#3: Part Three: Building your business as an independent consultant

In the previous article I outlined the first of the 3 constituent components of the framework, namely The Consultant Role. This time I will do the same for the second constituent component, namely Selling Consultancy Services.

In terms of Selling Consultancy Services, you will recall that you would firstly reflect on your routes to market; you would then move on to consider the sales process which you would adopt; and finally you would look at tendering for competitive bids.

You almost certainly have more than one route to market. I suspect there are 6 main ones. You will have “route 1” or the direct route, i.e. you selling direct to the prospect. You will also have an indirect route which is reciprocal i.e. you find potential work for others, and they will be more motivated to look out for potential work for you. You may find “sales agents” who would be prepared to identify work for you, but who would expect some form of payment i.e they might only do this on a retainer and/or success fee basis. There might be other consultants with whom you could collaborate to win work you could not win individually; you could enter into formal strategic alliances or joint ventures; and finally there are networks you can join to build you relationships and promote your business.

If we move on to consider the sales process, we would start with sales qualification – how are you going to turn complete strangers in to cash in the bank, weeding out potential timewasters and bad debts along the way. We would also look at sales pipeline – how will you manage the various targets and prospects who are at different stages of evolution in terms of whether they are going to hire you or not. And then we would look at the sales meeting – how you would handle the conversation and ask for the business without feeling awkward about it.

The third aspect of sales is tendering and competitive bids. This has greater relevance if you are pitching for large contracts and/or pitching as part of a consortium alongside other consultants. We would start by looking at what is often called the “Path to Assent” – how you play to the mindset of the economic buyer i.e understanding the prospect and his/her world. We would then look at writing a bid, and make sure that due attention is paid to bid process requirements and criteria. The third aspect would be considering the presentation of the bid – how to make best use of the limited time available to reinforce the key aspects of the bid.

These three aspects of sales will be developed in future articles.

#2: Part Two: The consultant role

The consultant role is one of the three constituent components of the building your consultancy business framework.

In terms of the consultant role, you should firstly reflect on the key challenges which you would face as a Consultant; you would then move on to consider the different consultancy models which you could follow (e.g. subject matter expert, sector expert, change agent…), and decide which is the best one for you; and finally you would look at the key success factors which would determine whether you were going to prosper or merely survive.

Key Startup Challenges

The key challenges revolve around you going into consultancy with your eyes wide open, so that you really appreciate what you are getting yourself into.

– One set of challenges revolve around credibility; what is it about you and what you know that would induce someone else to hire you? Remember, you want people to see you as an investment, and not a cost, so how do you position yourself to achieve this.

– Then there are behaviours and attributes; what are the aspects of your behaviour which will help you to be accepted as a source of valuable input.

– And finally there is lead generation – do you have a process to turn strangers into customers.

Consultancy Models

The different consultancy models again fall in to three basic categories.

1. Firstly there is subject matter expert, which helps to address the suspicion of the “Jack of all Trades”. Furthermore, a single product or service cleverly promoted and flexibly applied is likely to command higher fees.
2. Secondly there is change agent, where the consultant has the ability to facilitate either macro or micro change.
3. Thirdly there is trusted adviser, where the consultant has built sufficient rapport with the client that he becomes the client’s “go-to” person on all manner of matters. One of the fundamental questions you need to address is whether you see your role as 100% advisory, 100% operational, or a mix of the two.

Key Success Factors for Consultancies

The third component is key success factors – what are some of the main areas that you are going to have to focus on if you are going to be successful.

One of the areas is self-awareness. How well do you understand yourself? How well do you understand others? Can you adapt your behaviour in order to relate better to others?

Another area is clarity of purpose. Are you crystal clear in all your internal planning and all your interaction with the marketplace? What exactly is it that you are offering and is it a compelling proposition?

A third area would be price integrity. Are you genuinely creating the perception that investing in you is a worthwhile decision for the prospect? As a result are you commanding the fees that you deserve? Or, operating as a “registered charity”?

We will consider each of these components in future articles.

#1: Part One: Building your business as an independent consultant

Business start-up. New Business. Working independently. If any of these phrases refer to you then please read on. If you have aspirations to build a successful consulting practice, it helps to have some form of framework to ensure that you have a balanced model which will enable you to achieve sustainable profitable growth. You can find detailed advice in From Crew to Captain, but the basics are laid out here.

In this article I will highlight an overall framework to give some context to your planning. In future articles I will go into more detail on each of the constituent parts of the framework.

At the highest level a sensible and pragmatic framework would probably have 3 components:

• The Consultant Role
• Selling Consultancy Services
• Delivering Consultancy Services

The Consultant Role

In terms of the Consultant role, you would firstly reflect on the key challenges which you would face as a Consultant; you would then move on to consider the different consultancy models which you could follow (eg subject matter expert, sector expert, change agent…), and decide which is the best one for you; and finally you would look at the key success factors which would determine whether you were going to prosper or merely survive. Do you know what you’re doing? Do you know how to do it? And how do you know if it’s working?

Selling Consultancy Services

Selling Consultancy Services is quite often the area which gives most cause for concern, as people are comfortable with their ability to deliver, but less confident that they can win the business in the first place! You would start with analysing routes to market – how many do you have? You would then define a sales qualification process, designed to convert strangers into cash in the bank, whilst weeding out potential timewasters and bad debts. Finally you would consider how to tender professionally for work.

Delivering Consultancy Services

Delivering Consultancy Services is critical, as this is where your reputation will be won or lost. Retaining clients is No1 priority. If you create happy clients not only are they likely to use you again, they will refer others. Personal Branding is also important – is the image you present to the marketplace consistent and coherent, irrespective of where and how you interact with your clients? Lastly, an appreciation of strategies for success and strategies to avoid is also helpful!

So, now we have an overall framework, we can build on. Find out how these various components can be developed by following these articles, thereby enabling a flourishing practice to be built or contact me for quicker results.