Extract Value from Consultants: How to Hire, Control and Fire Them

by Gordon Perchthold, Jenny Sutton

Overview

Make the Right Choices about the Consultants you Hire and manage them well, and you will potentially create immeasurable business value. Select the wrong consulting firm or neglect to manage them effectively, and business value will elude you.

Extract Value from Consultants will show you how, depending on consulting spend, your organization can realize benefits in the order of thousands to multi-millions of dollars from three sources:

1. Increased strategic and operational benefits from projects-arising from more rigorous selection and management of consultants;

2. Reduced consulting spend-by being better equipped for contract negotiations and configuring more cost-effective project teams; and

3. Improved internal knowledge and capabilities-through more purposeful collaboration between your scarf and the consultants.

Extract greater value for your organization, and personally reap the rewards, when you next utilize consultants on a project.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608320691
Publisher:	Greenleaf Book Group, LLC
Publication date:	05/01/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	260
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Over more than two decades, Gordon Perchthold and Jenny Sutton each worked, initially, for technology companies, and then for global management consulting firms. They progressed from senior consultants, through the manager and senior manager ranks (including, for Gordon, a sabbatical at Accenture), to become partners in Deloitte Consulting, and eventually managing partners of International Client Service at ABeam Consulting in Tokyo (formerly Deloitte's Japan practice).

In 2006, Gordon and Jenny established The RFP Company. Without the inherent constraints of a traditional consulting firm, they are able to apply a unique consulting approach to assist their clients to structure and extract value from complex business initiatives-which occasionally entails the involvement of large consulting firms.

Over their careers, their assignments have take them to Toronto, New York, San Francisco, Sydney, London, Zurich, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and a dozen other cities.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: Time to Even the Odds 1

Part I Understand How Consultants Make Money from You

Chapter 1 Extracting Value Need Not Be Difficult 11

Chapter 2 How Consultants Add Value 17

Chapter 3 Demystifying the Economics of Consulting 27

Chapter 4 The Consulting Pyramid Scheme 35

Part II Sourcing Value from Consultants

Chapter 5 You, Net the Consultants, Need to Define the Problem 51

Chapter 6 See Beyond Brand and Relationship Marketing 59

Chapter 7 The RFP Process: Your Opportunity to Define the Game 69

Chapter 8 Proposals: The Consultant's Attempt to Gain the Advantage 85

Chapter 9 Selecting for Merit and Value 101

Chapter 10 Contracting for Business Outcomes, Not Just Limited Liability 121

Part III Successfully Realizing the Value

Chapter 11 Projects Deliver Value, Not Consulting Engagements 131

Chapter 12 Retain Control of Your Consultants 145

Chapter 13 Know When Enough Is Enough 153

Chapter 14 In the Event of Termination 163

Chapter 15 How to Undermine the Effectiveness of Your Consultants 171

Conclusion: Managing Consultants for Success 181

Appendix 1 Beware: Consulting Is Different in Asia 185

Appendix 2 Structure of a Typical RFP 201

Appendix 3 Key Components of a Consulting Contract 205

Appendix 4 Organization Evaluation 209

Appendix 5 Consultant Evaluation 213

Bibliography 217

Index 219