Although the Analyst would have asked about your and your key people's concerns during the Opening Conference, that is only the beginning.
Often the firm will provide a long list of questions intended to help uncover underlying issues for you both personally and professionally. Since it is often difficult if not impossible to separate the individual from the company a good Analyst will explore both facets.
Next, a facility tour will help orient the Analyst. This is the first active step used to become acquainted with the company's resources including its physical environment and people. Key people introduced during the tour will have the opportunity for personal and confidential interviews with the Analyst.
The interviews are crucial. From them a composite view of the company's interactions, activities and issues will be brought to light and compared. People see the same thing differently from one another and the truth is found somewhere in between the different points of view.
Your Analyst's next step is investigative. Whether plowing through financial and operations reports, tracking processes and people interactions or customer contact through sales and marketing and service, a comprehensive view is developed and analyzed.
Periodically, as information is gathered, you will be asked to validate findings, perform some specific tasks to expedite the process--including developing your wish list or company plan. Findings and planning meetings will be held to make sure useful information is developed and a mechanism for realizing objectives is decided. Expect that the company plan you develop, either alone or with the assistance of someone you trust, is reviewed the first day and that findings will be presented the second day of the survey.
Do not be surprised to find that you cannot solve all of the problems on your own. It would be a rare occurrence. Certainly you will be aware of the majority of the findings and might even know how to handle them. Your problem is, you have not finished with them. All too often business owners and leaders find that they simply do not have the time or resources to put even simple issues to bed because they are wearing too many hats and jump from one fire to the next.
Once a business runs its owner instead of the other way around it can be very difficult to find a patch of daylight. This is where a good consultant can step in and help. Just as you might hire a sub-contractor to perform some specific task (paint the walls, fix the plumbing) a consultant has the experience and know-how to step in and fix business issues. And the best part is that they will come in to fix the issue and then move on since they are not permanent employees!
You must be sure that you have clearly identified the issue(s) and agreed upon the time to have them fixed properly. These decisions can be aided by the Analyst and should be clearly spelled out in the written agreement used for any consulting services.
More about this in my next post.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Survey's Opening Conference
Promptly at the appointed hour your Survey begins with a meeting which will start to build relationship as well as to make sure everyone has a clear view of the process, procedures and desired end result of the Survey.
Some additional history of the consulting firm will be presented and your questions will be answered. References are seldom offered and even involve a bit of a procedure to obtain because of confidentiality agreements.
Clients' and their information are confidential. Just as you would not want your information, even contact information, disclosed without your knowledge or to a multitude of the merely curious, other clients feel the same way. Also like you, many of the clients work in their business and the consulting firm will respect their time. What can be done is to have the firm's home office schedule a time for a call between you and a reference.
Getting back to the Opening Conference, the Analyst will describe some of the techniques used to review and interpret your operations, finances and other information. Do not hesitate to provide what the Analyst requests even when you do not seek help for a particular area. Your business is more than the sum of its parts and each part has influence, especially unintended influence, over the others. Often, an outside look will bring an overlooked or obscure connection into focus which, in turn, presents you with wholly new opportunities for improvement.
Next, the Analyst will go over the written agreement describing both the work the Survey covers and the written agreement that details the consulting arrangement, should you proceed to that step. It is important that you listen and read the documents carefully. Although they are generally prepared in plain language they are still legal documents. Since many of these firms have been in business for decades, their documents have been refined over time and every word has meaning.
At various times during the course of the Survey (and the same will be true with consulting), the Analyst will be in contact with the firm's home office. Some of the calls will require your presence and you should plan to attend and, when asked, participate.
Don't be surprised when the Analyst tells you that you will have some work to do. Whether you are asked to do something in the office or at home the assignments will not only involve you in the process but will often be very revealing.
Having dispensed with the formalities up to this point, the analyst will begin to learn about your company. The next post will describe that step.
Some additional history of the consulting firm will be presented and your questions will be answered. References are seldom offered and even involve a bit of a procedure to obtain because of confidentiality agreements.
Clients' and their information are confidential. Just as you would not want your information, even contact information, disclosed without your knowledge or to a multitude of the merely curious, other clients feel the same way. Also like you, many of the clients work in their business and the consulting firm will respect their time. What can be done is to have the firm's home office schedule a time for a call between you and a reference.
