Consulting Summarized...

Consulting per my past experience I have seen and lived thru can be classified broadly into three areas viz Strategy, Tactical and Operations …

In each of the above three, the needs that can be met can be further classified as Executive Management Needs, Enterprise Needs and Functional Needs

Further to the above 3 x 3 classification the depth is drilled down to seven levels…. Level 0 to Level 6  

Before we drill down further, let’s define who a consultant is… a consultant is "an expert in a particular field who works as an adviser either to a company or to another individual." 

Management Consulting

Management consulting is the practice of helping organizations to improve their performance, operating primarily through the analysis of existing organizational problems and the development of plans for improvement.

The target audience usually are C-Level and Sr. Management. Focus areas usually are to help improve the business TopLine, Cashflow and BottomLine. The consulting output is typically a business case and a roadmap that helps make key investment decisions that impact the organization performance, brand, growth (organic / inorganic) and key financial parameters.

Study and recommendations often revolves as defined below. Again, this is purely my approach, there are multiple ways and means one addresses the situation. This is one I have seen working the most per my past experience…

For example, we are working with a client “XYZ Inc.” and have to help them identify areas of improvement to help grow the business. The study includes the following four possibilities:

1. XYZ Inc does and the Competition also does: The consultant studies various processes, products, service lines etc… analyses the financial statements, tries to identify areas of efficiency improvement and provides recommendations. 
2. XYZ Inc. does and the Competition does not: The consultant in this scenario after the study and analysis of various processes, product and service lines help address the factors on what XYZ Inc. is doing is good as per the market forces and carries the first mover advantage or what XYZ Inc. is doing is not in par with market expectations, and has to stop doing because it is no more required. 
3. XYZ Inc. does not and the Competition does: This is a vice-versa situation to the above example, after the study the recommendations will be inline with what needs to be done and what need not 
4. XYZ Inc. does not and the Competition does not: This is a case where the consultant studies the near term future requirements and demand of the market and prepares business case / roadmap for XYZ Inc. to gear up to and be ready to address the market demand and carry a first mover advantage. 

In all the above four scenarios the company may engage the consultant in any of or all three Strategy, Tactical and functional areas and the depth depending on the time and cost one decides to invest can be anywhere from Level0 to Level6. 

Various value based frameworks like Financial Analysis, BCG Matrix, Balance Scorecard, 7S. 7P, Porters five forces, SWOT, Theory of Constraints etc…are most commonly used 

Enterprise Consulting:

An Enterprise is but nothing a business or a firm or an organization or can be simply a large scale project, there are multiple definitions but they all carry a common combination of People + Process + Technology. 

The enterprise can be a Sole proprietorship, a partnership, corporation, co-operative etc… and further be classified into Small-Mid-Big. 

Unlike the management consulting which focuses on catering the needs of only Top Level executives and operates in a niche space, Enterprise consulting covers the breadth and depth of an organization across all three areas Strategy, Tactical and Operational. 

Key focus of an Enterprise Architect is BIIDAT which stands for Business Process Architecture, Information Architecture, Integration Architecture, Data Architecture, Application Architecture and Technology Architecture. Beyond which the consulting elements also cover the user adoption, transition and migration. 

The consulting assignments can be incremental or transformational in nature. The most famous framework in this area adopted is TOGAF and Zachman along with various other change management and technology frameworks covering Cost, Quality and Time are focused upon

Functional Consulting:  

Functional consulting is the most prevalent area of consulting many service and consulting organizations offer as a service to the clients. A Functional Consultant is a person who is involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a function or a key process area. It could be an organisations enabling (Support) function like HR, Admin, Legal, Sales, Service, Marketing… or a non-enabling function like Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing, Supply chain etc… 

Functional consultant is not generic business consultant but an SME specialized in the area of practice to a particular industry. What matters most in the functional consulting is the depth and industry knowledge coupled with problem identification and solving ability 

Depending on the client's needs and the requirements, the spectrum of the Functional Consultant’s services may be extensive (detailed document preparation and construction review) or less inclusive (such as providing a list of possible solutions to a GAP or incident). 

There are various frameworks and tools depending on the area of consulting the functional consultant operates in. Could be project management tools, six sigma tools, lean and operation enhancement tools, quality tools, in fact the diversified nature of services are so many that for every offering the specialist consultant is equipped with a tool kit specific to the problem area one is working upon. 

