Consulting Practice Management and Client Engagement
The engagement lifecycle
Know the phases: business development, contracting, assessment, intervention, evaluation, and closure. Contracting is the ethical backbone-scope, deliverables, roles, timelines, fees, confidentiality, data ownership, and termination terms. Candidates should understand proposals, statements of work, and the difference between a sponsor and a client system.
Scope creep and boundaries
A common trap is accepting expanded requests without renegotiating scope, fee, or timeline. Another is overpromising outcomes the consultant cannot control. Know how to handle "just one more thing" requests: acknowledge, assess impact, and renegotiate formally. Also understand termination and referral-ending engagements ethically, transferring data, and avoiding abandonment.
Business development and risk
Know the basics of marketing a practice, referral networks, insurance and liability considerations, and record-keeping. Ethical marketing avoids testimonials that breach confidentiality and avoids guarantees of results.
Rule of thumb
Use the "scope, fee, timeline" triangle: any change to one requires explicit conversation about the other two. Document changes in writing.
Worked example
A client asks the consultant to run extra team sessions "within the existing budget." The consultant acknowledges the need, presents the impact on deliverables, and offers options: substitute sessions, extend timeline, or add fee-leaving the decision to the client.