Getting back to the Opening Conference, the Analyst will describe some of the techniques used to review and interpret your operations, finances and other information. Do not hesitate to provide what the Analyst requests even when you do not seek help for a particular area. Your business is more than the sum of its parts and each part has influence, especially unintended influence, over the others. Often, an outside look will bring an overlooked or obscure connection into focus which, in turn, presents you with wholly new opportunities for improvement.
Next, the Analyst will go over the written agreement describing both the work the Survey covers and the written agreement that details the consulting arrangement, should you proceed to that step. It is important that you listen and read the documents carefully. Although they are generally prepared in plain language they are still legal documents. Since many of these firms have been in business for decades, their documents have been refined over time and every word has meaning.
At various times during the course of the Survey (and the same will be true with consulting), the Analyst will be in contact with the firm's home office. Some of the calls will require your presence and you should plan to attend and, when asked, participate.
Don't be surprised when the Analyst tells you that you will have some work to do. Whether you are asked to do something in the office or at home the assignments will not only involve you in the process but will often be very revealing.
Having dispensed with the formalities up to this point, the analyst will begin to learn about your company. The next post will describe that step.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Business Survey or Analysis Steps
In many ways the survey is the heart of the sales activities for the consulting firm. Keep in mind that, for many firms, money is made from paid consulting hours and that everything done before that likely loses money. As a result, pressure is on the analyst to convince you that you would benefit from the firm's consultants. (The less you pay for the survey, by the way, the greater the intensity of the sales effort.)
Convincing people is part factual, part interpersonal rapport and, in large part, emotional. Buying decisions are often emotionally based and later rationalized through facts. Don't let this trouble you. It is natural. Remember that only you can make the decision to proceed passed the survey and only if you believe you will benefit from consultants installing solutions.
The survey area will take up multiple postings. It is that important. So, let us start.
Your analyst(s) will arrive on the date and at the time specified to hold an initial conference with the decision factors (you and the people you rely upon when it comes to making serious decisions). During this meeting, in addition to introductions, you will typically learn and or share:
1. Some additional history about the consulting firm.
2. How they conduct business and, often, the invoice for the survey.
3. Details about the consulting agreement, should you decide to go forward.
4. Key concerns you and your key people have about: sales, operations, administration and profitability followed by one of a series of calls to the home office to keep them on-board with this project.
5. A tour of the facility with introduction to key people.
6. Creation of a letter informing your people about what is happening.
7. Setting up meetings with people at all levels of the organization and in each department.
8. Review of key financial and operational information (yes, P & L statements, balance sheets and the like).
9. Follow-up/progress meetings to keep you informed.
10. Homework assignments which could be fulfilled in the office, at home, or both. Homework will be reviewed with you.
11. A findings meeting to summarize the results in all areas with emphasis on the hot spots, and to reaffirm your recognition of the problems and the urgency called for devising and installing remedies.
12. Offer of a consulting project to resolve the hot spot issues.
13. Introduce you to the home office executive responsible for the survey and for passing a project on to the consulting group.
The more information you are willing to provide, the better the analysis. Cooperation is critical and, if you are serious about gathering ideas for improvement, results will be directly proportional to the quality and quantity of input you provide to the analyst.
Beginning with the next post we will delve into the individual points identified in this post for the survey.
Convincing people is part factual, part interpersonal rapport and, in large part, emotional. Buying decisions are often emotionally based and later rationalized through facts. Don't let this trouble you. It is natural. Remember that only you can make the decision to proceed passed the survey and only if you believe you will benefit from consultants installing solutions.
The survey area will take up multiple postings. It is that important. So, let us start.
Your analyst(s) will arrive on the date and at the time specified to hold an initial conference with the decision factors (you and the people you rely upon when it comes to making serious decisions). During this meeting, in addition to introductions, you will typically learn and or share:
1. Some additional history about the consulting firm.
2. How they conduct business and, often, the invoice for the survey.
3. Details about the consulting agreement, should you decide to go forward.
4. Key concerns you and your key people have about: sales, operations, administration and profitability followed by one of a series of calls to the home office to keep them on-board with this project.
