Consulting Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-10-2022

If you’ve decided to become a consultant, stay ahead of the competition using tested techniques. A professional website and a commitment to your clients will increase your chances of referrals and add to your consulting client base.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

In consulting, problem-solving is really where the rubber meets the road. While problem-solving, you review the data that you sliced, diced, and otherwise processed to develop a set of solutions, one or more of which will ultimately become the recommended course of action that you present to your clients. Because of this, you want to open the net as wide as possible at the beginning of the problem-solving process — hauling in as many possibilities as you can. Then you need to throw some of your catch back into the sea (and keep the good ones for yourself) by weighing the alternatives until you are left with the best possible courses of action. There's a right way and a wrong way to problem-solve. Here's the right way: 1. Brainstorm possible solutions. The first step in the problem-solving process is to take the data and brainstorm possible solutions to the problems that the data raises. Although you could brainstorm by yourself, you get a much wider variety of options if you include your clients in your brainstorming sessions, and you begin building client buy-in to your recommendations. The secret to conducting productive brainstorming sessions is to encourage every possible idea — no matter how far out it may seem. This means suspending judgment for the duration of the session and welcoming everyone's input. Record every idea on computer, paper, flip charts, or a white board so that you don't lose track of any of them. 2. Consider the implications of each possible solution. Isolate each alternative that was generated during your brainstorming sessions and follow it to its logical conclusion. For example, if a client has a problem with the quality of the circuit boards leaving the factory floor, one possible cause is that workers are not using the correct soldering techniques. If you follow this possibility to its logical conclusion, a solution may be to provide more training to employees on soldering correctly or to monitor employees' work more closely. 3. Weigh alternatives and narrow your focus. After you work through all possible alternatives, weigh them against each other to determine which ones are most likely to be relevant to the outcome. As a part of getting to your final recommendations, you have to focus your efforts more sharply at this point and move ahead on a few fronts instead of many. Discard the alternatives that are least likely to become viable recommendations, and focus on those that are most likely. 4. Pick the best courses of action. By this time, you should have narrowed your list of possible alternatives to a manageable number. Continue to work through this list with your client until you whittle it down to no more than five of the best courses of action. After you complete this step, you are ready to go on to developing your recommendations.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

A consultant's primary responsibility is to help clients find the best solutions to their needs. This means asking questions and then listening — really listening — to the answers. The simple fact is that you can't possibly understand what your potential clients need unless you give them the opportunity to tell you. And you can't possibly hear what your client is telling you unless you take the time to listen! To make sure that you ask clients the right questions and listen to the answers, follow these four steps to effective asking and listening: 1. Ask open-ended questions that define the boundaries of the opportunity. When you first meet potential clients, you really have no idea what their needs are, how extensive those needs are, and what addressing them will require. Therefore, your first task is to ask the kinds of open-ended questions that help you define the big picture, the rough boundaries of the opportunities it presents, and, thereby, the rough boundaries of your solutions. For example, you might ask, "What results do you want to see from this management training?" Avoid asking questions that may introduce an element of trepidation into your relationship. Questions along the lines of, "Do you realize how incredibly expensive it's going to be to straighten out this mess?" or "Who's the loser responsible for running this department?" are to be avoided at all costs. 2. Use active silence. When it comes to listening, silence is golden — not the disinterested silence that comes from having more pressing matters on your mind, but the active silence that tells your clients that you're involved in what they have to say and are interested, thinking, and putting your all into understanding their issues and perspectives. 3. Ask clarifying questions. Clarifying questions take you from the big picture to the little picture and help you to refine your understanding of your clients' opportunities. For example, asking, "Do you really want a full review of your entire quality assurance system, or do you think that a random sampling of products might accomplish the same goal?" is a good way to help define the extent of the effort required to accomplish a task. 4. Confirm your understandings. An important part of the process of asking questions and listening to their answers is periodically confirming your understandings with your clients. For example, you might say, "Now here's what I'm hearing that you would like me to do . . ." or "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that what you would like me to do is . . . " Never forget to listen before you leap! You'll have plenty of time to talk after you land your client. For now, content yourself with asking a few questions to help draw your client out, and listen, listen, and listen some more.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Consultants face ethical dilemmas every day of the week, and as a consultant, you may be tempted to stray to the wrong side of that ethical line. But remember that you have a choice: You can do business the ethical way or the unethical way. It's that simple. If you choose to do business the ethical way, not only will you sleep better at night, but your reputation will be enhanced and your clients will be glad that they have one less thing to worry about. You never know who will plant an ethical land mine in your path or when it'll make its presence known. Be on the alert for the following kinds of ethical land mines: Conflicts of interest: A conflict of interest occurs when your personal interests or the interests of your business conflict with those of your client. An example is a government consultant who recommends that a client buy an expensive new fire-suppression system from one particular company without seeking competitive bids; unbeknownst to the client, however, the consultant is getting a kickback from the fire-suppression system manufacturer for each unit that clients buy. Personal relationships: When professional relationships between consultants and clients cross the line into the realm of personal relationships — particularly intimate personal relationships — ethical quicksand can't be very far away. Ability to do the job: Are you really qualified to do the work that your client is hiring you to do? Do you already have far too many jobs lined up to be able to adequately handle new ones? Are you going to have to subcontract the work to another consultant or firm because you're too busy to do the work yourself? Your clients hire you because they assume — either through you telling them so or through your silence — that you are able to do the work. If, in reality, you can't, you'll soon find yourself in a major ethical quandary. You and your clients should agree to any subcontracting of work before you commence work. Insider information: As a consultant, you discover a lot of interesting and confidential things about your clients' operations, business plans, and strategies. Misusing this information is a serious breach of ethics. If, for example, you provide information gained from working with Company A to Company A's arch rival, Company B, as a part of the work that you do for Company B, you're committing a serious ethical infraction against Company A. Fees and timekeeping: Are your fees reasonable? Do you keep meticulous track of the time that you work for your clients? Do you have controls to ensure that one client isn't charged for another client's work and that clients aren't billed for work that is never done (such as while you're out of town meeting with other clients or working on another client's project when you should have been working on a project for the client you just billed)? Ethical land mines abound in this dangerous area of your practice.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

