between empathy and sympathy. For example, in a prior engagement I was asked by a COO to evaluate a number of VPs running functional areas within the organization. My meeting with some of the VPs turned into discussions about compensation pressures that some of them felt, that competition was paying higher money, that I could go interview external companies to reveal the truth, etc. So in that situation, I had to get some personal information about the client, I had to recognize where they where coming from, but I also had to keep my analysis clinical. When acknowledging what the client managers were saying, I had to clearly differentiate that I understood what they were saying but I was neither agreeing nor disagreeing with their laments. In essence, it was getting an understanding of the culture and the close-to-the-heart issues (sometimes personal issues) going about within the company.

]]> By: Sebastian http://www.killerconsultant.com/brain-food/how-personal-should-you-get-with-clients/comment-page-1/#comment-144 Sebastian Sun, 17 May 2009 10:40:58 +0000 http://www.killerconsultant.com/?p=118#comment-144 How personal do you think you should get with colleagues and superiors? How personal do you think you should get with colleagues and superiors?

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