So where do you start? - Finding a Consultant

So now that you have determined what questions you are going to ask this consultant prior to approving their work and getting started on your very important and urgent project, where do you find them?

1. Search engines: Type in several queries using as many relevant terms and key words related to your project. For example: change management, process, utilities, geographic area (last if important). Conduct a search using multiple queries to see who appears in the resulting list 1 or more times. This resulting this will provide you with a start of who you would like to review in more detail. This list should be 5-10 names long.


2. Tap into your network: Spend 20-30 minutes summarizing what you think you need and send it out to your professional network. You never know whether that person you met at that function last month might know of a consultant who just did that same thing at big company x last year!


3. Post It!: Post your need on industry related web sites. For example in the Learning and Development industry there is ASTD.org, for Human Resources there is SHRM.org and the list goes on. When you completed step 1 it should have resulted some industry related sites which would be a logical place for a posting. Job banks are not just for full-time employee postings, consultants often browse these job banks for consulting and contract opportunities. Be sure you are ready for a potential on-slaught of responses.


4. Network: Attend business networking or social networking functions. This is a great opportunity to discuss and brainstorm your current business need, get the word out that you are in need of a consultant and potentially meet or be introduced to someone who may fit the bill. If you have already met a potential consultant face-to-face, it may get you that much closer to selecting your perfect fit.

Once you have that list of consultants from the steps above, now you need to decide how to vet these resources.

1. Shorten the list: Conduct research and ask yourself some questions. Is the firm too small or large for your preference? Are they specialists or generalists in your described need? Do they have a good client list? Is there a potential for a conflict of interest within their list of clients? Are they geographically pleasing?


2. Define Your Need: Some of this may have happened slowly, some may be prescribed by the business you represent and some may be personal preference. Define and detail it all, describe the issue, the business goal/objective driving the current need, whether you would like someone on-site/local or remote, rate limitations, estimated number of hours, etc. Or just be honest in describing the need and the ideal solution and let them know you might not know how to solve it.


3. Contact Them: Contact your short list with your defined need.


4. Measure the Responses: You can tell so much from how quickly someone responds, what types of questions they ask or don't ask, whether they are quick to provide a standard solution or would like to get more information before offering some suggestions.


5. Ask Questions: In order to get an apples to apples comparison, ask the same questions of each person you talk to. It isn't always possible to meet people face to face initially these days so level the playing field by asking for a phone conference to start. Once you have your finalist then arrange for face to face time.
   
6. Short List: Create a very short list of 3-4 firms that appear to meet your requirements.


7. Get a Proposal and Presentation: Although not relevant to every consulting engagement, the way in which a person prepares and submits a proposal for a consulting engagement and then presents that information can be one of the most important measures of their skills and abilities. For example: A consultant may be more of a change management generalist without your industry experience but their written proposal and subsequent presentation just blew you away. You can then assume that they would blow away your senior sponsors and impress both verbally and in written form.


8. Get Some Free Consulting: Any consultant worth their salt will gladly give some free consulting by way of offering suggested solutions, proposing ways of more clearly defining the issue or even offering a 2 hour brainstorming session to define the business issue more concisely. Use this free consulting in two ways: find out if you could work directly with this person for the next 3 to 18 months and also to determine whether the consultant can handle the environment.
   
9. Make a Decision: Remember, this is a business decision. Don't be afraid to tell a potential vendor or consultant that they are not selected no matter how much you like them or have come to like them over the process. Your business has to make a business decision. When coming to your decision be sure to communicate: When you will make the decision, what factors are affecting your decision, what are the potential barriers and who you need to consult prior to deciding. And PLEASE.......do notify firms even if they are not selected and provide some prescriptive feedback. We want to learn where we went wrong, where we were less qualified, whether our rates were a factor and even if it was not a personality fit, but don't just let it dropped and assume the vendor will take the hint!!!!!!!

Most of my fellow consultants are now screaming at what I have just documented but once the initial shock has worn off, most will agree that the above helps the client make a sound decision and follows the process that most consultants are used to.

10 Questions to Ask a Consultant Before you Hire Them

There are endless options to choose from these days when trying to secure an appropriate consultant for your strategic or tactical initiatives. But with so many options, it makes it that much more difficult to find the right resource for your need, within budget and starting yesterday.

