By Steve Martin
Clients engage consultants to handle some of their toughest and most time sensitive problems. With speed of delivery at a premium, consultants are often tempted to lean too heavily on their pre-existing company collateral when it comes to advising their clients. However, to drive the value that clients deserve for the rates that consultants charge, customization of collateral based on knowledge of the client and their specific situation is required. Finding the right balance between customization and the use of templates is often what differentiates a successful engagement from a mediocre or failed outcome in the eyes of the client.
Although you won't find it in the project work plan or Gantt chart, the first activity in a new client engagement typically centers on identifying the most appropriate artifacts from the firm's knowledge base—benchmarks, templates, spreadsheets, PowerPoint decks, and other work products that can be repurposed for the new project.
