This blog entry, as well as subsequent future entries, are from an upcoming book...

What makes a good customer? This might strike you as an odd question, after all, isn’t it the vendor’s responsibility to make the relationship work? While a vendor must go the extra mile, the customer also has obligations in making a vendor relationship effective. I think the same qualities apply to a good customer as to a good employee, a good friend, even a good spouse: trust, mutual respect and appreciation, and sharing that shows that each is committed to the success of the partnership.

Good customers:

• Clearly communicate expectations. Assumptions are a bad thing. Customers who share their expectations openly and early are much happier with their project outcomes.
• Provide clear direction and feedback to the project team to control scope.
• Understand that changes to a project that modify the original base requirements, often are necessary to provide the best solution. To account for this, a good solution is a change management plan, defined at the start of the project that outlines a formal process for changes. This process includes criteria used to determine if a change will actually be implemented or deferred to a later date.
• Take initiative in quickly removing road blocks for those doing the work.
• Share responsibility for success of delivery.
• Work to diminish the political boundaries that can emerge between consultants and full-time employees. Along with this, a good consulting team works hard to accelerate the expertise of existing employees so they can successfully maintain what they’re responsible for when the contract ends.
• Become actively engaged in the process all along the way (and gets key people involved and with some ownership).
• Do not overreact to minor setbacks.
• Communicate on a daily basis.

My Takeaway: Good customer-vendor relationships require both parties to participate, communicate and share responsibility for a successful outcome.