Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 61 of our podcast: Smart Consulting Sourcing, THE podcast about Consulting Procurement.

My name is Hélène, and I’ll be your host today.

Each week I’ll give you the keys to better use, manage and source consulting services.

This week, I’ll tell you how to qualify a consulting firm for a project

Last week, I explained how to find the right consultants

We saw that your first step is to define what you are looking for. There are several markers that define the “Consulting DNA” of a company: the obvious capability & industry experience, but also the footprint, culture, and delivery model.

But building a list of potential Consulting firms is just the first stage in the process. A Consulting Firm might look like a perfect match on paper, but there is only one way to know if they have the right skills, industry experience, and project experience: talk to them!

So you need to put up a list of potential players. And the size of your project will determine the length of your list.

Consider including around fifteen to twenty firms in your first search if you need to find a mid-sized project and compare three prospective suppliers.

When I perform a search, I usually end up with 30% of the firms that don’t have a suitable “Consulting DNA Profile” and 30% that aren’t interested or available for the project as a baseline.

When you have finished compiling your first list, you need now to have a closer look at their characteristics to make sure they have the right profile.

Even though numerous consultancy firms claim to have competence in all capabilities in every sector, their track record shows it’s not true. Most of them, often tiny boutiques, specialize in just one capability or sector where they obtain most of their business. So, examine the case studies or previous projects listed on the firm’s website carefully.

Look also at the company’s previous clients: Who are they, and what do they do?

The background of the company’s founders is another valuable clue to the company’s primary objective, especially for tiny firms. But, first, take a look at the management team.

In their brochures or websites, most Consulting Firms will state their purpose or methodology. You’ll learn about who they are and how they operate. Are they focusing on high-level Strategy rather than implementation consulting? Are they working more on hard or soft aspects? Are they long-term consultants or former executives with prior corporate experience?

These elements will provide you with an understanding of who these consulting firms are and how they would interact with your organization.

Don’t just call any consultant, especially if the consulting firm is rather large. Each Partner comes with a unique set of talents and expertise, which will influence your project.

Consulting organizations are generally divided into industry experience or capabilities (when not both). They may also list the leadership team on their website with their contact information. If not, you should be able to find partners and check out their profiles using LinkedIn.

Thought leadership is also a handy tool. Check for papers or white papers on the subject of your project. The names of the authors and their contact information are often included in the materials.

Make sure they are working for the right firm by checking their present position on LinkedIn. The turnover in consulting is breathtaking; you may be one company behind. After that, you’ll probably add a few consulting firms to your list.

You should now have a list of consulting businesses that appear to have the proper people with the appropriate skills in the right locations. Your next move is to contact them and check their interest and availability face-to-face.

Three factors must be discussed in person: interest, availability, and compatibility. Next, connect with the consulting partners you’ve identified to schedule a call or a meeting after you’ve finished your list.

Here are a few pointers that you can use for these calls:

• Listen to them. They’ll describe what they do and how they accomplish it. You’ll discover more about their culture, methodologies, and area of specialty.

• Examine your list of criteria to verify whether they are a suitable match.

• Avoid giving out too much information about the project. It’s still an exploratory call rather than a briefing, and you haven’t signed an NDA yet. However, you may describe the skills and previous work experience you’re searching for, as well as some information regarding the team in charge of the project.

• Give them insight into the project’s likeliness to be launched and timeframe.

• Give them a general sense of the budget. You don’t have to give a precise number, but you may let them know if you only have a small amount of money or if it’s a major project for your firm.

It is also critical to test your hypotheses and make sure they are interested in the project you want to start. It’s also a good time to see whether they’ll be able to commit and have the bandwidth for the endeavor.

Once you’ve completed that stage, talk with the project’s sponsor and leader to pick which of these businesses you want to include in your RFP.

After you’ve chosen a handful of consulting companies and begun the RFP process, the final stage is to verify their references. Don’t be fooled by the big display of logos in the presentations or the case studies on the website, which are both anonymous. Request at least two referrals for the project.

Take the time to contact the references and ask the appropriate questions. You may begin by listing the qualities that are most important to you, such as knowledge transfer, team collaboration, or company impact, for example. Make sure you ask all of your references and consulting firms the same questions. You can add a few customized questions to clarify some grey areas.

Consultants have a high turnover rate, with studies showing that it ranges from 15% to 20%. Partners and consultants move from one consulting firm to the next, get hired by clients, or start their own consultancy. Whole teams are replaced every 4 to 5 years by new talent.

A cutting-edge organization practice gathered brilliant people from all over the world in a top 10 Consulting Firm in 2012. Unfortunately, all the consultants had departed five years later, but the firm maintained the white papers and references in their presentations.

