This Presentation informs the reader about the steps and process involved in the consulting business and the stages involved in client management

1. The Process of Consulting and
Client Management during
various stages of Consulting
Life Cycle
D. VASUDEVAN
CONSULTANT

2. Content
 Management Consultancy – Revisiting the concepts
 Roles and Responsibilities of Management Consultants
 Management Consulting Process
 Consulting Life Cycle
 Typical Deliverables in Consultancy Assignments
 Tips and Guidelines

3. What is actually Management?
 Planning: deciding a future direction for the business and
defining the courses of action
 Organising: regards the overall structure of the business – in
strategic terms: ensuring that the organisation’s structure is
appropriate for its strategy and environmental structure.
 Staffing: making sure that the business has the right people
 Directing: encouraging people to undertake tasks necessary
to deliver the project outcomes
 Controlling: making sure that the right resources are in place
and that they are being used effectively

4. Why do companies need Management
Consultants first of all?
 Enterprises are run by Managers who have various levels of
responsibilities and roles (Leadership, Decisional and Informational)
 The consultant take on one or more of these roles described above
while working with a project.
 Which roles he/she will take on depends on the client’s needs.
 The motivation to call in a consultant arises because managers have
identified a project that they think they will benefit the organisation but
they recognise that they are not in the position to deliver it
themselves.
 The reason for their inability can be found in skill gaps or the lack of
resources and here the consultant offers to fill the gaps

5. Roles of Management Consultant
 Supplementing: The consultant is used as an additional resource
when there are no existing managers available for the task.
 Complementing: When an organisation notices that they lack one or
more of the important manager roles (above) they ask a consultant
to fill that role.
 Differentiating: A consultant might be needed for divided
responsibility and differentiate roles in an organisation: designing
managerial responsibilities and setting up communication systems,
etc.
 Integrating: The consultant are trying to integrate the managerial
roles and make a more flexible structure
 Enhancing: The most general type of role development: to improve
the overall level of the manager’s performance

6. Management Consultant:
Levels of Responsibility
 Economic: to act in a way that is consistent with the long-term
health of the business and maximize value for its investors
 Legal: To follow and comply with the applicable law, rules and
regulations and not to break any criminal or civil laws.
 Moral: To act according to moral rules, ethics and code of
conduct relevant to that industry
 Discretionary: A good consultant should regard both the
written and un-written rules when taking on a project and
maybe refuse to work in certain areas – this values can make
consultant more attractive to other clients

7. Consulting Process
 General Business Management Aspects
 Operational Management Aspects
 Information Technology Management Aspects
 Technical Aspects
 Risk Management Aspects
 Human Resource Aspects
 Organisational Development
 Interim Management
 Outsourced Services Management

8. What do the Management Consultant
provide to their clients?
 Provide Information
 Provide Specialist Expertise
 Provide a New Perspective
 Provide Support for internal debates
 Provide Support for gaining a critical resource
 Facilitate Organisational Change

9. Providing Information
 Enterprises needs information about:
 The business customers: their needs and behaviours
 The business products: design etc.
 Its markets: size, growth etc.
 Outside organisations that can offer support (suppliers etc.): who are
they and how can we contact them
 Competitors: strengths, weaknesses
 If a business lacks this information a consultant can help
them – both to get it and to analyse it.

10. Providing Specialist Expertise
 Business strategy: help with development, evaluation, planning
 Marketing strategy: defining a successful marketing mix
 Marketing research: find the best methods and results
 Promotional campaign: design and make sure that they are cost effective
 Develop a new product: convert customer needs into a new product
offering
 Financial support: identifying bankers, Financial institutions and making a
good case for their support
 Information systems: helping managers to get the information they need
 Planning export and international marketing: providing the business with
a route to grow

11. Providing a New Perspective
Company insiders are sometimes negative and when it has gone too far a consultant
can try to give the managers a new perspective:
 The insider’s consideration are limited to a narrow range of options
 The initial objectives are never revised or challenged
 Newly discovered risks are being ignored
 New information are not used to challenge the initial course of action
 External experts are not used or even considered
 The insiders only use information that backs their initial thesis, so called: “myside
bias” and “Boss is always right”
 The insider spends little time considering how bureaucratic inertia or organisational
resistance might inhibit the implementation of chosen policies
The consultant may simply offer a fresh mind and help groups become more
innovative.

