1. IBC - Consultancy Purchasing Group Event
The Knowledgeable Buyer
10th November 2010
John Wellwood

2. 0845 070 2987
The Theme
• What are the characteristics of a good business
improvement consultant (and consultancy) and
how can procurement professionals validate
these traits effectively during the buying process?

3. 0845 070 2987
Problems for Buyers of Professional Services
• How to select, what makes one consultancy better than the others
• How do you find different consultancies
• How do you know if consultants and consultancies are effective
• We only meet the partners, or senior consultants but they don’t do the work
• Lack of time to assess and select consultants
• Inconsistent approaches; every consultancy will do it differently
• We don’t understand business improvement so how do we assess
• We don’t want to take risks in case you get it wrong but we want something
different
• Price is not a good measure of quality so what is?
• We are told which consultancy to use so can’t question it but if we did what
would we look for

4. 0845 070 2987
What are we going to discuss?
• Characteristics of a 100% Effective consultancy
firm
• Characteristics of a 100% Effective consultant
• How to validate a consultant and consultancy firm
• Summary of key issues

5. 0845 070 2987
Effective Business Improvement Consultancy
Outcomes
Results of
improvement
Projects
=
Quality of
the
Solutions
+
Acceptance of
the Organisation
Through use
of the right tools /
techniques
Through
effective
change mgt /
influencing

6. 0845 070 2987
Characteristics of a 100% Effective Consultancy
Firm – Their philosophy
• They want to pass on knowledge
ASAP and help the business
elsewhere
• Don’t only have one approach,
model or way of doing business.
They adapt their approach to the
client. Don’t say this is the only
way to improve your business
• They have excellent diverse
people, who they will let you meet
• They will put their money where
their mouth is - Guarantees of
some kind
• Know what they don’t know and
not afraid to say no. A good firm
will say if they can’t do something

7. 0845 070 2987
Characteristics of a 100% Effective Consultancy
Firm – Their History
• Excellent website which tells you
what you need to know about
them
• Reputation – there is information
about them and their key people
on the web
• Reputable past clients you can talk
to
• They measure quality in every
assignment and stress its
importance
• They have worked in a number of
different industries – why would
you want a consultancy firm with
limited experience?
• They have case studies or
examples of what they have done
in the past which is similar to your
culture.

8. 0845 070 2987
Types of Business Improvement Consultants
Influencing Skills
Technical
Skills
Effective
BIC
Technical
Experts
Showmen

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Characteristics of a 100% Effective Consultant –
Influencing Skills
• Ability to build rapport at all levels
• Excellent communicator
• Good listener
• Charisma
• Fantastic people skills
• You get on with them
• Great influencing skills

10. 0845 070 2987
Characteristics of a 100% Effective Consultant –
Technical Ability
• Do they understand your issues and culture
• Think on their feet
• Know their subject and can explain it in simple terms
• Have lots of war stories
• Have done it for themselves
• Have worked in a number of different industries
• Technical knowledge but also soft skills

11. 0845 070 2987
Characteristics of a 100% Effective Consultant –
Character
• Know what they don’t know and not afraid to ask for help
• Open and honest
• Willing and actively look to learn
• Do they challenge and question you

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Characteristics of a 100% Effective Business
Improvement Consultant
• Understand all the
improvement methodologies
and are not tied to one
methodology or model
• Not a purist
• Understand influencing and
change management
• Have run a number of projects
in different industries
• Can build effective teams
quickly

13. 0845 070 2987
What every professional buyer should know –
Validate Consultants
• Are they dedicated to one approach – six sigma or do they understand business
improvement
• Don’t believe it when they say they are qualified – Black Belts
• Ask them about their recruitment policy
• Remember not all consultants are excellent
• Don’t all have good people skills
• Ask about their utilisation figures
• Who will be delivering - the person you meet or junior consultants ask to meet them or
talk to them
• Sound credible
• Have they done it for real
• Ask about their last 3 assignments
• Do they understand your culture and have they worked in this environment
before?
• Have the ability to explain in simple terms

14. 0845 070 2987
What every professional buyer should know –
Validate the Firm
• Past clients / Case studies
• Reputations; have you seen or
heard of them, are they present on
the web
• Website
• Guarantees
• Flexibility
• Knowledge of subject
• Want to pass on knowledge
• Do they use their approach to
business improvement in their
own business
• Understand that the technical
aspect is the easy part
• Willing to say when and why things
went wrong
• Do they challenge you?
• Do they have the resources for the
assignment
• How do they obtain business?
• Quality – how do they measure
this? How have they done it in the
past?

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The Key Issues
• No quick answer – takes time and effort
• One approach is not better than any other, its
about business improvement
• Influencing skills make the difference
• Check the credentials
• Risk share
• Look beyond the showman – meet the
consultants

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The Key Issues
• Ensure all professional elements covered –
website, clients, background
• Effective consultants are experts, coaches,
trainers etc
• Its about implementation not report writing

17. IBC - Consultancy Purchasing Group Event
The Knowledgeable Buyer
10th November 2010
Thank You
John Wellwood