5. A tour of the facility with introduction to key people.
6. Creation of a letter informing your people about what is happening.
7. Setting up meetings with people at all levels of the organization and in each department.
8. Review of key financial and operational information (yes, P & L statements, balance sheets and the like).
9. Follow-up/progress meetings to keep you informed.
10. Homework assignments which could be fulfilled in the office, at home, or both. Homework will be reviewed with you.
11. A findings meeting to summarize the results in all areas with emphasis on the hot spots, and to reaffirm your recognition of the problems and the urgency called for devising and installing remedies.
12. Offer of a consulting project to resolve the hot spot issues.
13. Introduce you to the home office executive responsible for the survey and for passing a project on to the consulting group.
The more information you are willing to provide, the better the analysis. Cooperation is critical and, if you are serious about gathering ideas for improvement, results will be directly proportional to the quality and quantity of input you provide to the analyst.
Beginning with the next post we will delve into the individual points identified in this post for the survey.
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Sales Person
Your first physical contact with someone from the consulting company is typically the field sales representative. You will find that many of these reps are positive, energized and informed about business in your area.
You will also find that they will not answer any of your business solution questions. It is neither their training nor their specialty. Instead, they will ask you a few questions about your current concerns--whether they be operational, employee, sales, administration or management. They will tell you that the way to handle any of these problems is through some form of a business survey that will look at your entire business (top to bottom, front to back, etc.) and provide you with a report on their findings, both the good and the bad.
This is all true from their perspective. They cannot do a survey themselves and rely upon the professionalism of the surveying individual to provide you with the expected results. Do understand that many of the companies provide only a verbal report. Getting a written report from many of them is difficult to impossible at this point and there are reasons for it. Here are a few:
1. The report could be seen as the solution to existing problems. It is not. It highlights the findings and crystallizes the problems without presenting either solutions or, more necessary, the tools and techniques for developing and implenting solutions.
2. Information provided from your company, its employees and affiliates might not be accurate or complete. The survey takes place in a short period of time (typically two days but can vary from a single day to a week depending on the consulting firm and the nature of your business) and not everyone is willing or able to comply with the intense information demands.
3. Should management consultants come to the company they may find that the survey had not delved deeply enough into the company (for the reasons given in 2 above). It might be that the items identified are symptoms rather than root causes or, in some cases, that even more pressing conditions exist that require attention quite apart from the points in the survey report.
At the end of the brief sales presentation you will be asked for authorization to advance to a survey. I encourage you to have the survey because the fees are nominal (ranging from free to $100 to several thousand) and the insights could be invaluable. One of the truisms is you get what you pay for so, even though the survey is a kind of loss leader for the consulting firm, sales pressure from the survey professional increases significantly as the survey fee decreases.
It is imperative that you let your employees know in advance that a survey is going to be conducted so that there is minimal disruption or stress. People will wonder just what is happening and, if allowed to use their imagination, will often imagine direly. They might think the company is in serious trouble, that massive layoffs are coming, that the business is for sale. It is far better to prevent these negative imaginings. You do that with full disclosure in advance.
Once you have agreed to have a survey conducted you will be asked to sign a simple form with a scheduled date for conducting the survey and, most often, a confirming phone call which introduces you to an executive in the home office. This executive is responsible for making sure that you are fully informed about the details of the survey including objectives, dates and fees. They will also want to know whether there has been any unwritten agreements.
The only agreements that will be honored with these companies are those in writing. You will find that they will verify this point at various steps throughout the time of your involvement with the firm in order to make sure that both you and they know what is expected in order to make sure that neither you nor they are surprised (read that disappointed, frustrated, angry) because some expectation was not met.
Remember that you are responsible for your company and should insist that whatever you believe will be provided is agreed to by the consulting firm. If you cannot confirm your expectations in writing and decide to go forward anyway, then you have only yourself to blame should you be disappointed.
One more thing. In many instances and throughout the entire process the consulting firms will present you with prepared forms. Some of them have some blanks to be filled in. In all of the companies it is common that alteration of any of the terms and conditions in the prepared documents, especially agreements requiring signatures of both parties, will invalidate the document. Should you want to change some of the terms by elimination, modification or insertion and meet this obstacle, do not be surprised to find out that the consulting firm's representative cannot satisfy your request without authorization from the home office--and that authorization is seldom granted.
The firm's documentation is, generally speaking, even handedly fair and has been developed over considerable time. Changes are not taken lightly, if at all. If you have an approved modification to an agreement from the field person, then you should point it out to the home office during your phone call with them. Keep in mind that many of the phone calls are recorded for quality and training purposes--and to avoid faulty memories.
