What do consultants do

So what happens often is that we draw up ideas, frames, or sometimes a complete slide with dummy text on papers, take a picture, send it to India, set a deadline, include a charge code of our project. The tighter the deadline we request, the more expensive they charge our team. This is a super nice system because it encourages everybody to plan ahead and still leave some capacity for some really hot and emergency situations.

The wonderful thing is that there is more than one Design Center to choose from. If you need a final touch to really beautify the near-final document, you may request help from the more expensive ones.

But I did have many short business trips. When I was assigned the Cement Project, I had no previous industry knowledge about cement. But one important trait of a consultan t is the ability to learn things quickly.

One consulting project might last somewhere from 3 months up to a year , depending on the scope defined in the contract. Anything longer would then be broken into multiple projects. The cement workstream is part of a bigger project which takes 8 months in total.

The client is a conglomerate, and presents 6 different industries. The first 8 weeks were spent on overall diagnosis, followed by 16 weeks of detailed strategy for each industry, assigned to each consultant on the team.

Everybody from the Engagement Manager EM level or below is fully dedicated to just one project. The Engagement Directors, however, can have multiple projects running at the same time. The next time someone ask you what we consultants do for a living, you can do them a favor and return an answer in truly management consulting manner — specific, to-the-point, and insightful. For more information on management consulting and how to pass its recruitment process, check out other articles on this website as our No.

What does a consultant do outside a consulting project? I would divide the answer into two sides: office roles and personal tasks — the former is what required by the office, while the latter are things we do for our own benefit. On the office side, the short answer is that we become very-expensive support staff.

Nonetheless, the best consultants always get prioritized for real projects, so if you find yourself doing LoPs, chances are you need to brush up on your skills and qualifications. Besides proposals, partners and directors also research publications — and as you may have guessed, beach-time consultants also get staffed into these tasks.

In a project life cycle also explained in our Rookie Consultant product , these publications are the first marketing step leading partners and directors to their prospects. We can also be staffed in internal projects — which do not directly generate revenue non-billable. As such, internal projects are often unfavorable in performance reviews — so consultants should focus their efforts on getting external projects.

Sometimes, we even get stuck doing odd jobs such as supporting the support centers ironic, yes — this may occur if the office director happens to also run a support center. The personal development part is about refining skills and qualifications to stay ahead of the game. Consultants only earn top-notch pay because of their top-notch skills, so we attend training, classes, and courses to equip ourselves with the best knowledge of the preferred industry — even if we slack off for one moment, we start losing value.

The business development part is about selling talents — to directors and engagement managers specifically. The best consultants always do extensive internal networking to make sure they can get the best projects. What do managers do at a management consulting company? The answer varies depending on the firm, so for the sake of simplicity I would assume this question is about managers at top consulting firms , such as McKinsey, BCG or Bain. At these firms, the business is divided into projects, office and support centers — my answer will mostly explain the roles of managers in front-line projects , not their titles in the offices.

If a consulting project is a company , then the director is its owner. Of course, they do none of the execution work themselves — there are always consultants available for those tasks. The EM is also in charge of recruiting consultants for the project, and serves as the contact point between the client and the firm. What can a management consultant do better than a company's management?

What are the biggest myths about the management consulting job? One popular perception of management consultants goes like this:. Engagement managers and senior consultants, on the other hand, may specialize in one or a few related industries, and as such possess expert knowledge and experience in their respective fields.

Learn about the career tracks and opportunities at 10 of the top management consulting firms in this article - McKinsey, Wonder how much consultants are paid? This article has a comprehensive list of salaries at top management consulting firms, updated Lost your password? What Does A Consultant Do? What Does a Consultant Do? What Does a Management Consultant Do?

There is a lot of slicing and shoveling involved. All I needed to worry about is the actual content of the slide.

Content presentation: structured, concise, easy-to-follow document. I told them in later stages, I would file a more detailed request Before going to bed, I draft the ideas for the questions with the China team. Truth or Lies — Consultant Edition. Absorbing another company is a big deal, particularly when the companies involved are publicly traded. The company making the purchase might hire a management consulting firm that is experienced in helping companies navigate acquisitions successfully.

The consulting firm is not there to provide ongoing coaching or training or to offer some sort of done-for-you solution. They are there to take a deep look into both companies and provide strategic advice on the best way to navigate the acquisition in order to maximizes productivity, revenue, employee morale, and other important metrics. But the world of Fortune companies and management consulting firms is just a small slice of the consulting landscape.

Many small businesses struggle with growth. As a solution, they might hire a marketing consultant to advise them on which growth channel is a good fit for them and how to pursue that channel. If the consultant has worked with a large number of similar businesses and achieved consistent results, it is likely that they will be massively helpful to the business simply by laying out a detailed, strategic roadmap for achieving success, even without doing any of the legwork themselves. In addition to researching the business, they might also research the market as it relates to the problem they are solving or task they are accomplishing for the client.

