06 October 2008

Do You Like Your Clients

I was off and generally disconnected last Friday so you'll see a bunch of catch up posts today.

For starters, Dwight Specht has a very honest post titled "Do You Like Your Clients" on his personal blog, The Death of Reason. I have to say that I agree with an awful lot of it and I might add a few points of my own.

  • Generally, I prefer smart clients. If you're doing something creative or unusual, the intellectual challenge makes me willing to go the extra mile. I had a client who needed to reclassify their financial statements into line of business segments (including going back 3 years) while still maintaining the original financial statements. We came up with some creative ways to use unit accounts for the look backward allowing easy reporint either way in FRx. It started as a hallway conversation with a couple of bright analysts.
  • I like self sufficient clients. While it's still nice to get an easy question now and then, that doesn't happen very often and that's normally a good thing for clients. Explaining how to cut a check in AP for the thousandth time is just part of the job. Doing it for the 8th time for the same user at a client is frustrating for everyone.
  • I like clients who know what they want. I will do my best to not waste your time. I've been a client twice and I know how expensive consultants can be. Clients who don't know what they want waste their own money and often don't realize it.
Read Dwight's whole thing. It's worth it.