For this week between Christmas and New Years, we have selected a slightly lighter topic: Our 6th topic in our top 10 series is: The Top 10 things we have learned about Consulting Life.
After more than 10 years working as a consulting firm, we have learned a lot about the realities and challenges
associated with being a consultant. While I wouldn’t change a thing, I have decided to share some of these here with you.
Here are our Top 10 things we have learned about Consulting Life:
1. Stay out of the Job Fair.
If you really want to be a consultant, be committed and make a go of that career, you can’t be one of those people with one foot in the job fair. This is something we discussed in a previous blog posting: http://servicevantage.com/2011/01/so-youre-a-consultant-really-are-you-sure/. It is important that you know where you are in your career, why are you doing consulting work and make sure this is the right step for you.
2. People have Polarizing Opinions about Consultants.
The term consultant is right up there with the term lawyer and real-estate agent – people have polarizing opinions about
people in these professions. In large part, this is because there are some who hold these positions who may have questionable skills, results or reputation. Consultants are no exception; there are so many people who call themselves consultants who are essentially contract employees with varying degrees of success, experience, and skills. When you tell someone that you are a consultant it will be received in one of two ways: you are either seen as a high quality specialist that adds significant value to an organization or as someone who does work with questionable results. As per my first comments about lawyers and real-estate agents, I happen to have a fantastic lawyer and my wife is a superb real-estate agent.
3. Manage Your Weight.
Seriously, most of your business development activities will be done over breakfast, lunches, dinners, beers and other wildly caloric activities. Eat light and get a gym membership.
4. Stick To Your Knitting.
Sometimes it is very tempting to just follow the money from a business opportunity rather than to turn it down because it is not the right consulting gig for you. Yes you can do it, but it’s not your core focus. Or once you get into a gig, doing
things outside of your consultancy scope purely for the purposes of the dollar. You likely won’t do yourself any favors in the long run – after you have spent far too long doing the wrong things for a company instead of building your reference-able client base for the things you do well.
5. Revenue is Lumpy, Get Over It.
If you are looking for consistent pay then go back to being an employee for someone else. It just does not exist for consulting firms. Obviously there are things you can do to flatten out the peaks and valleys but know that revenue will be lumpy and adjust your life accordingly.
6. Cold Calling.
Early on, know that you will be making hundreds of cold calls. Absolutely be comfortable with that. No one is just going to give you their business; you have to reach out to them. Know that you will have to become a sales person rather quickly. Frankly this is where most people fail…they might be smart, talented people but not good sales people. Figure it out and go on your merry way. Once you have an established practice, your reputation and client references will be the major source of new business. Until that point, know that you must be a sales person.
7. Understand your Business Goals.
If you are consulting purely as a lifestyle choice, that is a very different approach and strategy to consulting than when you are trying to develop a consulting business that may have multiple employees, consultants and partners. Start with the end in mind and conduct your business accordingly.
8. Network Like Crazy.
You just never know where a referral is going to come from or who is one or two degrees of separation from a prospect. That being said, in order to get anything out of your network, you must first be the one who contributes to that network. With networking you get out what you put in…so put in a lot.
9. Keep in Touch with Clients.
Stay in touch with and maintain your relationship with current and previous clients. As your practice matures, you will find most of your business opportunities coming from referrals of previous or current clients. Of all the clients we have had in the last 4 years, almost all have been due to referrals. For a “lifestyle” consulting practice, referrals may be all you need to keep going. If you are trying to grow a consulting firm, then you’ll still need to combine this with some significant energy and effort towards lead generation and sales.
10. Know When To Get Out.
There is always a point in time when you hit the peak of your value for a client. The longer you stay with that client the more your value declines. It is always best to leave on a high note when you have had the most impact and they are the
most satisfied. More often than not your value declines and people will start to question why they are paying you for less strategic value. Remember that the strength of the reference is directly correlated to the highest value you have provided – which will dilute the longer you stay beyond this point.
