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More About This Textbook
Overview
Praise for The Business of Consulting, Second Edition
"This book is filled with real-world, practical and proven tactics that, when used, do build successful consulting practices. It is a must-have resource for people who are thinking of becoming a consultant and for anyone who already is one!"
—Dana Gaines Robinson, president, Partners in Change, and coauthor, Performance Consulting and Strategic Business Partner
"If I were just starting in the consulting field today, this is the one book I would choose to advise me, caution me, support me in my business, and 'professionalize' me! Complete and highly readable."
—Marjorie Blanchard, cofounder, Blanchard International
"According to my calculations, I could have easily doubled my income if I had a copy of Elaine's book 30 years ago when I started my consulting business. But I am not depressed because I plan to continue in my consulting business for 30 more years and the book has many new pieces of practical advice that I can immediately use."
—Sivasailam "Thiagi" Thiagarajan, The Thiagi Group
"Consulting is the art and science of creating solutions! Elaine Biech's The Business of Consulting is a valuable handbook to the field, the practice, and the logistics of the world of consulting. The second edition is even better!"
—Elliott Masie, president and CEO, The MASIE Center and Learning CONSORTIUM
"The extraordinary quality of this book is that it is a primer for the person entering into the consulting world while at the same time it is replete with practical wisdom for the most seasoned professional. Consulting is an occupation with much mystery surrounding it. Biech eliminates that mystery by shining the light of her experience onto the practical activities that make consultants succeed. What a gift!"
—Jack Zenger, CEO, Zenger-Folkman, and coauthor, The Extraordinary Leader and Results-Based Leadership
What People Are Saying
From the Publisher
"This book is filled with real-world, practical and proven tactics that, when used, do build successful consulting practices. It is a must-have resource for people who are thinking of becoming a consultant and for anyone who already is one!"
—Dana Gaines Robinson, president, Partners in Change, and coauthor, Performance Consulting and Strategic Business Partner
"If I were just starting in the consulting field today, this is the one book I would choose to advise me, caution me, support me in my business, and 'professionalize' me! Complete and highly readable."
—Marjorie Blanchard, cofounder, Blanchard International
"According to my calculations, I could have easily doubled my income if I had a copy of Elaine's book 30 years ago when I started my consulting business. But I am not depressed because I plan to continue in my consulting business for 30 more years and the book has many new pieces of practical advice that I can immediately use."
—Sivasailam "Thiagi" Thiagarajan, The Thiagi Group
"Consulting is the art and science of creating solutions! Elaine Biech's The Business of Consulting is a valuable handbook to the field, the practice, and the logistics of the world of consulting. The second edition is even better!"
—Elliott Masie, president and CEO, The MASIE Center and Learning CONSORTIUM
"The extraordinary quality of this book is that it is a primer for the person entering into the consulting world while at the same time it is replete with practical wisdom for the most seasoned professional. Consulting is an occupation with much mystery surrounding it. Biech eliminates that mystery by shining the light of her experience onto the practical activities that make consultants succeed. What a gift!"
—Jack Zenger, CEO, Zenger-Folkman, and coauthor, The Extraordinary Leader and Results-Based Leadership
Product Details
Related Subjects
Meet the Author
Elaine Biech is president and managing principal of ebb associates, inc., a strategic implementation, leadership development, and experiential learning consulting firm. She has consulted to a diverse range of industries including health care institutions, insurance, banking, ship building, manufacturing, government, and nonprofit organizations. Biech is the author and editor of dozens of articles and books including Marketing Your Consulting Services, Training for Dummies, and 90 World-Class Trainers.
Read an Excerpt
Chapter 1: What Are You Getting Yourself Into?
Albert Einstein
Have you ever admired consultants who zip into a company, capture everyone's attention, accomplish in days what you've been struggling with for months, and waltz out with a big check?
Ever thought you might like to be a part of that glamorous profession? This book will help you determine whether you have what it takes to be a consultant, as well as whether the consulting profession offers what you desire as an individual.
What is Consulting
Consulting is one of the fastest growing businesses of the decade. In The Global Management Consulting Marketplace: Key Data Forecasts and Trends (1997), Kennedy Information, the leading source on management consulting, predicts that management consulting will grow an average of 16.1 percent globally per year through the year 2000. Whether companies need help downsizing, installing a new computer system, building an executive team, or breaking into the Chinese market, they can call a consultant to assist with the effort. The organization re-questing the assistance is usually called the "client.') The term can refer to the en-tire organization or to the person who actually made the call.
Consulting is the process by which an individual or a firm assists a client to achieve a stated outcome. The assistance can come in the form of information, recommendations, or actual hands-on work. A consultant is a specialist within a professional area who completes the work necessary to achieve the client's desired outcome.
Consulting is not a descriptor that identifies a profession in itself Unlike doctors or accountants, highly skilled consultants come from very different backgrounds. A qualifying adjective is required to identify the form of service or the area of expertise, for example, management consultant, engineering consultant, or performance consultant. Although consulting is not a "profession" by definition, it is often referred to as "the consulting profession." For the sake of convention, I will refer to the "profession" in this book.
The actual work of a consultant can vary quite a bit, depending on the area of expertise offered. Every consultant must be a subject-matter expert in some area-management development, organization development, training, or any profession, such as computers, security, writing, marketing, or a thousand others.
Even after you determine an area of expertise, you will want to select the actual work method. For example, if you decide to focus on the training field, you could develop and deliver your own material or subcontract material development to another person while you deliver it. You could develop material for others or you could deliver others' materials. You could even be certified to deliver others' courses, especially for the large training supplier firms.
