Mustard on hoagies: The art of helping clients make good decisions.

I'm not a Philly native. I grew up in rural Texas and had zero experience with hoagies, the classic Italian deli sandwich that is beloved by generations of Philadelphians. 

Costa's Deli has been family-run since 1950 and sticks to the basics: cheesesteaks, hoagies and deli sides served from a counter. A few months after I'd moved to the Philly-area from Texas, I called in an order for pickup. The exchange went like this:

Me: I'd like to order an Italian hoagie for pickup.

Them: What do you want on it?

Me: How do you mean?

Them: It comes with lettuce, tomato and onion.

Me: Yes. That's great.

Them: What else do you want on it? 

Me: Like condiments? 

Them: Yeah. You want mayo, oil, peppers...

Me: Oh. Mustard.

Them: No, I'm not doing that.

(Ok. So, if you're not familiar with hoagies, this could be seen as poor service, rudeness, etc. While I felt chastened in that moment, I decided to trust their knowledge of what works best on hoagies.)

Me: Ok. How about light mayo and peppers?

Them: Sounds good.

I picked up the sandwich: It was divine. I've never asked for mustard on a hoagie since that day and--when I relay that story to life-long Philadelphians--they laugh and agree that the deli did the right thing.

Client Engagements = The Hoagie

I've told this story to my teams and colleagues before, because it's directly applicable to a common consulting scenario: The client is asking for something counter to best practices and we worry about telling them "no". They want mustard on a hoagie, but the mustard is hundreds of hours of customization on native functionality that we know will be expensive to maintain, document and scale. We're kowtowing to a stakeholder that is insistent on representing a process exactly like it is in the legacy system because "that is the way we do things now", even when we know we're creating unnecessary technical and process debt.

Clients need seasoned guides with a strong point of view and consultants that will challenge and educate them. With small and social impact organizations in particular, these projects are significant investments that determine if the organization can not only operate, but thrive and grow. 

It's always worth a hard conversation (and even escalating to an executive sponsor, if necessary) to make sure the clients we serve are well-served, now and in the future. Consultancies need to be comfortable saying "no" followed by supportive reasoning, client education, a clear description of risk and recommendations on a better path.  This post originally appeared in Goat Rodeo.