12. Providing Support to Internal debates
 Debates often arise in an organisation. A manager might be tempted to use a
consultant to back his or her position in a debate. The consultant must recognise that
he or she is not employed by a company this time but rather by an individual or
Department within the company that want to make their own case. Here the consultant
must try to be as impartial as possible not to ruin the reputation of consultants and not
to make other groups suspicious.
 Some rules:
 Understand the politics of the consulting exercise
 Learn about both sides in the debate: who is supporting who?
 Who will gain and who will loose from the different options in the discussions?
 Make sure that all information that you use are legitimate
 Be honest with your clients strengths and weaknesses
 Explore win-win situations
 Explain to your client that credibility is important and if lost using independent consultants won’t
be useful in the future.

13. Providing Support to find a critical Resource
 An organisation must attract resources to survive and this is also one of
the manager’s most important functions.
 Resources may include:
 Goodwill of customers, suppliers and partners
 Capital from investors
 Approval and Clearances from government and support agencies
 People with special skills
 Materials, services etc.
 The manager can use the consultant to find these resources. The
consultant generally provides information about:
 Who can supply them?
 How can they be contacted?
 What are the potential risk with working with them?

14. Facilitating Organisational Change
 Change usually meets resistance and managers tend to be
conservative.
 Consultants can help the manager with this so called: “change
management” to make the change into a positive thing.
 To be effective, consultant must be aware of the human dimensions
to the change he or she is advocating and be competent in
addressing the issues it creates.

15. MC: Core Business Process
 Business Planning
 Marketing Research
 Marketing
 Sales
 New Product Development, New Geography, Expansion
 Finance
 Mergers and Acquisitions, Partnerships
 New Business Models (BOT, SPV, etc)

16. Business Planning
 This is working on a firm’s growth strategy
 This can be: market growth or market share
increase, new markets, develop new products, cost-
reduction, re-organise structure
 The client is seldom clear about what he or she
wants and can simply state that he/she wants the
firm to GROW and here the consultant needs to
evaluate the possibly ways of doing this

17. Marketing Research
 To reduce risks managers often want to do marketing
research and often asks a consultant to do this job
 There are two different types of research:
 primary which includes quantitative and qualitative
 secondary research which is looking at earlier research and
already existing reports
 When high level of expertise is needed the consultant might
want to subcontract a marketing researcher to help him

18. Marketing
To exploit the results from your marketing research you need a marketing strategy and
a marketing plan. The strategy will be built on these questions:
 What products to customer want from our sector?
 How are competitors failing to provide this?
 What price are customers expecting or willing to pay?
 What channels are available for getting the product to the customer?
 Who might be the partners in the distribution process and how can we approach them?
 How do we inform customers that the product is available?
 How can we stimulate interest through promotion?
 This step often gives the consultant a chance to get a second project, which is
doing a marketing plan. The core thing in the marketing plan is the PR-campaign
and here you most find the most cost effective methods, the mechanics of doing
the campaign and how it can be monitored.

19. Sales
A consultant can be called in to help the sales team with
different things, for example:
 Organise the team: size, geographic area etc.
 Sales team training: help them focus on customer service
rather than ‘short-term-sales’.
 Sales team motivation: designing a bonus scheme = fixed
salary + performance based. The bonus scheme most be
transparent, fair and fit the organisation’s broader
motivational strategy.
 Planning sales campaigns: who will be involved, what
products will be sold, where to sell it, who to sell to? Etc.

20. New Product Development…
 Consultant can help the firm with technical advice, customer
needs, promotion, finding suppliers, finding financing for the
product etc.
 Consultant can help the firm venture in to new geography (could
be another state or region within the country or a new country or
continent, identification of risks and opportunities thereof, Local
conditions (social, economical, geographical, political, legal, etc.)
 Sometimes the geography may remain the same but the
company may be wanting to move to a Special Economic Zone,
Export Processing Zone, IT Parks and may need the involvement
of Consultants to help them in the decision or in the process.

