Difficult Clients

Hi there,

This is a great question and topic of discussion. 

I've been in this situation multiple times with clients making inappropriate comments. 

The way you choose to deal with it depends on your abilities and seniority (and also the seniority of the person who made the comment). 

When I was a junior, I'd try not to be too direct or challenge these people on the spot. Instead, I'd communicate these things to my engagement manager and then to the wider team (including Partners) whenever we had a joint problem-solving. We would then discuss how to best approach it. 

As I grew in seniority and my communication skills also got better, I also became more confident to lead these discussions myself. In general, there are a few things I've noticed work well:

1. Don't challenge people on the spot. If they said something inappropriate, it's better to take them aside later on and have a discussion with them

2. Try not to judge them or label them or what they said. Instead, explain how what they said might make others feel. Explain then what would be the consequences of that on the joint project you are working on.

3. Give that person time to adjust and implement the feedback. If this keeps repeating, give feedback to the Partner so they discuss it directly with their senior (e.g., CEO) and have that person receive feedback directly from within their organisation. 

Hope you found this helpful! If you're at the start of your career in consulting, you might also find this article helpful:

• How to Survive Your First Year as a Management Consultant

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

First, consider reading thsi consulting guide here: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/tips-for-consultans

If you can give us an exact scenario that would be quite helpful.

Every scenario will be different and need to be handled differently.

Generally, when being paid, I “bury” as much as I can. Client comes first. However, there are ways to draw the line in the sand and set boundaries that are tactful/suggesting, rather than direct confrontation.

Then, there are ways to 1) Escalate concerns to your manager(s) and 2) Get moved to other projects/clients

I can't emphasize how important it is to do this right and how a bunch of Q&A answers is truly riskier than a deep discussion on a specific scenario and steps to take.

General advice here would be so easy to improprly implement.

Hi,

Interesting and especially relevant question - consultants unfortunately do face difficult and ugly situations like this (I myself have as well). And based on my ~8 years of experience in consulting, yes, client interaction is arguably the most challenging part of consulting.

In general, there are 2 steps I would follow, with a 3rd that is situational/'conditional':

1. Always maintain your own professionalism 
   • Even though the clients may be extremely unprofessional/rude - you should maintain yours
   • Take a breath / walk out of the room / exit the call if need to, but do not make an unprofessional comment/action
2. Escalate to your case/project leadership
   • The first thing you should do (after such a comment is made) is to report this to your case manager and partner
   • This is a necessary step due to various factors
     • You are likely to be a junior consultant, and it is also likely the client will be more senior than you both in age and position
     • We do not have control over the client - and neither do you, so situations like that are often brought to the client leadership
   • Most importantly, this is what the case leadership role is - to protect the team and ensure the team has a safe working environment
   • While presenting your POV to your leadership - it of course helps if you are able to show evidence (e.g. email, corroboration from other people present), although granted this may not always be possible
3. (Situationally dependent) Respond/confront the client on the spot
   • While you are entirely within your right to call out the client on the spot, my personal POV on this is that its really very situational
   • The main concern here is that you are able to do so while still maintaining professionalism and not let this trigger an even more heated argument/fight
   • The secondary concern is that you -may- have misinterpreted the comment or if its a comment really in a bit more of a ‘gray’ area → much of this depends on context and a second perspective (either from another person in the room or retrospective with a trusted colleage e.g. case leadership) could help

Remember - you are not expected to solve the problem yourself (like many other things in consulting). That's what case leadership is there for. As for what happens after things are escalated to leadership - yes there can be repercussions for that specific client. 

All the best!

Hello,

If this is a theoretical inquiry, I can tell you that in my experience this does not happen often in consulting at all. Of course, people are different and there's nothing guaranteeing that everyone you work with will be professional and polite, but generally clients tend to be such, regardless of their position. 

If this has actually happened to you, I would suggest the following:

• Determine whether a line has been crossed. Is this an weird off-hand comment from an otherwise perfectly professional client, or is this a pattern of inappropriate behavior that makes you uncomfortable? If the latter, you are going to need to escalate it.
• Talk to leadership on your project. If you are an analyst/associate/consultant, talk to the project manager. If you are the project manager, talk to the partner. Those people will be better positioned to have a conversation with client leadership about the issue. If you have a mentor within your firm, you can also let them know what's happening and ask them for advice
• If the issue persists, ask to be moved to a different project.

Benjamin's answer is most sound I believe.

• Contain and handle yourself first
• Escalate to project Partners and beyond (if needed)
• Keep going at it professionally

I have had first hand experience of dealing with an ‘abusive’ client. And the above recommended approach was the most productive for everyone - (for the client, for yourself, and for the consulting firm's business).

The client hires the consulting firm, while the consulting firm hires you. So your problems are first to be reported to the firm, and the firm then takes it up with the client.

Whether to escalate it beyond the project partner and up to the local authorities - is something you can either take a firm call yourselves, or if in doubt you should consult the Partners.

The outcomes vary case by case as well:

• Based on Partner intervention, the client might understand and become better - and life goes on normal for all.
• If the problems persist, the specific consultant could be transferred to another case (and of course no blame comes on the consultant)
• If the transgression is severe, and a complaint is lodged with the local authorities, then that will take its course.

Note that while it is in the Partners' interest to uphold business and revenue, generally consulting firms take care of their employees to a large extent especially when it comes to upholding self-respect and personal values.