Have you ever hired a Strategy consultant, only to feel deceived or disappointed with the result?

Sure there are many wonderful professionals out there with extensive strategy experience, but every once in a while you run into a few bad apples. These consultants can damage your firm's bid, wasting your time and money.

In this post, we'll go over how to avoid a predatory consultant and hire a great one.

Learn how to spot predatory consultants

Predatory consultants are easy to mark. They're like mercenaries. They parachute into a strategy situation and instantly start lobbing verbal grenades at the capture effort. They second-guess the Strategy outline, the Strategy manager, and other team members, often grazing company executives with the shrapnel.

When the going gets tough, they say things like, "I'd like to help with that, but it's outside my scope" or "Glad that's not my problem."

When possible, mercenaries ruthlessly stack a client's strategy effort with billable consultants, more than is necessary. They support multiple competitors on a single RFP, which many consider a conflict of interest.

Predatory consultants often ignore the client's best interest. For example, they fail to advise a client against puny strategy for which it has almost no chance of winning. They set up strategy processes and tools that the client didn't ask for, doesn't need, and far outpace the client's ability to maintain.

Look no further than this cautionary tale

This whole issue came into sharp focus not long ago, after an owner of a new small business complained that she had hired a consultant who oversold his expertise and customer knowledge, insisted on using a complicated document configuration program that no one but him understood, and burned through Ksh 40,000 on a strategy for a less-than- Ksh 1 million IT contract.

As it turned out, they didn't win the contract, thanks largely to a non-compliant submittal.

"There are people who prey on small businesses. You have to watch out for them," she said, adding that these consultant predators take advantage of their client's lack of Strategy knowledge.

Predatory consultants and companies increase the apprehension some companies feel when hiring outside consultants for Strategies. Rightly so.

Whether you're at a small business or a large contractor, here are 6 ways to make sure you hire a great strategy consultant.

1. Don't take a consultant's word for it.

Ask to see his or her resume and comprehensive list of strategies worked, which should include the names of previous clients (who can offer a recommendation). Personal references are not a credible source. Look for professional references. Most good consultants provide these up front, without even being asked.

At Key Solutions, we share our Strategy teams' resumes, strategies worked documents, and references. You can also check out a consultant's LinkedIn profile for a quick glance at their background and skillset.

2. Clearly define the consultant's work scope and budget.

Ask him or her to account for hours billed with daily summaries of activity. Again, good consultants usually do this as a matter of course, and regularly submit these activity summaries at the end of each week to keep the client apprised of strategy progress.

3. Stay involved in the strategy process.

With a what-do-they-know attitude, predatory consultants tend to shrug off input from clients. Good strategy consultants welcome it. Client interest and even participation in the strategy development process is not meddlesome or annoying, and a client should never be made to feel that way.

4. Look for flexibility in your strategy consultants.

Requests for Proposals (RFPs) often are fluid documents with changes in requirements, contract terms, page counts, submittal dates, you name it.

So strategy teams must be flexible enough to accommodate mid-stream changes. Their strategy processes and tools should be similarly flexible to fit within your company's infrastructure.

Look for consultants with broad experience who can, if called to, step outside their immediate area of responsibility and assist others in carrying other their strategy responsibilities. Of course, there are specialists for pricing volumes.

But good strategy consultants have demonstrated success in many areas of strategy development such as the technical and management volumes, past performance, resumes, small business participation, and others.

5. Look for consultants who have undergone strategy training.

When possible, try to hire strategy staff that has undergone training in strategy best practices. There are many organizations that offer training in the form of classes, webinars, and certifications. Certifications can provide an independent validation of strategy knowledge and a hiring baseline.

You can check for certifications or training courses on a consultant's resume or their LinkedIn profile.

6. Look for consultants with demonstrated leadership ability who also fit well within your company or team.

Not all consultants are hired to be strategy managers, who typically lead a strategy effort.

Many hired hands are Investment Analysts, Risk Analysts, Research Analysts, technical writers, editors, or graphic artists. But the qualities required for leadership are very similar to the qualities required for being a good follower: self-motivated and unflustered by conflicts and deadline pressure, ability to maintain a brisk tempo, ability to coordinate with and support others, ability to identify and fix potential problems before they can cause damage.

In Conclusion

In this line of work, clients run the gamut from those with extensive strategy experience and those with almost no experience. A good consultant appreciates your interest. A predatory consultant? Not so much.

In some strategy situations, the systems and processes are already set up and clients just need extra pairs of hands. For other situations, the client needs the strategy expertise and the extra pairs of hands. In those cases, look for consultants who are willing to teach you the ropes of strategy work, explaining the benefits of each process.

This article has been adapted from How To Hire a Great Proposal Consultant, written by Raymond Thibodeaux Aug 11, 2020.

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Author

Karumba Kinyua

Managing Partner

Published on April 20, 2021

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