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tags: consulting, Tawa
---

# The essentials of consulting

**Change management:** reorganisation of companies

The ultimate goal of consulting is to increase an organisation's level of effectiveness.

## What is a consultant

Someone who
- advises a client on the desirability of taking some action
- assists the client in
- making the decision and then
- implemeting the action

In the past, only advisors. Role limited to specific areas.
Today, most have also developed a general business knowledge.

1. works for other people called *client*
2. **helps** these clients achieve **goals that the client identifies**
3. provides a **specialized skill or expertise** that the client is unable to provide
4. **influence decision** making but with **little power**

Hired because of
- lack of knowledge and skills
- flexible labor pool
- fresh perspective

Acts as a sounding board (*caisse de résonnance*): makes the client work and think by facilitating with the process.

++Key to effective professional management advice++:
Good relation between client and consultant
- Common purpose
- Partnership
- Trust
- Value

The consultant aims to **generate a conversation**.

:::warning
Listening is the most important success factor. A good consultant is first an **active listener**: he listens and asks questions to get to the bottom of things.
:::

### Consultant skills set
- Diagnostic skills
- Analytical skills
- Communication skills
- Intangibles
- Perform under pressure
- self-confidence
- creativity

## Marketing review

### Porter's Five Forces

// TODO remplir
- Barriers
- Buyer Power
- Supplier Power
- Substitutes
- Competition

To sell a product in a company

### SWOT Analysis

Strength / Weaknesses (*internal*)
Opportunities / Threats (*external*)

For everything

### PEST Analysis

- Political
- Economical
- Social
- Technological

Never used

### 4 Ps

- Product (what is it)
- Price (how much will it cost)
- Promotion (how will you promote it)
- Place (where will you sell it)

### 3 Cs

- Customer
- Competition
- Company

(it's a bit like the 4 Ps but it's less used)

Beer and diapers: https://tdwi.org/articles/2016/11/15/beer-and-diapers-impossible-correlation.aspx

:::info
**Marketing**: The right product in th right place at the right time at the right price
:::

### BCG Matrix

Market share = how much do we sell?
Growth rate = how much do people want it?

Star: your product is the #1 product of the market
Question mark: some of the product will become stars, some won't
Cash cow: a product that will always work, and there is nothing to change
Dog: something we need to liquidate

## Consultant techniques

### Logical approach to the case
1. Listen and Clarify
- Get the facts straight
2. Hypothesize
- Develop plausible answers
3. Frame
- Develop framewirk to test hypotheses
4. Synthesize
- Tell the story

### STAR Technique
For answering questions or talking about a past eperience.
- Describe the Situation or Task you had to do
- Explain what Action you took
- Specify the Results you got.

### Steps to solve a problem by dividing it
Analyse the problem
Split it into smaller bits / Frame the problem
Study
Synthesise

### 7 keys to successful consulting
1. Know your customer
2. Have a marketing plan
3. Differienciate yourself
4. Work at solving the problem (*duh*), not selling something
5. Use education to your advantage
6. Embrace rejection
7. Be honest with yourself; never back away from doing what's right

### McKinsey methodology
1. **Definition**
- You're trying to get the case
- No money involved
- Put in a proposal what your client is asking

1st contact:
- Phone call
- Human Resources
- internal resources
- "accidental" meeting (coffea...)
- Request for Proposal

Initial phase:
- What does the client need?
- What does the client need from you?
- Is the project already started?

1st meetings:
- Defining problems
- Getting to learn each other (companies...)
- Defining hiring issues (fees...)
- > getting hired or not

OBQ techniques (See below)

2. **Structure**
- Analysis of the problem
- Structure of the work that has to be done
3. **Data Gathering**
- Make sure that what you want to tell is correct
- Trying to confirm or deny the approach
4. **Synthesis**
- Put all the gathered data in a presentation to the client
6. **Buy-in**
- Make your solution be accepted

Source: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxha21yZXZpZXd8Z3g6M2E0OTkzZWQyNjg4NTc1Yw

### Issue Diagram

Can be used for the structure stage of the McKinsey methodology (when you have no idea what to do).
A tree with the following levels:
1. Root = main issue
2. Sub Issues
3. Hypotheses
4. Key Questions

### The OBQ(A) Technique
* Objective
* The Client's objective
* Barrier
* The obstacle to the objective
* Question
* The Consultant's objective
* Answer