Strategic Consulting: Tools and Methods for Successful Strategy Missions

by Philippe Chereau and Pierre-Xavier Meschi

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Strategic Consulting: Tools and Methods for Successful Strategy Missions

Chapter 8: Conclusion
© The Author(s) 2018
P. Chereau, P.-X. Meschi, Strategic Consulting, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-64422-6_8

8.1 The Conditions for a Successful Strategic Consulting Mission

In 1983, Larry E. Greiner and Robert O. Metzger[1] wrote "management consulting is an advisory service contracted for and
provided to organizations by specially trained and qualified persons who assist, in an objective and independent manner, the
client organization to identify management problems, analyse such problems, recommend solutions to these problems, and
help, when requested, in the implementation of solutions."

The notion of "advisory" suggests that although consultants are responsible for the quality of their recommendations, they are
certainly not there to replace the client company's management and they have no formal authority. "Objectivity and
independence" require that they have no financial, administrative, political or affective relationship with the client. "Trained and
qualified" means that, beyond their individual competences and experience, consultants rely on methodologies, tools and
knowledge specific to the business of strategic consulting.

This description is still true today and highlights all the complexity of a mission in strategy consulting. It is complex for
companies that will likely face resistance to change from members of their organisations. It is also complex for consultants, who
must put the interests of the client company before all other considerations, without losing sight of their own objectives—or
those of their employer. The consultant's objective is, therefore, to carry out the mission efficiently (providing the client with
detailed and tangible deliverables) and effectively (respecting or optimising the workload schedule). Given the cost of acquiring
clients, generating repeat business is also particularly important.

The client company resorts to strategy consulting because of explicit or implicit needs. Explicit needs have to do with the
problems directly encountered by the company in terms of its strategy vis a vis interactions with its external environment (its
choices of market, positioning . . .) and towards managing and developing its resources so that it can implement this strategy
(growth options, business model, SBU portfolio . .). In this situation, the company calls on a consultant because it considers its
internal resources to be insufficient or thinks the challenges and their solutions cannot be viewed objectively from inside the
organisation.

Quite apart from such explicit needs, a company may decide to resort to the services of a consulting agency for more indirect
reasons. These may relate to the need to justify a decision that has already been taken—here an expert opinion from outside
can help to counter possible internal conflicts. In this case, the CEO can add weight to his/her decision by rationally spelling
out the state of play, providing objective scenarios of development or using coherent arguments for taking new opportunities.

Managing the client/consultant relationship is of major importance in conducting a mission. For Anthony C. Griffin,[2] this
relationship is subject to numerous dilemmas linked to the authenticity of the facts (the facts are clear and expressed by both
the consultant and the client) and the consultant's credibility (technical and interpersonal expertise). Griffin lists different
dilemmas that are regularly encountered in strategy consulting missions and suggests various solutions, as shown below.

Dilemmas Responses
The client is not one, but several people, all of whom may Convince the main actor (the one who will make the final decision) of the
have slightly differing objectives advantage of setting out the objectives of all the stakeholders involved
Get the client to create a steering committee for the mission project, involving the
main stakeholders
The client is either passive or wants to run everything, Explain clearly that the objectives cannot be reached if the client does not
preventing the smooth running of mission cooperate. Try a different approach
Refocus the objectives (and possibly the mission budget) according to the client's
behaviour and agree on these new objectives
The company personnel are uncooperative, putting obstacles Identify those who are blocking the project and ask for their opinions on key points
in the mission's way to help them contribute
Ask the client to change these people for more cooperative members, who have
equal legitimacy
The client has hidden agendas and does not act upfront Model authentic behaviour to the client explaining the problems and letting him/her
towards the mission know that hidden agendas will be damaging for the mission
Remind the client of the mission's objectives and ask for explicit confirmation that
the client shares the
Expectations for results are too high, given the means Before beginning the project, adjust either the objectives or the budget
allocated by the client company (personnel, budget) Have regular reviews of the mission's progress and make sure commitments are

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Strategic Consulting: Tools and Methods for Successful Strategy Missions

Dilemmas Responses
respected
The company's everyday operational priorities conflict with Meet the relevant managers and explain why their contribution and experience as
those of mission "practitioner" is essential to the mission's quality.
Fix complementary strategic and operational priorities and make sure of the
commitment of actors involved
The consultant does not have control over the way the Make sure that the respective responsibilities and contributions are clearly set out
mission is carried out in the contract with the company
Explain the risk of being "told what to do" (this type of client/consultant relationship
will have an adverse effect on the deliverables)
(Re)clarify the roles and responsibilities of each party

These dilemmas and their responses are mainly related to the mission's specifications. It is therefore advisable to refer to these
whenever necessary. A strategic consulting mission cannot be thought out, formalised, negotiated or conducted efficiently
without such specifications. The budget proposal should serve as a contractual and methodological frame of reference that is
shared by the consultant and the client company.