Many tangible and intangible factors go into the decision making process when hiring a consultant. Having a systematic approach to finding a consultant and knowing the questions to ask can help save you time up-front and headaches later.

The following includes 10 questions I would ask and often wish clients would ask when securing outside consulting support.

Who is the right consultant for you?

1. Size Matters: Is size important to you? :A large firm can provide national/global reach, back-up resources and often thought leadership and a library of solutions but at a price. A mid-size firm excels in expertise in a few areas but may not have the national/global reach you need. A small firm can be specialized or business consulting generalists, the price point is typically smaller and the client service, commitment to your project and flexibility in resourcing could really make quick work of your most challenging initiative.
   


2. Client Service: What kind of client are you? Be introspective and realistic, do you need a lot of hand holding, are you unsure as to what you need to do and how to get it accomplished, are there constraints on resources involved? Identifying these issues and potential challenges will allow you to be open and honest with the consultant and provide them with a fair assessment of the scenario. Most consultants worth their salt will either thrive in those conditions or back away politely.
   


3. Project Management: Ask about a consultant's project management qualifications. What is their theory, method and perspective on project management and does it fit with your organizations culture? Are there stringent project managers who mange tasks, risks and resources to the letter? Do they have a more flexible approach that involves more casual updates and debriefs? Or, and this is a warning sign, Do they not have a defined project management approach with reusable templates, tools and processes? No tools, method, process or approach is a sign to walk away.
   


4. Adaptability: Can the consultant adapt to changing situations and needs? What happens if budgets change, priorities shift or resources are no longer available. How will that consultant deal with the situation, what is their experience in this area and what is their policy for billing a project that is on-hold. Depending on the size of the organization, this varies greatly.
   


5. Customized Solutions: Does the consultant simply re purpose the same solution for different clients over and over again? Or is each client solution a unique solution? For some of the larger firms this is more common, they implement the same solution over and over again and sometimes disregard the individualized needs of the organization. A small or mid-size firm often specializes in customized solutions that are developed to fit your individual need.
   


6. Years of Experience: This is an interesting question that needs to be individually interpreted based on your identified need. Ask: Years of experience? Experience in your specific need? Experience related to the proposed solution?Keep in mind that 20 years of experience may be really 4 projects - 5 years in length or it might be 20 years of experience in every aspect of business that could augment the final solution.
   


7. Technical Knowledge: Even when the specific need does not require a technical solution, a good general understanding of technical capabilities can augment your final solution. In the case of a very technical solutions be sure to ask: What is their assessment, planning and recommendation methodology? How do they determine the best technical solutions? Do they expertise in a broad range of technologies or are they primarily focused in one set of operation systems, programming languages or techniques? Obviously if you are a Microsoft based organization, it helps to go with someone who is proficient in those applications, for web-based technologies the same, a PHP developer is different than an HTML or ASP developer.
   


8. Industries Served: Don't be put off by someone who may not have experience in your exact industry, the cross-functional knowledge they bring from other industries could help to revolutionize your business. There are obvious exceptions to this rule but ask the following and make an informed and logical decision: Have you worked in this industry before? In what capacity? What industries have you worked and what similarities do you see? What best practices have you identified that cross industries and initiatives?
   


9. Fee Structure: The question of fee structure should be discussed, reviewed and determined. Many different structures exist and depending on the size of the firm some may not work for you based on fee structure alone. How does the consultant scope the project, using metrics, typical project fees or an hourly estimate? Does the consultant utilize fixed fee, deliverables based or hourly fee structures? Each have their own merits and disadvantages. What happens if the project is put on hold? How are scope changes handled? What if resourcing changes?
   


10. Culture and Personality: Probably the most crucial aspect but hardest to quantify. How does the consultant perform under stress? In times of delayed activity? In times of changing priorities? Inform the consultant as to the culture, standard operating procedures and typical stress level of the organization. Being up front and honest from the beginning will help you to prepare the consultant for the reality of your business issue as well as eliminate any resources that might be wary, unwilling or not prepared for the existing business situation.
    

