Long-term engagements are beneficial for consultants or agencies as well as the clients who work with them. But it takes the right mix of factors to build productive, lasting client-consultant relationships.
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For consultants and agencies, long-term client relationships mean steady income. But more importantly, they mean you can spend more time doing what you love—delivering great results for awesome clients—and less time on business development and proposal writing.
For clients, these long-term relationships mean clarity (the consultant has time to really get to know your business, objectives, and work style), reliability, and continuity. Over time, communications become more efficient, as the consultant becomes less of an external resource and more of simply an extension of your team.
But for any variety of reasons, not every consultant-client (or agency-client) relationship turns into a long-term relationship. For consultants, here are 10 qualities you should strive to bring every relationship. For clients, these are characteristics you may want to look for when bringing in a new agency or consultant.
- Trustworthy
- Reliable
- Curious
- Proactive
- Focused
- Responsive
- Results-Oriented
- Connected
- Humble
- Grateful
Trustworthy
There is, arguably, no quality more important for a consultant to have (or for clients to look for in a prospective consultant) than integrity.
It’s more important even than capabilities. Lots of people have skills. Not all of them are trustworthy.
(Consider, for example, the programmers of ransomware, or the writers of phishing emails: they are corrupt, awful people. But definitely skilled.)
As a consultant, always err on the side of the client. Was that a quarter hour or a half hour you just spent responding to a detailed email? Bill for the 15 minutes. If it takes longer to complete a task than it really should, bill for the reasonable time rather than actual. Don’t bill clients for time you spend learning, only for the time you are actually applying that knowledge for their direct benefit.
It may mean a few less dollars in your pocket in the short term. But always erring on the side of the client, always putting the client first, pays off big over time.
Is it possible to be a (somewhat at least) successful consultant without integrity? Sure. Whether you are consultant, work for an agency, or are on the client side, you may have run into people like this. They cut corners, overbill, and try to manipulate results rather than focusing on quality work that will help clients over the long term.
As a result, they have high churn and difficulty generating referrals. But they can stay in business. As Abraham Lincoln said (or possibly didn’t), “You can fool some of the people all of the time.” It may be a famous saying, but it’s a terrible business philosophy.
Trust takes time to build and only an instant to destroy. Because you are doing most or all of your work out of the direct site of clients, maintaining the highest ethical standards is absolutely essential. Make integrity a habit and you will greatly benefit everyone in the long run.
Reliable
Being reliable is one key to building and maintaining trust. Put simply: tell clients what you will do, and when you will do it, and then do it.
Clients understand that not every task can be completed instantly. It’s okay to say, “I’ll get that to you by the end of the week.” But once you’ve committed to that, you need to deliver.
Of course, things can come up that throw off your schedule. You get sick. Your child gets sick. Your furnace stops working. A storm knocks out your power and Internet. People are generally understanding about these unusual circumstances. But missing a promised date for a task or project should be an exceptional occurrence.
As a client, it goes without saying that reliability is a key characteristic to look for in a consultant. And when you find a consultant or agency that is reliable, they are worth hanging onto.
Curious
Skills and experience are valuable. But best practices, strategies, and tactics change over time, especially in a dynamic field like digital marketing. Professional curiosity is an essential characteristic to stay current—or better yet, ahead of the curve.
Consider the use of artificial intelligence (AI) generally, or a tool like ChatGPT more specifically. This burst onto the scene like nothing before it, reaching one million users in just five days (for comparison, it took Facebook 10 months, and Twitter two years, to reach that milestone).
It’s gotten a ton of media coverage and search interest. As a consultant, you can play a key role in helping clients understand exactly what ChatGPT and other generative AI tools can, and can’t do, to support their marketing and business objectives.
Proactive
This is a key distinction between consultants and contractors. A contractor generally works at the client’s specific direction, for example: write a 900+ word blog post based on this creative brief.
While a consultant sometimes works in that manner as well, more often clients will rely on consultants not just to complete tasks, but to provide expert guidance and bring new ideas to the table.
It’s not simply a matter of “Here’s an eBook we wrote, go build a Google Ads campaign to promote it,” but rather making proactive suggestions about how to achieve objectives. For lead generation, an eBook may be one tactic.
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But the consultant should also ask and help answer key questions, such as: What is a compelling topic for our target audience? What does the outline (of the eBook, or white paper, or video script, or whatever) look like? Once it’s developed, how should the landing page be designed? What channels are likely to be most productive and cost-effective for promoting it?
The best consultants aren’t simply order-takers, but contributors and collaborators on strategy and tactics, bringing new insights and ideas to the conversation.