How you bill your clients for your consulting work depends on your consulting contract or, in the absence of a written contract, any other agreements you may have made regarding billing and payment. If your contract is set up to pay you as you achieve specific milestones — say, completing one-quarter of the project or submitting a draft report of recommendations — then you invoice your clients upon completion of each milestone. However, if you work continually and bill your clients for the number of hours that you work plus expenses (photocopying, travel), then you collect the charges and bill them to your client at the end of the agreed-upon billing period, usually the end of each calendar month. Here are some tips on maximizing the effectiveness of your billing process: Front-load your billing. If you invoice after reaching milestones, try to load your fees into the front of the project rather than at the end. For example, push for an advance payment to start the project, or simply make your first couple of payments higher than those that are due later in the project. Doing so gives your project a financial head start while minimizing the risk if a client moves into a late-pay status during the course of a project. Bill your clients often. The more often you get paid, the better your cash flows. Although monthly payments are pretty much the standard for consultants who bill hours and expenses, you can agree with your client to bill them more often than that. Invoice immediately. Immediately after you complete a milestone or reach the end of your billing cycle, send an invoice to your client. The sooner you send an invoice, the sooner your clients pay their bills. And the sooner they pay their bills, the better off your practice is financially. Use e-mail whenever possible. Once upon a time, invoices were snail-mailed to clients, taking up to a week to arrive. However, many clients today welcome invoices sent via e-mail, cutting delivery time for an invoice from days to seconds. (It also saves you ink and paper.) Make e-mail invoicing a regular part of your business and encourage your clients to do the same. Offer a discount for prompt payment. To help motivate your clients to pay early (or at least on time), offer a small discount — in the range of 0.5 to 1 percent — for paying invoices within 10 or 20 days. You'll lose a bit of money when you offer your clients this privilege, but the positive impact on your cash flow usually makes the cost worthwhile. Monitor client payments closely. Keep an eye on the status of your invoices and make sure your clients pay their bills on time. If certain clients don't, call them personally to see what the problem is. If it looks like you're going to have a hard time getting them to pay the amounts they owe you, act quickly to initiate your collection procedures.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Ethics are important for anyone in business. They're particularly important to consultants because of the high level of trust that organizations grant them and because of the access that many consultants have to the confidential and proprietary inner workings of the firms that employ them. No single code of ethics is appropriate for everyone, but some very basic ethical beliefs can and should form the basis for your personal code of ethics. Consider the following: Account for your time accurately and honestly. Your client expects and trusts you to be truthful in your billing practices. Anything less is not only unethical but also a violation of your client's trust. Don't make promises you can't keep. Although you may really want to impress a potential client with your amazing abilities, don't make promises you can't keep in hopes of landing the account. Not only is this unethical, but you set yourself up for failure. There's nothing wrong with a little good old-fashioned optimism, but don't blatantly make promises that you know you can't keep. Follow through on your promises. Part of becoming a successful consultant is doing what you say you're going to do. If you say that you'll complete the project on March 31, then you should deliver the results on (or before) March 31 — not a day later. If, for some reason, you can't keep your promise no matter how hard you try, then inform your client as far in advance as possible and present a plan for curing the problem. Don't recommend products or services that your clients don't need. You may speak with clients who are absolutely certain that they know what is wrong with their organization. You could land a very lucrative contract just by proposing to do what they say you should do. However, if you know that the course of action the client suggests is not the proper remedy, you should tell your client so and decline the offered work. In most cases, your client will appreciate your honesty, and your reputation will be elevated a few notches. Be candid and give your honest opinion. Your clients pay you good money for the benefit of your skills and many years of experience. When your clients ask for your opinion, be frank and honest, and don't try to sugarcoat the truth. Protect your clients' confidentiality, and don't misuse insider information. Consultants are often placed in situations in which they have access to proprietary information, the release of which could cause a client serious financial or other damage. Your clients have placed you in a position of trust; don't violate that trust. Disclose conflicts of interest. If you're a popular consultant in your field, preventing conflicts of interest can often be difficult. As organizations vie for your expertise, you may find yourself working on the same problem for two competing companies. However, as soon as you discover a conflict — potential or actual — you should disclose it to the affected client(s) and then take action to resolve it. This may mean signing information nondisclosure agreements. If the conflict can't be resolved through these means, then you may have to drop one of the two firms as a client. Don't break the law. At times, a client may ask you to do something that is not only against your personal sense of ethics but also obviously and blatantly illegal. Do not pass go and do not collect $200. Just go. And don't come back.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

