Deliverables in Professional Service Businesses - Part 1

While in traditional contract work (outsourced labour) we talk about tangible deliverables, that is, number of labouring hours, number of lbs or pages of reports or workbooks, number of Mbytes of files, etc., in consulting most of the deliverables are intangible.

Now some of you may say, that “unless you do deliver something I can scratch the window with, your service is worthless.” And this is exactly how many buyers think. The buyer hires a marketing consultant and insists on the creation of a huge folder, called “Marketing Plan”. “Write a marketing plan FOR me.”

Upon failing that, at the end of the day, regardless of how much improvement you have created in the client’s condition, the client remains pissed off with you because you failed to “deliver” what you promised, that is, the pre-defined deliverables.

And while I am against traditional deliverables, there are some deliverables – both tangible and intangible - we have to create to keep the project on tract, on time and on budget. However, I believe that deliverables should be documents to keep the project on track, on time and on budget. The greatest deliverable is that as a result of working with you on that project, people at the client’s company change the way they think, and as a result, they can create different results.

Here is another contrarian point: If you have deliverables, clients should have them too. There must be some written documents they must produce on an ongoing basis. This creates a higher level of involvement on their parts, and makes certain that they are actually committed to the successful completion of the project.

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***** TANGIBLE DELIVERABLES *****
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While there are some tangible deliverables we deliver, we have to limit ourselves in what exactly we deliver.

Make sure that your deliverables do not include set number of hours of manual labour and tonnage of reports and memos to be generated. Let us take a quick look at various tangible deliverables. And next month we look at the intangible deliverables.

***** THE OARR DOCUMENT ******

The OARR (Objectives, Agenda, Roles and Rules) document covers some basic guidelines for meetings with buyers. This is especially valuable for the very first meeting. Nothing scary, nothing formal, it only asks prospective clients to give you a better idea of what to discuss, so you all can better prepare.

It can save you both time and undesirable misunderstanding, while helping you to stay on track. This document reinforces what you have just discussed with the buyer on the phone.

The OARR document sets the tone for the whole meeting, so you can achieve more in a shorter period of time. It also lays down your expectations regarding how you want to be treated and what exactly you want to accomplish.

Send this document to the buyer and make sure you get it back signed, indicating that they agree with the flow of the meeting.

Ingredients of the OARR Document

* Meeting location, date, starting time, finishing time

* Objectives of the meeting - You clearly lay out what you want to achieve as a result of the meeting, so it will become more than just empty chinwagging. You go to meet the buyer to see if there is a mutually beneficial reason for the two of you to work together.

* Agenda of the meeting - The agenda itemises the issues you want to discuss during the meeting. All meeting parties must be 100% clear about what will be discussed, so they can prepare accordingly. Agenda MUST include the next step, that is, who follows up and when. Do not fall for the typical “let’s see what happens” stuff. Collect all the information you need to craft a proposal, but only write it after the buyer has made a pretty certain commitment to doing the project.

* Roles - This section lays out the names of the people who will be involved in the meeting. This section also makes certain that you never get relegated to sales managers, HR managers and other lower level people who cannot make decisions and cannot authorise budgets beyond the purchase of a stale “Reduced to clear” muffin or a secondhand coffin nail.

***** PROPOSAL (COLLABORATION AGREEMENT) *****

The traditional proposal is the equivalent of proposing to your future spouse after you bought the rings, booked the trip for the honeymoon, picked the doctor to deliver your baby and set up your joint bank account.

Really and truly a proposal (what a misnomer) is not about whether or not getting on the plane, but about the final touches of fastening your seatbelt on the Concorde, and off you go.

Use your proposal as a deliverable, not as a selling document. My contention is that we must have an agreement to work together, and the proposal is just a written document to solidify and document an already existing agreement.

The proposal is the template for the project. However, the proposal is a strategic document. Look at it as the departure display at the airport. It only shows where the plane goes from which gate, but does not deal with the minute details of the trip, like how many times the driver changes gear, and how many time each passenger is allowed to visit the toilet. However, the black box tracks all those tactical manoeuvres. The proposal deals with objectives, metrics and value. It must state what to achieve, but should not talk about methodologies. The details of the project are put together in concert with the client’s implementing team. Remember, consulting is not done FOR clients but WITH clients.

Here are the major sections of the proposal

Section 1) Project Description – A short (about 150-200 words) description of the project.

Section 2) Situation Appraisal - This is a short (about 150-200 words) summary that reiterates the issues that brought you and your prospect together. Focus on the non-obvious. This section also reminds the buyer of the real problem and the urgency of solving it. This will assist you to start the proposal on bases of prior understanding, and the prospect starts nodding his/her head in agreement. So you start receiving small sequence of “yeses”.

Section 3) Objectives – This section follows the situation appraisal, and moves the conversation from generalities to specifics. This section outlines the specific business outcomes. Unless these outcomes are achieved, there is no point in investing in change. Also, clear objectives protect you from “scope creep”.

