It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.
If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.
Warren Buffett
Asha was almost through her presentation. She was so excited she could hardly focus on what was happening. She was in the middle of her first sales call with a big client. She’d been a consultant for three years and was just not getting the traction she wanted—breaking through to a guaranteed six-figure income. Last year, she hired a consulting coach to help her determine what she needed to do. The experience was enlightening. Coach Carl helped her identify her target audience, develop her niche, create a marketing plan, and figure out how to set her rates. It was the rate issue that had been giving her the most heartburn.
Last month, Asha’s coach insisted that she role play several sales calls. She hated role plays, but as she sat here in the hot seat with a potential client she realized how important it was to be ready to field questions and sales objections. Asha’s coach recommended that she maintain control of the cost of the project until the end, and she’d done just what he suggested: She determined the value she anticipated the client would achieve from the project and then created three options at three price points, with the most logical option in the middle. Carl had suggested that she print the options out on heavy-duty classy paper and put the printout in one of her presentation folders along with her business brochure (something else Carl insisted she create).
“And so, as you see, I’ve addressed all your requirements and suggested a couple of additional components that weren’t called out in the RFP, but that I think might …” Asha was saying when the client interrupted her.
“Yes, I am thrilled with how you interpreted what we need. And I am especially pleased with your insight and the additional ideas you’ve suggested. I am excited about sharing your plans with my boss this afternoon. But I am concerned. We’ve only budgeted $100,000 for this project. Will your additions add a great deal more to the cost?” the client asked.
Asha took a big gulp as she reached for the burgundy folder that held her pricing options. $100,000! Would it cover it? She thought, Well, there was no question that it would cover it! The client’s budget was larger than her most expensive option! What should she do? She could give the client her investment proposal and leave $30,000 on the table—even if they selected her most expensive option. Or she could say something about providing the estimate this afternoon—now that she was clear about all the expectations. Yikes! What should she do?
■ ■ ■
Even though consulting is a high-paying, high-profile profession and 50 percent of people in MBA programs flirt with the idea of becoming a management consultant, jokes abound about consultants. Did you hear the one about the consultant who is asked the time by a client? The consultant asks for the client’s watch and then says, “Before I give you my opinion, perhaps you could tell me what time you think it is.” One of the best ways to ensure that consulting is not a joking matter is always to provide services in the most ethical manner, to build relationships with the highest level of integrity, and to run a business with the highest principles.
Perhaps I am just more sensitive to the negative jokes about consultants (Do you read “Dilbert”?), so I was surprised to learn that one of the motivations employees give for why they leave the corporate world to start their own businesses is ethical misconduct. Misusing company time, abusive behavior, lying to employees, employee theft, and violating company Internet policies are cited most often. Whether it is signing off on an exaggerated expense report or lying to a manager, employees no longer want to tolerate misconduct. The new independent workers want to set their own standards and live for a higher purpose.
Thomas Jefferson said, “In matters of principle, stand like a rock! In matters of taste, swim with the current!” As a consultant, your principles are always on the line, and your principles contribute to the ethics of the profession. Perhaps Thomas Jefferson could easily tell the difference between a principle and a taste, but it’s a bit more complicated in the consulting profession.
One consultant will say it is appropriate to charge the full per diem for expenses, even if the full amount was not used, because the organization budgeted for that amount. A second consultant will say it is inappropriate to charge for what was not spent.
One consultant will justify varying what a client is charged if a client cannot pay the full amount. A second consultant will say that is absolutely wrong because it appears that the consultant is overcharging one client. Anything can be justified and argued for with facts.
Your reputation as a consultant will be created by thousands of actions, but may be lost by only one. It is imperative that you always model your high standards with clients, other consultants, and the general public.
Your reputation as a consultant will be created by thousands of actions, but may be lost by only one.
This chapter focuses on ethics in the consulting field. It will address the ethics issue from three relationship perspectives: consultant to client, consultant to consultant, and client to consultant.
I take a fairly hard stand with regard to ethics, for two reasons. First, I believe that the consulting profession’s reputation has been tarnished by past practices and that taking a tightly focused approach may help to polish it to a reputable shine. Second, and more important, is that the practices I espouse here are those that my company follows and strongly believes are right.
If you intend to join the consulting ranks, support the profession by maintaining high ethical standards. You will benefit everyone associated with the profession.
Let’s first focus on the consultant’s relationship with the client, because that’s the one that probably concerns you the most at this time. We will discuss consultant to client ethics in two categories—delivery of services and business aspects.
