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Description

Client Relations for Experts and Technical Managers: Listening, Explaining and Setting Boundaries

Managing the client relationship when you work on site without holding a sales remit

  • 2 days — 14 h
  • In-person or virtual
  • Intermediate
  • Up to 6 participants

A technical expert, an in-house counsel or a project manager often spends far more time with the client than the salesperson who signed the contract. Yet conversations stay focused on content: the unspoken need goes unnoticed, an overly technical explanation creates concern, a badly worded refusal closes the door and sensitive information reaches internal teams too late.

Two days to develop the relational side of the role without turning it into a sales function: listening beyond the technical request, explaining in plain language, setting boundaries on what falls outside scope and passing on useful information. All situations are drawn from the participants' own client assignments.

Learning objectives

  • Identify client expectations beyond the technical request as stated
  • Explain a solution or a constraint in accessible language
  • Decline an out-of-scope request without damaging the relationship
  • Handle tension arising from a delay or a technical incident
  • Pass on to the sales team the information picked up during an assignment

What makes this programme different

Situations are taken from participants' real client assignments
Plain-language explanations are assessed by participants from outside the technical field concerned
A method for passing information on to sales teams is defined at the end of the session

Programme

1Your place in the client relationship

Representing the company without taking on a sales role

  • Understand what the client expects from a technical contributor
  • Distinguish your expected contribution from that of the salesperson
  • Identify the moments when the relationship is genuinely at stake
  • Recognise your own tendency to retreat into technical detail

2Listening beyond the request

Hearing the problem behind the technical question

  • Question the client's operating context and constraints
  • Identify issues that have not been put into words
  • Reformulate to confirm your understanding
  • Take account of the people in the room who say nothing

3Explaining and being understood

Making it accessible without oversimplifying

  • Adjust your level of language to the person in front of you
  • Replace professional jargon with accurate analogies
  • Structure an explanation in three stages
  • Check that the message has been understood
  • Announce a technical constraint in intelligible terms

4Setting boundaries and managing tension

Saying no and keeping the relationship intact

  • Set out the limits of what the contract provides for
  • Decline an additional request while offering an alternative
  • Announce a delay or an incident and propose a way forward
  • Face dissatisfaction without becoming defensive
  • Escalate internally what genuinely needs to be escalated

Who is it for

Engineers, technicians, consultants, legal advisers and support-function managers in regular contact with clients without sales responsibility.

Prerequisites

Being in regular contact with internal or external clients as part of your role

Dates & locations

36 scheduled dates between November 2026 and December 2027. Seats are confirmed in the order enquiries are received.

November 2026

December 2026

January 2027

February 2027

March 2027

April 2027

May 2027

June 2027

September 2027

October 2027

November 2027

December 2027

None of these dates suit you? We open additional sessions on request, and any programme can be run privately for your team.

Practical details

Before the programme
Online positioning questionnaire. Your development objectives are shared with the trainer, who tailors the practical case studies to your context.
Teaching methods
Theoretical input, workshops and practical case studies. Digital course materials and method sheets provided.
Assessment
Multiple-choice tests and role-play exercises. Assessment of learning at the start and end of the programme, with immediate and 60-day follow-up evaluations.
After the programme
One year of access to the e-learning platform. Self-assessment of the skills acquired and a 30-day follow-up session with your trainer.
How to register
Registration online or on the basis of a quotation.
Lead time
11 working days after confirmation of registration.
Accessibility
Accessible to people of determination. Contact our accessibility coordinator to design a suitable solution: contact@mpf-academy.ae
Start dates
Rolling intake: in addition to the scheduled sessions, this programme can start on request.