How to Be an Insider: 3 Things Data Consultants Can Do to Integrate with Clients’ Teams

It’s one thing for a data consultant to say they’re part of a client’s team. In reality, it can be challenging for an external partner to integrate successfully into an existing team. 

Your client’s full-time employees are people who may have worked together for months or even years. They already have relationships, procedures, history — and probably more than a few in-jokes, too. 

Fortunately, there are several things that you as a consultant can do to establish yourself as a valued, trusted member of your client’s team. Not only will these strategies produce greater results for your clients, they’ll also make your work more rewarding and fulfilling. 

Strategy 1: Prioritize communication 

Elizabeth “Smalls” Miller, digital analytics strategy and reporting go-to

Getting to know your new teammates is one of the most productive things you can do. Invite them to one-on-one chats over coffee or tea, so you can learn more about them — not just as data specialists, but as people.

After each one-on-one, ask your new friend if there’s anyone else you should meet with. Depending on the size of the organization, you might ask them if they would be willing to introduce you to the new contact. More often than not, having a warm introduction can be really helpful in getting the next person to meet with you. 

And look for bigger “venues” to get your message across, whether that’s an email list, Slack group, intranet sites or lunch-and-learns. 

Depending on your level of involvement with the organization, you might even be able to call your own meetings where you can share progress reports and ask for input and suggestions. Make sure those meetings are productive, though — use a standard, streamlined agenda. And be sure to send out a recap via email for anyone who missed the meeting. 

Strategy 2: Seek greater levels of understanding

Jennifer Yacenda, Adobe Analytics savant and speaker

Once the lines of communication are open, seek to learn more about what different teams are working on. More importantly, try to understand why they’re working on those projects. What’s keeping the leadership up at night? What are they most afraid of? 

Once you understand what’s driving decisions, you can be more useful in proposing solutions that actually solve your client’s most pressing problems. Believe it or not, some clients don’t really understand all the things that a data analyst can do to help them. You may have to tell them.

That’s why you should also try to educate clients on what the data is saying and what kinds of data are available. They may not know. Once they do understand how data can be used to develop insights, it often leads them to ask better and more useful questions. 

Strategy 3: Encourage your client to rethink their approach to analytics

Evan LaPointe, high performance teams expert and analytics visionary

The overall operating model of an analytics team is a huge whiff at most organizations, so if you can help them adjust their cadences and the types of questions they ask, that could be a fantastic win for them.

You should ask your stakeholders how often they want to tackle “small picture” questions (which SKUs sold the most last quarter) vs. how often they want to tackle “big picture” questions (which SKUs have the greatest untapped potential over the next quarter or year, and how much should we order). 

Most organizations don’t have great cadences, and they’re usually focused on very tactical matters, like basic reporting. Don’t simply swallow those procedures – encourage your client to think differently and adopt practices that will help their business thrive. 

Not only do they make the team zoom out to the big picture at times, it also relieves the team of a lot of low-value ad-hoc work that can be absorbed by a smarter cadence. 

In conclusion

The more you communicate with your client’s team, the better you’ll understand their goals and challenges. You’ll be in a stronger position to make savvier, more useful suggestions about how they use data — probably using strategies and tactics they never really considered before. It all starts by doing your best to be a part of their team.