Some pointers for delivery are given in the following paragraphs.
You have been paid to produce the highest-quality products and services, at a reasonable price, on time, every time. Provide quality first, last, and everything between. You will find that your clients will appreciate attention to details and services and products of the highest standards. One of the fastest ways to go out of business is by offering shoddy workmanship.
Ethically, you must be willing to turn down a job that is beyond your competence. This does not mean that you should not accept projects that are a stretch or during which you can learn something. However, you should be able to contribute significantly to the client’s needs. If you find yourself in this situation, share the name of a colleague who is qualified. Both the potential client and your colleagues will appreciate it. It will work in your favor.
You will always need to learn something about the project or a new client, and there is often a hazy distinction about who is responsible for the investment. Our rule of thumb is that we will invest 5 percent of our time learning about our clients. That is, if we have a contract that is about 20 days in duration, we will spend at least one day learning about the client without charge. A more complex effort is usually a higher-ticket engagement, too, and the time will be incorporated. This is not something your clients will actually consider. It’s just a guideline.
If you are asked to do something that is inappropriate from any standpoint, say no. Examples could include something that borders on discrimination, dishonesty, prejudice, unfairness, or is a conflict of interest to you or your beliefs. For example, a number of years ago, I was hired to conduct a team-building session. In the middle of the data-gathering step, I learned that the manager who had hired me actually wanted me to collect data that would support firing a specific individual. I wasn’t as seasoned then as I am now, so I didn’t end the relationship immediately; however, the next day, when I returned, instead of conducting the rest of the interviews, I turned in a resignation. This was one of the first times I saw a client sputter!
Do not continue to work under a contract if you do not believe the client continues to gain from your involvement. You may have ended earlier than anticipated or circumstances may have changed that prevent the client from gaining any further benefits.
This means that you will not take advantage of your client in any way—large or small. At the large end of the continuum, if you overbid the project, do not charge the full amount. At the small end of the continuum, it means not taking a limo when an Uber will do. You are charged with monitoring your own performance, as these are usually things that may never be uncovered.
Consultants must feel comfortable responding honestly, even when the answer is “I don’t know.” Some consultants think that they look weak if they do not have all the answers. Being honest with a client will gain more respect than will “faking it.” As Mark Twain said, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” Besides that, the truth may astonish some people. Almost everyone will react positively when you say, “I don’t know, but I will find out and have an answer to you by tomorrow morning.”
Consulting is notorious for having peaks and valleys. Therefore, consultants become nervous in the valleys and take on more work than they can manage later. They may fall behind on deadlines or cut corners to meet everyone’s needs. How can you avoid overload without losing a client? I am honest up front and say something like, “We are looking forward to working with you, and right now we are swamped. I am sure you are disappointed; however, if we can put off the start date for three or four weeks, I can give your project the full attention it is due. Can we look at calendars now and determine when that might be?”
When you work for organizations that you do not respect or whose business purpose may undermine your own values, you are hurting your own reputation. Watch for clients who may not appreciate your high standards of consulting or who try to reduce your quality. An advantage of being a consultant is the ability to choose your work.
Never divulge any proprietary information or information about your contract. Although it might not be obvious why, it could give some other company a competitive advantage. You may also want to determine if you really need that confidential information to do your job. If you don’t, you may not want to accept it; then you don’t need to be concerned about keeping a close hold on it.
If you have the potential to benefit personally from any information you gain, you should not accept the project. For example, if you know that you will be in competition with the client in the future, do not accept the project. Some might think you are looking a gift horse in the mouth, but your conscience will know. This happened to us early in my career. Because I was on the board of directors, I knew that a competitive RFP would be released in a few short months by our association. At about the same time, another company asked me to work as a subcontractor to address a similar topic. I turned the project down and I also told them why. By the way, neither of us won the bid!
Accept responsibility for and act with care and sensitivity to the fact that your work may alter the lives and well-being of people within your client organization.
The goal of every consultant should be to go into organizations, complete the work, and leave the clients better able to take care of themselves. An ad for a seminar entitled “How to Build and Maintain Your Consulting Practice” appeared in several newspapers. I was appalled to see that it touted “How to build your client’s dependency!” A few more ads like that and most consultants will not need to worry about their reputations!
Inform the client immediately when problems arise or errors occur. No matter what the error, if you are responsible, own up to it and take care of it. This is not only an ethical issue; you may be held legally liable if anyone is hurt or if the business is damaged in any way as a result of your error. This is, of course, why you need errors and omissions (E&O) insurance. But that does not mean you should think of insurance first. Think of doing the right thing first. Inform your client and fix the problem.