While all the above are important, a special emphasis should be made on the last item. No matter how qualified a consulting firm is, if you cannot work closely with them, communicate your needs and feel like you are understood, you will not feel comfortable relying upon their advice...and you will not receive the maximum benefits for your consulting dollar.

For more information or how to get started, read "So where do you start? - Finding a Consultant"

Competitive Intelligence

Competitive Intelligence, Market Intelligence, Competitor Analysis or the more commonly known B-School acronym SWOT analysis is something I am always interested in thinking more about and since our company does not have a dedicated marketing or business development team it is something I of course should be more focused on.

Interestingly enough a former colleague recently asked me for my input and perspective on Competitive Analysis from a business owners perspective. Here was my response:

From the MBA program the key areas are:
SWOT Analysis

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

From my B-School days, we were taught that, by determining the above for your company, and also determining this for your competitors you are able to see where you can anticipate your competition’s strategy and get out ahead of it. It also helps to prepare you for typical questions/resistance points customers or potential targets would have towards your product in particular when comparing them to your competitor. The key is to stay ahead of the competition and be prepared with your target market so that you are never caught off-guard.

The things I think of when I am trying to gather info on competitors are the following:

• what are their core competencies
• how do our core competencies map to theirs
• expertise of key personnel
• what are their target markets (i.e. do you have a specific competency or client base in a particular industry that your competitor does not)
• strategic partnerships (who have they teamed up with)
• emerging product areas
• products vs. services: do they compliment each other or do they seem to be in conflict
• Too much or too little product/service diversity
• Latest management news/developments (i.e. have they recently lost senior leadership, recent re-organizations, etc which can lead to lack of leadership and direction)

Although something to consider, nothing listed in the above with the exception of SWOT analysis is based in any type of tested or research process or theory and is really something that I should be spending more time doing.

The New Pink Slip?

In my over 15 years of experience consulting with organizations from 3-150,000 people, I thought I had seen it all. Start-ups growing exponentially only to shed all but 5 resources as the bubble began to burst in 2000, large organizations building a cadre of resources only to have them benched for months at a time and then layoff that strong bench without those highly skilled individuals ever seeing action or as I personally experiences, arriving to my first day of work to find the CEO locking the doors for good. But the following truly takes the proverbial cake... I recently witnessed the most ill-informed way of conducting a layoff I have seen in my meanderings through the Silicon Valley, Boston Tech area, and global outsourcing arenas. The following lay-off process was obviously engineered and implemented without consideration of key communications strategy, resourcing options, business continuity planning or long-term client engagement and retention. Employees of recently purchased Company X arrived to work one day in July to find red, yellow or green slip of paper on their desks. Red indicated immediate termination, yellow indicated that they would be changed to contractor status for an undefined period and green meant that they were safe. This occurred without any warning, explanation or advanced communication of any type. The result was complete and utter chaos. The now former employees of Company X and those "transitioned" to contractor status were left feeling betrayed. Those that were "safe" wondered how long before they received a red or yellow slip themselves and quickly updated their resumes. From a change management and communications perspective, my business core consulting capability, I have to ask, "What was Company Y (the purchaser of Company X) thinking?"
Who thought that this would in fact be an appropriate way in which to deliver this news?
Did they not consider the backlash or repercussions of this approach?
Were they thinking about it at all?
Did the person responsible for this think, "Wow, I know how we can do this quickly and easily!"
Or was there some type of rationale for conducting layoffs in this way?
Unfortunately or fortunately I will never know their reasoning for taking this approach since I nor my company were involved in this tragic event but my curiosity in like a plague. I think about it constantly and felt compelled to write about it.
Before I close with a lesson learned, the repercussions of their actions were immediate and severe. Client files and data were lost and resources with solid client relationships on high profile and critical projects had no time to transition or hand-off.
Lesson Learned:
In the end the people of Company X suffered and I am very sorry for what they have been through, a lay-off is horrible enough to experience without the added insult of this method of delivery but as I have experienced personally, there is solace in the fact that a lay-off is really a business decision and that it no longer carries the stigma in the job market it once did, and that job market is good right now.
The other victim of this ill-formed plan is the customer. The customers (I have heard and seen first hand) have suffered as a result, projects have been delayed, project management has suffered or become non-existent and that sends a message. Company Y was short-sided in their approach and ultimately did not think about the business impact of their actions. I predict that the clients formerly of Company X and now unwillingly of Company Y will not remain clients for long and word has gotten out that Company Y is not someone you want to do business with. Perhaps Company Y will blame slow sales or declining market share on the economy or some other unforeseen variable but in reality it will be their own actions that ultimately caused this.