Focused
No one is good at everything. Even the great Michael Jordan was a mediocre (at best) baseball player. As a consultant, particularly just starting out, it may be tempting to “cast a wide net” in order to maximize your market potential.
But it’s far better—for both you and your clients—to focus on being excellent within a specific market area and tactical focus than to be marginally good at a wider array of tasks. Even agencies, though they may be able to offer a broader range of services, generally should (and do) focus on specific market segments.
As a client, it’s also best to choose a consultant or agency focused on your size, industry segment, and business type.
I don’t normally insert myself into blog posts here, but if I may do so in this case just as an example: I provide digital marketing services (category) to small-to-midsized B2B tech and professional services (ideal client profile) companies. I define as digital marketing as encompassing:
- Content marketing (strategy and content development)
- SEO
- SEM / PPC advertising
- Social media marketing (strategy and execution)
- Influencer marketing
I detail those service on my b2b digital marketing consulting page.
While that’s not to say consultants can’t stretch a bit under the right circumstances (I have a couple of clients that don’t quite exactly fit my mold, but are close enough that everything works), specialization is important to both consultants and clients in order to match skills to needs, and to focus business development efforts.
Consumer ecommerce SEO is different from local SEO, which is different from national / international B2B SEO. Niches like real estate and auto dealerships have their own unique digital marketing ecosystems and tactics. App store marketing is its own specialty. And so on.
Responsive
Few things are more frustrating than sending someone an email and then waiting two days…or three days…or four days (or even longer) to get a response back. By that point, you’ve mentally moved on. That particular “fire” may have been put out. Different priorities and issues have arisen.
Of course, you can’t respond to every email, text, or Slack message instantly. You may be on-site with a client, in a Zoom meeting, or heads-down on project that requires some interval of uninterrupted concentration.
But responsiveness matters. A lot. It not only communicates to clients that you value them, it maintains project momentum. Not every message requires an immediate response (actually, most don’t) but try to set a reasonably fast expectation, such as within one business day or even half a day.
Clients will appreciate it, even if your response is just something like “Got your message, will need to look into this and get back to you tomorrow.”
Results-Oriented
As a consultant, you may bill by the hour, by the project, on a monthly retainer, or some other basis. Regardless, what clients are actually paying you for is results: an X% increase in organic search traffic year over year, Y or more leads per month at less than $100 per lead, a Z% increase in brand mentions, or other specific metrics.
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Consultants who have successful long-term client relationships tend to closely watch these numbers and report on them regularly. Clients understand that these figures may not always look great, but if certain measures are down instead of up, they expect the consultant or agency to investigate and proactively recommend corrective actions.
Regardless of what the numbers look like, effective consultants are continually thinking, and talking with their clients, about how to improve them.
Connected
Clients may have hired you as a consultant for your expertise in email, digital, design, PR, strategy, or some other area, but occasionally have one-off project needs in specialties like video production, eBook layout, a website migration, or something else. And they might bring that to you because of the comfortable, trusted relationship you’ve developed.
But as noted above, no one can be good at everything. If a client comes to you with an out-of-your-element request, you want to help, but also to make sure they get top-quality work. That’s when it’s valuable to have a network of specialists you can call upon (and who may, conversely, bring you into situations where your expertise is called for).
Networking is a vital skill for successful consultants. Building a web of relationships and understanding who is good at what expands the range of services you can offer to your clients as well as creating opportunities for cross-referrals.
Humble
Confidence is essential. But over-confidence can lead to making avoidable mistakes. And arrogance (extreme overconfidence) is extremely off-putting.
The best consultants know their stuff and are constantly learning; they are perpetually curious, as noted above. Regardless of one’s track record or level of knowledge, it’s vital to keep an open mind, to listen to others thoughtfully, and to recognize there’s always room for improvement.
“Fake it til you make it” is terrible advice for consultants (or almost anyone). It’s unethical to bill clients while you are “faking it.” In contrast, part of being humble is understanding that it’s okay to say “I don’t know” when that is the honest answer—as long as you follow that with something like “but I will find out” or “but I will research that and get back to you.”
Grateful
If you are fortunate enough to build a consulting practice working with fascinating and wonderful long-term clients, never stop appreciating that. Never take it for granted. I include (a sincere) “thank you” in almost every client communication.
Be grateful for the variety of smart, interesting people you get to work with. For the opportunity to make a difference. To be viewed as an expert. To establish your own schedule.
It’s not for everybody. Being an independent consultant takes discipline as well as the willingness and ability to be your own accounting, IT, and HR department. Some people try it for a couple of years and then return to the corporate world (a situation to watch out for as a client).
But if you possess all of these 10 characteristics, you can have the opportunity to spend your days going great work for, and building mutually beneficial relationships with, amazing clients.