21. Finance
 Financing is often needed in firms. Here the consultant can
evaluate investment needs, finding investors and how to please
them and make sure that the offer to investor is good and realistic
 Consultants are also hired for raising money from public, venture
capitals, institutional borrowing, existing shareholders and all
other sources of financing

22. MC: Operational Management
 This often involves large complex assignments.
 Consultants help by:
 finding bottle necks
 find ways to improve productivity
 make it more cost-effective
 finding cheaper raw-material
 Improve customer service
 Increase customer retention

23. MC: Information Technology Management
 Management information is not just about having info, it is about using it
effectively! Consultants can help with technical advice and make sure that all
gathered info is awarding and provide useful insights
 Consultants can also help with CRM (customer relationship management), for
example Membership Clubs, Rewards Scheme, to get better information about
the customers and to enhance Customer Satisfaction
 Consultants can also help in establishing Enterprise Resource Planning solutions,
Supply Chain Management Solutions
 Consultant's can help in creating powerful presence in internet for the
companies and manage the Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media
marketing, Content Marketing to optimise the business outcomes

24. Technical Management
 It is important to differentiate your product, and that is often
done by using a different technology or design than your
competitors.
 Consultants can sometimes give advices here – but if they
don’t have the specific knowledge needed they can at least
identify the needs and help the client to find the person or
partner firm needed to help.

25. Risk Management
 A consultant can help a firm assess the likelihood of certain
events happening and put in place contingency plans to deal
with them
 These days, risks on the cyber space far outweigh other risks
and a good consultant can suggest ways and means to
tackle this as well.

26. Human Resource
Management consultant can give advice on placing right
people on the right places:
 Identify skill gaps
 Creating advertisements to attract the right people
 Develop procedures for hiring the right person (interviews,
criteria, tests)
 Give advice on reimbursement packages to the new recruits

27. Organisational Development
 Management Consultants also suggest the best way of
organise a work force.
 This Can be done in different ways:
 Personal coaching
 Improve collective performance
 Advice on structure
 Discuss organisation culture
 Conflict Resolution and Negotiations
 Change Management

28. Interim Management
 Consultants at times also hold temporary appointment of an
external manager to work with a company for a fixed period
of time

29. Outsourcing
 Two main areas: ITO (information technology outsourcing)
and BPO (business process outsourcing).
 The later is growing while the former is decreasing in use.
Most common form of BPO is Call Centre companies.
 Other typical example of Business Process Outsourcing is
Passport Seva by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government
of India; Visa Counsellor services outsourced [to VFS Global]
by several Embassies and Missions.

30. Common Tools used by Management
Consultants
 Cause and Effect Diagrams [ aka Fishbone Diagram ]
 Lean Management
 Six Sigma, Kaizen methods
 SWOT Analysis
 Porters Five Forces
 The Delta Model
 Balanced Scorecard
 Financial Analysis
 S-Curve Analysis
 The Ansoff Matrix
 BCG Matrix

31. Analysis & Critical Thinking
• Understanding of the
problem
• Proposed methodology
• Timescales
• Agreed outputs
• Rates
• Terms & Conditions
Brief
Proposal
Kick off meeting
Consultations
Update Meetings /
Key Milestones
Draft Deliverables
Final Deliverable
Project Closure
START MIDDLE END
Consulting Life Cycle

32. Time Management
Time is the most scarce resource a manager has. Managers who manage their time well
are in control and hopefully more relaxed.
 Some ground rules for time management:
 Be aware of time – deadlines etc. use time management system to remind yourself
 Prioritise tasks – what tasks are ”bottlenecks”?
 Anticipate tasks – do tasks when you can – not when they need to be done.
 Avoid putting of jobs – do even the things you don't care for very much. Don't count on
anyone else to it.
 Break down tasks – into series of subsidiary tasks. Declare the structure of these series.
 Ensure deadline is understood
 Be prepared – Time spend in meetings with clients is important and scarce, be prepared
 Support others with time management

