Written by Curt Mills:

When are they ever going to get back to me?!?!?  Perhaps I’m just “old school,” or maybe an “old soul,” but if honoring your word and a commitment is considered a practice of yesteryear, then we DO need to make some things new again.  Some of our consulting team had recently undertaken a “what makes a good consultant” survey.  As I perused those results, I couldn’t help but pick out a few of my personal favorites, and responsiveness was right at the top of the list.  I’ll share a few other qualities I feel are crucial and offer my opinion on the value of each.

1. Be Responsive

On more than one occasion, I’ve told my sons the skills that will set you apart in your professional lives are all of the things you won’t learn about in school; and with several decades now in the rear-view mirror of my career, I have seen and continue to see that in the workplace all too often.  Procrastination may be accepted when filing your taxes, or perhaps making that overdue dental appointment to get that sore tooth taken care of, but in the real world of getting-business-done, people want stuff done now.  Your boss does not want to follow up with you two or three times (or even once) for that report you promised would be in her inbox three days ago.  And that customer holding up a training schedule for that quote you promised him last Friday will soon realize he has other training vendors available to him.  Whatever your choice of communication, providing a timely response is not only a common courtesy, but will show your customer, or maybe your boss, that their priorities are your priorities.

2. Live Time Management

I cut my professional teeth in a small IT company of two hundred employees.  A number of us in an “IT” position routinely worked every role in the project life cycle.  We primarily served the burgeoning telecom sector in the post-AT&T-divesture era.  Balancing multiple projects with multiple customers with a sprinkling of new client implementations and handling the occasional support “fire” was the status quo of each day.  Customer demand dictated our corporate culture and as a young professional then, I would quickly learn about “prioritization.”  FIFO (first in, first out), first-come-first-serve, and I’ll add it to the bottom of my list, were the prioritization rules I lived by. As a neophyte systems analyst, I only made the mistake ONCE of telling Customer A that their project needed to wait because I was busy right now with Customer B.  I learned all of my traditional thinking of time management and prioritization was irrelevant in the real world of business.  Proper time management, in the realm of successful consulting services, is about two things:

(A) keeping the customers happy, and

(B) keeping as many people productive as possible

Task Triage should be the norm rather than the exception, essentially asking yourself throughout the day “what’s the most important use of my time right now?”  If a decision can be made or a simple action can be performed that satisfies a pressing customer need, take a break right then and do it!  An unread e-mail, an unanswered phone call, a stagnant report sitting on your desk should never be a bottleneck that impacts others’ productivity.  There is no need to be the reason that your team is sitting idly by, or worse, that your inaction is costing your customer time and money because you don’t take two minutes out of your busy day to make a two-minute decision.

3. Be Reliable

My Dad taught me many things growing up, but staying true to your word has to be near the top of the list.  It had different flavors, like “do what you mean and mean what you say,” “don’t be late,” and “never break a promise,” but all of these instilled a sense of dependability in me.  A few times showing up for dinner late and not getting fed or facing the consequences of not having the grass mowed when Dad got home from work let me know this was serious stuff.  I’ve shared with colleagues over the years that if you tell me you’ll return my call by noon on Friday, I expect to hear from you by noon on Friday; or at least get a courtesy call/e-mail/text that you’ve got a valid reason for breaking your commitment and you’ll provide me a new follow up date.  Keeping your word, honoring your commitment is the EASIEST thing in the world you can do.  And if you can’t be trusted to complete this simple task, why would your employer, or your customer, want to trust you with more difficult assignments?  Slipping up a few times, missing a few deadlines…signals to your customer that just maybe THEIR work is not that important to you.  In most cases, you’ve got a number of hungry competitors just waiting to swoop in at contract renewal time with their pledge of impeccable QA, high performance and a 100% satisfaction-guarantee.

The consulting business is competitive…there are plenty of consulting companies and plenty of consultants.  Much like the sports analogies you always hear, the levels between the competitors are often minute and it’s the smallest of details than can make a difference.  In business, it’s the execution on these details that will set you apart as individuals and enable you to build a culture among your consultancy that wins you both new customers and customer renewals.

Curt Mills – Client Services Manager

Curt has been a consultant with Momentum for 5 years.  He has more than twenty years of IT and functional experience in the areas of application software development, business analysis, project management, product deployment and client support. He is experienced with analyzing existing organization and design of systems in all areas of IT, including business, departments and organizations.  Curt currently oversees Momentum’s Senior Advisors, Employee Initiatives, and Service/Product Offering Development research and evaluation.