Successful client service means doing great work AND exceeding the client’s expectations. If the client worries unnecessarily, gets surprised, or is somehow unaware of the scope of work, the consultant has done a poor job of communicating. For experienced principals, this sounds like a platitude. For junior consultants, this reads odd. After all, a consulting project is a whirlwind of emails, meetings, interviews, draft deliverables, and conference calls. Where’s the potential surprise?

Client project lead = 90% work, 10% expectations

You will work with multiple clients during a project (duh). You may be spend the morning working with AP/AR to pull invoices, then interview the controller and VP of Finance in the afternoon. You will always (yes, always) have a client project lead who sits at the metaphoric senior manager / director level who’s job it is to babysit the project: coordinate logistics, carve out time on executive calendars, help the consultants wayfind in the organization, escalate issues, and generally troubleshoot. This is is a bit of a thankless job, but there is a quid pro quo: be the client lead on this project, and you’ll have the chance to mingle with senior leadership. Namely, this is more work, but a chance for career advancement.

Project leads vary in their desire for project communications; some want weekly updates, while others only want you to email them when there is an issue. Remember, these project leads have day jobs. Babysitting is extra.

Effective consultants premeditate the rhythm of client communication and collaboration throughout the project. After all, you probably work with your project lead daily/weekly, but you only interact with the executive sponsor / leadership team every few weeks/months.

Client executive sponsor = 10% work, 90% expectations

Often, this is the first time the executive sponsor has heard from the team since the kick-off presentation. Often, the executive has even forgotten the scope of the project, and the names of the consultants (and their firm). Often, this meeting starts late, ends early, or gets rescheduled because the executive (rightly?) see it as a low-priority. Often, you have 15-20 minutes.

WHY meet?

Let’s work backwards from the result you want. (very consulting approach right?) How do you want the client to feel after the report-out? Relieved? Engaged? Excited? Curious? Encouraged? It’s a classical design-thinking approach: H.o.w. d.o. y.o.u. w.a.n.t. t.h.e.m. t.o. f.e.e.l?

WHAT’s the agenda?

While there is 50 Mb of PowerPoint that you could unload on this unsuspecting executive, this is where you need to self-edit. What questions do you think she has about the project’s status and momentum? Any quick wins to report? Are there issues that you (and the client project lead both agree) need to be escalated to the executive’s attention? Any bad news to report? Can you nemawashi some of the final recommendations now?

Pro-moves

These interim executive report-outs take so many shapes and sizes. That said, here is some generic advice which can save you some grief:

• Calendar the appointment 2-3 months in advance; this makes it much less likely that they cancel / disrespect your time.
• Run the executive summary by your client counterpart 2-3 days before the meetings; never surprise or shame them.
• Expect to have half the allotted time (interruptions, crazy fishing story tangents, and human foibles); 1st page must be executive summary.
• Provide 2-3 minutes of context. What’s the project about, how long is the project, where are you in the journey, what steps have you taken so far, what’s left? Yes, Fortune 500 companies often have 3-15 consulting firms running around concurrently. Yes, crazy.
• Use section headers, tables, graphs to structure the conversation. This should not be an essay of words. A 20 minute meeting should have 2-3 slides max. Some of the best meetings have NO slides.
• Have quality slides. If your slides stink, well, that indicates that your final deliverable will likely be suspect. This is a appetizer preview of the final entry. Make it good, and tasty. Amuse bouche.
• Don’t over-commit. Executive clients are action-oriented. If she asks, “So how much will we save in year 1?” You better not say $2.2M unless you are bet-my-career sure. Think about the assumptions. Think about risks. Think in ranges or $1M-$3M. Think about your career.
• If you have a boring report (meaning: everything is going well, no major surprises, no major requests), ask good questions and listen. Are there other pain-points the executive has for add-on work?
• Involve the client project lead. Best case, have him report out to his boss. This demonstrates cooperation, ownership, and change management. If your day-to-day counterpart is the star, you win.
• Red team: What are the most likely 5-10 questions? Ask the 5 whys. This is a sanity check on the rigor of your analysis. Are you faking results to the client already? Hope not.
• Pre-wire. Nemawashi. Give them an indication of what your final recommendations will look like. Get them to buy-in.
• Develop the relationship. If you are a minder on the project day-to-day and did not sell the project, this is a chance for you to level-up your relationships. Be a trusted adviser. This means competence. This means gravitas. This means results. This means executive presence.

Readers: What other advice do you have for executive status reports?