The author presents a consultancy research, of which the sources of evidence include written texts classified by genre, interviews, electronic corpora, observations of meetings, and so on. Using 15 case studies ranging form cross-cultural problems experienced by employees of a multinational company to assessment criteria for UK National Vocational Qualifications, she illustrates how a range of approaches form applied linguistics can be employed with LSP data in order to identify the source or sources of communication problems and to propose - in non-technical terms - concrete solutions in a non face-threatening way. The author argues the role of the evidential based solutions is crucial from the perspective of the client who has commissioned the research.