Recommendations for the Management Consultancy Firm - Research Paper Example

Management consultant Management consultant Identification of potential client organisations Identification of potential client organisations is the most primary necessity of a management consulting firm. To identify such clients, it is of utmost necessity to adopt proper research methods and tools by which such organisations having an urgent need of management consulting can be located. Such research helps to know the exact requirements of the client organisations and whether those needs can be met accordingly or not. Depending on the expertise possessed by the management consulting firm and evaluating the need of the companies, a management consulting firm identifies its potential client organisations. It is not possible for a management consulting firm to render services in a domain in which it has no expertise. This will not only create a bad reputation in the market about the consulting firm but it would also not be able to retain its customers. This might adversely affect its business prospects. So while choosing clients a management consulting firm needs to chalk out the areas where it can offer management solutions to its clients. Identification of potential client organisations can be effectively done by choosing proper market segmentation strategies based on the nature of services offered by the organisations, the type of product it manufactures, its market position and the overall size of the company. In order to attract clients, proper promotional strategies such as various forms of advertising, should be adopted by the management consultancy firm. The consultancy firm would decide on such strategies by identifying the areas where it has expertise. This can be done by undergoing a thorough internal research and will be followed by enlisting the nature of services offered by it to its clients, the type of solutions provided, whether it is solely IT based or they act as change consultants, or act as catalysts in triggering certain changes within an organisation. Such things should be specifically and clearly mentioned by the consultancy firm so that in future it does not result in ambiguity. This information would help the client organisations to understand the nature of services provided by the management consultancy firm and if they feel that their need matches with the expertise of the consultancy firm, then they would seek its help. Moreover, seminars on common management problems, which may be faced by most of the organisations, and the possible solutions to mitigate its effect, would help the management consultancy firm to attract increasing number of clients. The management consultancy firm needs to be up to date with the changes that are occurring in the area where it proposes to offer solutions so that it can earn the trust and the confidence of its clients. To make a more profound effect on the potential clients, the management consultancy firm must hire external experts to express their point of view on a common problem area faced by most organisations and this can be followed by a junior consultant's presentation in support of the views expressed(Kolli S., 2000.). This would help the consultancy firm to convey the message to its clients that it is capable of providing the necessary solutions needed to help the client organisation register higher growth. To identify potential clients, being a management consultant, the help of various directories would be taken. These directories gives an overview of the type of business that the potential client organisations are presently in and provides the address and the contact details to the consultancy firm. This acts as a guide for the consultancy firm to reach its clients and find out whether any type of consulting services is required by them or not. Management consultancy had become a need of almost every organisation which wants to cope with the changing needs of the business scenario. The roles played by the consultancies usually differ from being just a catalyst, to being a mentor or a collaborator. As pointed out by Flemming Poulfelt and Kari Lilja that "management consulting, especially within small and medium- sized firms, is increasingly being delivered via a network of relationships." (Buono A. F., 2001.). The success of a consultancy firm depends on the type of solutions that it can offer and whether they can meet the client's requirements and the relationship it shares with the clients (Thommen J. P. and Richter A., 2004.). Sometimes, management consultancy firms are regarded as partners by the organisations with which they are associated for years. It should always be remembered that in a service industry, it is of utmost importance to provide a good service to the existing clients as that not only strengthens the market reputation of a firm but in the long term these existing clients become one of the most important sources of attracting other clients. If an existing client is satisfied with the services offered by the consultancy firm, then not only they would refer other organisations to avail the services of the consultancy firm, if they require at that point of time, but would also act as advertisers for the consultancy firm. So, it is always advised that care should be taken while offering services to an existing client as a satisfied client helps in attracting other clients. Publications, written in a professional approach, to a large extent form a vital tool for attracting potential clients (Kolli S., 2000.). Articles and various newsletters will be written on the core domain of expertise possessed by the management consultancy firm and will be published in leading business journals and magazines. This would help the potential client organisations to be aware of the type of services provided by the consultancy firm and would act as a strong medium for attracting them. To have a more profound impact, the consultancy firm must on a periodical basis publish pamphlets which would talk about the successful projects that the firm has accomplished till date and would highlight the expertise that the consultancy firm possesses. This would help the potential clients to understand the type of services that the firm offers and they would be attracted to become actual clients of the consultancy firm, if they are seeking a similar type of solution. The type of journals and publications where such articles would be published must be chosen meticulously, after conducting a survey to understand which business journal or magazine is most widely read by the client organisations at large. This would help the consultancy firm to reach a larger audience which would increase the possibility of these organisations to become clients of this consultancy firm. Being in a fast paced business environment, Internet would be used as one of the most powerful weapon to reach the potential clients and attract them accordingly (Kolli S., 2000.). The consultancy firm can identify some potential clients and can email them about the services offered by them which would help the client organisations to meet the challenges of the