Talking to Clients as a Consultant

My name is Gordon Poole, and I have a degree in Computational Data Science. I currently work in data analytics consulting, and I wanted to share what I’ve learned so far about talking to clients.

I want to start by saying that I think it is easy to get wrapped up in a school environment. You spend at least four years surrounded by academics, fellow students who are eager to learn, and people who for the most part operate with the same information as you regarding any particular task. Communication is simple between peers, and when speaking to a professor it is usually productive and clear about what is expected and how it should be done. This system is ideal for learning, growth, and completing tasks in a satisfactory way.

This is not always the case in the real world.

When consulting, you are not surrounded by academic peers or people operating with the same information as you. You have spent years developing specific and precise vocabularies, understanding the details of concepts, and learning to think about problems in technical ways. The hard reality is that the people who need your services most are often not the people who share the same knowledge you worked so long to develop.

So why is understanding this important?

Because when the people who need you ask for something, that something may be very different from what you understand it to be. The client does not always have the technical background to clearly define the problem in the same terms you would. I have often been told that it is simply your job to figure it out, and while there is truth to that, I think there is more nuance involved.

I believe there are two approaches. You can immediately try to educate the client about what they are asking for, or you can allow the client to educate you first.

In my opinion, the latter is the far superior approach.

Learning what a client has defined in their own mind, how they view their business, what success looks like to them, and what the words they use mean in their specific world is one of the most important skills a consultant can possess. Every business defines things differently. Every owner has different priorities. Every organization has its own language, habits, and blind spots.

If you fail to understand that, you may solve the wrong problem extremely well.

So if I could give one piece of advice to anyone entering consulting, analytics, or any client facing profession, it would be this: do not assume communication is simple just because you understand the technical side.

Your degree teaches you how to solve problems. Experience teaches you how to identify the right problem in the first place.

The more I work with clients, the more I realize that success is rarely about having the most advanced model, the cleanest spreadsheet, or the most impressive vocabulary. It is about trust, clarity, patience, and understanding how another person sees their world.

If you can combine technical skill with the ability to listen, ask questions, and adapt to the client in front of you, you become far more valuable than someone who only knows the math.

That is what I have learned so far, and I believe it is one of the most important lessons school cannot fully teach.