If you've read the first two pieces in this series you recognise the problem: technically strong reward work getting lost somewhere between your final report and the employee's inbox.
You can see the opportunity: three specific deliverables that turn a one-off audit into a full programme and increase your project value by a third or more.
Now for the practical question.
How do you actually deliver the communications layer when you're a one-to-three person operation with no comms team, no design capability and no spare hours to build it yourself?
Because let's be honest about what usually happens. You think about it. You may start drafting a manager FAQ on a Sunday evening. You get pulled into a client project on Monday morning. The FAQ sits in Word for six weeks. Eventually you delete it or rename it "v2 FINAL final" and never open it again.
The core problem isn't motivation
You know the communications piece matters. Because you've seen what happens when it's missing.
You've sat in client meetings where the CHRO looked at your beautifully constructed pay equity analysis and said "this is great, but how do we actually tell people?" And you've given a decent verbal answer, because you're smart and you think on your feet.
But it wasn't a repeatable deliverable. It wasn't something you could put a price on for a proposal. And it wasn't something the client could pick up and use after you left the room.
That’s not because you don't care about communication. It's that building professional employee comms packs, manager conversation guides, response templates, and pay gap narratives — with proper design, visual hierarchy, and multi-audience adaptation — is a different discipline. It takes time you don't have, and it requires different skills to the ones you built your practice on.
Trying to do it yourself is like your clients trying to run their own job evaluation. They could. It would take three times as long, the quality would be inconsistent, and they'd spend the whole time wondering if they were doing it right. That's why they hire you.
The same logic applies here.
Two solutions that don’t add headcount
Option 1 - The white-label model: bring someone in behind the scenes
You find a specialist who builds the communications toolkit - the full set of deliverables - and it goes out under your brand. Your client sees one integrated engagement from one consultant. You.
Here's how it works in practice. You win a pay transparency directive engagement with a 500-person employer operating across the UK and two EU countries. As part of your proposal, you include the communications workstream as a natural key phase.
You deliver the job evaluation, pay equity analysis, and reporting framework.
Then you brief the reward comms specialist on the client’s context, the methodology and the specific findings. They build the toolkit. You review it to make sure the technical language is right and deliver it to the client as part of your programme.
The client never knows there was a second pair of hands. Your proposal looked way more comprehensive than the competition's. Your project fee was 30–40% higher. And your workload didn't double, because you weren't the one writing because you weren't the one drafting manager scripts on a Sunday evening.
You set the client price. You pay the reward communications specialist their agreed project rate. You keep the margin.
This is how small firms compete with big ones. Not by trying to do everything themselves, but by knowing who to bring in and when.
Option 2 - Make an introduction and step back
Sometimes you don't want to manage the communications workstream. Maybe:
The client is large enough that they want to engage an employee reward communications specialist directly.
You're at capacity and can't take on the coordination.
The scope is heavily comms-led and it makes more sense for someone else to run it.
In that case, you make a direct referral. You introduce the reward communications specialist to your client, explain what they do and why it matters, and step back. They scope the engagement, manage the relationship for that workstream, and deliver directly.
You receive a 10% referral fee on the total project value when the invoice is paid.
No extra hours. No deliverable reviews. No project management. You made a phone call, your client got the specialist help they needed, and you got cash back from the introduction.
More importantly, you're the consultant who knows exactly who to call. Which strengthens your client relationship even when you're not doing the work.
The objections you're probably running through
"Will this undermine my client relationship?"
No. In the white-label model, the client doesn't know anyone else is involved. In the referral model, you're the person who made the connection - that's a value-add, not a weakness. Nobody thinks less of their accountant for recommending a solicitor.
"Will the comms person change my technical work?"
This is the big one, and it's a legitimate worry. You've watched internal comms teams rewrite your carefully worded methodology into something unrecognisable. The whole point of working with a reward communications specialist who understands reward is that they preserve your technical language and intent. They translate it for different audiences without breaking it. If "work of equal value" needs to stay as "work of equal value," it stays. That's non-negotiable.
"My clients don't have budget for this."
Right now, comms isn't a line item in your proposal, so the client has never said no to it because they've never seen it.
When you present the communications programme as phase two of the reward engagement, most CHROs don't push back. They already know they need help telling the story. They've just been waiting for someone to put a number on it and explain the benefits it brings. Like reducing legal risk, operationalising the reward work you’ve done and driving trust, engagement and performance. Plus, by bringing this expertise to the table, you’re taking a significant workload off their plate.
Price it as part of the programme, not as an add-on so it feels like a complete service, not an extra cost.
"Do I have to commit to something ongoing?"
No - it's project by project. If you have a client engagement where the comms piece is needed, just pick up the phone. No retainer, no minimum commitment, no contract that locks you in.
"What about design? I can't even get a decent diagram made."
This is part of the deliverable. The communications toolkit includes visual design - diagrams, layout, hierarchy, client branding - because reward concepts don't land as walls of words. You don't need to find a designer, brief them separately, or manage a creative process. The copy and the design come as one package.
What this changes for your practice
Think about what shifts when you can offer the full programme.
Your proposals stands out
Instead of a pay equity audit and job architecture design you're pitching an end-to-end pay transparency programme with analysis, communications and implementation support. Offering senior-level expertise across the whole scope.
Your client conversations change
When the CHRO asks "but how do we tell people?" you don't need to improvise. You say "that's phase two, here's what it includes." You've got a scoped, priced answer ready.
Your revenue becomes less lumpy
Communications create natural follow-on work. Manager guides need refreshing when structures change. Employee comms need updating each reporting cycle. Response templates need adapting as new jurisdictions come online. You're not waiting for the next audit to land. You're embedded in an ongoing programme.
Your reputation grows
You stop being the consultant who did the numbers and become the consultant who handled the whole thing. That's the business clients call back and the person they refer to their peers.
Start with one conversation
If you've got a client project where the communication gap is obvious - or one coming up where you'd like to pitch a broader scope - that's the right time to talk.
There’s no need for a procurement process or a six-month evaluation. One conversation about a live project where the comms piece is missing, or a quick look at sample deliverables so you can see the quality before you put your name on anything.
Just straight talk between two consultants about whether this fits.
I'm Becky Hewson-Haworth, founder of Clarion Call Communications. I build pay transparency communications toolkits for independent reward consultants — white-labelled under your brand or delivered as a named partnership. If you want to see what these deliverables look like before you commit to anything, drop me a message or book a slot in my diary.