6. • Hard and soft Skills in expert level
• In-depth and broad Knowledge
• Positive and constructive Attitude
• Network, network, network: client,
contact, resources, partner
• In the end, consultant shall provide expert
advice in particular or a wide range of fields
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Image courtesy of Matthew Norris
8. • Ideally, identify which type of consulting field
where the diamond is
• If not, at those early days, determine specific
area(s) of consulting that
at the most
• Passion first, expertise (shall) follow suit
• Might decide to start with general consulting
• Later stage
to attain clients with specific needs
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Image courtesy of Patrick van der Pijl
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9. • Next: Which
segment are we
going to play?
• Micro, Small,
Medium, Big –
we decide
• Set the industry
we put our
priority at. Try to
in-line with our
background and
expertise
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Image courtesy of Patrick van der Pijl
11. • Stay as a professional,
self-employed, or move it
forward. Cast our vote!
• Comfort zone is
everywhere
• To grow bigger day in and
day out, take the risk as
long as we could manage
it
• Start a consulting firm
right away. Period.
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Image courtesy of Accumulate
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12.
13. Try to Do this Exercise First
• Ask ourselves once again, do we really want to
become an entrepreneur?
• If yes, then decide: be a single fighter or go along
with co-founder(s)
• Do market research by:
– Scouting out similar consultants in our area
– Finding out expertise and services offered
– Figuring out their prices and marketing schemes
• When completed, then:
– What differ us from rivals: quality of deliverable, more
reasonable fee, faster execution and completion (?)
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14. …Let’s reaffirm ourselves by programming these
words until they are sublimed
“You say I dream too big. I say
you think too small.”
15. Upon Completion then…
• Decide source of funds: bootstrapped or?
• Name our business. Memorable but not
tacky
• Establish our company profile (objectives,
goals, mission, vision, values)
• Choose legal structure for our venture
• Craft a business plan. Not only for us but for
investor as well
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16. Upon Completion then…(cont’d)
•
•
•
•
•
Consider costs and funds for first year as a start
Obtain proper licenses
Start to set-up office
Prepare for office supply, equipment, resources
Define company policies, processes and
procedures. Formalize them upon completion
• Consider to form and think further of separating
management from governance
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Image courtesy of Avasant
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17. Start Too Early Only If…
• Blue Ocean as Bulls-Eye
• To win the mind share
• Have adequate funds and
persistence to struggle and survive
• Able and willing to grab other projects
to sustain the business
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Image courtesy of Peter Nijenhuis
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19. Market Our Service
• Attend event, mingle and network with others
• Actively contribute for respective organization
and association
• Write at particular publications
• Deliver lecture, training and workshop
• Speak ourselves out at seminar and conference
• Obtain advanced degree, accreditation and
certification
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Image courtesy of Jean Pierre Dalberra
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20. Market Our Service (cont’d)d)
• Capitalize on internet (blog, social network, any
other digital channels)
• Ask for referrals
• Give token for leads
• Offer low price services or more extremely free
to build up reputation
Bottom line
Make ourselves and expertise heard and read
(validated, acknowledged, recognized)
Image courtesy of Nanagyei
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21. Improve, Enhance and Boost Our Expertise
•
•
•
•
•
•
Reading
Practicing
Training
Education
Self-studying
….and many more
Cutting the case:
Internet and MOOC rock!
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Image courtesy of iangrieveson
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23. Better Start with Small
• Always dream BIG with our
feet
GROUNDED
• Start off with smaller paying clients
• Always eager to go for larger ones ASAP
• Don’t grow too fast unless we have “solid
back office”
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Image courtesy of Goutama Bachtiar
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24.
25. Be Pragmatic at Early Stage
• Going to where the money flows
• Affordable office: garage, virtual
office, co-working space as
options
• Host meeting at our client’s office
or public service
• Keep a healthy working capital
• Think of rolling out Stock Option
Plan (Why not?)
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26. The Time We Sign a Client the Day
We Start…Losing Them
• “Difficult” client is not an option
• Watch high churn rate out. No renewal
= (epic) fail?
• Be flexible. Do anything possible to
keep them
• Ad-hoc call or visit might needed to
ensure things going on the right way
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27. We are Worth Every Penny, So Show
Them the (Hidden) Money!
• Don’t we ever take crap from
clients; Nothing personal really
• Show them NUMBERS or any
other key metrics esp. financial
figures e.g ROI, NPAT, etc
• Bring in more money by
attaining more revenue or
reducing cost than “our price”
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Image courtesy of Maclufus
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28. Well oh Well, Dress up Please…
• The better we dress, the
higher of consulting rate
we can ask for
• This is to show potential
clients we are successful
• Boost our confidence
• Client will expect us to
bring same success to
their company
• Try it and see the result
Image courtesy of Alexander Rentsch
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30. Set Expectations from Day ONE
• Document important things, particularly
request for changes
• Get the approval as necessary
• Deliverable meets expectation = satisfied
• Raise the bar by always try to exceeds them
• Unrealistic expectations? Silence is not
golden here. Let the clients know why
• Refer other venture if needed
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Image courtesy of Andrew Evans
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31. Keep Them Happy from Time to Time
• Weekly updates telling what have you been
doing and addressing any questions raised
• Monthly reports. Graph and other forms of
visuals is worth a try
• Do follow-up by discussing it in an in-person
meeting
• Surveys – periodically and when project
completed by drawing specific questions,
both open and closed
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Image courtesy of Martin Fisch
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32. Keep Them Happy from Time to Time (cont’d)
• Send industry
updates and
news regularly
• Go further, do
anything to
makes them feel
special
• They could be
KING or
PARTNER
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33. Our Clients are always Right, EXCEPT…
• Keep “the door” opened by letting clients tell
what they want
• They shouldn’t tell us what we should be
doing
• Telling the client what is the best. We have
the expertise they don’t have, right?
• It’s a winding road thou. Prepare data to
back up what we want to do and show how it
fits at its best for them
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Image courtesy of Erik Hersman
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34. The More We Charge, The Less They
Complain
• Big clients have deep pocket so big spending
is no big deal
• They know that if they want to continue to
grow, they have to spend money
• Messing up with smaller clients, most
probably they don’t have enough money for
“switching costs”
• In most cases, the less we charge, well, it’s
too good to be true
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Image courtesy of David Goehring
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35. Clients to Pay Less For More
• No bunch of case studies nor years of
experience? Take it easy
• Figure out what separates our consulting
company from the giants
• If we show we are better than the bigger
ones, we will lock them in
• Clients always love to pay and work with
senior consultants rather than bigger firms’
junior’s
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Image courtesy of Surian Soosay
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36. • Our
strategy defines how we
uniquely and persistently
deliver value to our clients
• It's all about them, not us. It
always will.
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