Every crisis consulting case is like a «love story».

Talking with my Belgian crisis comms colleague, Stijn Pieters, we came up with a concept about the three types of relationships crisis consultants have with clients.

🩷 One Night Stand

You show up, save the day, give the client love and calm.

Next morning — everyone is fine: they walk away with lessons learned, you walk with a fair invoice.

Fast, intense, no talk about the future — but meaningful while it lasts.

🧡 Friendship with Benefits

You’ve known the client for years.

They call only when it’s burning — you give a quick fix, they disappear again.

No retainers, no monthly check-ins, just mutual benefit and a little adrenaline.

💚 Marriage

The dream of many who live on one-night stands.

Here you have stability — a retainer, guaranteed monthly payment –

but also all the “marriage package”: reports, routine calls,

arguments, stakeholder meetings, endless committees.

And sometimes you look at the consultants with one-night stands and think:

“Wow, they have the fun — all the drama, all the emotions”

And this is the paradox:

Everyone thinks the grass is greener on the other side.

The married dream about freedom,

the one-night-stand dream about stability.

But in the end, it’s the same crisis drama that feeds us all 🙂