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7 Steps to Kick Off Every Consulting Project Perfectly

The moment immediately after a prospect becomes your client is when the Onboarding phase of your consulting firm’s client experience begins.

Beginnings matter. Which is why the best practices to start your projects are discussed below.

Consider some famous beginnings:

“Four score and seven years ago…” (Gettysburg address)

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” (A Tale of Two Cities)

“Call me Ishmael.” (Moby Dick)

“Seems to me that button is in the worst possible spot.”[Seinfeld]

People remember beginnings. They establish the tone for consulting projects, and communicate competence, collaboration, and direction (or lack thereof).

They’re also a critical inflection point in your consulting firm’s client experience.

When your client agrees to work with your firm, her anxiety is like a full balloon on a helium tank’s nozzle— if you tie it off properly and quickly, everything will stay under control; otherwise it will shoot to the ceiling then spaz all over the place, knocking things off kilter and alarming people.

Of course beginnings aren’t really beginnings.

Beginnings are the visible result of thought, planning, preparation, intent and experience.

The producers of Seinfeld considered, reconsidered, wrote, rewrote, rehearsed and taped the first scene more than once before we saw it.

Lincoln framed, reframed, drafted and edited the opening to his address multiple times while enjoying first-class travel to Gettysburg on the Acela.*

Thoughtfully construct the Onboarding of your consulting firm’s client experience in advance—well before you close consulting engagements.

7 Steps to Kick Off Every Consulting Project Perfectly

Congratulations Email

Within minutes of a client verbally approving an engagement, send out an email congratulating them on moving forward with the project.

Reinforce that your work together is going to provide great value.

This immediate reassurance is important—it ties off the helium balloon of anxiety at the moment of highest vulnerability.

Kickoff Letter

Within a day of receiving written approval, send a note congratulating the client again on their smart decision and laying out any immediate information they need to know.

Next steps could include logistics of the project, immediate next steps, and so forth.

You can also include a request for information (see below) and your first invoice with this note.

Request for Information

Your consulting firm needs information from the client to help them achieve success.

In fact, you probably need quite a lot of information.

Send an organized, comprehensive checklist of information to the client within a day or two of receiving approval to the engagement.

The information request jolts your client into action immediately and contributes to the sense of “dust flying.”

Client’s Internal Kickoff Draft

Your client may want to send a note to her organization letting them know about the exciting outcomes your firm will be producing for them, and the activity involved in the engagement.

Sending a draft of that note for your client to use is a nice touch.

Interviews

Most consulting projects involve at least a few interviews of client personnel.

(If your project plans don’t typically include interviews, find a way to incorporate them. Interviews are a good way to meet more people and build your consulting firm’s network.)

Start scheduling interviews the day after you send the kickoff letter. That’s more dust flying.

Implementation Plan

If your engagement involves multiple, involved steps, you may want to send a detailed implementation plan.

You can cover the implementation plan during your kickoff meeting or in a logistics video that you send in advance of the kickoff.

Your implementation plan should include the progress trackers you’ll use to measure success.

Kickoff Meeting

Every engagement benefits from a kickoff meeting.

Confirm your client’s expectations and also explicitly outline your expectations.

This is where you make it very clear, in front of a large audience, what your client’s obligations are–a step that could save you bushels of grief down the road.

These seven steps scratch the surface of an outstanding Onboarding experience for your client.

What else do you incorporate into your kickoff process?


22 Comments
  1. Dr. Doc Dockery, Ph.D.
    December 11, 2024 at 8:51 am Reply

    Great stuff David!

    • David A. Fields
      December 11, 2024 at 9:10 am Reply

      Thanks, Doc. I appreciate your feedback!

  2. Tyra
    December 11, 2024 at 9:05 am Reply

    This is excellent — thank you!

    • David A. Fields
      December 11, 2024 at 9:11 am Reply

      You’re welcome, Tyra. Thank you for posting you reaction, and let me know how the Onboarding process works out for you.

  3. Scott Lange
    December 11, 2024 at 9:07 am Reply

    Your newsletters are always advancing growth. Thank you, David!

    • David A. Fields
      December 11, 2024 at 9:11 am Reply

      You are very kind, Scott. I appreciate your taking a moment to post your reaction.

  4. Caroline R Taich
    December 11, 2024 at 10:00 am Reply

    TImely. Love the idea of a workplan loom video. Thanks for this idea – I’ll try it this week!

    • David A. Fields
      December 11, 2024 at 1:49 pm Reply

      Videos are effective at virtually every stage of the project, Caroline. Let me know how your workplan video works out!

      Thanks for jumping into the conversation, Caroline.

  5. BJ Jhaveri
    December 11, 2024 at 10:06 am Reply

    Very well articulated! Thanks for sharing it so nicely and in a structured manner.

    • David A. Fields
      December 11, 2024 at 1:50 pm Reply

      You’re quite welcome, BJ. Thank you for sharing your feedback!

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