[1]Greiner Larry E. and Metzger Robert O., Consulting to Management, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1983.

[2]Griffin Anthony C. "Maintaining Authenticity and Credibility", Consulting to Management, vol. 12, no 3, 2001, p.21–24.

8.2 How to Sell a Consulting Mission

8.2.1 Approaching Clients and Building Legitimacy

Whatever triggered the initial contact with the client company (direct prospection, incoming call for a consulting proposal, call
for tender, recommendation from a third party), the relationship between the company and the consultant will be set by this first
contact if the mission is agreed. Indeed, this will be the first opportunity for the consultant to establish a real relationship with
the client, confirm his/her credibility and build legitimacy.

The first rule is to think of this first contact as an integral part of the mission. This is a limited and very useful risk for both the
consultant and the client company. Indeed, even if the contract has not been signed, both parties can benefit from this first
exchange. Clients gain information about the state of the art of tools and methods of strategic management, while consultants
can access information on the industry from the "field" and promote their expertise by relating it to the client company's context.

Starting with the idea that the first contact must be win-win, consultants should try to lead the discussion—a more comfortable
position—by respecting the following principles:

Reiterate the context of the meeting (it is always useful and often relevant to recall what initially triggered the meeting).

Briefly present the objectives of the meeting and the (generic) value proposition on offer. This could be a long experience
(but a short explanation) in the client company's industry, the consulting team's rare capabilities, proprietary tools and
methods that have helped other clients, which could also benefit this potential client.

Rapidly focus the discussion on the company's challenges and put the client "to work": ask about his/her priorities, the
contingences of the business, the challenges facing the industry and the company, any previous experience of outside
consulting and the outputs from the company's standpoint. The objective of these exchanges is to obtain detailed
information from the client's words and use this verbatim as the basis for the budget proposal for the mission.

Refer to the challenges mentioned by the company point by point and give some possible responses or services that the
consulting firm could provide. The objective of this detailed review is to show the client that the consultant knows how to
listen and understands the company and its context as a whole. It serves to reassure the client that the consultant can
provide some or all of the solutions to the problems mentioned.

By this point, the consultant should have aroused the client's interest and the client should be asking for a detailed
consulting proposal on the specific points discussed. This is also the stage where the consultant should be able to find
out the limits of the budget allocated to the mission (or at least how important the subject is for the company).

Remind the client of the specific items the proposal will cover, let the client know any complementary information he/she
will need to provide for the proposal and an approximate date when the consultant will be ready to present it (it is always
better to explain the detailed proposal face to face).

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Strategic Consulting: Tools and Methods for Successful Strategy Missions

This initial meeting is crucial for both parties. It allows the client company to set out all the challenges it faces and might also
point to the need for outside resources to deal with some of these. The consultant will have given the client a taste of
methodological know-how, "whetting their appetite" for more. Through questioning the client, the consultant will also have
measured the client's explicit and implicit needs to adapt the budget proposal to the company's internal context.

8.2.2 Drawing Up the Mission Budget Proposal

The quality of the budget proposal depends on three things. First, to a large extent it depends on the quality of information
gathered during the initial meeting described above (this should have allowed the consultant to offer a contextualised
response); second, it depends on the description of the methodology, tools and competences that the consultant will use to
analyse, assess, diagnose, plan scenarios and potentially implement the company's strategy. Finally, the quality of the proposal
also depends on the potential value the client attaches to the mission's deliverables. Depending on the mission's complexity,
setting out the budget proposal may require several competences and sometimes take several days of work.

