Mark Consulting Group

Remember your role…

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:19:47 +0000

It is important as a consultant that you 1) remember your role and 2) remember who is paying you. Occasionally, it is tempting to take sole credit for ideas and recommendations that your client likes. Even if it was your own idea, it is always a good idea to give credit to the team with which you work. In many instances you will be hired by a company and assigned to work with one particular person or group. In my experience however, executives normally like to understanding what they are getting for their money. It is not uncommon to be brought in to debrief the CEO, CIO, or other executives on the project and your recommendations. As tempting as it may be to take sole credit, it is always a good idea to give a nod to the team or person with whom you are working. Something as simple as the following is an example. “I have to give the team credit. I explained the regulation and how it is applied, and they came up with the solution. It was impressive watching the wheels turn. My role was limited to planting the seed.” You want to leave the company with a good impression of your services and you want to leave the employees with a good feeling. Allowing them to get some kudos from their bosses make everyone happier and ultimately may result in your getting more business.

Live and Die by Writing

admin — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:50:55 +0000

As a consultant you are hired to communicate effectively. This include being able to speak clearly, and concisely as well as being able to write clearly, and concisely. If you don’t like writing, you may want to change professions. Between 2007-2008 I produced over 600 pages of written material for clients.

There is nothing more embarrassing than having a client correct a deliverable because it had misspellings, incorrect grammar, or syntax. Unfortunately, writing is as much of an art as it is a science. Honing your writing skills will take time and a patient person to critique your work. Practice, practice, practice. A good form of practice is writing articles, position papers, and whitepapers and, of course, blogs. Three resources all writers should have at their disposal include:

While spell check and grammar check are great tools to help remember that they often make mistakes. Nothing quite as embarrassing as leaving the ‘L’ out of Public and it being missed by spell check as pubic is recognized as a word in the dictionary.

Consulting Tip: Speaking to Clients

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:45:30 +0000

Few things make my cringe more than a consultant that doesn’t know how to talk to a client. As a consultant, you are a paid professional engaged to provide information, expertise, and advice on a particular topic. I have yet to be hired to tell a client what to do but I have been hired a number of times to provide guidance and advice. Nothing demonstrates a lack of understanding of the consultant’s role than when he or she states to the client: “what you should do”; “what I would do”; “You must do”; “here is the answer”. I will never forget one very tense situation when I was a young consultant many years ago. I was working with a major company that had just had a data breach and I was on the phone with a card brand, the client, and the Secret Service. I stated with full confidence: “You should do X..” Without missing a beat, the client, who was not in a good mood to begin with retorts: “What I SHOULD DO…HUH? And who the hell are you to tell me what I SHOULD DO in this situation?” If you follow my advice below you will not have the same situation happen to you.

As a consultant you are hired to do research, bring your own expertise and provide guidance while considering the following: 1) you don’t know all of the variables or business constraints 2) it is not your money or your business so you cannot understand all of the risks 3) there is never a single path to success. With these in mind, a solid consultant will always qualify their statements in such a way as to provide the client with information that it is their decision. Here are some variations on phrases I have used to convey ideas and recommendations

1) “Based upon prevailing research and my experiences, I believe a appropriate solution could be found in…”

2) “Here are X options I have identified. Let me explain the advantages and disadvantages of each so that you may make a more informed decision…”

3) “My experience suggests that X would be a more efficient way forward”

4) “While I personally believe that X may be a more effective method forward, understanding your constraints, I believe we can achieve your objectives with Y”

5) “After considering all of the aspects available to me I recommend that X be pursued as the way forward”

In each of these examples you are leaving the decision making up to the client and are simply providing your own expert advice based upon research, experience, and your knowledge of the business and constraints. Often a client will take a recommendation and sometimes they will move in a different direction. The important aspect is to understand your role as a consultant and NOT as a decision maker. The client makes the decision with (hopefully) your input (since they paid for it).

Demonstration of Expertise

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:33:09 +0000

I work with a number of clients that will often ask the value of publishing an article, public speaking, or writing a whitepaper. In my mind the most important outcome of any of the aforementioned efforts is what I call “demonstration of expertise”. What exactly is “demonstration of expertise”? It is exactly what it sound like. By writing or speaking on a particular topic you are (hopefully) demonstrating to your potential clients that you have a degree of expertise. The mere fact that you are willing to extend yourself and your reputation for critique demonstrates that you have confidence in what you are about to say. If you can then complement that by providing unique, insightful info it further demonstrates your degree of expertise. Granted these are not the only ways to demonstrate expertise but it helps quite a bit.

What is the value of “demonstrated expertise? Let me answer with a question

If I were to offer that for the low, low price of $1,000 you could sit down and discuss investment strategies with me or with Donald Trump who would you choose? I feel confident that every person reading this would instantly think ‘The Donald’. Irrespective of what you may or may not think of his personality, he has demonstrated to most that he understands investing. How do you know I am not an investing guru? I have an MBA. I am pretty smart. I have invested alot. It is possible that I could know more about investing than Trump. The key here is that Trump has demonstrated his expertise again, and again. The smart money would go with The Donald as opposed to me.

When you demonstrate your expertise to your customers or clients you provide some level of confidence that they are going to get value for their money. By extending yourself and demonstrating your knowledge you help your own business.

One of the tactics I frequently use is to offer ‘free consulting’ with no strings attached. When I would get a call from a potential client I will offer an hour of free consulting. If, after the hour, they decide they want to go with my competitor, no hard feelings. Two things happen here. One, the client gets free consulting, which they love. More importantly, I get a chance to confidently demonstrate my skills to a potential client. I get an hour of their uninterrupted time to show my own skills. Using this technique (and backed up with actual experience and expertise) I have closed about 90% of all deals that took me up on the offer.

Welcome to the Mark Consulting Group Blog!

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:54:03 +0000

Thanks for visiting my blog. This particular blog will focus on business concepts, and themes that are important to consultants, would-be consultants, and businesses hiring consultants.

Chris Mark