If you find yourself in a bind and unable to complete an assignment, go to the client before you turn the project or even part of the project over to someone else. There could be another solution. Perhaps the client can take on more responsibility or was hoping to delay the project but did not want to change the agreement. You will never know unless you ask. Be up front.
Due to the sensitivity of information to which you may be exposed, it is likely that sharing such information with the competition, even inadvertently, could have negative consequences. We take this one step further. Due to the size and nature of many of our contracts, we will not work with clients’ direct competition for a full two years after our last contact with them. In one instance, we designed a cultural shift for a client that would eventually be implemented by almost every large company in the country. Our client had the foresight to be on the cutting edge and start first. We agreed not to work with their competition for two years following the final payment of the project. What we didn’t expect is that they would contract with us for a small project every year for several years to keep that agreement in place! I thought the client was very astute and creative—if not tricky!—with their solution.
During and after consulting engagements, assess your progress and results. Learn from the experience. The most valuable assessments occur when you can invite your clients to participate. We usually complete an after-action review (a term we picked up from our Navy clients) to uncover what went well and what didn’t, as well as what we’ll do differently the next time. We keep a lessons-learned book, too. It’s amazing how short memories can be.
Someone will notice. Even if no one does, you know you did what was right. We conducted the same workshop for a large manufacturer for 18 months. Near the end of the contract, a participant said she signed up specifically to meet us. She was from accounts payable and said she wanted to see the only trainers who were not gouging the company on expenses! That was a true statement. The company was located 1,500 miles away from our offices and we were on-site about two weeks each month. Of course, that meant lots of travel. We are firm believers in keeping expenses down. If no one in the client/consultant partnership benefits, then the money does not need to be spent. This belief ensures that we work to get lower-price travel fares, stay in moderate hotels, and eat meals that are reasonably priced. In this case, someone noticed—the client.
Never pass off someone else’s work as your own. Obtaining permission to use someone else’s work is easier than you can imagine. Tom Wood, owner of Watershed Associates, one of the best negotiating consulting firms in the world, shares his frustration with other consultants who make excuses for why they did not get permission to use someone’s material: “It’s not a big deal—I’m only going to use two minutes,” or “I’m promoting the movie by showing the clip!” Tom uses several movie clips in his seminars and is proud to have obtained permission to use all of them. He says it feels good to be “squeaky clean”!
Yes, you need permission, and it’s not that difficult to obtain. Use the Copyright Clearance Center at www.copyright.com to get permission for almost anything. Tom Wood gets permission for his movies from Motion Picture Licensing Corporation at www.mplc.com. Not sure? When in doubt, ask.
Copyright knowledge is so basic and copyright infringement is so detrimental, I would think that everyone would know the consequences by this time. Apparently not. I spoke at an association conference last week. The woman who followed me had a ton of technology to hook up. There were wires everywhere! Needless to say, she was anxious to get me off the stage. While I was packing up and answering a few questions from my audience, we were nearly blown out of the room with some loud top-hit music blaring from her iPhone. I am almost certain she did not have permission from all the bands she was featuring to use their music. But I also knew that to ask her whether she knew the consequences of playing copyrighted music without permission would upset her before her session. I let it go. Perhaps she’ll read this book. Copyright is serious business. If you are not sure, ask.
Can you be more businesslike while practicing integrity and being ethical? Here are a few things for you to consider.
If you followed our advice in Chapter Three to establish a fee structure and to stick with it, you have already created an ethical foundation for your business. We said there that you should identify a clear and consistent pricing structure for all of your clients. Your structure should clearly spell out any differences among clients, such as nonprofit groups or government agencies, different kinds of work, or where the work is completed. Be consistent. I know that pricing based on the value may be touted as the best approach, and many times it may be. Unfortunately, many clients are not in a position to look at your pricing structure that way. I also find that establishing a variable rate only works when you can clearly differentiate where the variation exists. Asha in this chapter’s opening was using a variable rate structure.
I once hired a subcontractor with whom I needed to establish a daily rate. We would have more than 20 subcontractors on this job and the client wanted to pay each of them a daily rate, but was willing to pay different amounts within reason. When I asked the potential subcontractor what his daily rate was, his first response was $1,200 to $1,600. When I asked what constituted the difference, he could not give me a specific or measurable definition. Two weeks later, he came to me and proposed that I take 15 percent and he take 85 percent of some arbitrary daily fee. I responded that we all needed to try to give clients as much for their money as we could and that this client had specific requirements. He finally agreed to accept a fee of $850 for writing, data gathering, and phone interviews, and $1,100 for on-site strategy development. The client was able to accomplish about 30 percent more for the same amount of money. The real loser here was the subcontractor. Although he was good at his craft, his approach to business needed some work.
