Keys to Successful Consulting
Individual
consultants
range along a
continuum in
talent and training
from none to a
distinguished
amount.
by Phil Phillips, PhD
Contributing Editor
phillips@chemarkconsulting.net
“We hate them but we love them”! This is often said of consultants in general yet over $100 billion dollars were spent globally on consultants in 2012.
Individual consultants range along a continuum in talent and training from none to a
distinguished amount. From a person who feels
they have a unique specialty or connection and
has the impression he/she has a consultative
value in a market place, to an individual who
occupies the other extreme as a highly educated
well-trained individual in consultative methodology and behavior background.
The consultative road to success is littered
with the former individuals who may very well
have talent and a unique set of experiences, but
fail because consulting looks easy and the basics of marketing one’s self, goes missing.
How many persons do you know who, because
they lost their job through downsizing or took early retirement, decide to become a consultant?
As consultants, one of the elements we always
measure for our own clients when considering adjacent or new markets for them to enter is . . . “how
high are the barriers to market entrance?” The consulting industry has no barriers to entrance. There
are no pre-qualifying degrees, licenses or apprenticeships one has to consider and become “
qualified” when entering the consulting arena.
Therefore, anyone can become a consultant. One simply has to declare . . . I am a
CONSULTANT.
The keys to successful consulting are:
Timing of entrance; type and relative unique-
ness of offerings; strength of potential client
contacts; financial sustainability; personal com-
munication skills; and marketing prowess.
Timing: The best time to enter consulting is
obviously in the best economic environments.
The fundamental reasons are three:
• Fewer unemployed, would-be consultants
exist with which to complete
• The backdrop of a solid economy alone
can “carry” new entrants a long way
• As a new consultant, one can make mis-
takes and still achieve positive market
penetration.
Type and relative uniqueness of offerings:
There are four typical offerings in consulting:
•General management – Usually ex-top
management feels comfortable consult-
ing with other top management as clients.
The percentage of successful new entrants
in this category has been studied and the
range is between 20% and 35% sustain-
able associated success rates.
24 | Coatings World
www.coatingsworld.com
May 2013