Until next time.
You will also find that they will not answer any of your business solution questions. It is neither their training nor their specialty. Instead, they will ask you a few questions about your current concerns--whether they be operational, employee, sales, administration or management. They will tell you that the way to handle any of these problems is through some form of a business survey that will look at your entire business (top to bottom, front to back, etc.) and provide you with a report on their findings, both the good and the bad.
This is all true from their perspective. They cannot do a survey themselves and rely upon the professionalism of the surveying individual to provide you with the expected results. Do understand that many of the companies provide only a verbal report. Getting a written report from many of them is difficult to impossible at this point and there are reasons for it. Here are a few:
1. The report could be seen as the solution to existing problems. It is not. It highlights the findings and crystallizes the problems without presenting either solutions or, more necessary, the tools and techniques for developing and implenting solutions.
2. Information provided from your company, its employees and affiliates might not be accurate or complete. The survey takes place in a short period of time (typically two days but can vary from a single day to a week depending on the consulting firm and the nature of your business) and not everyone is willing or able to comply with the intense information demands.
3. Should management consultants come to the company they may find that the survey had not delved deeply enough into the company (for the reasons given in 2 above). It might be that the items identified are symptoms rather than root causes or, in some cases, that even more pressing conditions exist that require attention quite apart from the points in the survey report.
At the end of the brief sales presentation you will be asked for authorization to advance to a survey. I encourage you to have the survey because the fees are nominal (ranging from free to $100 to several thousand) and the insights could be invaluable. One of the truisms is you get what you pay for so, even though the survey is a kind of loss leader for the consulting firm, sales pressure from the survey professional increases significantly as the survey fee decreases.
It is imperative that you let your employees know in advance that a survey is going to be conducted so that there is minimal disruption or stress. People will wonder just what is happening and, if allowed to use their imagination, will often imagine direly. They might think the company is in serious trouble, that massive layoffs are coming, that the business is for sale. It is far better to prevent these negative imaginings. You do that with full disclosure in advance.
Once you have agreed to have a survey conducted you will be asked to sign a simple form with a scheduled date for conducting the survey and, most often, a confirming phone call which introduces you to an executive in the home office. This executive is responsible for making sure that you are fully informed about the details of the survey including objectives, dates and fees. They will also want to know whether there has been any unwritten agreements.
The only agreements that will be honored with these companies are those in writing. You will find that they will verify this point at various steps throughout the time of your involvement with the firm in order to make sure that both you and they know what is expected in order to make sure that neither you nor they are surprised (read that disappointed, frustrated, angry) because some expectation was not met.
Remember that you are responsible for your company and should insist that whatever you believe will be provided is agreed to by the consulting firm. If you cannot confirm your expectations in writing and decide to go forward anyway, then you have only yourself to blame should you be disappointed.
One more thing. In many instances and throughout the entire process the consulting firms will present you with prepared forms. Some of them have some blanks to be filled in. In all of the companies it is common that alteration of any of the terms and conditions in the prepared documents, especially agreements requiring signatures of both parties, will invalidate the document. Should you want to change some of the terms by elimination, modification or insertion and meet this obstacle, do not be surprised to find out that the consulting firm's representative cannot satisfy your request without authorization from the home office--and that authorization is seldom granted.
The firm's documentation is, generally speaking, even handedly fair and has been developed over considerable time. Changes are not taken lightly, if at all. If you have an approved modification to an agreement from the field person, then you should point it out to the home office during your phone call with them. Keep in mind that many of the phone calls are recorded for quality and training purposes--and to avoid faulty memories.
Until next time.
Monday, January 25, 2010
About Consulting Companies
There have been various postings and news stories about several of the consulting companies catering to small and mid-sized businesses, including a lot of negative commentary. These companies are not ethical, nor are they unethical.
You see companies are neither ethical or unethical. People are. Clients and employees of all firms have a responsibility to themselves to behave ethically. Even when leadership requires conduct that is viewed as unethical it is still up to the individual to choose how to act. Don't look for an easy to blame scapegoat. Accept responsibility.
This being said, today's posting presents a general overview of the operations of one of these companies. Future postings will go into more detail.
In general, the companies most typically have the following stages:
1. Pre-sales. In this stage the company's telemarketers or solicitation letters reach out to large numbers of companies with the sole purpose of selling an obligation-free interview with a field salesperson.