Section 4) Measures of Success – These are the progress indicators. This is an objective way of defining whether or not the intervention is achieving the desired results and what you have to do with it. How: Measures can be both quantitative and qualitative. Every objective must have effective indicators. Measures must be written with precise reference to previous discussions with the buyer.

Section 5) Expression of Value –This is the description of the improvement the organisation will derive from your intervention. It is vital to emotionally involve the buyer, so the fees presented later appear as minor investments in comparison to the value derived. Enumerate each piece of value in bullet points.

Section 6) Methodologies and Options –Here you present a variety of ways of implementing the project. When you give options, you create a choice of yeses. It is no longer “whether or not to use you”, but which of your option to take. This is very important and is in your control. If you give options, you will have higher rate of acceptance than “take it or leave it” type proposals. The other part is psychological. When you give people choices, you empower them. You make them feel important and make them feel they are in control.

Section 7) Timing –This section tells the client when to start and when to complete the project. Both you and your client must know when to start, when to expect certain results and when to disengage.

Section 8) Joint Accountabilities –These are your and the client’s responsibilities to ensure successful outcomes. Very often clients are not fully committed to the project and end up sabotaging it in several ways. This part prevents that potential disaster. Simply state your own, your client’s and joint accountabilities.

Section 9) Terms and Conditions –This section deal with financial arrangements. This is the first time your client sees your fees. This must be established in writing. Anything may change in the organisation, and you want to protect yourself. Also, this is the first time the client sees investment options, and you want to maintain the client’s head nodding in agreement.

Section 10) Acceptance –This is the sign off section indicating approval of the project. You have to have a signed agreement to enforce your rights. This is the last section of the proposal. Print out two copies and sign them. Then the buyer signs them, you take your copy for your records and get started.

***** CLIENT IMPACT REPORT *****

The best way of obtaining testimonials or letters of reference is by calling it a “Client Impact Report”, and you would include it in your terms and conditions of doing business. This is basically the deliverable clients are expected to produce on a regular basis and summarise it at the end of the project.

The problem with the traditional way of getting testimonials is that after the project is completed and clients are happy, they move on to dealing with the next challenges in their lives, leaving you high and dry.

Therefore it is vitally important that producing this Client Impact Report becomes part of the project, and you have the right to suspend the project until you receive it.

This is a document clients fill in every month, and at the end of the project this document becomes the basis of the testimonial and the letter of reference clients give you printed on their letterheads.

Here are some sections you can include:

Section 1) What I Learnt – What did clients learn from working on the project up to that specific date. This gives you a great indication of the skills transmitted to clients and how they received those skills.

Section 2) What I Achieved – This is a summary of both quantitative and qualitative achievements.

Section 3) What I Appreciated – This is a summary of what clients appreciated in the service.

Section 4) Suggestions for Improvement - This is a summary of how clients think they could bet even better value for their investments.

It is important that you open the floodgates to seamless communication, so when there is an issue, both you and the client can communicate it without waiting for the next feedback form or survey.

***** PROJECT UPDATE LETTER *****

Very often you work with implementing teams but you do not meet buyers on a regular basis. Nevertheless, it is still vitally important to keep buyers up-to-date with their projects. If you can do this over breakfast or lunch with buyers, then your letter can be a summary of your discussion. However, if you cannot meet buyers regularly, this letter is even more important. There are two reasons for that:

1. You want to make certain that there are no surprises for buyers. Whatever happens, they should find out from you.

2. On every project there is bad news. Be the bringer of bad new but sandwich them into good news, so you create a perspective for progress.

Your letters can be either electronic or hard copy. In either case, both you and the buyer must keep a copy. So, when something happens, you can say “I told you about it in my email on this and this date.”

Some guidelines to consider:

* Keep them relatively short, like one page max.

* Use the very progress metrics buyers gave your for the proposal.

* Specify what actions clients must take next.

* Indicate the date of the next project update letter.

***** POOR PROGRESS WARNING LETTER *****

Yes, and there are times when things do not go according to the plan, and just like with good news, bad news had better come from you too. After all, you are the unbiased outsider, who is expected to say what needs to be said. You are paid to be a straightshooter.

Protecting clients – and their people of course - from their mistakes and shortcomings can be disastrous to you, and keeping it verbal can be easily distorted in the future. So, make sure you put everything in writing.

This specific piece MUST be sent out on hard copy either by courier or registered mail, so the buyer must sign for it, and it cannot go missing at the gatekeeper’s desk or the buyer’s email inbox. The buyer must receive this piece may come hell and high water or even if gipsy kids are falling from the sky.

Some guidelines to consider:

* Be honest and say as it is

* Make it impersonal whenever possible (non-blaming tone)

* Make only deliberate actions personal (theft and sabotage for instance)

* Indicate the impact on the project

* Recommend actions to correct the situation

* Indicate a time when you update the buyer on the correction

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Action Plan
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* Take a look at your engagements. Are your clients participating in their projects or just dictating you what to do?

* Are you regularly giving homework to your clients?

* Do you have a set of documents your clients are required to create during the engagement.