Grief to Earnings Ratio

I can remember a time not long ago when the term "grief to earnings ratio" was met with confused looks and very rarely mediocre curiosity. Now it seems that it is as common as P&L or Revenue.


Interestingly enough, the term "Grief to Earnings" has now become an actual metric within our company.

We have created an online calculator that is accessible to all in the company (but mostly used just by me) that helps me to determine whether a potential target, new or existing client is worth targeting, engaging with or walking away from.

The calculator works as follows:

• Enter in the average project budget.
• Enter in the average project cost to our company.
• Enter in a rating of difficulty to manage (1-10 based on the primary project manager's assessment of time, project overruns, client difficulty, etc.)
• Results: a G to E rating from 1 to 5
• Scale: 1=High earnings with little to no grief, 2=High earnings ration with some but reasonable grief, 3= Equal earnings to grief (i.e. we really earn our money), 4= High grief to little earnings, 5= High grief to no earnings

This proved most valuable when I was discussing our most current problem client with my business partner. The conversation went something like this:

Alex: Ann, we need to talk our "Current Client", our contract is nearing the end, we have more work that needs to be completed but they will not agree to an increase in scope. After the last year with this client, I think it might be time to walk-away.

Ann: Well they have given us quite a bit of business and really the issue is with the team and not the client in general.

Alex: Yes agreed, but we have to look at the cost and grief to earnings (g to E) ratio before agreeing to do any additional work with them.

Ann: So what is the G to E ratio for this client?

Alex: 5= High grief and no earnings.

Ann: What is considered no earnings on this client account?

Alex: We are over-run by approximately 35K dollars that they either have no agreed to pay, have yet to approve and is potential additional amount needed to finish the current project.

Ann: Let's get out!

The moral to this story is that regardless of how you calculate or evaluate your business it all comes back to Profit and Loss, no client is worth keeping if it is costing you to do business with them which in the above case it was. Sometimes for personal or ethical reasons we need more than the bottom line to make our case in our own heads but really in convincing others it is all about the money.

If I had had a different conversation with Ann that did not involve the ethics, feelings or grief aspects that the G to E tries to calculate then the conversation would have happened as such:

Alex: Ann Client X is costing us money to do business with them I think we should end our relationship as soon as the current project ends.

Ann: How much is it costing?

Alex: $35K this year alone.

Ann: No more work with Client X after this project!

Fun Client Relationships

One of my favorite clients, a healthcare services company, is my favorite because of many things: they value my company's experience, they appreciate the time and energy that goes into the services we provide, they are professional and reasonable and of less importance but very critical, we have a good time working with them.

I often tell them that they are my favorite or at least one of my favorites. I wish more of my client relationships were this jovial.

The fun factor. Some of our weekly status meetings, although very productive, actionable and necessary have digressed to the following unrelated topics (please remember that we are delivering organizational change management):

- Vista Support Group Meeting: your applications not hard at work for you.



- Discussion of the Microsoft applications that are NOT compatible with Vista



- Project Management: let's see how much paper the other vendor can waste while NOT communicating any type of schedule information.



- Sanity Assessment: whether the sanity of one person can be judged by another person whose sanity might be questionable.



- Conference Calling: what's in a name, when asked by my client what conference calling service I used and whether he could get the name, I responded "promise you won't laugh, Budget Conferencing" (the actual name of the company) and he responded, "well I know you are cheap that is why I asked for the name of the company you used."



The list could go on....



The other primary reason why this is a fun client relationship is that we have a mutual respect for each other and that is not something we take for granted. Our client asks for something (typically well within scope but sometimes a little outside), we deliver on time or communicate the reasons why it won't be delivered on time, and they like our work product. Without that, we wouldn't have the never ending list of things we need to discuss at the end of our meetings that have nothing to do with our engagement.