Regardless of the economy, many people will consider going into consulting at some point in their career. I recently received a letter from a student in France who is considering consulting after graduation and asked the Bartender a few questions:
1. How do you become a consultant? 2. What are the pros/cons to consulting? 3. What are the most important skills to be a consultant? And 4. Any advice for someone trying to break into the consulting field?
1. IMHO, becoming a consultant takes years of preparation…and before you reject my opinion on this one…let me explain. Lots of people have the education, experience and skills to become a consultant. But you also need to establish your marketing base. I’ve found that, in consulting, people are buying the consultant. They want to work with someone they know and trust.
It takes a significant amount of time to build a network. You can’t just quit your job, say you’re going to be a consultant and think the phone will automatically start ringing. It just doesn’t work like that. You have to build relationships.
I learned the importance of networking and relationship building in my very first HR job. Spent over 15 years building a marketing infrastructure before I became a consultant.
2. The number one benefit to consulting is time. You have the freedom to work when you wish. I’d also say it can be a drawback as well. Sometimes people think when you are a consultant that you have all the free time in the world.
3. Some important skills for consultants include (a) marketing, (b) agility, (c) time management and (d) quest for knowledge.
- The number one statement I hear from consultants is that they hate marketing. Honestly, I’m not sure why anyone would go into business for themselves if they hate marketing. As a business owner, you have to market. Even if you hire a marketing person…you still have to do some marketing. Nuf said.
- Many times, my clients are seeking a consultant to do a project quickly. They have the expertise to do it in-house but it would take months to complete. Hiring a consultant allows them to get the same quality and the deliverable faster. So being able to respond quickly to client needs is key.
- As a consultant, it’s my responsibility to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines. Yes, I have a tremendous amount of flexibility but I’m still accountable for delivering on time. Having good time management skills allows me to meet my clients’ needs.
- And, I’ve included quest for knowledge as a skill because I see many consultants who don’t do any kind of professional development. They don’t attend conferences or try new things. My personal belief is, if you don’t continuously learn, you will be left behind.
4. My advice for people trying to enter the consulting field is to do exactly what this student did…find consultants to interview. Take in all the advice they are willing to offer and then make up your own mind.
Consulting is a wonderful career. It’s not an easy career nor is it glamorous. But I have terrific clients and work on great projects. Definitely worth considering when the time is right.
Margaret says
Found you on Twitter. Am totally with you and Ralph on the quotes thing. I enjoy reading quotes from my own “library” – am looking for something different online. I have unfollowed everyone who is just a pass-through for quotes. Excellent blog on the consulting career. I too had 17 years of experience, 10 in big consulting firms, before I started my own firm with my partner in 2002. My first consulting boss told me that ulitmately when all is said and done the client has to look you in the eye and believe that you will solve his or her problem. They are buying you. Even in the largest firms, the quality of the work you receive is directly attributable to the quality of the consultant. And “quest for knowledge” is huge. One of the #1 attributes I looked for when I was hiring lots of consultants to work for me was “curiousity”. Glad I found you.
Valérie M. says
Thank you very much for letting us know about your experience. It is really helpful and i will follow your advises for sure.
Thanks again,
Valérie.
Penelope Trunk says
Here’s another way to think about this: I totally agree with you that so much of consulting is about marketing. But most people who are building up the skills they will consult about — like HR or IT or operation — are not building marketing skills, so their 15 years or whatever of experience is not going to help them be good marketer.
So what about the idea that the most succssful consultants are necessarily the best at consulting but they are the best at marketing? And in this case. you might not need any experience before you sell yourself as a consultant, because it’s about marketing oneself, and some people are naturals at this.
You will argue, probably, that this isn’t right or fair or just or whatever. But I think it’s true. And in the age of social media, I think it is even more true — that you can sell anything if you can effectively leverage social media to market it, including yourself.
Penelope
hr bartender says
Thanks for the great comments. I agree that experience does not trump marketing expertise. And for consultants, that quest for professional development has to include not only your craft (IT, HR, whatever…) but also those entrepreneurial skills to run a business (i.e. marketing).
I can definitely see Penelope’s logic and I’d add that this could only be initial success. Good marketing might get you gigs. But if you don’t have the experience and expertise to back it up…you won’t get repeat business and/or referrals. Of course, individual results may vary. 😉
As I often Tweet – social media is not a substitute for value… it’s a means of demonstrating value. But value has to be there first. The same goes for ability.
Hopefully, we can agree that you need a good mix of technical and marketing ability to be successful. Social media is a great marketing medium that could possibly shorten your selling cycle – provided your audience is also tuned in to it. IMHO, social media is to build relationships. If all you do is promote your agenda, it’s no different than going to a bad chamber of commerce meeting.