It may be tempting to charge more just because you know the client has more in the budget. Don’t do it. You will never feel good about it. Also, don’t add on services that the client really does not need. Can you feel the struggle that Asha was experiencing at the beginning of this chapter?
What if you have quoted an amount and the project actually takes less time and effort? It’s your call. You can justify charging the full price or you can buy surprised respect from your client by charging for only what was required. When I was first starting my consulting business, we returned excess money to a large firm—or, I should say, we tried to return the money we’d been paid. The company called us to say that there was no process for putting the returned fee back into the system! I have often wondered if that was actually true or if it was just a line to get us to keep the money. They contracted with us for more than a dozen years.
Expenses are petty little things that can easily lead to a distrustful relationship. The easiest way to deal with them is to build things such as telephone calls and express mail into your project fee, so that you neither need to track them nor present them to your client for payment.
Expenses are petty little things that can easily lead to a distrustful relationship.
Travel expenses should always be charged at cost and verified with receipts. Do not exaggerate mileage and do not exceed reasonable expenses. The question you should ask yourself is “Would I spend this if I were at home?” For example, “Would I eat this $78 lobster dinner if I were at home tonight?” If the answer is no, it is probably not a legitimate expense.
Double dipping, or charging two clients for the same trip, is one of the worst ways a consultant violates the trust between consultant and client.
Your fee structure, your expense report, and how you deliver your product are all important aspects of building an ethically strong relationship with your client. The bottom line, however, is that the ethical overtones will be dependent on the personal and professional relationship between individuals.
How can you determine whether you are doing everything possible to build this relationship? Ask your client. Discuss it. Your client may not be aware of your standards or what you do to maintain them. This kind of discussion will build respect for you and your consulting firm.
A consultant’s relationships with other consultants are critical. You will want to maintain your reputation among your peers. Let’s discuss this first from a subcontracting relationship and then look at other situations that you may experience.
Subcontracting is a special relationship. Some guidelines for subcontracting are given in the following paragraphs.
Most clients feel nervous when they believe a group of independents, a hodgepodge of consultants, will come in to work on their delicate problems. Thus, it is important to present a united front. As a subcontractor, you give up the right to represent your firm or to discuss it. You give up that right in exchange for steady work.
Even if the client approaches you, the client belongs to the primary consultant, who has invested in marketing to this particular client. Report any offers you receive to the primary consultant. Perhaps the two of you can work something out, such as one or the other of you providing the service and the other receiving a percentage of the fee. Some firms have their subcontractors sign noncompete agreements. We do not usually do that. We state what we believe is right and then trust the subcontractor to do the right thing. We believe that a client is not fair game for a subcontractor until at least two years past the final contract date. Noncompete agreements rarely stand up in court because of questions about whether the relationship has employee or 1099 status.
Subcontractors should not speak for the client in contractual matters, changes in the delivery, or anything else. The primary consultant must take care of all issues and questions. The subcontractor should never discuss money with the client.
Subcontractors must support in word and deed the delivery of services—and that means no eye-rolling, either! The subcontractor’s responsibility is to enhance the primary’s performance. This is sometimes difficult. Egos get in the way. One tries to outguess the other.
Be completely honest and candid. State doubts you may have about any aspect of the project, even if it has not been stated by the client and is only your gut feeling. If the primary consultant builds in a “paid-when-paid” provision in the contract, it should be clearly discussed before any work commences. As an act of good faith, the primary can include a net five days for payment to the subcontractor, once the client pays the primary.
Subcontractors are very similar to employees, and you have the same ethical responsibilities to let them know if you have any concerns about the original plan. For example, let subcontractors know if a project will be extended or shortened. Keep them informed about any doubts the client may have. Build a team spirit.
You will find yourself in other situations that test your ethical stamina. Here are several.
I believe there is very little new under the sun. I will always give credit to anyone from whom I get a new idea, but never think that my ideas are so unique that they cannot be shared. Therefore, anytime I can help someone, I do. I will send a book upon request or give advice or recommend another consultant. If someone asks permission to use my materials I always grant it—but I do expect someone to ask. I am not alone. There are many others who believe that collaboration sustains the consulting profession.