We suggest dividing the proposal into nine parts:

1. The table of contents

2. The context of the mission

3. The client request(s)

4. The consulting firm's value proposition

5. The mission content

6. The mission team

7. The mission budget and timeframe

8. The consulting firm's references

9. The conditions of the contract

1. The table of contents. A summary of how the proposal is organised makes it easier for the client to understand and
shows, at a glance, the soundness of the approach. This promise of high quality content must of course be demonstrated
in the rest of the proposal with each part being contextual-ised in the document given to the client.

2. The context of the mission. Here the consultant can arouse the client's interest in collaborating and sharing the
company's resources with those of the consulting firm for the sake of the mission's success. Giving a detailed description
of the context, opportunities, threats, strategic orientations and organisational components, and expressing these as often
as possible in the CEO's own words, should get the client to think: "this consultant has really understood our company
and our objectives. He/she will know how to put him/herself in our shoes because he/she talks our language." Indeed, the
first justification the CEO will put forward in accepting the proposal is that the consultant completely understands the
company's context.

3. The client's request(s). This part of the proposal makes explicit the client company's request and the mission's
objectives. Here, the consultant fixes the boundaries of the consultation (which strategic orientations to explore, which
markets and strategic business units to study, which divisions of the company are involved.). The consultant asks key
questions that the mission will answer and formalises the expected results in terms of deliverables.

4. The value proposition. At this stage of the proposal, the consultant describes the ad hoc offer that will respond to the
client's key demands. He/she formalises the main steps of the mission and how it will answer these, and highlights the
competences (business and industry expertise) and resources (databases, partner networks.) that will be used for the
mission. Here the consultant shows that although robust tools and methods will be used, the approach is specific and
focused on the client company's objectives.

5. The mission content. This is the heart of the proposal. It contains the different stages of the mission, describing each
one's content, and how it will be implemented, according to the same framework:

the objectives of the stage: the question to be answered;

the methodology: the action plan to respond to the question;

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the tools used: the analytic tools on which conclusions are based;

the teams involved: who does what on the consultant's/client's side;

the deliverables: the finished product provided at the end of the stage.

The level of detail is very important. It serves as a set of specifications common to client and consultant teams during the
mission.

6. The mission team. This describes the members of the consulting team. Here, members' qualifications and experience in
the company's industry should be described as well as the type of missions they have undertaken. This lends credibility
and legitimises the choice of the individuals involved. The proposal should also detail the roles and responsibilities of
each consultant and the team's managerial process (who runs the team and the hierarchy among members).

7. Mission budget and timeframe. This part of the proposal must be well prepared and clearly presented. All consultants
have seen clients who leaf through a proposal then go straight to the budget to "get an idea." Hours of work can be
wasted if the budget does not reflect the quality and quantity of resources involved. The budget must therefore clearly
point out the title and objective of each stage of the mission. It must detail the number of days' work involved for each
stage, the budget and the timeframe for implementing the recommendations. For this last item, the consultant should take
care to mention that keeping to the time frame would also depend on the client's availability.

8. References. Referring to similar types of missions with the same challenges allows the client to connect the proposal
with real cases. We suggest making these references anonymous. This shows the client that his/her business will also be
dealt with confidentially and highlights that the consultant's priority is the mission's success, not the client's potential
"calibre."

9. Contractual conditions. This final section of the proposal fixes the contractual rules of both parties' mutual engagement.
It contains traditional clauses of service provider's contracts such as: types of service, engagements of each party,
launching conditions; start date; early exit clauses, force majeure, confidentiality, contract termination; disputes and
litigation, and terms of payment.

Constructing a consulting proposal requires particular attention. The proposal demonstrates both the consulting firm's expertise
and professionalism; it serves to promote the offer and is a sort of prototype of what the mission will consist of and how client
and consultant will work together.

The client/consultant relationship is central to the mission's success and the budget proposal must reflect this. Indeed, a
consulting mission is an experience of mutual transfer of know-how, cross-fertilisation and good practices. The consultant's
explanations as to how he/she works will be evidence of these. In this sense, the budget proposal is an invitation for sincere
cooperation based on shared methodologies, tools and knowledge.

Notes
1. Greiner Larry E. and Metzger Robert O., Consulting to Management, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1983.

2. Griffin Anthony C. "Maintaining Authenticity and Credibility", Consulting to Management, vol. 12, no 3, 2001, p. 21–24.

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