The leadership of your project and the experts involved are crucial aspects of success for a consulting engagement. Request references for the key team members. They must have been actively involved in the projects mentioned.

Make sure the reference is relevant.

First, it must be genuine. Don’t “duh” too quickly; we’ve seen consulting firms send the names of their former employees as references. To verify that they are actual persons and have held relevant jobs, check the reference’s name, position, and background.

Second, it must be on a project with similarities to yours. It may be a project with a comparable context, methodology, or industry. You want to make sure the consulting firm understands how to execute your project.

Third, the reference has to be current—the more recent, the better. Set a time limit (no more than five years is reasonable). The rate of progress in every sector and area has accelerated over the years. A project successfully led fifteen years ago may not tell us much about what would happen today.

You’ll want excellent references from the experts that they’ve made a significant contribution to their client’s company. It will also provide you with some data on their performance on the various dimensions crucial in your decision.

If you’ve chosen cultural fit as an important element of your project’s selection criteria, investigate how the consultants interacted with the teams and how they adapted to potential cultural differences.

Don’t accept compromises on the references. If the consulting firm is using confidentiality as a pretext to avoid reference checking, call Consulting Quest, we are a third-party expert and we can verify the credentials for you.

Having a list of consulting firms perfect on paper is not enough to qualify them for a project.  You need to find out how real they are. You can’t just “go with your gut” here. A thorough reference check is the only way to determine the performance of a consulting firm.

It’s not easy to find a consulting firm that meets all of your criteria, but it’s well worth the effort! By following this straightforward process, you’ll find the best fit for you and your project.

I spent a little time this week on the importance of checking references. In a way, you will need to get some measure of performance on similar projects. It is not very different from measuring the performance of your own consulting projects. And that’ll be the focus of next week’s episode: how to evaluate the quality of a consultant?

In the meantime, if you have any questions, or want to learn more about what we do at consulting quest, just send me an email at helene.laffitte@consultingquest.com
You can also have a look at our website smartconsultingsourcing.com to know more about our book and download free templates & guides to improve your consulting sourcing.

Bye and see you next week! Au revoir!

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 60 of our podcast: Smart Consulting Sourcing, THE podcast about Consulting Procurement.

My name is Hélène, and I’ll be your host today.

Each week I’ll give you the keys to better use, manage and source consulting services.

This week, I’ll tell you how to find the right consultants for your projects

Last week, I explained why you should put consultants in competition

We saw that It’s a good idea to evaluate several consultants by putting them in competition. It will enable you to make an informed choice on what consultant is right for you on many levels, such as skills, fit, and price. Along the way, you may even go for ideas that are completely out of the box you had yourself designed in your request for proposal.

But today, I’ll give you my tricks to find the right consultants. But before we get there, you must figure out what you need.

The first question is not “do I need a consultant?” Instead ask yourself: do I have an urgent problem? If yes, find your best understanding of the issue and why it needs a solution. Then ask yourself: what kind of consultant can solve this issue? Another way to put it would be: who should be part of my dream team to solve this issue?

What are the characteristics to look for, now that you know what you’re searching for? I call them markers, and the total sum of these markers makes the “consulting DNA” of a consulting firm.

Let’s return to the basics of consulting and of course, the obvious capabilities and industry dimensions are first on your list.

It is critical to understand which capabilities will be required for a project. Truth aside, Consulting Firms frequently describe their services differently than their clients do. They’re more likely to talk about what they do rather than the issues they address. They may also utilize technical jargon that their clients aren’t familiar with. You must act as a translator for them.

Our previous podcast “The 7 high-level capabilities every client should know” is a great place to start if you’re new to consulting.

Defining the type of industry expertise you require is simpler. However, be careful to include all the situation’s specifics and desired results to precisely describe what breadth and depth of knowledge you require.

For example, if you’re interested in the Oil & Gas sector, you might be interested in the industry as a whole, or your project might be about Upstream Operations, Exploration / Production, and Well Stimulation more specifically.

Now, you should consider the locations where the consultancy will need to operate, the languages it will have to speak, and the cultures it must comprehend. Consider also where and how the consulting team will have to communicate with project leaders.

Imagine a High-Tech company based in Germany with factories in Korea and the USA. They decide to hire a German consultancy that they worked with in the past. And now picture one of the German consultants explaining work organization in a Texas factory (that also works in Seoul actually). Yeah, you get the point.

Also consider the travel costs when deciding whether to hire a consulting firm. Long-distance consultants can add 25-30% to your project’s original budget. Do you need an on-site consultant? Is it possible to benefit from modern communication tools?

Besides, what are your policies for small businesses and freelancers? How long will your project take and how many locations will it require? Determining whether or not a larger firm with a global presence is right for your needs depends on your time constraints. If you only need help in one location and have a flexible schedule, you might be able to work with a smaller firm.