33. Project Management
 Project management is the process of planning, organizing, and
managing tasks and resources to accomplish a defined objective,
usually within constraints on time, resources, or cost
 A project plan can be simple, for example, a list of tasks and their start
and finish dates written on a notepad. Or it can be complex, for
example, thousands of tasks and resources and a project budget of
crores of rupees
 The trio of time, money, and scope is the project triangle. Adjusting
one of these elements affects the other two. While all three elements
are important, typically one will have the most influence on your
project

34. Project Log
It is a day-by-day record and requires commitment for especially manager.
 Ask yourself: What value is this activity adding? And Is the value added worth the
effort?
 Benefits from using Project Log:
 Aids project planning activities – what needs to be done and when?
 Provides a summary of info collected
 Provides a secure locations for notes from communication – written notes are good for 1.
Reinforcement of memory, 2. Hard source to refer to.
 Provides a forum for analysis – active analysis is best structured in written or visual form
 Encourages reflection on experience from project – what have we achieved? What might
have gone better?
 Acts as a permanent record of the project
 Provides long time learning resource

35. Suggested Format for a Project Log
The project log is a working tool for: flow of ideas, comments, notes and
reflections
 Date
 Stage of project
 Status of project
 Summary of activities undertaken since last update
 Objectives of those activities
 Minutes of meetings held
 Details of info gathered
 Notes from communication
 Details of analysis
 Active learning reflections

36. Consulting Report
A report provides a tangible, accessible and permanent communication of
findings. Should include following:
 Executive summary – ”Gateway to report” Shall: 1. Motivate to read on, 2. Give
the whole picture and findings in brief
 Introduction – specifying goals, objectives and outcomes that were agreed upon
at first
 Body of the report – expand ideas and develop your case
 Summary and recommendations – summary of findings and recommendations
in bullet points.
 Appendices – ”Assume they won´t be read!!”, if used in the implementation of
recommendations don't hide it in appendix.
” A simple, well-written, well-laid-out report relating ideas that will have a real
impact on the performance if the business is much better than a report rich
with graphics but lacking substance.”

37. Formal Presentation
 Formal presentation is a very effective means of getting message across.
 Before creating the presentation:
 Analyse the audience
 Structure it well. Don't make it too complicated
 Consider the relationships you need to communicate
 Use pyramid principle of organizing message
 It´s important to rehearse and practise the presentation, use notes, time your
presentation beforehand.
 Dress appropriately, but comfortable, make sure slides are ok, pace your speech
 Keep Presentation handouts ready. But hand them over towards the end not in
advance
 Come prepared for the Questions and answer them with confidence
 Reiterate and reemphasis the key points

38. Making the Case: Persuading with the
power of Information
Information will be more influential if it:
 Is relevant the decisions the recipients need to make
 Is pitched at the right level of understanding
 Is presented in a form which makes it easy to understand and digest
 Is supported by impactful visual stimuli
 is placed in appropriate opinion and feeling context
 Is delivered in a situation of good rapport
 Is part of an interactive process where recipient is encouraged and
supported to explore info
 Has key points signposted and highlighted

39. Answering Questions & Meeting Objections
Really listen to the question and consider the nature of the question being asked. Is it a rational
seeking of further info or emotionally rooted seeking of reassurance.
 Some useful points when answering questions:
 Summarize the question before attempting to answer – will ensure that you understood right and gives
time to think
 If a complex question – break it down to individual questions
 Answer to the best of your ability.
 Conclude with: ” Does that answer your question?”
 How to deal with objections then?
 Start by recognising and welcome the objection
 Consider his feelings, is he seeking reassurance or information
 If clearly emotional or no answer is obvious ->”This is obviously a major concern for you. Why is that?”
Objections or questions are a good opportunity to make positive points!!

