Meet the MasterMinds: Steven Banis and Mac McManus on
How to Satisfy Clients
 At
the end of 2003, the business analysis firm, Ross
McManus, published the results of its survey on the
impact of events in recent years on consultants and other
professional service providers. The report, titled Selling
and Satisfying the Fortune 1000 in a Post-Enron World,
is based on over 500 hours of open-ended interviews with
executives at Fortune 1000 companies.
MCNews talked to the authors of the study,
Steven Banis and Mac McManus, about the survey and its implications
for consultants.
* * * *
MCNews: Your study indicates that corporate
executives are "deeply dissatisfied" with consultants
and other service providers. What's the root of their dissatisfaction?
Banis: When it comes to satisfaction,
the number one factor for 96% of the executives in our study
was whether or not their consultants truly understood the
client's business. Yet only 72% of those executives were,
in fact, satisfied by the depth of that understanding. That's
a significant gap between expectations and reality.
And understanding the client's business
is more than just knowing an industry from work with other
clients. It's about the unwritten, cultural decision-making
processes that are unique to each company.
If the client invites you to comment or add
your expert opinion, especially about changing how things
are done, you'd better make sure you know how consensus
is reached in that organization. How are decisions made?
What are the barriers? What is the value system of the company?
If you are not able to build consensus and
lead effectively inside the client's organization, the executive
who hired you will have a serious handicap in maintaining
the relationship long term.
MCNews: Clients are not always open to
letting consultants know how the power structure works or
even who the decision makers are in a company. What should
they do?
McManus: Executives told us that they
get a lot of questions from consultants during the request
for proposal (RFP) process about how the company works.
But once consultants win the engagement, they are not asking
those questions. So consultants may complain that clients
won't tell them how things work, but that may be because
they are asking at the wrong time.
Banis: Senior executives are disappointed
that many service providers don't come and have informal
sit-downs with them and say, thanks for awarding us the
business. Now, how can we make your life easier? What
goes on inside the company that we need to be aware of to
insure that this project succeeds?
Consultants should express genuine concern,
not just for achieving the results they were hired for,
but also for the experience they create while they are there.
How you ask for information is important. Your posture and
tone signal to the client whether or not you are open to
coaching about the company's internal workings.
McManus: Another aspect to understanding
the client's business is reflected in the preparedness of
the consulting team. Consultants need to realize that
the client's organization is not a training ground for the
consultant's people. If you bring in five consultants
to work on a project, they all must have an understanding
of the client's business.
MCNews: Is there some tolerance for inexperienced
people on the team if they are surrounded by more experienced
people?
Banis: Of course, clients allow leeway
for bringing somebody new up to speed on a project. But
we find that consultants do almost no briefing for team
members coming onboard a project. At least that's the perception
of clients.
We are finding that clients generally feel
that the senior-level people, for example the partner in
charge or the senior manager on a project, are competent
on these issues. But the rest of the team is left so much
in the dark about the cultural aspects of the client's business
that it hurts the team dramatically. You don't want clients
to say, "That consultant knows her stuff, but she doesn't
understand what we are trying to accomplish here."
MCNews: So you see a flaw in the on-boarding
process for project teams?
McManus: Yes. And it's the little things
that get forgotten that cause the biggest problems. If a
firm just did some role playing before going in to sell
to a client, that would help. Educate your team before you
go into a client's organization.
MCNews: What other factors are important
to clients' satisfaction with consultants?
Banis: Another area that is critical
to satisfaction is communication. More specifically, clients
say that consultants don't listen.
Many consultants have their signature approach
or pet methodology and they have a tendency to provide a
one-fits-all solution for clients. Instead, you need to
actively listen to the specifics of each client's needs
and custom tailor your expertise to those needs. For example
if you are asked to submit a proposal that's no more than
thirty pages, don't show up with fifty pages of boilerplate.
MCNews: What's been the impact of events
of the past few years--the recession, terrorism and Enron--on
consulting?
