What makes a good client?

Over the last 6 years, I have had the privilege of collaborating with a diverse range of impressive clients spanning, universities, think tanks, research institutes, third sector organisations, religious institutions, independent schools, theatres and arts organisations.  Fostering excellent relationships with our clients has been instrumental to the success and reputation of FJ Philanthropy Ltd.  But do I have a favourite client?

The short answer is yes.  The longer answer is, yes, although, I would more accurately describe it as a favourite type of client.  To disambiguate further, a favourite type of consultant-client relationship. Alas, I duck the need to name any particular client to explain my thinking and rationale. Phew.

"There are darwinian forces involved…they sort of each find their métier".

I first want to qualify, importantly, that there is no such thing, in my humble view, as a good client or a not-so-good client (dare I say, bad). Rarely in life, if ever, can things be so black and white. Relationships are dynamic, not fixed. What is important to characterise is the perceived quality of interaction between the client and the consultant, from the perspective of both; in other words, the relationship itself. There are, after all, two parties integrally involved in a consultancy collaboration, and therefore qualitatively judging a client or consultant as “good” or “bad” seems to lack sufficient dimensionality of thought. It also fails to acknowledge the dynamic nature, as opposed to static nature, of consultant-client relationships, and the shared responsibility for sculpting that to become mutually agreeably defined as good, or, better still, excellent.

A sage advisor once described this to me using a somewhat ethereal and highly intriguing rule of thumb, “Clients get the work they deserve, and consultants get the clients they deserve. There are darwinian forces involved…they sort of each find their métier”. Such a pithy statement, among an arsenal of other wisdom this friend had to offer, provided me with disproportionate insight and meaning. Extrapolating from this was the fact that “excellent” clients get “excellent” consultants and the converse also applies.  Would this be my experience as I entered the consultancy arena?  

Five years on, I still reflect on that nugget of wisdom, regularly, deriving more nuanced and subtle value as I do each time.  However, in short, experientially and observationally, I can fully attest to the validity of that statement. Therefore, do I have a favourite client? Yes, although, ducking once more, fortunately darwinian forces have ensured that ‘favourite’ has been the rule as opposed to the exception. Long may that continue.