Facilitator, Advisor, Consultant…
I don’t care what you call me so long as you call me!
In a world where everyone claims they can ‘help you grow’…what does a good consultant actually look like?
“Always be the smartest guy in the room” were the words uttered by one of the lead characters in the movie “Now you See Me” back in 2013. It’s a great movie if you haven’t seen it. Now he was referring to the first rule of magic, but in the past a similar thing may have been said about the world of Consultancy. But not anymore.
In a world where information is free and served up on a platter if you use the right prompt, the days of smart-person consulting are over. We’ve been heading this way for a while with the impact of SaaS and Cloud Solutions, but what is the future for the armies of consultants, large and small around the world?
Should all business consultants pack up and join the circus? Not necessarily, but the role of the consultant has changed – and so have the rules!
So what does good ‘consulting’ look like? We explore here the key principles that Coleid believes are critical to developing longstanding and strong client relationships fit for the modern business world.
Tell your clients what they already know. Yes we said to tell them what they already know and to charge them for the privilege! You’ll never walk into a business and instantly know that businesses better than the owner or the management team. Assuming they have the right teams in place, then your role is to help them identify the answer to their challenge. And they will almost certainly have that answer already – they just can’t see it.
Argue with them. Well don’t come to blows or anything like that, but along with helping them to see what they already probably know, you need to be honest and not be hindered by the client/advisor relationship. You’ll have a better relationship with your clients the first time you have a difference of opinion and work it through.
Experience trumps knowledge. Where you do introduce expertise, that now needs to be real, lived experiences and not an extract from a textbook somewhere. Clients want to talk to people who’ve been through what they’re going through, who felt the pain and got the tee-shirt. That brings to life not just what the answer might be but how if might feel. There’s no substitute for experience!!
Consulting in our new world is different and better for it in our view. We’re entering a new era of collaboration in business and that ethos is enshrined in the new rules. Coleid is the Collaboration Company and we live by these rules.
And if you wanted further evidence - The Smartest Guys in the Room is a Documentary Film issued in 2005 which examines the collapse of Enron. Not as much fun to watch as Now You See Me, but you get the point!!