2. Remains a client advocate and keeps the client's best interests and needs top of mind at all times.

A world-class consultant works closely with her client to uncover the real pain and assist them in developing solutions to the problem that allows the business to grow and prosper. Consultants should not conspire with their primary contacts to solve symptoms without addressing the real problems, and they confidently advise the customer to address the root cause of the issues that are being experienced.

Michael McLaughlin, author of Winning the Professional Services Sale, says that "top [professional services] sellers do share this goal: To deliver extraordinary value to their clients before, during and after the sale. To accomplish that, they uncover what each client really needs and use flexible, pragmatic strategies to chalk up wins for all concerned." He goes on to say that "packaged offerings" fundamentally change the consultant or consulting business from one focused on the client to one that is focused on the business.

While consultants must run a profitable business - without doing so we will not be able to work with clients to help them meet their goals - world-class consultants are insanely focused on meeting the needs of the customer. Some times that means telling the client things they don't want to hear, but in the end, it's all about the customer. This does not mean that we don't have to concern ourselves with what is in the contract or delivering a project on-time and on-budget. However, if a consultant determines at any point in the project that the scope of work defined in the contract is not going to meet the needs of the customers - maybe something has changed since the contract was executed - it is that consultant's responsibility to speak up.

You must talk with the customer about what has changed - ask them at key points of the project if anything has changed. When changes are significant enough to render the current SOW irrelevant, work with your client to redefine the project in a way to meets their critical needs, even if that means the project gets smaller.

Another way a world-class consultant can remain an advocate for the customer is to ensure that his company is aware of the client's needs and speaks openly about those needs that are critical. For instance, a consultant in a product company may learn that the client has needs that are not being met by the product or by another department, like Customer Service or Finance. The consultant should bring these concerns/needs to the appropriate people in his company. Do so in a manner that is non-threatening and helpful. Remember, these other groups could be hard at work solving the problem or may not even be aware that there is a problem - you don't want to accuse. Let them know, though, that the customer has a concern and help connect them to the client if they are not already working with them.

Consultants sell and deliver time, ideas, assistance, and guidance. Your goal is to be trusted by your client so they open up and want to work with you. Being their advocate and keeping their needs at the center of what you do will go a long way to showing them that you're on their side.

1. Communicates clearly and completely without bias, attitude, or judgement.

I introduced my Top 10 Qualities of a World-class Consultant last week. Next, I will start to dig into each of the ten qualities, starting with the first quality: A World-class consultant communicates clearly and completely without bias, attitude, or judgment.

Clear, proper communication is a foundational element to any relationship: Husband and wife, parent and child, friends, business associates, and consultants and clients.

All to often, the primary reason for a relationship's failure starts with the way parties communicate. In marriages, couples often blame money, work schedules, and simply "growing apart" for their failed relationships. Yet, I know many successful couples who stay married even when they have financial concerns, crazy work schedules, and different interests. Why are these couples able to make it? They communicate! Its no different in the world of consulting.

While effective communication is a two-way street, the consultants should set the example with regard to how communication should be handled. This doesn't mean that we should dictate how it will happen. Rather, the consultant should discuss with his client how different types of information will be communicated and at what frequency and format. (I recently attended a kick-off call for a project my team is running, and the client indicated that instant messenger is the best way to reach him.)

There are a number of different types of communication that must be discussed throughout the project:

1. Project Management Information: Common project management-related areas that require effective communication:
   
   - Project plans, including work breakdown major milestones, and escalation paths
   - Roles and Responsibilities
   - Project status versus the plan
   - Risk Assessment and mitigation
   - Action items & issues
   - Change Requests
   
   The consultant and client must agree on the format of project management-related communications as well as the frequency and who receives this type of communication.
   
   
2. Engagement Observations: As the client and consultant work together to solve the problem at hand, key observations will be made by the consultants. In some cases, it is appropriate to wait until providing the deliverables to share observations. In other cases, though, key observation should be shared along the way.
   
   Sharing key observations along the way allows a consultant to:
   
   - Confirm what she is learning and gather feedback
   - Ask follow-up questions to put a finer point on the observations when necessary
   - Let the sponsor know early if their is an observation that may be difficult for him (or the team) to hear for the first time in a larger audience.
   
