Articles for consultants to watch trends, improve strategy, and manage the lifestyle
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Teamwork: Making the Inefficient, Efficient
Below are some practical ideas for improving team performance.
Mastering the Art of Persuasion in Consulting
Though there is a plethora of connotations and uses for persuasion, it's crucial for consultants to master this skill to survive their job. Whether it is in order to convince your clients or team mates of your ideas, or to sell yourself, as a consultant, you will need to know the following seven most efficient techniques for mastering the art of persuasion
Trends for Independent Consultants
More and more companies are hiring contractors to help them transform their business. This is not surprising. After all, if an organisation is aiming to reduce costs, it can hardly bring in even more full time employees to reduce those costs.
When Consultants Get Too Close To Their Clients...
Conventional wisdom says that you're better off if your client is your friend. Yet after many years in consulting, I tend to see some limitations to this assumption.
Managing Client Expectations
Understanding the risks of a project is just as important as understanding its costs, rewards, deadlines, or any other basic quality. In the long run, businesses can survive and thrive pursuing projects that could possibly fail but may be groundbreaking if they succeed. Explaining this to clients helps ground their expectations in reality.
Insider's Perspective to the Consulting Recruitment Process
Here is a summary of some aspects hiring firms look at and how they use it to make a decision.
Top 5 Reasons for Voluntary Turnover
Why are employees quitting their jobs in such a difficult economy? The top 5 reasons given by employees who quit their jobs in 2011
Pricing Billable Hours as a Consultant
How should Consultants charge their clients for their advising? Establishing the pricing of contracts is a determining factor for consulting firms as it will directly impact their positioning and bottom-line. Two key variables come into play: the hourly rate at which to bill clients and the structure of the contract.
The Joy and Sorrow of a Freelance Consultant
Recently I have left the management consultant firm that was my home for four years to become a freelance consultant. In this transition, I found that the lack of support that a large firm provides entails challenges I was unprepared for; making the gaps from excitement to frustration ever wider. Reflecting on my new found challenges, I was able identify four that I’m constantly struggling to address
Selling Yourself as a Consultant
On the beach or on board, fishing for new clients or on-site, a consultant’s main job is selling his skills and his ideas. It’s a matter of survival. We tend to get caught up in cases and forget the very basics of client seduction. Let’s return to the fundamentals.
The Best Ways to Efficiently Deal with Stress
I worked on getting smarter about stress-management and I came up with healthier alternatives.
10 Efficiency Killers for Consultants
Every consultant wants to be more efficient. Productivity allows us to tackle more problems, take on more clients, and make more money. While this may seem obvious, many consultants still get caught up in these 10 efficiency killers