We bring perspective. Because we have worked across lots of different industries we bring outside ideas into industries. Often they have always done it a certain way and we can bring new ideas and make major break-throughs.
We bring specialist expertise to the client’s business. They can rent this knowledge and skill, rather than having people there full time.
There is a saying that “you are never a prophet in your own land”. What this means is that people who are close to you often don’t take your ideas seriously, no matter how good that idea might be.
Often we can come in tell the organisation something that someone has been trying to get through for years – and they accept what we say straight away and get on with it.
Is this fair? No, but it does mean that the job gets done.
We add horsepower. Your team are normally flat out doing their day job. As such, projects often get pushed to the back of the queue and are either slow, late or don’t happen at all.
We can get things moving and can get some momentum behind the project. We recently did a project in 4.5 months where others had taken between 18 months and 2 years to do the same thing. This saves everyone involved time and money.
It’s a bit like turbo-charging your team.
We use consultants too. We need someone guiding and mentoring us on a regular basis and to help us through projects.
Isn’t this our job to do this stuff? Isn’t this what we are paid to do?
You get paid to get results, not do stuff. It’s about outcomes, not inputs.
Particularly for senior leaders in an organisation, your job is to get results not do the tasks.
Aren’t we the experts?
You can’t be an expert at everything. It’s a bit like you might be an expert rally driver, but you don’t need to be an expert mechanic or know how to tweak the engine.
We are like adding a turbo-charger to your team. Better results and better outcomes. More power for the same sized engine.
Doesn’t this make me look weak?
No, it makes you look strong.
Leaders delegate and control the outcomes.
Weak people hang onto everything and are therefore limited by their own time and ability. As such they can only control a small organisation.
Don’t consultants cost too much and add costs? Aren’t they expensive?
Yes, some are. And some people hire those consultants because it makes them feel important.
But it’s all about value. Is spending $10k to get a $20k return better than spending $100k to get a $1m return. No.
Sometimes we have seen organisations try and save $10k and then something goes wrong and it costs them $100k or more. Remedial costs, risks, embarrassment, loss of credibility. It goes on and on.
This is largely about getting it right first time.
The cost is often from not getting advice and help. It’s a bit like putting cheap oil in a modern car. It’s false economy. It might not hurt to put cheap oil in the Morris Minor, but it will if you put it in the new Toyota.
Isn’t this spending money we don’t need to?
Again this is about focussing on results and outcomes, not actions and inputs.
If a project is worth doing, it is because it is adding value, or reducing costs. As such, the quicker you get it done the quicker you get the benefits.
What if we have fixed budgets?
We need to eliminate waste and find better ways of doing things. These need to be break-thoughs to have a significant impact on the business.
I’m too busy to engage a consultant - won’t this add to my workload?
Of course it will take a bit of effort to engage a consultant. But this can be a short discussion. We have had 5 minute conversations with a new client and solved something they have been grappling with for months. This is just because we have been there before and done that.
We are fast and effective and we can hit the ground running. We don’t have to go through weeks of inductions and coming up to speed. We have done this before.
We can give you specific examples where we have done this, countless times.
But will this reduce my workload?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Normally good people are busy and their time is full. The key is to be busy doing better things.
Strategy instead of detail.
This is a bit like – you tell us what weight you want the organisation to be. Then we do the running (in the rain), weight training and press-ups.