   
3. Recommendations: In a few weeks, I will discuss Peter Block's idea that a consultant helps customers "find their own answers to their questions." While that is often true, the fact is, consultants are expected to make recommendations that the client will consider and, hopefully, implement. Some of my clients have requested sample recommendations during the selling process.
   
   Like observations, there are times when a consultant should share key recommendations with a client before the final deliverable is provided - often for the same reasons. In some cases, the recommendations are so important, the consultant is compelled to tell the client right away, enabling the client to make a key decision and start implementation sooner.

The way one communicates is as important as what is communicated. As my husband says, it is often "not what you say, but how you say it." That is not to say that one does not have to communicate accurate, relevant, and reliable information as long as what is said is with a smile. That wouldn't work either. What you say is important. It is important to deliver your message with authority and in a tone that can be received by the other person.

Speaking more to the "how you say it," though. Some consultants still enter a problem discussion or discovery with preconceived notions and biases about what the problem is and how to solve it. When that happens, they fail to drill into the problem deep enough. The worst case is when the consultant gets impatient with the client for "not getting it" and that impatience is expressed through the communications. Remember, if they "got it," they wouldn't need you.

Keeping an open mind throughout your discovery is one way to communicate completely and in an unbiased manner. Be confident and provide anecdotes and supporting information where necessary. Use your expertise, but learn from your client.

World-class PSO: Daily Thought

The two faces of professional services: Sales reps all over the world are signing from relief as they wrapped up the quarter, and potentially the year. Reps know if they made their number or didn't. They know what deals are left to come in that will - hopefully - give them a good start to the new quarter. Maybe they are sleeping a little late today before they get up and do it all over again.

Professional Services Managers are also going through a similar process. However, PS managers can't simply sleep late and start the selling all over again. Yes, that is part of what we need to do - start selling again, but now we need to start delivering on our promises - our contracts - and get the work done. We need to look at the backlog, schedule resources, prepare our teams, and schedule the work with the clients.

Hopefully, we all had a record quarter, and we can celebrate our recent successes. The celebration will be short lived, though. It's time to "get 'er done!!"

Good luck!

World-class PSO: Daily Thought

As Stephen Pierzchala, Senior Consultant at Gomez (and one of my direct reports) so eloquently said in his blog yesterday, "One of the things that all consultants have to accept is that selling is a part of the territory." In my comment to Stephen's blog post, I reminded him that "selling" doesn't stop when the ink dries on the contract. As a consultant, you are constantly selling your abilities, knowledge, expertise, frameworks, and recommendations.

Good consultants are always persuading their clients: We persuade them to share ideas, answer our seemingly irrelevant questions, humor us as we take them through an exercise or learning program, and execute the recommend that we make. We persuade them to work together to find creative solutions to their problems, and we persuade them to see a new and fresh perspective.

Consultants are not sales people, but there is an element of selling in everything we do.

World-class PSO: Daily Thought

A Lesson in Civility: There's an old adage: "We hurt the one's we love." So, I asked myself, why is it we take risks in our communications with those who are the closest to us?

I don't know about you, but I know that I find myself, at times, putting important, close relationships at risk when I don't take a few minutes to speak thoughtfully and without emotion when working with colleagues. I know that I, for one, find myself approaching certain internal communications in a way that I would never do with my clients.

So...what do you do when you need to properly set expectations with internal stakeholders, you feel you have expressed these expectations more than once, AND maintain relationships and/or build bridges? I say...treat every communication, particularly the really important communications or those that are with "challenging" stakeholders, like those stakeholders are your clients.

Top 10 Qualities of a World-class Consultant

A world-class PSO is an organization with effective sales, marketing, delivery, and operational processes, tools, and resources that ensure customer needs are met, can achieve 100% reference-ability among its client base, and is able to meet financial goals such as bookings, revenue, and profitability goals.

To truly be world class, a PSO needs to attract and retain world-class consultants. Yes, these consultants need access to world-class tools and best-in-class processes that enable them to do their jobs well, but they also need to have the passion and focus that allows them to learn new skills and technologies and grow within the organization. Truly world-class consultants develop both the subject matter expertise required to deliver world-class services, but they also build the consulting, selling, and customer management skills required to build deep relationships with their clients and deliver profitable, repeatable projects.