2. Initial sales. Very often your initial contact will be with a salesperson using a prepared script. Don't be put off by this. Listen and decide. Consulting companies have the ability to fill in the gaps in your business operations and management and it is your call. The sole purpose of this visit is to entice you to accept a survey of your business.
3. The Survey. For many, the Survey is the best part. Very often clients' eyes are opened to conditions. These are not necessarily revelations because clients are often aware of the condition and either do not know how to deal with them or, even worse, do not understand the repercussions of not dealing with them. The person or persons conducting the Survey have the primary business purpose of instilling a call to action in the business leading to an agreement to have consultants come into the business to develop and install a remedy or remedies. Surveys are usually flat fee based. Yes, they do cost money, although typically a nominal amount to discourage insincere engagements.
4. The Consultants. These folks come most often in teams, although solo practitioners are possible. The lead person is responsible for clearly defining the scope of work and obtaining both concurrence and commitment from the client (you) to develop and install solutions. If your commitment is minimal and your definition of the intended results are not clearly communicated, blame yourself for poor consulting. A responsible firm will deliver what is required by the client and little more; and the firm will use as many corporate resources (no additional charge) as might become necessary to bring in the results.
5. After Care. This varies widely amongst the firms and is intended to monitor your progress after the engagement is closed. It takes many forms ranging from a simple follow-up letter to phone calls and then to longer term retainers to verify progress on-site.
More in my next posting.
You see companies are neither ethical or unethical. People are. Clients and employees of all firms have a responsibility to themselves to behave ethically. Even when leadership requires conduct that is viewed as unethical it is still up to the individual to choose how to act. Don't look for an easy to blame scapegoat. Accept responsibility.
This being said, today's posting presents a general overview of the operations of one of these companies. Future postings will go into more detail.
In general, the companies most typically have the following stages:
1. Pre-sales. In this stage the company's telemarketers or solicitation letters reach out to large numbers of companies with the sole purpose of selling an obligation-free interview with a field salesperson.
2. Initial sales. Very often your initial contact will be with a salesperson using a prepared script. Don't be put off by this. Listen and decide. Consulting companies have the ability to fill in the gaps in your business operations and management and it is your call. The sole purpose of this visit is to entice you to accept a survey of your business.
3. The Survey. For many, the Survey is the best part. Very often clients' eyes are opened to conditions. These are not necessarily revelations because clients are often aware of the condition and either do not know how to deal with them or, even worse, do not understand the repercussions of not dealing with them. The person or persons conducting the Survey have the primary business purpose of instilling a call to action in the business leading to an agreement to have consultants come into the business to develop and install a remedy or remedies. Surveys are usually flat fee based. Yes, they do cost money, although typically a nominal amount to discourage insincere engagements.
4. The Consultants. These folks come most often in teams, although solo practitioners are possible. The lead person is responsible for clearly defining the scope of work and obtaining both concurrence and commitment from the client (you) to develop and install solutions. If your commitment is minimal and your definition of the intended results are not clearly communicated, blame yourself for poor consulting. A responsible firm will deliver what is required by the client and little more; and the firm will use as many corporate resources (no additional charge) as might become necessary to bring in the results.
5. After Care. This varies widely amongst the firms and is intended to monitor your progress after the engagement is closed. It takes many forms ranging from a simple follow-up letter to phone calls and then to longer term retainers to verify progress on-site.
More in my next posting.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
What Is This About
I have consulted with over 10,000 businesses over the last 30+ years and have owned and operated distributorships, distribution companies and a manufacturer. In addition, I rose to Managing Director of one of the oldest management consulting companies to small and mid-size businesses in the U.S..
I love to help businesses.
This blog is a forum for helping businesses deal with their business issues. There is no charge for the service provided through this blog and, in addition to myself, other experienced business consultants will be invited to participate in helping you with your concerns.
My next post will begin talking about the different consulting companies and how to use them to your advantage.
Take advantage of this site.
I love to help businesses.
This blog is a forum for helping businesses deal with their business issues. There is no charge for the service provided through this blog and, in addition to myself, other experienced business consultants will be invited to participate in helping you with your concerns.
My next post will begin talking about the different consulting companies and how to use them to your advantage.
Take advantage of this site.
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