Finally, if you are a generalist, such as a management consultant, you will need to determine whether you will focus on a specific industry.
Four Ways To Get Started
Taking risks. Embracing ambiguity. Practicing flexibility. Balancing both process and people issues. Managing multiple responsibilities. Tolerating extensive travel. Communicating effectively. Learning continually. Proving your worth again and again. Does this describe you? If you responded with a resounding "Yes!," consulting may be an ideal career move for you.
If you decide consulting is right for you, what opportunities exist? Think about your ultimate goal. Do you want to be a partner in one of the "Big Six"? Will you eventually own your own firm? Do you think you will always want to consult as an individual? Do you want to teach part-time at a small university and consult on the side? There are at least four ways you could enter the field:
Why Consulting Now?
Consulting is one of the fastest growing professional areas in the economy. Why? Why now?
Turbulent times have increased the number of times that consultants are used to help organizations make their way through the processes of implementing technology, going global, improving processes, and negotiating mergers. The consulting projects have increased in dollar amount and duration. It is not uncommon for large-scale projects to cost more than $50 million over a five-year period. As Charles Stein (1994) of the Boston Globe states, "Once upon a time, consultants were like dinner guests: They came for a brief visit, gave advice and went home. Now they are like guests who come for dinner, move into the spare bedroom, and stay for a year or two.'
Trends
Two trends in the business world have brought tremendous implications for consulting. First is the trend toward outsourcing more and more services. Corporations will continue to hire more temporary professionals to assist when needed, as opposed to adding highly paid, permanent staff. Consultants temporarily provide the "people power" to complete the work at the time it needs to be completed.
The second trend is that rapid changes occurring in the world make it almost impossible for the executive team to remain knowledgeable about their industry, remain focused on their customers, stay ahead of their competition, and know instantly what to do when these factors collide in a negative way. Consultants offer the knowledge, information, data, and systems to solve the puzzle. They fill in the blanks. When the task is complete, they are on their way.
That's the demand side. What about the supply side? The same organizations that are cutting permanent staff to keep payroll down are providing a steady sup-ply of people who need jobs and find that they can do consulting. In fact, many people cut from their jobs today may be placed in the same company as temporary employees.
Why this shuffling of the same bodies? Consultants are often more cost-effective for the organization, which can hire the skill it needs on an as-needed basis rather than train and educate staff for skills that may not be used again. Consultants can usually complete projects faster as....
Table of Contents
List of Exhibits on the CD-ROM xv
Foreword, by Jim Kouzes xix
Preface xxiii
ONE So You Want to Be a Consultant 1
What Is Consulting? 1
Four Ways to Get Started 2
Why Consulting Now? 7
Myths About Consulting 13
Rewards and Realities of Consulting 18
Just What Are You Getting Yourself Into? 20
TWO Talents and Tolerance 25
Skills for Success 26
Personal Characteristics of Successful Consultants 29
Roles You May Play 30
Signs of a Mediocre Consultant 32
Your Personal Situation 33
Caution: Business Owner Ahead 35
Entrepreneurial Characteristics 35
THREE Dollars and Sense 41
How Much Money Do You Require? 41
How Much Should You Charge? 44
Selecting a Pricing Structure 51
Other Pricing Decisions 54
Other Charges 55
Fee Increases 57
Ethics of Pricing 58
Money Discussions 60
Value of a Guarantee 61
FOUR Starting . . . 63
What's in a Name? 64
Choosing an Accountant 66
Business Structure 67
Business Plans 69
Start-Up Costs 86
Your Niche 87
Your Image 88
Experience 93
FIVE . . . And Staying in Business 99
A Marketing Plan 100
Do I Need a Website? 107
Surprising but Practical Thoughts on Marketing 108
113 Tactics for Low-Budget Marketing 114
Contacts with Potential Clients 122
Proposals and Contracts 132
How to Refuse an Assignment 140
Ways to Stay in Business 146
SIX The Cost of Doing Business 147
Plan for the Worst 148
Watch Your Cash Flow 149
Track Expenses 156
Set Aside Petty Cash 163
Charge Your Client 166
Project Revenues 170
Deal with Bad Debts 172
Keep an Eye on Your Numbers 172
Protect Your Capital Investments 176
SEVEN Building a Client Relationship 179
The First Meeting 181
Four Phases of Building a Client-Consultant Partnership 182
How to Improve the Relationship Continuously 194
It's the People 197
How to Maintain the Relationship After the Project Is Finished 197
More Value for the Client 198
How Many Clients Do I Need? 200
Ensure Success 200
EIGHT Growing Pains 203
Adding People 204
Growing Without Adding People 218
Expand Your Geographical Market 227
Do Everything You Can to Grow Your Current Business 229
Final Thoughts 230
NINE The Ethics of the Business 231
Consultant to Client 232
Consultant to Consultant 238
Client to Consultant 242
Code of Ethics 243
TEN Exude Professionalism 245
Measuring Up 246
Continuing to Learn 252
Balancing Your Life and Your Business 255
Managing Your Time 258
Giving Back 265
A Personal Checkup 265
ELEVEN Do You Still Want to Be a Consultant? 267
A Week in a Consultant's Life 268
Visualizing Success 278
Taking Action 282
Getting Ready 282
Reading List 287
Index 289
About the Author 299
How to Use the CD-ROM 301