market. These techniques, if properly used, would help the management consultancy firm to identify and thereby attract a huge number of client organisations. This would help it to generate business and strengthen its market reputation. Measures of turning potential client organisations into actual clients After the initial stage of identifying potential client organisations and thereby adopting suitable strategies of attracting such clients, measures should be taken to convert such potential clients into actual clients. As the consultancy firm has advertised the nature of services provided by them, it would help the firm to attract the attention of large number of customers seeking similar kind of solutions. If the problem faced by the client organisation and the solutions offered by the consultancy firm match each other, then these potential clients would turn into actual clients of the consultancy firm. In order to do so, the management consultancy firm should be able to gain the trust and confidence of the potential clients. This can be done by giving referrals of companies in which the consultancy firm in the past has delivered solutions which have led to the rapid growth of the organisation and that organisation presently shares strong ties with the consultancy firm. The management consultancy firm needs to build its niche in the industry by being a firm which offers services in the most cost-effective manner despite providing top class business solutions with the help of experts. The firm needs to convince its potential clients that it would provide such services within the stipulated time frame and such solutions would help the organisation to ensure greater growth and higher productivity. The company needs to give examples of the type of services that it had provided in the past and the way those services have helped the companies to improve their existing operations. This would help the potential clients to estimate the market reputation of the consultancy firm and they would be eager to become actual clients of the organisation. The consultancy firm needs to adopt promotional strategies in order to build its brand in the market and suitable measures by which it can shape the perception of the organisations accordingly. The consultancy firm needs to develop tailor made solution packages which would be able to meet the needs of the client organisations. The consultancy firm can build its edge by offering customised solutions to each organisation depending on the nature of business challenges or complexities faced by them. Such solutions will also be developed by estimating the size of the organisation, its organisational culture, its structure and the type of products or services offered by the organisation. This would convince the organisation that they are being offered a business solution which is unique and will not be provided to the other organisations. So, that would again help the consultancy firm to gain the trust of the organisations. Moreover, the consultancy firm needs to advertise about the additional benefits that it offers in comparison to the other consultancy firms. The consultancy firm needs to build up a strong team of management consultants by providing them the necessary training from time to time in order to remain update and provide the latest solutions to the clients (Lancaster G., 2005.). The consultancy firm needs to identify the best practices that are offered in the market and they need to build their expertise in such domains. Measures should be adopted to ensure that obsolescence of human capital can be prevented. It should be duly acknowledged that the success of a consultancy firm depends on the expertise possessed by its management consultants and the marketing professionals. So, proper training should be given to the staff in order to meet market standards. Otherwise, the consultancy firm can lose clients and this can affect the future business prospects of the company. To sustain in the competitive environment, the consultancy firm needs to adopt modern techniques and processes by which it can provide one of the best services to the client organisations which are seeking solutions in the areas where the consultancy firms has been able to build an expertise. To turn the potential clients into actual clients, the consultancy firm needs to highlight its competitive advantages and the benefits that the organisations would gain with the help of its services. It must be understood by the consultancy firm that in order to increase its clients base, it needs to strengthen its marketing strategies as that would help it to attract more and more clients and convert them into actual clients. The consultancy firm should adopt proper mechanisms to reach its clients. It should undergo a thorough research about the type of problems that the potential clients generally face. This would help them to identify the areas where they need to build their expertise as that would help them to gain the trust and the confidence of the client organisations. The consultancy firm should adopt strategies by which they can effectively manage time and provide simple fool-proof solutions which would help the organisations to easily adopt such solutions and implement them in their respective organisations. Complexities should be avoided. Simple strategic solutions should be provided .If necessary the management consultants should act as guides and render constant support to the organisation so that they are able to bring about the necessary alterations needed in order to implement the change process successfully. Strategic interventions like simulation training can be suggested to the organisations so that the change process can be ideally implemented. To become successful, the management consultancy firm should constantly adopt processes and techniques by which it can update the skill base of the management consultants. Suitable strategies should be identified to ensure that the consultancy firm is able to strengthen its market reputation which forms one of the major criteria for the consultancy firm to attract potential clients. The firm should always adopt measures by which it can strengthen the ties with the existing clients and meet their requirements as and when necessary as they are one of the major sources who play a vital role in determining the future prospects of the consultancy firm. References Buono A. F., 2001. Current trends in management consulting. IAP Kolli S., 2000. Management Consulting Essentials. Research & Education Assoc. Lancaster G., 2005. Research methods in management: a concise introduction to research in management and business consultancy. Butterworth-Heinemann Thommen J. P. and Richter A., 2004. Management consulting today: strategies for a challenging environment. Gabler Verlag Bibliography Czerniawska F. and May P., 2006. Management Consulting in Practice: A Casebook of International Best Practice Kogan Page Publisher Kubr M., 2002. Management consulting: a guide to the profession. International Labour Organisation Sadler P., 2001. Management consultancy: a handbook for best practice. Kogan Page Publishers Read More