Now, knowing your budget is critical in identifying the best consultants for you. But, unfortunately, consulting costs vary by a factor of up to five from one company to the next. So it’s no surprise that bigger consulting firms charge more than smaller ones.

The size of a consulting firm is a pretty decent proxy of cost. If you have a limited budget, you’ll choose boutique stores in your region. If your funds are more plentiful, you may evaluate several sizes of consulting firms to see what works best for you.

This will also help you understand the trade-off between scope and cost, as well as the differences in size among businesses.

Now let’s talk credibility: there are 3 things that you need to look at: Brand, thought leadership, and partner profile.

Sometimes your project WILL require a brand. With board exposure or high political value, you want to work with big players. They will have credibility with the company’s top executives and investors, as well as the ability to roll with the punches if needed.

But let’s say you need deep expertise in multimodal transportation for process industries. Your teams dislike consultants because they “know nothing” or “are the school bus.” It’s time to bring in a consultant who knows about network distribution optimization and multimodal transportation. Your teams may warmly welcome someone who wrote books or articles on this subject. Same if they are former Supply Chain executives.

Now, consider how you want to work with your consultants. Do you want them to help you diagnose or devise a solution? Or do you want them to help you implement your plans? Rarely do firms excel at both. Besides, implementation consultants are usually less expensive than strategy consultants.

Another dimension to take into account is the hard vs. soft approach. For example, let’s imagine that you want to reorganize your procurement team and redesign the processes. First, ask yourself what your priority is: Is it to get the buy-in of your existing teams? Are you looking for a collaborative approach?

In that case, you need to look for a consultant with a high sensibility to change. But if your main priority is to get the work done, you will need a consultant more focused on the hard aspects of the project.

And, how senior do you need your consultants to be? If you want to professionalize your teams, you will need consultants that transfer knowledge. Hence, you want to work with senior consultants that have on-field experience. On the other hand, if you are mainly interested in the results of the project, then you could work with younger consultants supervised by a more senior colleague.

Companies now have more ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity than ever. Beyond language, management culture, business etiquette, communication preferences, and other aspects of business life vary by country.

Who hasn’t tapped her fingers on the table in frustration while waiting for late French, Italian, or Spanish colleagues? What Southern European hasn’t grumbled about their Germain or Dutch colleagues’ rigidity? Everywhere in the world, there are similar differences.

In Asia, you may need consultants who understand the local culture and speak the language. Building trust with clients’ teams is part of the consultant’s job. It’s high-level acrobatics when half the message is lost in translation.

There is no such thing as the perfect one-size-fits-all solution for all projects. As a result, identifying appropriate criteria to look for a potential match is critical. It’s also an excellent way to get everybody on board with the project.

Now let’s have a look at where to search, starting with the internal tools at your disposal.

Have a look at the resources from the procurement team, such as a list of Preferred Providers, an internal database of Consultants, or a list of consultants in your field. You could also have a database containing evaluation reports or prior bids that you can use to discover some interesting information.

Then, you may inquire about recommendations from your network/colleagues who have previously worked with Consultants.

The interest of internal sources is that you often have a direct evaluation or connection with the consulting firm. However, bear in mind our motto: “The Expert you know may not be the Expert you need.”

On top of your internal sources, don’t hesitate to use external sources to grow your list. External sources are very helpful when you don’t have internal resources available for your project.

You can use a marketplace or a directory of consulting firms. However, keep in mind that many consulting companies buy a membership to these directories, which makes them appear more credible than they actually are. Try to find platforms that include detailed performance reviews, such as Conavigo.com.

You may also connect with professional organizations in your field or the skills you are looking for to connect with specialized consultants or ask for recommendations from your peers.

Another option is to look for articles and books written on the subject you are interested in. Often management professors or authors are working as consultants as well.

There is also a large number of consultants listed on LinkedIn, but beware that this information can be outdated or incomplete.

Finally, you may use a simple Google Search (or Qwant or DuckDuckGo) to look for other firms.

And don’t forget to evaluate each firm based on your criteria, whether you’ve worked with them previously or not.

Now that you have a list of potential Consulting firms, it’s time to find out more about them. A Consulting Firm might look like a perfect match on paper, but there is only one way to know if they have the right skills, industry experience, and project experience: talk to them!

That’ll be the focus of next week’s episode: how to qualify a consulting firm for a project?

In the meantime, if you have any questions, or want to learn more about what we do at consulting quest, just send me an email at helene.laffitte@consultingquest.com
You can also have a look at our website smartconsultingsourcing.com to know more about our book and download free templates & guides to improve your consulting sourcing.

Bye and see you next week! Au revoir!

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 58 of our podcast: Smart Consulting Sourcing, THE podcast about Consulting Procurement.

