Not all do it well, some don't deal with it at all, and a lot of people fall victim to the myth that you can grow "too fast". Garbage.. tell that to Google, Microsoft, Astadia or any of the other success stories in service and technology industries. No such thing... but you can grow faster than you can deal with. And thats a skill issue.
Right now, in many sectors, this is the fundamental problem facing consultants and their companies. The commodities boom continues despite what is happening to banks and the housing market, and it is dragging a lot of other industries along with it. Resources are scarce, demand is high, and consultants are being pounded for more services regularly.
My background is in contracting, and I spent a lot of time working around the freelance markets of Australia and then globally. So I am a bit influenced by that style of thinking.
For me, once you have verified the client, and they are going to pay the margins that you need long term, then I quote for pretty much anything I can do.
There is an entire mindset that goes with this. One that enables your consulting firm to grow and shrink according to the demands placed on it, and to be able to keep revenue fairly constant.
1. A cloud of sub-contractors - Trusted mercenaries that you can call on as you feel the need. Generally gap fillers, client impress-ors and project savers - Sub-Contractors are proven talented individuals who have been managing relationships and doing to tough jobs for years. This is why they can ask top dollar.
2. Hire on purchase orders - As soon as the PO hits the desk start to look for the talent required. Take finance, organize terms with the client, whatever it takes. Make sure you can deliver the early stage of the project with existing resources, then factor in the growth timeframes needed. (And beat them!)
3. Raise the bar for sales - How many times have I seen a consultancy so overwhelmed with a gigantic bid that came off that they do not focus on the day after...
The PO is a great achievement, celebrate, get the account management and relationship management structures in place; then set to selling again. This time faster, better, more volume, larger figures etc. You get the picture, the pipeline should not be just full, it should swell.
4. Kick in the Talent Management Department (HR) - Your HR policies need to be very well focussed on maintaining high levels of talent through the project. So a vastly different model from "inform and enforce" policies will be needed.
This is the area where expansion will hit the hardest, so make sure that the structures, processes, assessment criteria and other functions are scalable. More on this later...
5. Record Everything - When the talent leaves the knowledge should not also drain away. Use some of the margins of every project as a development fund for future workers through mentoring, internal training, and so on.But beyond that, make sure there are systems in place to capture the methods, styles, documents, and actions taken by every consultant who works for you on every project. Then dissect this later and use it to build even stronger deployment functions.
6. Reward effort justly and differentially - We all know that successful consultancies are built on the back of a few very hard working and smart individuals. No surprise there. What is surprising is that these people rarely feel truly appreciated, or truly rewarded for their valor in the heat of battle.
Make sure they are truly and sincerely rewarded, and that they know that their efforts are now part of the historical journey that your company is taking.
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