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Why be a Consultant?

The second edition of Ian's book, Consulting, Contracting and Freelancing: Be Your Own Boss, published by Allen & Unwin, was released in August 2007. The book is listed by Smart Business in Queensland - the State Government Business Advisory office as the recommended book for people going into small business.

Click here to read some reader reviews

Click here to buy it

Newsletter # 26 dated March 2009 - click on the link on the RHS of this page, above the photo, to receive a copy

Articles by Ian Benjamin

1. The consultative approach - for consultants

2. New Consultant's Dilemma: who do I talk to? -

for employee consultants and their Principals

3. New Consultant's Dilemma: Response to who do I talk to? -

for employee consultants and their Principals

4. Moving from "free to fee"

5. An invitation to speak?

6. Newsletter 22

7. Newsletter 23 - Marketing: more clients anyone?

9. Home Alone? - for independent consultants

10. Contemplating Consulting? - for prospective independent consultants

11. The Consultant's Language - What should I say?

12. Newsletter 12 - Personal branding

13. New rules for contractors from March 2007

14. Ian's sample vignettes - mini case studies

15. Key client sheet

From Ian's Newsletter 22

The consultative approach - adding value

Do you manage to add the value to your clients' businesses and activities that you would like and that they would expect?

If you give the client what they ask for, is that enough? If you give them more than they ask for, is that "exceeding expectations"?

Answer: "Don't know"!

Why? We may have fallen for the "service provider pitfall" in service delivery, which is simply, being an order-taker.

The consultant's answer to resolving this dilemma is to go through the consultative process as you prepare and deliver your service. One of its key aspects is to ascertain client need.

Here is a brief summary of the consulting process - 6 steps for big jobs, 5 for smaller ones.

1. Research the client

Have you ever found yourself going to visit a potential client - internal or external, and thinking:

What do I know about the person I'm about to meet?
Why was I referred to them? Or, where did the lead come from?
Have they had dealings with us before? If so, when, and how extensive?
Why did the referral source say we should meet?
What is it that this person does?
What is their business unit's main activity?
What is the major focus of their whole company or organisation?
Where is the link with this into my/our own business?
What do they say about themselves - on the web site, in their brochures?
Is there media coverage of their activities?
What have I brought with me to give them comfort about what we do? What tangibles can I put in front of them if the personal chemistry is not positive?
How big are they? Is this branch or head office? Is their business unit strategic to the operation or are they ancillary? What is the culture - local or off-shore, government (which level) or private, domestic or multi-national?

At least you now have something to ask them when you get there but this Step 1 needs to take place over a period before you meet. If the potential client contacts you then you can ask some of these questions, but it is mainly a research task for you and your team.

2. Entry and engagement

You are now prepared to meet and engage the client - so that they will engage you. In this stage you :

Confirm that person are dealing with is the 'real client', the one who benefits from the outcome and who has the power to dedicate sufficient resources for the consultancy to be successful. At the very least, your interface needs to be able to significantly influence the 'real client'.
Uncover the client's business issue - the problem or issue that needs to be addressed - as defined by the client.
Establish needs, and take a broad brief.
Investigate the concerns of the client.
Start the process of winning the confidence of the client.
Start the process of establishing a partnership with the client - so that you achieve joint ownership of process your consultancy will undertake - jointly between the both the client and yourself. Even when you are in the "expert mode", the consultancy is more likely to succeed with client support and partnership.

3. Assessment - diagnosis

You enter the organisation or business unit and "discover" what the real issue is. You build your knowledge by observing, interviewing, collecting data, sort out key issues of people, politics and risk. Detailed Needs Analysis is undertaken - you may use various consulting tools to ascertain what your approach will be to "solve the problem".

You then prepare the business case for your consultancy, your extensive proposal with its various options. You should have a good idea before you deliver this as to how acceptable it will be to your prospective client. As a rule, clients do not like surprises - a surprise proposal is likely to really slow the process down.

Note: for small consultancies, including some training programs, Steps 2 and 3 are done simultaneously.

4. Contracting: Commitment!

You present your proposal to the client. Options are included and the final "contract" may be an extensive variation or development of your proposal.

If you believe that the "real issue" is different from you heard in Stage 2, then be authentic / fair dinkum, and raise it with the client. In my experience, clients are open with this but are sometimes cobbled by the prevailing organisational fad!

There may be some resistance here, and even some bad news for the client. As a professional service provider you will manage the resistance and deliver the news!

Your contract needs to be "in writing" and signed by the client. It clarifies the consultancy and will be the basis for resolution of any disagreements during the delivery phases.

5. Implementation

You do this, continuing to engage the client, managing their expectations and with regular review of the progress. Review keeps things on track - even a half day service delivery. This is where you "strut your stuff" - methodology wise.

6. Evaluation

Some form of evaluation should occur at the end of service delivery and at a later stage where change is measurable. Known as the PIR - Post Implementation Review, this is where you may add some additional value to your own organisation as the PIR may provide an opportunity to signal the next steps for your client. Beware of facilitating PPD - Post Purchase Dissonance - you know, that let-down feeling that may accompany a significant purchase. It is good to leave the client with the feeling that what you have just delivered, and what they have just paid for, is truly beneficial.

More? Peter Block's Flawless Consulting - the seminal work.

Ingrid Bens - Advanced Facilitation Strategies

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