You’ve found the perfect consultant for your organization. Yay! Now it’s time to get to work on your relationship.

The beginning will set the tone for the whole relationship, so you want to put your best foot forward. How do you do that? It’s different for every consultant, but there are a few items you need to know. Let’s talk about them.

Read your contract in its entirety

A significant number of my clients don’t read my contract. I don’t know why. But if they did, it would stop most problems before they start. Why?

• Your contract will outline the scope of the work: Knowing this backwards and forwards will make sure you don’t put your consultant in an awkward position by asking them to do something outside of their scope.
• Your contract will tell you fees associated with working outside of the scope: Know what these are before you ask a consultant to price out more work. You will know if that kind of work is in the budget. And it will save everyone time and effort which is always appreciated.
• Other items your contract may include are: Availability for communication, who owns images and graphics, report frequency, meeting frequency, any ad dollars that are included within your package and more.

Different consultants include different items within their contracts. And to be honest, my contracts change from client to client to accommodate everything they need. So you may find more or less in your contract. But know what’s in it so you don’t start off a new relationship with your consultant pointing to the language that already exists within your contract.

Come from a place of learning

You’ve hired an expert, and the best way to start off your relationship is by treating them like an expert.

I come to every first meeting with a client ready to learn what I can about the organization. My best clients come to the meeting ready to learn about social media and what it takes to work with me. If we both come ready to learn, then we can make things happen faster.

Egos just get in the way of getting work done. For me, there’s nothing more annoying than to figure out how to work around someone’s ego in order to put together a social media strategy. I’ve done it, but it never ceases to be annoying. Having to be the smartest person in the room discounts the expertise your social media consultant brings to the table. It means that they have to craft a plan around your more limited understanding of social media, and your social media strategy will be less effective. And it also means you’re not listening when they’re trying to teach you, so they are not able to craft content that is more creative and effective.

A good consultant will come to the project understanding that you are the expert on the organization. You should come to it understanding they are the expert on social media.

Return your homework in a timely manner

When you get started with a new social media consultant, you should be given some work to do. They are coming to this relationship to learn, and they will guide this learning towards information they will need first. And that will include all of the passwords and permissions for social media accounts.

It typically takes me a month to get all the research and strategy done before I can even post to client account. The most likely reason why it will take longer? A client didn’t get me the information in a timely manner. In fact, I once had a client who had no idea what there passwords were, and they refused to reset any of them. What ended up happening was there first post was delayed, and no one was happy in that situation.

Homework is such an important part of getting the tone and strategy correct for your organization. I know I don’t assign anything that’s not necessary because I am respectful of my client’s time. So be sure to be respectful of your consultant and their time by getting any information they ask for back to them quickly.

Start your relationship with respect

I could give you a bunch of tips on how to start your relationship with a consultant, but in the end, just have respect for them. Respect will always lead you down the right path to make your relationship fruitful. After all, you chose to work with this person, so they have to be great. So why not treat them like they’re great?

How have you started your relationship with a new consultant off on the right foot?