Julie O’Mara, for example is a world-renowned diversity consultant. Some years ago I sent her this email:
I am working with a client who has had a couple of attempts at diversity efforts and they always fizzle out. They mean to do well, but just don’t “take the time” to get the support from the senior leaders. In the past they have had five years of external consultants who spent four to five days per week at the organization, and they have had a diversity council, but just don’t seem to make any headway. Consultants have been gone now for three years. The organization has a new diversity coordinator, but she doesn’t know where to start. Can you provide me with a bit of direction? Is there a book or plan or something that I can hand them—or work with them to create—that will get them started? If the answer is too long, or if what they really need is you—just say so. I am not looking for free consulting. Hope this explains it. I am sure it is a story you’ve heard before.
Julie, the quintessence of professionalism and a diversity expert, responded immediately, saying, “Not a simple answer. I have some thoughts. I have an hour-long drive to a client. I can call you from the car and would be glad to share some ideas. I’ll be in the car from about noon until 1:15 PDT. Will that time work and what number can I call? I have other times to talk, but that would be the easiest. Attached are two documents that I’ll refer to.”
Julie spent an hour with me on the phone laying out the entire plan, what I needed to do, how the client needed to be involved, how to design the intervention, and what to do next. I followed up with a handwritten note and a thank-you puzzle. The client was finally successful.
Contrast this with another professional, who asked me to share an hour’s worth of content, which I did willingly at 9 p.m. However, nine months later when I asked for similar support, he stated that his content was proprietary and he could not discuss it with me. I went to his website and printed off what I needed.
Here’s another example of one of our stellar professionals. I received a message through LinkedIn from someone who had a dire problem. She’d read one of my books and didn’t understand some aspect of it and needed to talk to me about it. Could I talk that night? I responded that I could and spent about an hour on the phone giving advice. The conversation was pleasant and I promised to send her a couple of my books. I ended up being generous and sending her about $200 worth of my books (and yes, authors do pay for their own books). A month passed and although she lived in another country with much higher postage, I never heard from her. I decided to send a message asking if the package had arrived. Her answer was, “Oh, yes. It arrived weeks ago.” There was no thank you.
As I said earlier, I will always assist where I can, but I can’t do your job for you. This situation happened more than 10 years ago, but it is one I still think about on occasion. A man whom I had met briefly on one occasion emailed me in desperation asking me to help him with a consulting project: “I am enclosing the five PowerPoint slides and hope that you can suggest activities from the Pfeiffer Annuals or develop activities that I could use with my client—at least one for each of the five slides.” He was in effect, asking me to design his training session.
I wrote back,
I am sorry that I cannot help you. Coaching is not my area of expertise. It may seem like a simple request, but I do not select activities as you presented. It would seem to me that you need to design a full-day coaching course. If the slides you presented me are all the materials you have, you will probably need at least four days’ worth of design. Then you will design the activities as a part of the holistic design. I rarely use the activities from the Annuals exactly the way they are, but, rather, I customize them for every situation and every client. So you see I do not have enough information to make a decision. Good luck to you!
He emailed again, “I thought I had the course designed, but the clients changed their minds. I have to redesign the material to fit the audience as much as possible. Is it possible to send me the list of activities for the 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 Pfeiffer Annuals (for both the Training and Consulting)? Then I could decide what might fit.”
I wrote back, “I am on the road for the next week. I am with a client from morning until about 9:00 p.m. each night. I do not have access to email once I go into their secured office space and my office manager, Lorraine, is out until next Tuesday. So I am afraid we are no help to you. Check for the Table of Contents to the 12 Annuals on the Jossey-Bass website. You know, sometimes you just say no to the client too …”
He emailed again, “Thanks for telling me where to look, actually I still have a week if you could tell Lorraine to contact me in addition. The last time I checked, they did not list the table of contents.” There were several more emails back and forth, plus a fax to him of about 40 pages.
In the end we never heard how his problem ended. He never acknowledged our support or thanked us.
You knew that was coming! While it may not be an ethical issue, do not forget to thank your colleagues. At the least, take a couple of minutes to send an email. Even better, buy a cool thank-you card (you can find ones that sing!) and write a couple of personal words inside. Thank those who help your success. If you don’t, they may feel used.
Consultants are like mailmen: “through rain or sleet or falling snow. …” No matter what, you do not let your colleagues down by being a no-show when you have agreed to support them. There is always a way. Find it.