Once the understanding is in place, they will summarize their findings and interpretation and then layout an in-depth framework or detailed blueprint for solving the problem. They will likely discuss these findings at length with the client and any relevant company personnel and then in many cases, they will reconnect with the company at a later date to provide follow-up feedback and advice.

What if the marketing consultant could actually do all the work for the client? Instead of simply handing off a blueprint, they could build out the selected marketing channel themselves, have their team do it, or contract it out to talented marketers they know? For small and mid size businesses, this option is a no-brainer. Some consultants will utilize a done-for-you service as an upsell to their strategic advice.

Others simply advertise as service providers where their ability to offer strategic consultation throughout the process is a key selling point. The two offers have a lot of synergy, and often result in more money for the consultant and better, more efficient results for the client. Consultants who offer done-for-you services occasionally perform the services themselves, but this is more common when starting out, as it is one of the easiest offers to use when starting a consulting business.

Once you are more established however, it is more common to build a team for the purpose of fulfillment or outsource to third parties for a referral fee. Sometimes the problem a business wants solved has to do with their leadership team or other personnel. Training can be done live onsite or it can be administered online. Some consultants like to come to the company and meet individually with each staff member. Others hold a series of group training sessions in the office.

Some do group training online. For example, a sales consultant might be brought in at the beginning stage of building a sales team to create a strategic roadmap, help the business decide on the right CRM, and do live training with the initial sales hires. As another example, the training we offer here at Consulting. Our Consulting Accelerator course is all-inclusive and designed to be taken over a 42 day period.

This model is very common in any sort of personal coaching business, from fitness coaching to life coaching to business coaching. They might hire a marketing consultant to map out a strategy for the next year and then get ongoing evaluation and coaching as they attempt to implement the strategy over that next year.

In any scenario where the value brought by the consultant has more to do with adaptation and execution over time, ongoing coaching can be a powerful delivery method. Hopefully this overview of common consulting offers has given you a better feel for what it means to be a consultant.

When people ask the question, "What do consultants do? The following answer was fairly representative of many responses we received:. I wake up at 6am, get ready, and then listen to an audiobook on the way to the gym. I work out for about an hour and a half and then spend some time meditating and getting mentally focused for the day. At 10am, I begin working on my current client projects and go straight through pm, eating lunch along the way. Once the clock hits 5, I head back home and grab dinner.

Just like any business, independent consultants have to split their time and effort between generating new business and fulfilling the needs of their existing clients. The system we teach here at Consulting. I wake up at am and immediately go through my affirmations. Next is gym time, and then I make breakfast for the kids. The core of my work day is am to pm.

Client fulfillment is top priority during this time, but whenever I have extra hours available, I like to answer questions in the Consulting Community and help other consultants on their journey.

During the summer months, pm is family time. At 7pm, I either meet with my mentor or do 30 minutes of self-education in my field. From pm, I do more client fulfillment, sometimes a strategy session or two, and then planning for the next day.

Independent consultants often choose to spread their work out throughout the day rather than attempt to get everything done within a single, grinding stretch. Nathan Missaghi, Consulting. Its Friday, am, I get up, take a shower and groom myself.

I pop a k-pod in my Keurig and I get dressed. As Im drinking my coffee, Im already in traffic on the way to meet with my first client two streets south from my house.

We talk strategy as we review the numbers and data from the last 14 days marketing performance. He tells me he has 4 patients who signed up for Invisalign through my marketing efforts so far this month. We see what needs improving, and I speak with his front desk, making sure leads are being handled on time, and that everyone is getting serviced.

My job done, I move on to the next dentist on my client list. I head over to valet, get my E Class and hop on the freeway to Beverly Hills. Data never lies, and we leverage its insights to tweak campaigns and offers.

We want to study the market and see where leads are responding to our campaigns. Each of these accounts so far sounds like a far cry from the normal Tierney takes a cab or a car depending on what's easier. Deloitte covers all transportation expenses while he's on the road. Consultant: job description Consultants aim to improve an organisation's position or profile by helping to solve problems, manage change and improve efficiency. The workload of a consultant can be heavy.

Typical employers Qualifications and training Key skills Consultants offer advice and expertise to organisations to help them improve their business performance in terms of operations, profitability, management, structure and strategy. The projects you are involved in and the tasks you are given depend on the area you are working on, but general responsibilities include: conducting research, surveys and interviews to gain understanding of the business analysing statistics detecting issues and investigating ways to resolve them assessing the pros and cons of possible strategies compiling and presenting information orally, visually and in writing making recommendations for improvement, using computer models to test them and presenting findings to client implementing agreed solutions developing and implementing new procedures or training.

Typical employers of consultants Most management consultants are employed by international consultancy firms, professional services firms or strategy sections of financial organisations such as accountants.

Qualifications and training required A career in consulting is mostly open only to graduates. Key skills for consultants Commercial awareness Good numerical skills Attention to detail Analytical skills Excellent interpersonal skills Tact and persuasive ability Teamworking skills IT skills Good oral and written communication skills Self-motivation Foreign language abilities can also be useful.

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