1. PMI Virtual Library
© 2009 Project Management Institute
Keep the Customer Happy
I
n a customer–service provider relationship, there is
a great deal that the service provider can do to make
the relationship productive and vibrant from a project
management perspective. As a
consultant to other companies,
I have seen contracts go bad
because many times, the
service provider lacks the
dedication to try to understand
the customer. This means
understanding not only the
customer’s needs, but also the
customer himself or herself.
Understanding the customer
requires thinking about what
a requirement means to the
customer. It requires asking
questions rather than assuming
the answers—asking yourself, for example, “Does this mean
the same thing to the customer that it means to me?”
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? And yet it doesn’t often
happen.
Keeping a customer happy means doing what is required.
If a work item is not mentioned in the contract but you know
that it is required, this may mean you should be proactive
and make sure that it’s added in the contract. If you do this,
the customer will certainly appreciate the proactiveness and
reassurance that his or her needs are being taken seriously.
This in turn will be key in helping you with future projects
with the customer, and will save you precious time later in
the planning process. Keeping the customer happy does not
mean giving out freebies. It does mean knowing exactly what
the customer wants and laying out a realistic plan to achieve
the customer contractual and potential objectives.
You can and should do all of this by following standard
processes. But if you follow all of the processes and are not
By Anuj Setya, PMP
thinking about the customer, you are missing a key ingredient
and the essence of project management.
Many customers are bogged down by their own problems
and have no time to appreciate
the efforts made by the service-
provider organization. However,
that in itself can be seen as an
opportunity for the service-
provider to find ways to help the
customer. So how can you keep
the customer happy? The following
are some guidelines:
1. Listen to the customer.
While this may sound simple,
consider how many projects are
carried out in which requirements
are not clearly understood because
no one has attempted to really
understand what the customer is trying to say. Have
you heard what the business is looking for? What is the
real reason that customer is changing his or her solution?
How is the new solution going to solve the problem?
2. Communicate with the customer. Poor communication
with the customer is one of the main reasons that
projects fail. You might think that this is fairly obvious.
But what does this communication involve? The best-
laid communication plans will not serve any purpose
if you do not also have a “feel” for the communication
deliverables that the customer needs. Are they just status
reports or performance reports? While these are basic
necessities, going beyond means recommending a course
of action to take in possible scenarios or challenges—
even if that means suggesting a new service that you
are not able to provide. That is key to what the vendor
should do to add more value to the customer in the
long run.
The best-laid
communication plans will
not serve any purpose if you
do not have a ‘feel’ for the
communication deliverables
that the customer needs.
”

2. PMI Virtual Library | www.PMI.org | © 2009 Project Management Institute
2
Here’s a very simple example: A customer wants a
report that includes all new “bugs” that have occurred
since a particular date, but he does not clarify the real
audience or the end audience of this report. So naturally
the testing vendor will produce a report containing all
types of bugs. But if you truly understand your customer,
you will know that the reason for
his report might be to send it
to the different departments
within his company for
action. His audience could
be the research department
for all bugs with no action
for four or more weeks,
or it could be his vendor
relations department for all
bugs wanting clarification.
Knowing this, you can easily
imagine the type of report that
the customer would want and
proactively propose the appropriate reporting format. It is
the vendor’s responsibility to proactively investigate and
communicate.
Communication also involves communicating what
you need from the customer to make the project a success.
Many customers may not be willing to put out a huge
effort, and are surprised when they find out the effort
required of them. You need to communicate the impact
and what the customer must do to support the effort.
This is true for any implementation of a product or a
new service.
3. Help the customer. Are you interested in doing only
what you have been given to do? Are you looking for
opportunities beyond what you know already and what
you see? Are you aware of the problems being caused
by the current economic slowdown? What does the
customer want to achieve? How can you help? In short,
are you a simply a vendor or are you a strategic partner
in the domain? Are you bringing value to the customer?
