The Best Lessons

                                 Consulting 101

Last week, I was briefing a group of executives when the #2 firm executive blurted out his frustration with one of his managers and drew a comparison to yours truly. He punctuated his comment with the observation that I had flown out to the client's remote location Sunday night while the manager waited until Monday morning. I had knocked out 4 meetings that morning before the manager had even hit town.

That observation of his struck me as to how well trained I was as a consultant and that I never fully documented or thanked the folks at Accenture for a job well done.

Specifically, these are operating principles that have served me well:

• Always travel on your own time, not client time. I find that less and less attractive as I get older but as last week bore out, it makes a difference.
• Always dress one notch better than client's do. Dressing the same or worse than clients is sure to draw unneeded attention to you.
• Concise, frank, honest communication will win more client loyalty and referrals over time than evasion, obfuscation or avoidance will ever net. This seems obvious but I still see many consultants fail to inform or inform adequately. Clients get really p.o.'d when they do discover the truth long after a consultant should have covered it with them.
• Never accept work that is unnecessary or work you are not qualified to complete. Smart consultants stick to their core competencies. Sure, no one likes to see a competitor get a foothold into one's client. However, if you underwhelm or disappoint a client while performing work you're not qualified to complete, you'll lose the client totally. Smart consultants pre-emptively recommend other firms when appropriate. Smarter consultants recommend their partner/ally firms so that everyone wins.
• Always keep the big picture in mind. Just because the arrangement letter says one thing, doesn't mean you should blindly follow it. Businesses exist in dynamic times and every business relationship should be flexible. Be proactive and continue to propose new ideas, new approaches, and most importantly, new alternatives throughout the life of an engagement.
• Always be a diplomat. I try hard to understand everyone's viewpoint but, in the end, when the CEO or client sponsor wants to know my findings, I have to give them. I state the facts. I give clients facts and unless specifically asked for my opinion, I stick with positions firmly supported by cold hard facts. There are, though, good, bad and better ways of breaking news. Great consultants think about the delivery as well as the content.
• People are always in the heart of every project and great consultants learn to make the most of them. I know I've run into clients who were: 1) illiterate, 2) passive-resistive, 3) mean-spirited/vicious, 4) over-sexed, 5) victims of Peter Principle actions, 6) etc.  Through it all, I had to devise methods of working with them. In some cases, I had no choice but to work around them.
• Solid ethics are not situational. Just because some businessmen get 'massages' during lunch in some countries, that doesn't make it an appropriate behaviour for you to embark upon. If a colleague wants you to smuggle Cuban cigars, visit a topless bar, etc., be a smart executive and say NO. That old adage about how your actions would play on the front of the New York Times is always a great test for questionable behaviour.   Don't make bad choices and you'll never have to explain questionable expenses or why your client doesn't trust you anymore.
• Always seek second party review. No one can come up with 100% of a great idea by themselves. Always socialize new ideas with colleagues. I've found I can 85% of the big idea but those other pearls I get from others take a B-level idea and convert it into an A.
• Lastly, always travel in business attire. I've had bags lost for days. One suitcase spent some quality time in Berlin while another enjoyed the environs of Newark while my client and I were in Brussells. One time I didn't follow this advice. I boarded an aircraft in my lawn-mowing clothes. My flight developed mechanical problems (we lost an engine in-flight) and I got separated from my bags. I was re-routed on another flight the next day. So, who was seated next to me on the re-booked flight? A CEO from a Fortune 500 firm. My unshaven lawn and garden look may have been fine for a weekend lawn care worker but I sure stuck out on that flight.

Comments

[Charles H. Green]

It's good to see these laid out. They are precisely the guides to consulting professionalism I grew up with (circa 1976-95), and it's refreshing to see how well they hold up.

If I may add a few of my own:

1. I have always found that, paradoxically, quickly confessing what I don't know is a lot faster route to being trusted than continuing to try to prove how much I do know;

2. My ability to "sell" a client on something not right for them is vastly overrated; and on those rare cases when I do end up selling something I am not right for, I regret it vastly more than the client does;

3. Don't bill for travel time outside business hours or on weekends;

4. Conflict between clients is an opporutnity to add value well beyond the contract--it offers a chance to truly help the client organization reconcile some basic issues;

5. The problem is NEVER what the client said it was in the first meeting (thanks to Maister for that one);

6. Just about nearly pretty much all the time, tell the truth; never ever ever tell a lie;

7. The client is, first, your ongoing reputation; second, the hiring organization; third, the relationship; fourth, the person who hired you.

8. Pursuing relationships nurtures transactions, but pursuing transactions kills relationships;

9. Construtive confrontation is always preferable to peaceful disengagement--unresolved conflicts never get better on their own, only worse.

Thanks for the reminder about always dress one tiny notch better. We used to have one about always flying coach, with the boogeyman story about watching the client walk past you in first on his way back to coach). Running my own firm now I no longer do that, but it's arguable even now.

[Luca9200]

Great post - thanks for sharing it.

I would add one more rule: carefully avoid typos in everything you write. They make you look sloppy at best, illiterate at worst. I guess " 's " plurals and misspelled foreign capitals are some of the most common ones...

[MB]

You make some great points, though I am torn between agreeing or debating with you on the last one.

Yes, it is good to be sharply dressed when traveling. …and on international flights, it has an unintended benefit: you look the part when you are in front of an immigration officer. But then, if you are traveling from Boston to Bangalore, do you want a suit and tie when you also want to catch up with some sleep to thwart off the jet lag…and meeting with the team at the other end?

[Sheamus]

Greetings from Canada!

Discovered your blog this morning via accmanpro.com and glad I did!

Lovely focus for your blog and intersting post!

I'm going to read Services Safari in detail over the next week.

Best wishes for an awesome week ahead!