While you’re throwing money and time at marketing your consulting business don’t forget your current clients. They’re your best source for new consulting business because they know you and your quality of work first hand. Take care of current clients first with these proven techniques: Be on time and within budget. Anticipate your clients’ needs (and be ready with suggestions to address them). Be easy to work with. Keep in touch with your clients. Be honest and ethical. Give a little more than you promise. Ask your clients for testimonials and referrals. Offer financial incentives for continuing to do business with you. Educate your clients about all the services that you offer. Do great work.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Many different ways exist to become a more efficient consultant, however, some are better than others. Incorporating the following methods into the way you do business will keep you way ahead of the consulting competition: Listen to your clients. To determine the best solutions for your clients, you must listen to them and understand what it is they want. Make it a point to listen to your clients more than you talk. Quickly establish rapport with your clients. Consulting is very much a one-to-one, person-to-person kind of business. Establishing rapport with your clients builds a bridge that enables trust to grow. Be direct and honest. Your clients are hiring you because they need help — sometimes a lot of help. You are doing them no favors by sugarcoating any bad news you may have for them. Give them your best assessments and advice at all times. Be flexible and responsive. Flexibility is one of the main reasons why people hire consultants. You will have a tremendous advantage over the competition if you can quickly respond to customer needs as they present themselves. Don’t overprice your services. The higher your price, the less demand there will be for your services. That may be fine if you can survive with a relatively few, high-paying jobs. However, if your prices are significantly higher than the competition, be prepared to explain the additional value you bring to the table. Don’t under-price your services. If your price is too low, you may find it difficult to make a profit. Don’t forget: There’s not a client on the face of the Earth who will tell you that you should charge a higher rate! Have more than one primary client. Trusting the success of your business to just one or two clients is never a good idea. Secure a number of clients in a variety of fields instead of just one or two, even if your main client keeps you busy full time. Accept as much work as you can without compromising quality. Small jobs may lead to big jobs. Avoid turning down new work unless doing so will cause the quality of your current work to suffer. Treat your current clients like gold. Not only do your current clients pay your bills, but they are your best source for referrals to new clients. Don’t forget your most important clients: your current clients. Constantly market to bring in future business. You need a constant stream of future clients to keep your consulting business afloat. Set aside one-third to one-half of your time prospecting for new clients.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

When putting together a first-class Web site for your consulting business, your goal is to create a professional image, make the site easy to navigate and enhance client contact. Try these Web site building tips: Consider hiring a pro. Your Web site may be the first impression a potential client has of your business, and first impressions are important. By hiring a pro to design and build your Web site, you have a better chance of making the first impression a good one. Be easy to find. Make sure your Web site address (URL) closely matches the name of your business or is otherwise linked to it. Get out the word. Be sure to include your Web site address wherever you can, including on your letterhead and business cards, marketing brochures, within your e-mail signature, on the side of your car — anywhere a potential client might see it. Capture contact information. Encourage visitors to leave their contact information so you can open up a dialog with them. Provide them with a free subscription to a useful monthly newsletter — or a free assessment of their issue or opportunity — in exchange for their e-mail address. Give clients a reason to visit. Your Web site should contain information that is of value to them and that entices them to visit on a regular basis. This information may include articles as well as links to other Web sites and blogs. Visit your site regularly and check Web stats. It’s always a good idea to check your site regularly to make sure it’s up and running, and that all links and interactive elements are working the way they should. And be sure to monitor your Web stats so you know who is visiting and what pages they find of greatest interest. Consider blogging. The latest trend is for people to set up blogs — which are personal online journals that easily can be set up and maintained, and are usually current and interactive — instead of static Web sites. Before you set up a blog, research what other consultants in your field are doing, and be sure to take your findings into account.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

As a consultant, the relationships you build with your clients are key to your success and they should be built on the strongest foundation of respect and honesty. Maintain the highest code of ethics and always do the right thing, including: Account for your time accurately and honestly. Don’t make promises that you can’t keep. Don’t recommend products or services that your clients don’t need. Be candid and give your honest opinion. Protect your clients’ confidentiality. Follow through on your promises. Disclose conflicts of interest. Don’t use inside information to your advantage. Don’t break the law.