Client engagement skills

A technical specialist must have not only the knowledge and skills to deliver a consulting project, but also those to work effectively with clients, who are part of a different organisation often with different values and agendas and the power to reject you and your advice. This course covers the important skills needed to deal with the challenges that this raises.

This course will enhance the skills and confidence of all professionals and technical specialists who wish to engage more effectively with their clients.

By the end of this course you should have:

• A clear insight into the key engagement issues that are involved in delivering successful projects
• An increased ability to articulate your position clearly; to handle casual meetings, and network effectively
• Examined and tried out a set of structured approaches to prepare for and conduct client meetings
• Identified an appropriate set of tools and techniques for framing and operating projects, focusing on critical milestones in the life of a project, such as launch, progress reviews, conflict resolution and closure

The tools and techniques involved are covered on Day 1 and then practiced in workshop on Day 2. The programme is:

Day 1

• Introduction: why engagement skills are important
• What makes for a good client relationship?
• Excellence in client dialogues: the casual meeting; the formal meeting
• Skills practice: opening the meeting; participating in the meeting
• Influencing skills
• Dealing with difficult questions

Day 2

• Telephone technique and skills practice
• Tools, tactics and techniques for an initial meeting; skills practice
• Handling difficult situations; skills practice – conduct a progress review meeting
• Applications back at work

This is a two-day course which has many opportunities for skills practice. It uses our CONSULT delivery process as a framework and at each stage uses our STAR technique:

• Situation analysis, using the tools needed to work out what is going on
• Tactics – how to work out what to do in practice
• Action – techniques that you can use in meetings and other critical transactions
• Review of the outcomes and learning points - and how to apply these to future situations

The method of delivery is:

• Input on the challenges of each phase and the tools and techniques that might be used
• Skills practice in a practical exercise
• Review of lessons learned and how they can be applied in practice