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The Consultant's Handbook: A Practical Guide to Delivering High-value and Differentiated Services in a Competitive Marketplace
Delivers the essential practical skills needed to consult and make sharp, well prepared interactions in a wide range of business situations This comprehensive handbook covers the fundamental skills and attitudes required by successful consultants from novice to practitioner level, irrespective of their specialist area. It untangles the key variables present in any consulting service and introduces practical ways to improve their effectiveness based upon the author's experience of helping consulting organisations to develop and excel in the marketplace. The book explores consulting 'from the ground up' steering away from theory and focusing instead on practical application, providing a solid platform upon which to build further domain-specific competence.
The Consultant's Handbook provides:
An understanding of the key variables that can be addressed in order to improve one's own consulting performance A set of simple practices that can be implemented with immediate benefit to the reader Practical insight into day-to-day real life consulting interactions Confidence to implement the new ideas and approaches
The Consultant's Handbook provides:
An understanding of the key variables that can be addressed in order to improve one's own consulting performance A set of simple practices that can be implemented with immediate benefit to the reader Practical insight into day-to-day real life consulting interactions Confidence to implement the new ideas and approaches
240 pages, Hardcover
First published May 21, 2015
31 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 23, 2018
Establish your credibility by carefully positioning yourself and be the client's trusted advisor.
Engagements: Introduction + Context & What are the issues we're trying to solve + Summary & next steps.
-> Structure + Flexibility to answer questions brought up by the client; Make sure to address the points raised by the client even if they're not on your initial agenda.
Use logical trees to drill down and find solutions to problems, with MECE branches.
Proposals: Exec summary (condensed version of the proposal) + Intro (Outlines overall structure of proposal) + Body (Problem at hand and how you're going to tackle it) + Time frame & Price + Expected benefits (cite any credentials and references that are relevant here). Ensure proposal is realistic and precise, as precise terms will save you a lot of hassle down the line.
50/50 rule: 50 results (road map + tools = methodology), 50 customer experience.
Always act on your client's best interest.
Engagements: Introduction + Context & What are the issues we're trying to solve + Summary & next steps.
-> Structure + Flexibility to answer questions brought up by the client; Make sure to address the points raised by the client even if they're not on your initial agenda.
Use logical trees to drill down and find solutions to problems, with MECE branches.
Proposals: Exec summary (condensed version of the proposal) + Intro (Outlines overall structure of proposal) + Body (Problem at hand and how you're going to tackle it) + Time frame & Price + Expected benefits (cite any credentials and references that are relevant here). Ensure proposal is realistic and precise, as precise terms will save you a lot of hassle down the line.
50/50 rule: 50 results (road map + tools = methodology), 50 customer experience.
Always act on your client's best interest.
October 23, 2018
A must read for management and business consultants:
A blink from the book:
What is consulting? A high-impact service delivered across a wide variety of specialist domains. But all consultants have a common interest: To leverage their skills, knowledge and experience to get the best for their clients. This is something that countless people, from management consultants to software developers and even travel agents do almost every day.
With more than 25 years of professional experience directing consulting engagements across the globe, Samir Parikh has distilled these principles into The Consultant’s Handbook.
Packed with practical advice and engaging, real-world examples, it provides the ultimate crash course in delivering high-performance results in a competitive marketplace.(blinkist.com)
A blink from the book:
What is consulting? A high-impact service delivered across a wide variety of specialist domains. But all consultants have a common interest: To leverage their skills, knowledge and experience to get the best for their clients. This is something that countless people, from management consultants to software developers and even travel agents do almost every day.
With more than 25 years of professional experience directing consulting engagements across the globe, Samir Parikh has distilled these principles into The Consultant’s Handbook.
Packed with practical advice and engaging, real-world examples, it provides the ultimate crash course in delivering high-performance results in a competitive marketplace.(blinkist.com)
October 23, 2018
The Consultant's Handbook: A Practical Guide to Delivering High-value and Differentiated Services in a Competitive Marketplace by Samir Parikh is another good read for me using the blinkist app
I have always wanted to be a consultant, so I was excited when I began my career as a trainee engineer and resident consultant on a multi-billion naira building construction project (this was an intern) in which a bank was the client.
Today, I still continue to evolve as a consultant in the speaking,engineering, Telecoms/IT space where I work.
Samir Parikh shares from over 20 years of consultancy across the globe, distilling his knowledge into a crash course.
He defined Consulting as a high impact service delivered over a wide range of specialties, no matter the industry the main aim of consultancy is acting in the client's best interest. Your aim is to help the clients achieve their goals.
