I once heard an interesting classification of salespeople: hunters and farmers. Hunters quickly acquire new clients and, once the deal is closed, move on to the pursuit of new ones. Unlike them, farmers take their time courting a client, investing considerably more time in building relationships than hunters. Often, these efforts are rewarded by farmers gaining clients for life.
I don't want to delve deeply into sales strategies here – I'm personally fond of a varied diet, and depending on goals, I can go hunting, but I also enjoy growing clients. However, let's move on to consultants and I'll pose this question: is it good for a client when the same consultant (by "consultant", I mean a consulting team) works with a client for a long time (3-5 years and maybe longer)?
Notice: I'm not questioning what is better for a consultant. We can weigh the pros and cons (transaction costs, predictable revenues, specialization, etc.). I'm primarily talking about the benefit for a client.
So: is it beneficial or harmful for a company to use the same consultants for an extended period?
My answer – it’s harmful.
- Pareto utility. At the beginning of the engagement, the value to a client is delivered very intensively. The consultant (due to their position) looks at the problem with fresh eyes and provides unique ideas. Even if classical, proven methods are applied, the adage “there’s no prophet in his own land” becomes entirely applicable with new consultants at full power. And note, the consultant also puts their best effort forward. As time passes, this chemistry fades. Everyone relaxes a bit, and if you've noticed this, the moment to say goodbye has been missed.
- Efficiency. Consultants are more efficient than the client's employees. I've seen it numerous times – the speed of progress towards the goals of a consulting project or a program is determined not by a consultant's productivity, but by the client's ability to perceive and implement recommendations. If it concerns culture and strategic behavior, the changes can take years. Clients can operate intensively for a shorter period, but then it's time to close out the contract and step aside, giving the client room to do their job and settle in at a new height.
- Addiction. Do I need to explain that as consultants learn more about a company, its strengths, and weaknesses, it broadens the field for manipulation? I've encountered consultants whose strategy is to subjugate the client completely by establishing persistent reflexes like "Problem? Call consultant! Urgent!" Hopefully, you won't encounter such individuals.
- Cross-pollination. This effect was noted by my Key Decisions partner, Alexander Kulizhsky. He said that consultants are like bees, working hard at each client, but as they flit from flower to flower, they transfer the best practices and ideas (of course, without going into a conflict of interest), draw analogies and identify trends. The more transitions there are from client to client, the higher the cross-pollination effect.
- Focus. If a consultant works with clients on long, continuous contracts, I guarantee that they will have several active clients at any given time. The quality of problem-solving for each separate client dramatically falls. A consultant will always find something to say or to draw on a slide, but they will act reactively, responding to the client's actions, preserving their energy for side engagements.
Is there anything valuable for a client in a long-term relationship with a consultant? I would only highlight specialization, developing industry-expertise – the deeper they go, the less time a consultant spends on understanding the "specifics" of a company and its business. Does this outbalance the downsides that I've listed above? Judge for yourself.
In conclusion, I want to underline a very important point. Short engagements do not mean a permanent goodbye to a client once a project is over. As I’ve said, when a client “does their job”, implements recommendations, and perhaps encounters problems of a new quality, you may work together again: intensively and productively.
And, if we return to the perks for consultants, I assure you, in such case-by-case contracts, the price tag for a consultant is much nicer compared to indefinite “subscriber agreements”.
Have you ever contemplated this topic? What kind of relationship between a client and a consultant do you prefer and why?
Innovations analyst at Innocentive, Inc
10 个月In my consulting practice, an important aspect was the speed of a qualified consultant's response to a client's request. It matters to the client what qualifications the consultant has. Can he convince the client of his own qualifications and the quality of the proposed solution? In the technology companies that I advised, the customer's confidence in the feasibility of the proposed solution was very important. At that time, the client base grew due to the interpersonal exchange of clients among themselves, when they shared their work experience with a consultant.