These questions are particularly relevant during these
hard economic times, and asking them of yourself will
prompt you to consider whether you are truly helping the
customer.
What if the customer is making some mistakes that
are causing delays in the project, or what if another
vendor is causing delays? No doubt, it would be wise to
bring them to the attention of the customer and protect
your relationship—but perhaps these delays can be
proactively highlighted by your organization as risks.
4. Break the barrier. Are you dealing with a new kind
of a customer? Maybe the customer is from a different
culture, or maybe he or she is too brash. Are you dealing
with this customer by sticking to the old methods that
have worked for you with previous customers? If so,
you could be making a mistake.
For example, having worked
with North American partners,
Company X decided to partner
with customers in Europe
and add to their revenue line.
Company X ought to have been
able to adapt to the difference in
communication styles. However
Company X was not flexible in
seeing requirements from the
customer’s perspective, and was
offended by the communication
styles used in that country. This led
to poor communication as well as to other difficulties on
the project—eventually resulting in termination of the
contract.
The following are some common obstacles to having a
productive customer-vendor relationship:
1. “No matter what we do, the customer is never happy.”
It is a known fact that the customer may not say a word
when things are going smoothly but may get “edgy”
when there is the slightest hiccup. Again, the key to
overcoming this obstacle is understanding the customer.
If the vendor is not at fault and the customer is acting
displeased, the customer is simply an “edgy customer”
whose satisfaction level is defined differently. The vendor
still will be appreciated when procurement audits take
place and vendor evaluations are done objectively. In
many companies, vendor awards are given on a political
basis, but when it is time to renew or award a contract, it
will be the company that actually performs that is given
continued business.
2. “Sales committed this deadline. I had no say in this,
and the customer will not be happy when he sees the
actual schedule.” Does this sound familiar? This scenario
is common in many companies. The range of outcome
varies from pushing your team to meet the deadline
committed by sales to making the customer agree on the
achievable schedule end date. If you realistically cannot
achieve the end date after looking at different options,
Communication also
involves communicating
what you need from the
customer to make the
project a success.
”

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it is better to create a revised schedule and confront the
issue sooner rather than later. Here is where everything
comes in apart from putting options on the table: trust,
vendor reputation, negotiation skills, influence of the
organization, etc. There is nothing worse than making an
excuse that turns out to be a lie.
3. “I no longer have the resources I was committed to
get at the beginning of the project.” This depends on
the service provider organization. If the organization
is committed to the project, you should not face these
situations. It goes without saying that the project manager
needs to have enough clout to get the timely resources
he needs. You will get the resources in time only if they
are planned in advance and are contracted for in a timely
manner.
4. “The customer is just not interested in moving this
forward.” Sometimes the customer is simply not
interested in an engaged relationship. If, as a vendor, you
are doing everything right, proactively communicating
with the customer and highlighting the risks to the
customer, and the customer is just not willing to listen,
perhaps he or she is not the right customer. It does not
seem that the customer will ultimately thrive and is
having problems of his or her own.
There can be other obstacles that keep your customer
from being happy, but most can easily be resolved with
the necessary project management skills. In the long run,
if you are not giving the customer the attention he or she
deserves, you will lose out. Listening to, understanding
and communicating with the customer in order to help
the customer are key ingredients to a successful project,
and this in turn ensures a balanced objective within the
team, aligned with the end goal of enhancing customer
satisfaction and, yes, delight.
About the Author
Anuj Setya is a project manager at Tata Consultancy
Services. He has worked extensively on end-to-end projects
and has also consulted for Clients of Tata Consultancy
Services as a project manager. He has experience in
the pharmaceutical industry and the travel, transport
and hospitality sector (airlines, GDS). He is a Project
Management Professional (PMP) credential holder and
holds a bachelor of computer science degree and a bachelor
of engineering degree. He has close to 11 years of experience
in IT projects. He can be contacted at anuj.setya@tcs.com
or anuj.setya@gmail.com.