Case Study:

Building a Consultancy’s Client Engagement Skills

Our Client

A specialist consultancy supporting the approvals process for complex infrastructure projects.

Their challenge

To embed a consistent approach to client engagement, empowering consultants to take ownership of relationships, strengthen interactions, and build long-term trust.

Why they engaged us

Our extensive experience in developing consultants’ client engagement skills made us the ideal choice to design a practical, bespoke training programme.

Our Solution

We collaborated with senior stakeholders and interviewed a selection of consultants to identify knowledge and skills gaps.

We highlighted four key focus areas:

Building confidence in conversations with senior executives
Creating meaningful client connections and stronger client relationships
Taking personal ownership for managing client relationships
Developing a shared language and consistent approach to client engagement

Confident Client Skills programme

We designed a programme to enhance the participants’ confidence and skills in managing client interactions and building strong client relationships. The programme included:

Insights to broaden perspectives and deepen understanding of client expectations
A communication styles questionnaire to highlight individual preferences and enhance interpersonal awareness
Practical, interactive exercises to embed skills and support real-world application
Opportunities to develop a shared language and approach for consistent client engagement across the consultancy

To maximise learning outcomes, participants accessed our SMART Action Planning guides to develop personal action plans.

Evaluating outcomes

We evaluated the programme’s impact and ROI, through:

Immediate feedback – measuring participant satisfaction, content relevance, and engagement
Long-term impact assessment – evaluating the programme’s effectiveness over time

Our Impact

All consultants attended the programme, achieving the following outcomes:

Greater self-awareness and understanding of different communication styles
Deeper appreciation of how effective questioning and listening uncover client needs and build rapport
Stronger skills in building trust and credibility quickly
Enhanced capability to anticipate and manage client expectations
Increased confidence to engage senior executives proactively and with purpose
A consistent, shared approach to engagement, embedding a common language and framework across the consultancy

Delivering results and sustainable change

The programme has transformed the consultancy’s approach to client engagement. Consultants are inspired to engage with confidence and purpose, build stronger relationships, deliver greater value in conversations, and take ownership of client relationships.