Consultant Skills Required in the Field

Some Useful tips from the Million Dollar Consultant - Alain Weiss

I’ve filtered the necessary skill points that need to be considered mainly in a project environment and added some practical tips on the following points in RED,

Consultancy Process

• A consultant's thinking should be at a degree of freedom more than that of the client's. Question the client's assumptions.

Practicality: Question when the clients states they don’t want change a previous process simply because it has been in existence for a long time. Remember this is just to question, why, perhaps there could be a reason why it is being done that way and if it fits with the overall objectives of the company and is producing maximum efficiency, then LET IT BE!!

• A consultant's insight is demonstrated as much by good questions as by good answers.

Practicality: Know the impact of your final recommendation on all other related aspects of the business before saying it aloud.

• Organisations are perfectly designed for the results they achieve. So start by assuming that nothing is happening by accident!

Delivery process

• Put effort into managing your clients' expectations - it will build good relationships.

Practicality: This is simple put yourself in the client’s shoes, and figures out what you would expect from the consultant with regard to that particular issue, and then skip back into your shoes (figure of speech!!) and do something beyond that expectation!!

• Remember that you are not a supplicant! Sometimes you have to say "no" to the client.

Practicality: A tough thing to do, but someone’s got to do it, only if in the best interest of the project.

• Manage the context. It is easy to concentrate on the content of a project, and totally overlook the environment in which it is taking place.

Practicality: Best way to avoid this is to keep other relevant parties informed as well when an important decision is made.

• Build client confidence in the early stages of a project by looking for quick successes and making sure the client is well informed about progress

Practicality: Putting yourself in the clients’ shoes should again do the trick here as well.

Interpersonal & Communications Skills

• When you aren't talking, you aren't screwing up! Consultants sell by how they listen as well as what they say.

Practicality: In any meeting give the customer the first 10 minutes of it, and if possible get others from the clilents side involved in the initial discussion too, this gives you time to assess the situations your clients are in and identify the key players in the meeting, then you can begin to discuss your points with these key players.

• The description of your services has to be so clear that a client can describe it to one of his or her colleagues

Practicality: After your initial discussion with the client on what your services or recommendation is about, make sure to draft a document with most of the exact same words you used during the discussion. However, I would recommend that you inform your clients to let you know if someone else is interested in your service so you could approach them directly, after all, it’s always better for anyone to hear it from the horse’s mouth!!!

• Speak the simple truth. Being truthful is simple, but keeping the message simple requires time and effort.

Practicality: Avoid Jargons, speak the customers language!!!

Skills for the world of consultancy

• In consultancy, the person is the product. Make sure your "product packaging" is good - you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Practicality: You are your own BRAND Ambassador, don’t let it go!!!

• In consultancy you sell and deliver promises. Winning and maintaining the trust of clients is therefore vital.

Practicality: You have probably heard this many times before but nevertheless here goes “Don’t make Promises you can’t keep, and if you can’t keep your promises….don’t make excuses!!!

• Murphy's Law of time for consultants: things always take longer - whether consultant tasks or client decisions!

Practicality: Well what can I say, that’s Murphy’s Law, but if we as consultants can add our own law to it, it would go as something like below :

"Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment, but….if it can be avoided it should have been atleast identified in advance “