Successful consultants leverage on these main key points, their knowledge, expertise, experience and network to help clients achieve results.
It is in the consultant's best interest to understand the client's industry, it's positions in it and all necessary details through proper research and preparation.
Building trust and credibility is important for any consultant and this is achieved by proper positioning of you and your team, sharing how well suited you are through your concisely written brief and proposals.
At the beginning of every project set clear expectations, Be clear, be Flexible enough and know when to stand firm.
You want to be clear on the methodology, the budget and the time frame to achieve certain results using different tools.
This book is a good book for start-up consultants and other consultants who want to improve their practice.
#BookReviews
#EmmanuelAyeniSpeaks
I have always wanted to be a consultant, so I was excited when I began my career as a trainee engineer and resident consultant on a multi-billion naira building construction project (this was an intern) in which a bank was the client.
Today, I still continue to evolve as a consultant in the speaking,engineering, Telecoms/IT space where I work.
Samir Parikh shares from over 20 years of consultancy across the globe, distilling his knowledge into a crash course.
He defined Consulting as a high impact service delivered over a wide range of specialties, no matter the industry the main aim of consultancy is acting in the client's best interest. Your aim is to help the clients achieve their goals.
Successful consultants leverage on these main key points, their knowledge, expertise, experience and network to help clients achieve results.
It is in the consultant's best interest to understand the client's industry, it's positions in it and all necessary details through proper research and preparation.
Building trust and credibility is important for any consultant and this is achieved by proper positioning of you and your team, sharing how well suited you are through your concisely written brief and proposals.
At the beginning of every project set clear expectations, Be clear, be Flexible enough and know when to stand firm.
You want to be clear on the methodology, the budget and the time frame to achieve certain results using different tools.
This book is a good book for start-up consultants and other consultants who want to improve their practice.
#BookReviews
#EmmanuelAyeniSpeaks
October 22, 2018
Nothing really new to someone that is consulting for years, but good reminders.
It might be a fair guide to new consultants given they already have good knowledge of their field.
It seems more aimed to a consultancy firm manager than to a consultant, to help the manager remember when she was a consultant herself.
It might be a fair guide to new consultants given they already have good knowledge of their field.
It seems more aimed to a consultancy firm manager than to a consultant, to help the manager remember when she was a consultant herself.
September 24, 2018
Look to give periodic updates to keep your clients happy.
Trace an issue back to its source.
Trace an issue back to its source.
August 3, 2019
Well, it wasn’t well organized book, but I liked it. It was helpful.
December 3, 2015
This book is written by a practicing consultant with useful insights into various aspects of this fancy but misunderstood profession of consulting. A distinct and noteworthy feature of this book is its richness in terms of examples for very situation, concept presented in the book.This book provides adequate inputs to prepare an incumbent for entry into this profession. The students of management, economics and other streams aiming at a career in consulting will also find this book to be a good starting point.
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December 26, 2018The key message in these blinks:
Whether you’re working in a consultancy or simply trying to polish up your ability to advise clients, there are a couple of basics well worth committing to memory. First off, remember that your aim is to always act in your client’s best interest. To do that you’ll need to be well-prepared, flexible and tuned into their needs. Add your expertise and experience into the mix and you’ve got a winning formula that’s guaranteed to leave your clients satisfied and looking forward to the next project with you.
Actionable advice:
Use the “logic tree” approach to solve problems.
Next time you find yourself confronted with a thorny problem, draw up a logic tree. That’s essentially a graph in which you try to trace an issue back to its source. Say your client’s company isn’t profitable. That’s the problem. What’s causing it? Well, it might be low revenues or high costs (or both!). Those are your branches. Now ask why revenues might be low and costs high – those are the next branches of your “tree.” Keep going and you’ll eventually find the root cause.
Whether you’re working in a consultancy or simply trying to polish up your ability to advise clients, there are a couple of basics well worth committing to memory. First off, remember that your aim is to always act in your client’s best interest. To do that you’ll need to be well-prepared, flexible and tuned into their needs. Add your expertise and experience into the mix and you’ve got a winning formula that’s guaranteed to leave your clients satisfied and looking forward to the next project with you.
Actionable advice:
Use the “logic tree” approach to solve problems.
Next time you find yourself confronted with a thorny problem, draw up a logic tree. That’s essentially a graph in which you try to trace an issue back to its source. Say your client’s company isn’t profitable. That’s the problem. What’s causing it? Well, it might be low revenues or high costs (or both!). Those are your branches. Now ask why revenues might be low and costs high – those are the next branches of your “tree.” Keep going and you’ll eventually find the root cause.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews