Introduction to consulting essentials

Introduction to consulting essentials

A consulting relationship can mean a range of things A contractual relationship A professionalengagement With individuals With organisations

Elevation Learning definition: what is consultancy? Delivering specialist skills in a client environment Consultant The hierarchical organisation

Consultancy skills The area of interest Consultant’s specialist knowledge Understanding organisations Application This is what you know ...and so is this

Qualifications in Professional Consulting • Launched by the Institute of Consulting and their parent, the Chartered Management Institute in 2012 • The qualifications fit on the national Qualifications and Credit Framework at: • Level 5, equivalent to HND • Level 7, equivalent to post-graduate • Available from selected Approved Centres, of which Elevation Learning is one

How they work • The syllabus and examination standards for a number of “units” on topics in Professional Consulting have been specified for each level • Successful completion of a unit wins a specified number of credits for the learner • The learner can accumulate these credits to progress from an Award, through Certificate, to Diploma at each level Number of credits needed for... Learners should allow up to 10 learning hours per credit to include both guided learning and private study and on-job activities

Why bother? • There are benefits for all:

What topics are covered? • The core units are: • There are additional optional units for the Diploma

Today’s messages • Be clear what you should be famous for • Make sure people know about you and your services • Use opportunities to develop your network • Do good work

The power of brands “Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” Jeff Bezos, quoted in: Brand you

Core story • We are a large, well established, specialist training company • Supporting facts • What this means • Illustration • We design and deliver high quality development programmes • We work internationally across all sectors • We are highly regarded by our clients • Our consultants are first rate trainers and developers • We have a significant impact on individual and corporate performance Ask “so what?” to get to client benefits Have “golden nuggets” available to back up your story

Recognition of need Build value of doing something Develop a sales discussion ? Maintain a dialogue Does client recognise the need? No Yes Do we recognise the need? Yes No

Use campaigns to support your marketing. Our policy in 2013 Getting a yield from existing clients • Campaign “Maintaining the presence” so they think of us should a need for our services arise. • Use campaigns to promote specific sales propositions Client acquisition • Promotional activity should attract new clients to our web site • Cold calling does not work in our business. We need to link to new markets via intermediaries

The leverage of association Alliances leveraging off others' client Others Consultancy firm relationships Client relationships Alliances utilising Sole practitioner others' Me capabilities Others Me Capability

Cornerstone client survey Critical attributes • Your staff has the excellence in technical skills required to do the job • You work with us as a partner  we trust you • You don’t wait for me to initiate everything; you anticipate • You have a high level of integrity and professional ethics • Your service offered excellent value for the fees charged • Your people are accessible • You show creativity in your proposed solutions • You have a good understanding of our business • You are very flexible and willing to adapt to our changes • You keep your promises on deadlines

The CONSULT delivery process Entry Contracting Diagnosis Intervention Closure

The STAR approach Situation appraisal Tactics and planning Review Action

STAR and the CONSULT process Situation analysis: analysing what’s going on Tactics: planning what to do Action: techniques to use with the client Review: outcomes achieved and what to apply next time

The reception test Your organisation is hiring consultants for a project. A prospective bid team is in reception and your boss says, “Walk through reception and tell me what you make of them.” What factors would make a good or poor impression on you?

You never get a second chance to make a first impression Mehrabian on impact

Managing expectations is key Contract Expectations are set in the pre- contract stage... ...and met post-contract ...but often need to be renegotiated to take account of changed circumstances

Checklist of expectations • What is to be covered - the scope? • What is the client going to get - and when? • What are the respective responsibilities of consultant and client? • How is the engagement to be managed - e.g. progress review meetings • What are the unwritten expectations of this client

Be clear about whether you are working in the Problem space or Solution space What COULD the problem be? Problem space Where we identify the problem and diagnose the situation accurately P What IS the problem? What COULD the solution be? Solution space S Where we identify the possible alternatives and propose a valid solution What SHOULD the solution be? Time

Recommendations need to meet a number of criteria in order to be valid Adequate Acceptable Achievable

The WIIFM factor What’s In It For Me?

Closure Key activities • Extension or disengagement • Technology transfer • Sign off with client • Invoicing • Documenting the project • Maintaining the relationships • Knowledge management

Pitfall 1: Order taking is easy selling You are an HR consultant. A new prospective client calls you up. “We need someone to profile our people. It needs to be done yesterday.” It falls in your area of expertise. So why should you hesitate - or should you hesitate at all?

Pitfall 2: What’s in a name? The project has started, but you need to give it a name. You’re from JKL consultants, and the client says, “Let’s call it the JKL project - and it will be good publicity for you.”

Pitfall 3: Sam’s the man The client says, “It’s a good idea to have someone responsible for the project from our side. Sam will be responsible. I’d like you to work with Sam, and he will report to me on progress from time to time.”

Pitfalls in delivering consultancy #1 Doing the wrong job #2 A mismatch of expectations #3 Forgetting that all projects are joint ventures #4 Losing contact with decision makers #5 Being subservient to clients #6 Sacrificing the good for the ideal

Good work needs good clients • You have to help your clients be good clients • The amount of effort depends on the complexity of the project and the maturity of the client Low effort Medium effort High Maturity of client Medium effort High effort Low Low High Complexity of project

Thank you • Calvert Markham • calvert.markham@elevationlearning.co.uk

Introduction to consulting essentials

Introduction to consulting essentials

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