Consulting Manners

Why Practice Good Consulting Manners?

Demand for IT professionals is on the rise all the time. But that doesn't mean that the client does not have a choice of professionals. Good manners apply to everyone in the workplace. They increase employee morale, enhance the company's image, and most significantly, contribute to bottom line profitability. Here are certain things which you can follow for an effective client-consultant relationship:

	Adherence to client's work timings and work culture.
	Working a little extra in the initial weeks of the contract and not billing the hours to the client. That results in direct tangible savings for the client.
	Billing the client only for the work hours and not lunch hour or coffee breaks.
	Please avoid use of a local language to speak to a colleague from your native country. Please make use of English for all forms of communication.

You Are A Guest-Not an Employee

	Client is only lending their facilities
	Arrangement is only temporary
	Consultant has only the ability to refuse engagement so he/she accepts working conditions
	Maintain focus on why you accepted engagement

While In The Office :

	When on-site, think on stage
	Again, remember that you are borrowing use of client's facilities
	Watch where you put your feet
	Try not to slouch
	Learn to make do with small workspace
	Don't leave valuables around

Project Professional Image :

	Dress neatly
	Be pleasant and smile
	Be respectful to client's staff
	Disarm jealousy about money
	Answer computer questions graciously
	Sleep eleswhere

Computers and E-Mail :

	Be patient about requests to IS staff
	Wait your turn for mainframe initiators
	Single-thread mainframe jobs
	Don't whine about slow computers
	Avoid customizing client's PC's
	Use client e-mail only for their business

Telephone Courtesy :

	Give out client's phone number sparingly
	Better: use own pager or voice-mail
	Use your own (or agency's) credit card for long distance calls from client's site
	Consider getting 800 number to call home

Smart Telephoning :

	Excessive phone calls are red flag to clients
	Schedule calls early, late, or at lunch time, when client staff is not watching
	Limiting who has your telephone number minimizes personal calls while on-site

Shared Telephones :

	Ask office mates before placing long call
	Try to keep incoming calls short
	Don't expect others not to listen
	Better: place call from unused office or pay phone
	Take messages for others graciously
	Consider shifting calls to e-mail messages

Conclusion:

	Remember that clients make it possible for us to make a living doing something we enjoy
	For those old to programming but new to consulting, make a conscious effort to stop thinking like an employee of the client
	Think of manners not as constraints but as tools to help us achieve our goals as consultants
	Show greater initiative and make better decisions. This will have fewer problems and achieve more cooperation and longer engagement with client. It also creates greater comfort when working on-site and gives additional assignments from agency