Discussion on:

Keeping the client relationship fresh

Like marriage, consulting turns out to be a lot more work than sexiness. Do you agree?

Chip this has a lot of good common sense in it and your right, just like a marriage, a client is a relationship that requires constant maintenance or it will go south. I always get my clients birthday if possible and send a gift on Birthdays and at Christmas time. I use a gift card called the Ribbon program. Its great because unlike most gift cards, it doesn't have a dollar amount on the card. Instead the gift receiver goes to a website and picks from a range of about a 100 gifts for the value of that card. Card values range from $30 to $1000. I liked the program so much that I became a distributor for them on the side so if anyone is interested, let me know.

no matter how great your relationship is, if your client is overworked on their end, they are going to get cranky and so it's actually harder than a marriage because they expect you to do the work, deal with their mood swings, show up with goodies, etc and you do it with a smile because it's your job. in a marriage, at least you get a turn to be the cranky one once in a while.

... not in my marriage. If I get cranky, I have to pay double.

I feed my clients, every so often drop off doughnuts or good food. Staff LOVES that. I even used it for humor, telling the four MALE owners of my medical office that if they do not follow my advice, then I shall SUGAR UP THE FEMALE STAFF soooooo much their daily lives will be a living hell.

Secondly, always be on time, always do more than promised and always give a cookie from time to time, something free, a tidbit of good stuff. And put that on an invoice as a NO CHARGE item. Makes the other payable items look better.

Talk to your clients in fair terms. I enjoy learning about their business. But AVOID POLITICS AND RELIGION like the seven deadly sins. I have often wanted to work for my clients staff, as a staff member, for a day to LEARN their daily procedures on an intimate level.

Adveritse results - nobody else will promote your accomplishments. I always leave a status report on desks for major accounts of each visit. It may be dull reading but they are informed of how things are going.

Accept responsibility for failures with good humor. I use these events as learning experiences and mobify my protocols and/or service agreements accordingly.

Laugh at yourself when warranted. Give compliments freely and often.

Well it is indeed very meaningful explanation of creating a love trap around your customers
Xavor Corporation Technology Consulting

All reasonable recommendations, Chip ... but why do I feel like your wife sat you down for a serious talking to sometime recently?

I've seen very few consulting types who are able to pull off these kinds of things ... it's just beyond their scope and not in their nature; the sales guys & gals are another whole story; they live this stuff every day of their lives

It might not be a bad idea for indy consultants to get a little sales training; programs like the basic 12 week Dale Carnegie course are actually pretty effective; they're not cheap but most people consider the money well spent

Perceptive.

I often find my subject matter springing from my own experience, specifically job-related or not.

You're right about "consulting types". They're often the techies who struck out on their own precisely because they were tired of dealing with people -- only to find that now they have to deal with a lot more people, each of whom holds one of their purse strings.