I spent some time on a recent flight from Boston to San Francisco thinking about what makes a consultant "world-class." What are the qualities inherent in those individuals who can connect with their clients in a way that ensures that the client's needs are met, their challenges are addressed, and the necessary change is effectively delivered?

The following is a list of the top 10 qualities that I think are critical for a consultant to possess in order to be world-class. Admittedly, not all of these ideas are original, although some are, and I have done my best to site the original author who spoke of the quality. I apologize in advance if I missed anyone. So here is the list of 10.

A world-class consultant:

1. Communicates clearly and completely without bias, attitude, or judgement.
2. Remains a client advocate and keeps the client's best interests and needs top of mind at all times.
3. Seeks first to understand, and then to be understood. (I know I heard this somewhere, although I can't recall when or from whom.)
4. Asks questions designed to uncover the "real" pain, not just the "stated" pain. Jean DiGiovanna of ThinkPeople refers to this as "staying curious." (This is a common theme in many sales training and books, particularly those that espouse a "solution-selling" approach. It is also relevant to consultants who work to effect positive change in a client's organization.)
5. Is not afraid to tell the customer what they need to hear, rather than what they want to hear. (This is often difficult to do without being perceived as difficult or undiplomatic - its not what you say, but how you say it - and it is a place where sales and other groups may try to sensor the consultant.)
6. Is able to boil complex issues and situations down to simple frameworks that can be easily understood.
7. Is able to work across different departments and levels in an organization, be perceived as a trusted adviser, and can filter "baggage" and "noise" from the reality of the situation.
8. Can find advocates and evangelists within an organization who can help navigate the political structure.
9. Is able to ensure the client that she understands what is unique about this situation and that she can bring the breadth of her experience to help solve the problem.
10. Whenever possible, works to assist his client in finding their own solutions to the problem. (See Peter Blocks, Flawless Consulting.)

I will dig into each of these 10 qualities over the coming weeks.

Vision and Stragegy in 2010

Building a World-Class PSO requires many components of a complex system to work together to meet the needs and objectives of the client base, consultants, department, and organization in which the PSO resides. Hiring the best and brightest consultants, developing relevant and repeatable services offerings, and developing a repeatable delivery model that enables projects to be delivered on time, on budget, and at the highest quality are examples of some of the components that must be implemented to ensure that the PSO is, truly, world-class.

But how do you know what resources to hire, what services to offer, and what the delivery framework should be?

As with any other business, develop vision and mission statements for the practice is a critical first step. Now, I know there are a lot of nay-sayers out there who believe that vision and mission statements are "fluffy" and meaningless. I disagree, however. In fact, the process used by managers and the team to develop these two very important artifacts for the practice is as important, if not more important, than the vision and mission statement themselves.

My company is moving through the Professional Services Maturity Model quite aggressively these days. There are a lot of changes we are managing. For instance, we were recently acquired, we are planning significant growth in our business, and we are even changing many of the services that are delivered.

As we sat down to plan the new year, which starts on April 1, 2010, we quickly realized that we were in the midst of an identify crisis given the changing environment. This crisis was preventing us from make key decisions and reaching our fullest potential as a world-class PSO.

So, we took a step back and started by defining a vision statement for the practice. We decided that the vision statement would define some future state - what we aspire to be. We also decided that it would be written from out clients' perspectives. In other words, there is no mention of internal metrics or growth numbers. What role do we want to play in assisting our customers through their own evolution to greatness? We held up in a conference room for a couple of hours, and we pulled something together that really speaks to why we get up every morning.

We are still working on the final touches of the vision statement, which includes reviewing it with key managers from across the business as well as with the consultants themselves. So I won't share the vision now. However, having this vision enabled us to make significant progress in defining our plan for the new year. We have identified a set of a dozen or so initiatives that align with the vision to assist us in improving how we go to market, work with sales and marketing, and deliver the services we offer.

Having a strong vision is a key component of SPI's Professional Services Maturity Model. Without it, PSO managers will not succeed in getting on the road to building a world-class PSO.