40. Handing Over Ownership of the Project
Handing over the ownership of project to the client is crucial. A
consultant who is hired to make recommendations much present them
in such a manner that implementation can be done easily.
 Main reasons why implementation goes wrong are:
 The individuals in the client organisation Who are supposed to carry out
implementation are given other priorities
 The leadership of organisation is faced with different challenges
 The sponsors of project leave org/assigned different roles
 Funds required are diverted elsewhere
 Initial momentum is not sustained
 Good to have a follow-up meeting 3-6 month later. Maybe you may
get additional work

41. Post Project Summary and Review
 A consulting forms most profitable business comes form
loyal group of clients. Therefore it´s important for senior
consultants to regular meet with executives.
 Post-project summary is good to keep the dialogue and
includes:
 The original aims and objectives
 The project charter
 The time plan – predicted and actual
 Key successes
 Key issues
 Lessons Learnt
 The end result

42. Follow up Projects & Key Client Management
 The good thing with follow-up work is that the consultant is ” up-to-
speed” and can act instantly if its needed.
 Many firms uses the sales funnel to keep a regular flow of projects in
work and that Includes:
 Pre-prospects
 Prospects
 Proposals
 Projects
 Follow-ups
The follow-up projects because they come up because of
a ”bad job” in real project are not good. This kind of work
should be kept at a minimum in order to sustain good
relations to clients.

43. Using Consultancy Projects as Case
Studies
 An important marketing tool for a consultant is past experience,
have you done similar work? A case study might be good
experience.
 It should include:
 Description of client
 Objectives of the consulting project
 Work undertaken
 Achievements of the project
 Caution should be exercised in case of Confidentiality
Agreement, Non-Disclosure Clause, Intellectual Property Rights
issues and Trade Secrets acts etc.

44. Tips for Management Consultants
 Make sure you understand the problem the client wants to
solve – play it back to them
 Ensure the scope of work is clear – clear all ambiguities
before you start working
 Don’t get too hung up on the methodology – it can change,
in agreement with the client
 Be clear about timescales – but they can change in
agreement with the client

45. Subject Matter /
Process Expert
Subject Matter
Expert + Affiliated
Field
Trusted Advisor
Valuable Resource
Depth of personal relationship
Breadthofbusinessissues
The Trusted Advisor (Maister, Green & Galford 1990)
Consultancy Value Chain

46. Consultancy Wisdom
 Ask Yourself “What is Going on Here”?
 What the Client thinks as the problem may not be the real
problem!
 Don’t presume that you know the answers to all problems
from the beginning!!!
 Hypothesize based upon your own experience
 Keep a very open Mind from the start –You are dealing with
limited information to begin with
 Your Technical Mastery is important
 But Ultimately you must build a trust-based relationship
Consulting Engagement Lifecycle & Core Consultancy Skills - Firewerks
“ You don’t get the chance to employ
advisory Skills until you get someone
to trust you enough to share their
problems with you…”

47. The Trusted Advisor (Maister, Green & Galford 1990)
Consultancy Mantras
Earn Trust
Build
Relationship
Provide
Effective
Advice
Success

48. Care about their
problem
If you say you are going
to do something... do it!
MANAGE
EXPECTATIONS
Don’t be afraid to
manage the elephant in
the room
You can be creative
with the truth but
NEVER lie
Remember the client
knows more about their
business than you
Know when you are
outside your area of
expertise
Practice the art of
thinking 3 questions
ahead

49. Never ‘tell’ someone
what to do
Express potential
solutions as options
Provide clear rationale
for each option
Remember it is the
client’s decision not
yours
That doesn’t mean you
can’t exercise
professional opinion
Not enough to be right –
you must be helpful!
Be mindful of internal
politics in determining
options
You are there to make
the client’s life easier
not harder
Ensure the client
remains the centre of
attention
The client should feel
like they have come up
with the solution

50. You have 2 ears and 1
mouth, use them in that
order
Listen and
understand... I mean
really listen
Show an interest and
establish (genuine)
rapport
Earn the right to offer
advice
Set clear goals and
outcomes
Manage the
engagement effectively
Let the small stuff go...
Research them and
their background

51. Acknowledgements, Credits
and References,
 Consulting Engagement Lifecycle & Core Consultancy Skills - Firewerks
 The nature of management consulting and how it adds value – Wickham and
Wickham
 International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI): www.icmci.org
 THE INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS OF INDIA: http://www.imcindia.co.in/
 Institute of Management Consultants, USA: http://www.imcusa.org/
 Management Consultancies Association, UK: http://www.mca.org.uk/home
 Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_consulting

52. Thanks for your kind attention…
mail@dvasudevan.com