Banis: Enron caused trust erosion and panic and the
recession has driven profits lower. Terrorism and the war
on terrorism have generated doubts because no one knows
how far it will escalate or when it will end. The upshot
of all these events is that consultants should expect clients
to be uncertain about the future.
The Enron/Arthur Andersen mess led to the
Sarbanes-Oxley
law, which is having the biggest impact on corporate
behavior since the Securities Act of 1934. Some people mistakenly
think that Sarbanes-Oxley is purely an accounting or financial
issue, and that couldn't be further from the truth.
McManus: Because the new law requires
companies to have internal controls in place, executives
are under intense scrutiny about how and to whom professional
service contracts are awarded. Suddenly, a CIO or CFO who
had signing authority for any kind of engagement can't do
it anymore because of new internal controls.
Contracts over certain amounts have to be
reviewed by the chain of command. I've seen the amount be
as low as $5,000. So whole review processes have been put
in place. And one result has been for companies to say we
need more competitors at the table when we consider an RFP.
Banis: Sarbanes-Oxley has also given
executives license to act on their dissatisfaction and sever
consulting relationships that have grown stale or unproductive.
Long-term relationships with service providers are now up
for review.
It doesn't matter what function--information
technology, human resources, legal, accounting or consulting--across
the board, relationships are being reexamined. In areas
where there is frustration, providers are being booted out
at an incredible pace.
McManus: But there is a positive outcome
for consultants. With clients bringing in more competitors
to propose on projects, it gives consultants the opportunity
to get in there and take business away from incumbents.
Banis: That doesn't mean more big firms
competing. Small and mid-sized firms are going to have
their day in the sun now. We think this will bring an
unexpected boon for the economy because these new competitors
will bring new ideas and new approaches that will shake
up the entire consulting industry.
And you know what? Competitors are going to
come from places you had not thought of before. You may
be working on business development, for instance, and competition
might come from someone who is not even in your category.
MCNews: How should consultants expect clients
to behave as a result of these changes?
Banis: Clients are going to expect
consultants to listen better and develop a deeper understanding
of the client's business. They are also going to expect
new ideas. Clients are saying don't come at us with the
same approach anymore.
And there is going to be a major backlash
against technology being the answer to everything. Dissatisfaction
is already evident about big technology projects not living
up to their billing.
Consultants should also expect a zero-tolerance
environment for bad behavior or even the perception of it.
Good manners and ethical behavior really matter now
for maintaining and winning business. That standard may
not be sustainable, but it is important for the short term.
So make sure you communicate well, bend over
backwards to provide clients with more value than they think
they contracted for and, by the way, watch your language.
MCNews: Where you surprised by the survey
results?
McManus: I wasn't that wowed by what
was said. I was surprised, though, by the intensity of
the responses. Executives were literally hollering.
I just could not believe the volume as they vented their
frustrations. We hit a nerve.
Banis: Mac's right about that. Let
me tell you about two other surprise findings.
Whether you're an IT or strategy consultant,
an accountant or an executive recruiter, to a great degree
you are all homogeneous in the client's mind. Of course,
clients understand that each has a functional specialty,
but the way they view you emotionally, how you win business
and the way you keep relationships with clients is the same.
Another finding is that clients almost
dismiss high-quality work as expected--the price of entry
into the game. You are not going to get extra credit for
doing what you were hired to do. But if you fall short of
excellence, you're going to get hammered.
Consulting is a relationship-based endeavor,
with some consultant-client relationships lasting for years.
Clients expect a lot more from those relationships than
fly-by hired help; they expect consultants to be outstanding
thinkers with insights and expertise that go beyond what
clients have in their own organizations.
MCNews: Thanks to both of you for all your time today.
Find out more at www.ross-mcmanus.com.
The full report can be purchased at the web
site.
Note: MCNews receives no commission or consideration
for purchases made by MCNews subscribers.
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