My name is Hélène, and I’ll be your host today.

Each week I’ll give you the keys to better use, manage and source consulting services.

This week, I’ll give you my tips to build positive relationships with your consulting firms

Last week, I answered 7 questions about internal vs external consultants

We saw that there are pros and cons to working with both internal and external consultants. Again, you should decide based on the needs of each project. When you have an internal consulting group, it makes sense to integrate them in a project bid when their competencies cover the scope. Put them in competition when necessary, and measure performance. They will get all the keys to serving their internal clients better.

Positive and mutually beneficial relationships with business partners, clients, and collaborators are essential for every project. And effective communication is a crucial ingredient in every relationship.

So let’s talk about how having a great relationship with your Consulting provider can substantially benefit the project.

We have mentioned previously the importance of collaboration with consulting firms to maximize the project’s chances of success. When the consulting partners consider your company a “good client,” they will do their best to deliver the best work, assign their best teams, and remit their best price.

The main goal is to create a mutually beneficial relationship –

At its core, consulting should be based on a mutually beneficial partnership. If you treat procurement as a linear process that ends the moment the contract ink dries, you will probably have trouble getting the best possible results out of that partnership. Try, instead, treating the relationship as dynamic and flexible throughout the project. You and your consultants will both benefit and improve your business practices as a result.

The truth is that if you treat them fairly, there is a good chance that they act the same way. Expect them to deliver their work on time and quality. Treat them like partners that have a common objective. Give them feedback, good or bad, on their performance. Give them visibility on payments. Be thorough, but don’t dance on the head of a pin.

So you have to manage the life of the project.

No matter how hard you try, establishing and maintaining a relationship with consultants in executing a project will not be a linear process. During a project, some changes will occur that you didn’t account for during the proposal or contract. Whatever happens during the project, make sure you trace the most important events.

Keep track of the changes, such as:

• Scope changes

You might have to add new tasks as a need becomes clearer or drop deliverables that turn out to be impossible or difficult to reach.

• Staffing changes

Organizations are in constant flux, and both sides may have to account for a turnover that requires adjustment and additional training.

• Timeline changes

Before the project starts, everything is an estimate; you may have to adjust the pace as the actual duration of the project comes into view.

• Unforeseen events

Budget changes, project merges, project freezes, or any other events that affect the project’s execution.

Change management is necessary to ensure that these changes do not derail the project. When the changes are significant and impact the scope and the deliverables, you should consider amending the contract. For other cases, the minutes of the Steering Committee where the decision was made should suffice.

Any interaction with the consultants, especially when the performance is not right, should be traced thoroughly. Make sure to keep the minutes of the meetings and share them with the consultants timely.

And always measure performance –

For projects longer than three months, we recommend organizing a mid-project assessment. As early as possible, set yourself and your consultants a benchmark toward the middle of the project. It is the perfect time to review the current scope and deliverables and check if they align with the objectives and the current business environment.

Before the meeting, collect the main stakeholders’ feedback and prepare a summary to share with your consulting providers. The input should cover the traditional project management performance dimensions, such as project completion, planning, etc., but also a more qualitative aspect such as behavioral dimensions, impact, or skills adequation.

As you get into the details of any project, it’s easy to get carried away with minutia that ultimately won’t affect the overall success. A Mid-Project Assessment enables you and your team to ensure that these inevitable tangents don’t endanger the larger project’s timeline and success.

The Mid-Project Assessment should be a major event for everyone involved. Keep it separate from regular operational project reviews, which should happen in smaller circles and regularly. However, you can organize regular check-ins dedicated to the project reviews to anticipate the potential issues and allow the Consulting Firm to fix the problem as soon as it appears.

Finally, don’t drop the ball towards the end.

One of the most common mistakes when using consultants is to drop the ball towards the end of the project. Here is what happens and why it should be prevented: Reports get shelved. Information is being poorly transferred. People that oppose the project step-in to torpedo it one last time. Making sure the results will stick requires specific attention, dedicated efforts, and it affects the overall success of the endeavor.

As the project is completed, ensure all deliverables and services are received and don’t make the final payment before verification. As a good practice, the last step in the reception and acceptance of the project is to perform an end-of-project assessment.

Because consulting is a human-to-human service, the quality of your relationship with your consulting partners will directly affect the result of your project. Putting the consultants in the right conditions to work, managing the project closely, and measuring performance are crucial steps to capture the right value from a consulting assignment.

That’s it for today. Next time, I’ll explain why you should put consultants in competition​.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, or want to learn more about what we do at consulting quest, just send me an email at helene.laffitte@consultingquest.com

You can also have a look at our website smartconsultingsourcing.com to know more about our book and download free templates & guides to improve your consulting sourcing.

Bye and see you next week! Au revoir!