How to Become an Ideal Project Manager and Build Good Relationships with Clients

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A whole layer of knowledge called soft skills is dedicated to building trust with the client, says Anastasia. - The most important points, in my opinion, are active listening: we deeply immerse ourselves in the client's problem, sometimes even help him understand what exactly he wants, we try to solve his problem. And secondly: careful observance of the obligations assumed.

Even such nuances that in everyday life you might not attach importance to help build trust. For example, if you promised a client to sort it out and respond within half an hour, then keep your promise. If you were unable to resolve the issue so quickly, send an e-mail at the agreed time, warning that you are working on the problem.
Should a PM know everything about the technical part?

- Any project manager understands at least the social media marketing service high-level technical component of the project, because without this he will not be able to delve into any details that the team encounters, - explains Anastasia. - However, you can be a successful PM without a technical background: in this case, it is important to have a

It's good if you have a well-developed technical background. However, if not, know that this is not an obstacle to becoming a good PM: there are successful project managers without a rich technical "anamnesis".
Tools for communication with the client

— To interact with the client, a communication plan is developed, which describes in great detail who the communication is with, what the goals are, how often it is necessary to communicate and what communication channels to use. For example, the average version of the communication plan looks like this: a weekly meeting is planned with the client together with the team, at which we will voice the main progress of our project, problems, risks; we will communicate using a zoom conference. This is a very simple example, — explains Anastasia. — For each project, a communication plan is prepared based on the client's characteristics, the degree of their involvement. In addition to calls, the client can request written reports if he wants to delve deeper into the process. Sometimes the client outsources some small part and does not want to get involved, but only expects the result — then, accordingly, there will be less communication.

The better you build communication with the client and gain trust, the less the client will be involved in the process and demand detailed reports.
What about soft skills, you can't do without them?

- The more soft skills you have, the better for work, - laughs Anastasia. - I'll name a few essential ones: communication and negotiation skills, conflict management, the ability to speak competently in public. The world does not stand still, skills need to be pumped up, learn some new approaches in communication, conflict resolution, etc. Therefore, constantly learn, improve your soft skills, participate in trainings to get theory and then practice it in practice - on your projects with real clients.

Notes on the margins:

Preparing for a wedding is a project, as is preparing a child for kindergarten or school. Another project is planning an independent trip or renovation. In general, a project is a time-limited event with a specific result. This definition includes many household chores that we conduct precisely as projects: there is an idea stage, then a planning stage, followed by implementation and the finale.


To improve your soft skills, consider your daily communication with different people as practice, because it is very similar to relationships with clients. And you can train your communication skills, negotiation skills, and conflict resolution skills for free.
What are the types of “difficult” clients?

— There are many more positive examples, when we can immediately find a common language, discuss expectations and then manage these expectations, — says Anastasia. — But there were also negative moments, for example, one client arranged so-called micromanagement. He wanted to know all the nuances, the smallest details, reports down to the last penny and about every step of the team. In the IT sphere, it is quite difficult to arrange such total control, because IT specialists are often creative guys and can work one day for 4 hours, and then catch the wave and work 12 hours in a row, the task will be completed perfectly and on time, but not as evenly as such a scrupulous client might want. In the process of communication with him, we managed to dig up the reason for total control — it is a banal mistrust of us. I began to build a trusting relationship, work through all the bottlenecks of the project, which he was especially worried about, and in the end we managed to reduce the matter to standard reporting once a week, and not every day.