When you discuss other consultants, it is unprofessional to criticize them. Take care with your nonverbals as well. Subtle signals may be observed by those around you. If you do have serious reservations about the competence or behavior of another consultant, you are ethically responsible for confronting that individual. As professionals, we must regulate ourselves to ensure high standards and ethical behavior.
Although you have no control over your clients’ behavior, you should be aware of some of the things clients may do that can undermine your relationship with them. I’d like to believe that some clients simply do not know better. In that case, it is our responsibility to educate them. If we all inform them of the effect any of their behaviors have on us, we will improve relationships for all consultants and clients.
In other cases, the client may have an agenda that does not meet your standards. Typically you would learn about this during the early stages of the relationship. Turn the project down and find something else.
Sometimes the client’s agenda is not apparent until later in the project. You may see warning signs along the way. The client may have unrealistic expectations of you or may begin to withdraw commitment from parts of the project. Be honest and candid with the client to resolve your concerns. If the client will not move back on track, you can either work within the boundaries you have been given or quit. What unethical actions might you encounter? A few are listed in the sidebar.
You may encounter times when a potential client isn’t in synch with you or is using you in some way. Watch for these signs.
Prior to contracting with you, the client:
During the project, the client:
I hope you will not face too many ethical decisions as you start your consulting firm. Do recognize the importance of your decisions. Let’s consider codes of ethics and how you might approach the ethics of international work.
A code of ethics details the core guidelines of a profession. It highlights what is expected of a professional in the field. Most cover things such as conflict of interest, representing good faith, and the perception of the public. They usually cover broad topics of honesty, integrity, transparency, respect, fairness, and moral principles. A professional association or society expects its members to adhere to these ethics at the minimum.
Professional associations that represent consultants, such as the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC), the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants (IARFC), and the Professional and Technical Consultants Association (PATCA), have codes of ethics. If you do not know what your association’s ethics code is, call the customer service line and ask that it be sent to you.
To view IMC’s code of ethics, check the website at www.imcusa.org.
As an independent consultant, you will establish your own code of ethics. You will develop a set of ethical standards that you choose to abide by as you do business. That is both a privilege and a responsibility. It is a privilege that you have been given. As a consultant, you do not need to live by others’ ethics. It is a responsibility that you must accept. As a consultant, you have the ability to increase the public’s respect and trust for the consulting profession.
Ethics Today Online is a forum for exploring a broad range of organizational ethics and character development issues. It is published monthly and available at www.ethics.org. The Society for Business Ethics is an international organization engaged in the study of business ethics; its newsletter is available at www .societyforbusinessethics.org. Both newsletters are free.
Like everything in the world, ethics may not be black and white when it comes to international work. Business practices that are illegal, or at least frowned upon, in one country are allowed, or at least tolerated, in another. For example, in some Latin American countries, bribery and kickbacks are a part of doing business. In some Asian nations, insider trading is not a crime. I’ve conducted a great deal of work in China and wrestled with some things I’ve come up against.
A Chinese friend characterized some of the concerns I was having as, “In China, a handshake is only meant to be good until a better deal comes along.” So I challenge you to wrap your head around that. I certainly didn’t have to like or adopt this ethical philosophy, but it helped me to understand what was inside others’ psychs. I think about that explanation often. Who’s to say it isn’t right?
If you have the courage to face the truth and do what is right, you will always feel good about the services you provide and you will do what is best for the profession. Place a high value on your talents and your high-quality service. Think highly of yourself. Do not sell out on your integrity; do not negotiate your reputation away. As a consultant, your principles are always in jeopardy. When your name is on the project, your reputation is on the line.
When your name is on the project, your reputation is on the line.
Your work and your company’s future depend on clients. Without clients, there are no engagements. There is no future. Clients want to work with an ethical consultant to whom they can entrust their most pressing problems. Be that consultant. Build a trusting relationship, one that is built on solid integrity and ethical actions.
It’s Not the Price. Avoid competing on price alone. Propose value for the client. Express and believe in your proposition’s benefit to your client. Competing on price can just spell trouble. Either you won’t have enough money to complete the engagement with the quality your client deserves or you will lose and damage your reputation in the process.
Don’t Gloat. There are plenty of braggarts in this business. Do not be one of them. Modestly, and with all the dignity you can muster, give all credit to your client. They hired you because they knew you would be able to help them. Remember, it’s a partnership. Make your client the hero!
Offer More. As the owner of your consulting firm, plan time to connect with the senior-level clients. You may have subcontractors or employees who are doing the work, but they still want to see you. And they want to know that you care. Are you meeting their needs? How could you exceed their needs? Demonstrate that you want to be the solution.