A new consultancy is not so hard to start, but pretty difficult to sustain and grow.
Starting out you should (you had better have) a string of contacts who are willing to engage you, or at least give you a couple of days here and there. The difficulty arises out of the very nature of the game itself. Consulting is, first and foremost, a relationship game.
So it can be hard for clients, who know and trust you, to accept a substitute or to engage with others from the company.
This is perfectly natural. You're the known quantity after all. And, lest we forget, its the clients money right now. And let's be honest here, some consultancies are experts in engaging team "A" and deploying team "B".
Having succesfully introduced many consultants to existing accounts, these are a few tips that work for me.
1. Lobby early, lobby often.
Start to talk about the person early, telling clients about their strengths, limitations and experience levels. As with everything else in consulting, expectations need to be set and managed to make sure everyone knows what is going on.
2. Real pre-deployment preparation
Remember the days (last week actually) when consulting training consisted of "here, read this book/manual/disk"?
Not good, at any time. Even if they are "guru" consultants, or gurus in a specific area, they don't know how you do things here. And inconsistency is so unprofessional it is humiliating. Especially for the people involved.
So take the time to show them the ropes, "this is how we do it here", "this is how we handle this situation", "these are the people involved and the roles that they play in the project", and so on.
This is something that many consultancies still do not do. WHy? because run-up is unbillable, and yield rates go down. But if we train them right from the beginning maybe the whole-of-employment yield rate will be higher... maybe.
3. Test period(s) where required
I offer this regularly and have had to get rid of people never. Why? Because I do all the rest of this stuff. I lobby, pre-screen, slow introductions and preparations and so on. By the time they get to site everyone knows each other, everyone is pretty sure that they are going to get on okay, and expectations are where they should be.
I have never lost one at this stage... ever.
4. Don't send second stringers.
No amount of lobbying, probation periods, or pre-deployment preparation will fix a secondd rate resource. Sorry to say it but, if you're charging consulting rates - then deliver a consulting resource. Easy.
Sadly you see a lot of this in international work these days. Many countries are happy for their people to be paid low wages (sadly) so you see consultancies and other companies billing full rates and paying cut-rate wages. A sad side effect of globalization unfortunately. On the lighter side there are not many companies that will tolerate those sort of shenanigans.
5. Pre-deployment work examples.
Assignments, reports, books written, presentations, LinkedIn profiles, a compelling blog, reference letters from industry heavyweights - whatever. Some way to show people that your new hire is bigger than their resume would suggest.
6. Pre-screening interviews
Most interviews prior to consultant acceptance will ultimately be conducted face-to-face, naturally. But it doesn't need to get that far before any problems surface. In a prescreening telephone, or video conference clients can't decide whether they are wiling to accept someone.
But they can easily work out if they don't want to accept them...
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