Hiring a consultancy firm can be a treacherous path with many traps and pitfalls along the way – one wrong decision can have far reaching consequences. Mark Banini, Head of Project and Programme Management at The Ultimate Solution Partnership (TUSP), a specialist consultancy firm, takes us through a few steps that should make that decision easier and more intuitive.
Banini explains: "The process of hiring a consultancy firm should be approached from two angles. First, consider the business benefits and the impact from a company point of view. Second, assess the person or company from a personal standpoint – some consultancy projects can run into months or years, so personalities can play a much larger part than many people think." Although these two decision-making streams approach from quite different directions, they are more often than not complimentary and should be considered together before any definitive action is taken.
Banini continues: "Many of the decisions based around business issues are fairly standard; indeed, they are often seen in one guise or another in other forms, especially those related to supplier selection. However, for consultancy selection, the questions should be specific to what you need the consultant to deliver." Regarding personal issues, he elaborates: "The hiring of a consultant is not governed by the same set of rules as hiring a new employee; so the decision-making process should be based on a very different, tougher set of criteria."
The suggestions below are by no means exhaustive, but should provide a useful set of pointers that, in combination, cover some of the most important issues.
Money. Value the solution rather than the cost. Basing decisions purely on cost is not an effective approach because of the myriad of factors that go into to determining these costs and the subsequent return on investment. Sometimes you will get exactly what you pay for, other times you may get far more for the same money. An hourly or daily rate will not tell you the whole story – a consultant with a high hourly rate may produce value faster than one with a lower price. Going for the cheapest option is often a false economy, especially when other variables are not considered in parallel.
Time. Define your timescales. As well as giving you an idea of the total cost of a project, the setting of definite timescales enables you to set goals for the project and benchmark performance against those objectives. This will allow the creation of billing points and project goal benchmarks against which the deliverables can be compared.
The pitch. Don’t be swayed by techno-babble. Attempts to impress you with an extensive list of acronyms and niche industry speak often hides a superficial understanding of the real issues to be addressed. Instead, look for a company that offers empathy, a company that has produced a presentation or pitch that is both specific and sympathetic with your company's objectives, not just one where they have performed a "find and replace company name" from a previous document. Above all, look for a company that listens. Only by really listening to you will a consultant understand your exact needs – focus on those that are interested in serving your needs and not theirs. A consultant's job is to understand your needs and then create a means by which these can be met within agreed criteria – beware of companies that try to push an off-the-shelf approach.
The consulting company. Biggest is not necessarily the best. Larger companies can lack flexibility in both internal processes and the way they handle clients. Ask for references and speak to people who have used them in the past. Larger companies may have a larger pool of personnel to pick from, but how do you know if the amiable person doing the presentation is the same person that will also be doing the work? This leads us on to the next point.
The team. Be it a one-man job or a team of consultants, you have to be sure that you are comfortable working with these people. The semi-apocryphal story of consultants all turning up in the same make of German car, the same grey suit and the same tie could be the worst nightmare for some; in the same vein, someone turning up in ripped jeans and a T shirt may have the same impact for others. You must also make sure that you get a balanced team, blending experience and enthusiasm. And team dynamics are vital! The last thing you want is 'them and us' separated by an internal 'brick wall' – the gang mentality does not go hand in hand with successful results.
The individuals. As well as assessing a person based on experience, background and capabilities you must also ask yourself questions such as: "Can I work with this person for X months?" or "Will this person fit into my team?" and "Does this person fit our company culture?" There are many other questions to ask, many of which you would typically see within a job interview, but the advantage that you have with consultant selection is that you can be a lot more discriminating with your decisions compared to those related to hiring an employee.
Honest and open dialogue can only truly be achieved if you have mutual trust and respect with those you are working with. They should also embrace the same team ethics as your own, laugh when you laugh, get serious when you do and engage fully to create a tight-knit environment. Some of the more enlightened consulting companies rank a gregarious nature as highly as they rate technical expertise.
Experience. Industry experience can be a massive plus factor because companies that offer capabilities within your market can often bring ideas and knowledge with them. But you have to trade this off against the actual project demands that may not be industry specific. A specialist software consultant may be more suitable for a software project in the oil and gas industry than an oil and gas specialist. Once again it is a case of discussing individual goals and identifying with the consultant what needs to be in place to satisfy the objectives of the consultancy project.
Accountability. Make sure there is an effective reporting regime in place. Regular updates and status reports are essential towards the smooth running of any project. As an external and accountable resource it is important that regular discourse covers all of the primary time-sensitive benchmarks agreed before the project commences. These should keep you up-to-date with regard to progress and the costs being incurred.
Contracts. Make sure the contract is watertight, deliverables are identified and their relative rankings defined. In this way you can make sure that the consultancy delivers what you want for the price agreed.
Agree a level of work. In the same way that you should never ask a barber whether you need a haircut, don't let a consultant convince you to approve unnecessary work – always apply objectivity to any recommendations and if you deem them superfluous to your needs, don't approve them. As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Accountability should also be established. You must ensure that you or your employees are the ones making the decisions, not the consultant.
Risk. If any risk is involved in the duration of the project, ensure that either all of it or elements of it are shared so that the consultancy has the same ownership and can relate to – and empathise with – any of the possible implications associated with the risk.
Post project. It’s never too early to consider what happens after the project finishes. In particular, does the consultancy place sufficient emphasis on making sure you have the ability to function effectively after its role is complete; for example, by making sure that the right level of documentation exists in a user-friendly format? Ideally, a consultancy should aim for your self-sufficiency after a project as a major goal, however they should also make themselves available should issues arrive. Other projects may require ongoing support, so this must be factored into the equation as a full service. The last thing you want is a company that will do the job, get paid and then drop you right down the priority list. A good consulting company will recognise the need for future support and will include it as a standard part of their offering – at the level of service you are used to.
Training. Training is essential if the objective is post-consultant self-sufficiency. As with other project elements, this should be seen as a discrete element and must be treated with the same level of care and service that other actions received. Once again, an enlightened consultancy will automatically recognise this need and factor it into the overall project.
In summary Banini explains: "Hiring a consultant can be as easy or as difficult as you want to make it. The business-based decisions are often easier to make than the personal ones, but they should not be relied upon on their own. From a personal standpoint, if your gut feeling and their personality have combined to make you feel confident, then you are heading in the right direction. Remember, not all consultants are automatons with a pre-programmed personality and a way of doing things; many of them have been in your position and have faced identical issues to your own. If you find someone with the right experience, the right personality and the same ethics as your own, who is genuinely there to help you solve a problem rather than boost their bottom line, then you should put them at the top of your list. You have to be comfortable with these people, you have to enjoy working with them and you have to have confidence in what they can deliver. Tick all three of these and you are well on the way to making a very good choice.
About the author
Mark Banini is the head of project and programme management at The Ultimate Solution Partnership (TUSP). He has over ten years consulting experience at senior management and board level and has lead major programmes of change at various clients across numerous industries. He has worked internationally on major projects in Finance, Telecoms, Energy and the Public Sector for various companies, including Sema, IBM and Sapient prior to joining TUSP.
