The relationship between a Private Investigator and their client – Experience in

reporting really does count

An age old question must be “What does the client really want….”. This is a perplexity drawn

like a cart by a horse through the ages and always intertwined with the buyer seller relationship

when it comes to service provision, and it’s no different with Private Investigation work.

The real question might actually be “What does the client need?”. What a Private Investigation

client wants and needs are all too often choices or options which may or may not lead to the

real and conclusive outcome in the best interests of the client. Emotions, finances, reputational

risk, and a host of other factors come into play when the client envisages the “board” on which

the die is cast requiring a specialist to look at examine and assemble the real facts into an

unemotional pragmatic, presentable, logical display of the truth which can be grasped, used

and where necessary produced in a court of law.

Our research indicates that a Private Investigation client wants a report that identifies areas

that jump out at them, that they can relate to, that they can identify to – and that they can use.

These will become the foundations and corner stones of legal arguments and court cases or

the fulcrum in decision making for discontinuing action or pursuing as far as possible. The

client will want to do something – with a purpose. However that doesn’t make the whole report

less important or less valuable – it only means that the client’s priorities are different at the

time of reading to what they may have been before receiving the report or say six months

down the line, or even years later.

Quality and Value for Money

Who hasn’t felt cheated when buying something before ? – nobody. We all have. The truth is,

when we get quality and value for money, no one ever or hardly ever has reason to complain.

Because of the nature of the work, a Private Investigation client generally won’t accompany

the investigator on an enquiry, so they won’t see the dress code or the driving, they won’t

know if the time keeping is good or bad, they won’t witness the interview or the conversations

with people and they probably won’t see how information is actually obtained. What they will

get however is the final report, substantiated by photographs, where applicable audio and

videos as well as transcripts, GPS logs and phone calls made – and whatever else it takes to

make sure that every single fact presented is irrefutable uncontroversial and laid bare – as the

absolute truth. Clients judge a Private Investigator on the layout, presentation, content and

assembly of the report – demanding in many cases the simplicity of a Microsoft style Windows

logic on every page, in every statement, reference or quotation. It is reasonable that the client

gets a 100% mistake and error free presentation and in an easy to read format that they can

reference, access and adapt whenever and where ever they want.

Unbiased Reporting is Crucial

The initial briefing from a client may determine the scope and focus of the investigation, but

it’s flawed for a Private Investigator to jump to conclusions. The final report to be delivered

must not only answer all their initial questions and satisfy their initial thirst for information but

must also answer pragmatically all the natural questions surrounding their initial concept for

discovery and investigation that could arise.

By their area of expertise, a Private Investigator can give considered opinions but speculation

is not helpful, just factual support through obvious relevance. It is also vital that an investigator

highlight obvious facts that may be relevant, even if the client decides they are not.

Who’s the Boss?

A Private Investigation client generally wants to see what was done to achieve the end results,

how it was done – but mostly, that it was actually done. The paying client is boss, therefore

from the client’s perspective they want to see the footage of videos referred to, they want the

photos taken, but not used in the report, they want the copies of notes referred to, they want

the transcripts referenced and they want them all – easy to access, easy to use and easy to

keep. And unless otherwise instructed, they want the Private Investigator to keep a copy too

– so that where ever they are – whenever they need information – they can call – and they will

expect their investigator to say – “ Yes - Certainly no problem…”