Wally Bock says
Good Lord. If Penelope is right then the only part of consulting that counts is getting the job. What you do after doesn’t matter. That’s not true in real life. You build a good consulting practice by being invited back and you get invited back by being good. Not good at marketing. Good.
Ann Bares says
I’m completely with Wally on this. In fact, I’ve had several of my best clients tell me that one of the key reasons they work with me is that I am better at delivery than I am at marketing. (I try to appreciate that for the back-handed compliment that it is meant to be ….) Over time, I find that being better at delivering service than at marketing means that I have to do little if any marketing. But that’s because I’ve spent 20+ years figuring out how to deliver. Bottom line – there’s no easy path to success in consulting, but my position would be that it is based on acquiring deep and broad knowledge of your field, and determining how to turn that into great results for your clients.
Frank Roche says
No wonder there are so many “consultants” out there. In Penelope’s world, all you have to do is market skills and voila! It’s just not so.
I spent a lifetime preparing to be a consultant, as did you, Wally, Ann, and others who have commented. You know what I’ve seen a thousand times? People who say they’re consultants, open a shop, and a year later are out of business. Know why? It’s because they spent more time marketing themselves and very little time being prepared.
Your advice is right on. Without a network, you have nothing. And by thinking you can actually consult on anything as long as your a good marketer — well, don’t make me laugh.
Consulting takes WAY more than marketing. In fact, it takes even more than being prepared. It requires follow through. Ability to get paid for what you do. Providing exceptional work.
Seems like these days there are more people out there talking the talk than walking the walk. They get attention. But can they do it? I highly doubt it. In fact, who in their right mind would hire a consultant whose main skill is having done something once or declares themself an expert. Experts never have to say they are.
Thanks much for the very good article.
Frank Roche says
Um…I know the difference between your and you’re. Sorry about that…was a bit heated thinking about people who try to take the easy way out.
Steve Boese says
I think Penelope’s comments are a reflection of the changes in technology, particularly the rapid growth of social networks, blogs, and the like. We all agree that developing the necessary expertise, acumen, and authority to be a top consultant in any significant field of endeavor takes time, effort, and commitment to your field. It also used to be that effectively marketing your services required a similar level of time, effort, and commitment. Building individual relationships, demonstrating authority at industry conferences, contributing in a meaningful way to a discipline’s body of knowledge were all, or at least in some part necessary to ‘market’ your consulting services.
Now, with blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc., it is much, much easier to become recognizable and in a way to become more of a known quantity. Mind you, building the real authority and expertise is still the hard slog it was 10-15 years ago, it is really just the marketing end that on the surface seems to have gotten much easier.
I am not trying to say that anyone can simply put up a blog, amass 10,000 followers on Twitter and become a success. I am saying that for many today, the relative difficulty between ‘new’ ways of marketing compared to the hard work of building ‘real’ expertise, will lead many to choose the former route, in an attempt to circumvent and speed the process.
I too, would rather be recognized for real expertise, and not for the flashiest web page, or the most Twitter followers.
Great post and discussion.
Wally Bock says
The changes in technology can help you build recognition faster, that’s for sure. That’s branding. But the technology sword cuts two ways.
The way most independent consultants get known is you use the web and social networking tools to “show off” by demonstrating expertise. But it also serves as a way to compare the expertise of different consultants. In other words, whether you look good or bad, the world will spread fast.
Beyond the branding, though are relationships that grow out of performance. They’re based in good performance but they take time to ripen. The same technology that accelerates branding simply doesn’t work for the relationships.
It’s true, as Penelope said that “you might not need any experience before you sell yourself as a consultant.” But you run the serious risk that you will crash and burn and those same tools that helped you get the job will now be used to show pictures of the wreckage.
Mark Stelzner says
Great post and debate (as usual). A few additional thoughts building on what everyone else has said:
1) Brand: If your consulting company is your full name followed by LLC, prepare to be laughed at and permanently labeled in the small potato category. Of course, there are exceptions, but they are few and far between.
2) Staying Power: Don’t confuse consulting with contract work. The former requires all the hard work and dedication that my prestigious colleagues have described. The later can be another word for “temp”.
3) Don’t Go It Alone: Even if you’re a sole proprietor, take advantage of the ecosystems in which you naturally exist. Three small consulting firms can be much more powerful than a large competitor if they work together.
That’s all I can muster without an adult beverage. Thanks Sharlyn for prompting a great discussion.
Trisha says
First, kudos to the bartender for serving up not only an informative post but also for prompting the comments. I feel like I really learned something from the entire reading.
Can you address some of the pitfalls consultants face once they have taken the leap?
Thanks Bartender
hr bartender says
A huge thanks to everyone for sharing their wisdom and experience. Terrific discussion.
And for Trisha about the pitfalls of consulting…I feel another post coming on…stay tuned. Cheers!