As a follow-up to our previous blog topics, including “Environmental Consulting and the Consumer Perspective” and “How Much and How Long Will it Take,” it’s invaluable to understand the pain points of your client, especially if they happen to be a responsible party. For this week, we’ll look at a few key issues that need to be understood early in the remedial process…aside from a technical strategy or pathway to remediation. Every situation and every client is different, but let’s expose a few common pain points and some simple remedies.
Pain Point # 1: Cost
Every environmental consultant should understand early in their career that on most occasions, environmental liabilities usually hit your clients’ bottom line, and the lack of an in-depth understanding of the Conceptual Site Model (CSM) for your specific project can lead to delays, and you guessed it…cost overruns. Clients don’t like to hear that a project is over-budget, but this pain point can be alleviated if project costs and potential outcomes are discussed beforehand. It’s difficult for a client to hear that project costs could increase 3x; however, they’ll appreciate your candor if this discussion takes place sooner (i.e. at the beginning of a project) rather than later. One last item: never surprise your client with last minute costs on an invoice. Nobody likes surprises!
Pain Point # 2: Time
While project cost may always be the top item, time or project duration is not too far behind. While certain tasks may only take a few days to complete, others can take significant amounts of time. The only solution to this pain point is to spend a little extra time during the initial phases of the project, or even while generating a proposal, to prepare a schedule. It may only be preliminary, but it will serve as a starting point from which you can provide your client with a “realistic” timeframe for when you will complete a task or project. Similar to pain point # 1, your client will appreciate your professional opinion, even though it may sting for a moment (if not longer). Word to the wise: If you believe that you can complete something in two (2) weeks…add on an extra week, and then complete the project ahead of schedule.
Pain Point # 3: Disruption of Operations / “Inconvenience”
Don’t be fooled. If there are access issues at your project site which require numerous things to be moved around, or re-located, and your client has to devote resources to accommodate your efforts, it’s an inconvenience. If your client has to inform staff that they can’t use a portion of a parking lot, so you can conduct a subsurface investigation, it’s an inconvenience. Sometimes this is unavoidable; however, similar to the prior pain points, the easiest solution is to discuss the options with your client in advance. Are there alternative locations? Is there a specific time that your client would be more amenable to? Weekends? Sure this may increase costs, but your client may be willing to accept the additional fees. As a consultant it is imperative that the client’s concerns be addressed, and that we work to make their job a little easier by demonstrating flexibility, and a willingness to minimize disruption to their operations.
Stay tuned for future updates and musings from Cardinal Environmental, and we hope that you find these posts informative, and relatively useful. For furher information, please don't hesitate to contact us at tfrancis@cardinallsrp.com .