Techno Functional consulting also requires one to carry enough expertise w.r.t. solution architecture and technical architecture if he/she is involved in the IT Space often termed as IT consulting which maps the Technology with the Process to enable ease in doing business. 

Consulting according to me is an art, thou there are tools and techniques which help enable a consultant perform his job and draw excellence which is more of a science, an added responsibility or what I call as a trait of a good consultant is ability to play the role of a good sales man. Now a days consulting and sales together as two in a box skill is coined with a new area of consultative sales… which I will write in the coming posts… 

Happy reading, and in case you wish to write into me for gathering more information or learn more about consulting, or interested to shape a career into consulting or just for knowledge sharing feel free to drop a note on rajesh.mohandas@gmail.com or whtsapp me +91 984 594 4896.

Treat your customer like DOGS…

The starting point of success is the customer for any business. Social media coupled with CRM solutions and various technological advances have brought us very close to our customers only to know we do exactly opposite in reality then the theories we have learnt. We are in business only because of the customer… we earn because customer pays us… its single most important advice given by most of the experts to focus on customer satisfaction and it will bring in more business…

I have an acronym DOGS … “Delightful Opportunity God has Sent” posted on my desk and virtually everywhere when I interact with a customer, may be internal to the organization or an external one.

This opportunity is something I need to capitalize on … and the power of Social CRM (SCRM) coupled with the framework of CCRRM (Consultative Customer Relevant Relationship Management) will help the companies accomplish the goals set and take a leap beyond the competition to dominate the market place… as the saying goes Knowledge is Power the companies today can leverage every minute details of the customer with Social media monitoring tools, social media engagement software’s and social analytics… I will leverage the social media both for observing and engaging with the customer and establish the right chord at a lightning speed…

Compared to the traditional CRM approach of the late 90’s and early years of the 21^st century the next few decades are going to focus on Social CRM … the difference is clearly visible … while the traditional CRM relayed on historical data and previous buying cycles and data captured by some third party vendors and which was a one way engagement model the Social CRM incorporates real time information, the approach is futuristic and focuses on understanding the wants and desires of the customers tracking what the customer likes and follows or comments and is active on the social sites … this gives an edge for the companies to engage closely with the customer and is an instant two way engagement model.

As LinkedIn Facebook and Twitter grew its presence and virtually made one and all addicted to them companies have defined newer ways to measure their success on the social media. The early practitioners who measured the number of hits and likes have moved into a consolidated approach measuring all the three channels put together… don’t forget the YouTube fever that is catching up quick and fast with the cost of data usage becoming more economical and the smart handheld devices capturing the markets. I have defined a quick acronym “LIFT YOU” … which stands for LinkedIn + Facebook + Twitter + YouTube  and measures for various sub categories not limited to number of connections, likes, subscriptions, shares etc… the “ER SCORE” is yet another metric which I like as a personal brand for both individuals and the leaders which is but nothing the Endorsements and Recommendations score… how many customers or clients or people who you as in individual or company have interacted Endorsed you and recommend you… in fact everything matters…

One of the statistic shows the sales of CRM solutions have gone up by 18 times in 2007 compared to a decade back in 1997, every second company wants to embrace the CRM framework and the software’s or platforms to improve their sales nonetheless the difference is the quality of the solution and approach or the roadmap matters a lot and so I believe CRM can be further enhanced if we add an extra “C” and an extra “R” which stand for Consulting and Relevance… unlike a replicating a solution from a competitor it’s more important to understand the internal and external forces that are unique to the company and define a solution that is more relevant with the goals established thus stands the CCRRM … Consultative Customer Relevant Relationship Management …

The central theme in this framework one is engaging with the customer in a consultative mode which address and meets the customer needs and expectations. Now go beyond and move from the consulting into a consultative selling mode and solution the roadmap that is relevant to both the costumer and company you represent can integrate backwards to the offering and strengths of the organization thus making both the customer and the company profitable ….

 

Many organizations focus on internal metrics like satisfaction, awareness, loyalty, churn, leads, recall, revenue growth, margin improvement etc… and there is very less focus on MARKET SHARE as a metric and this becomes a very very important measure in a consulting role to draw the customers attention and help understand how CRM programs and campaigns directly impact the revenues compared to the competition… and perhaps dominate the market place… here are some observations drawn surfing some sites on the net look impressive to act upon right away…

•          It typically costs 5-10 times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to retain an existing one.

•          “Some companies can boost profits by almost 100% by retaining just 5% more of their customers.” Harvard Business Review (Reicheld & Sasser)

•          A recent McKinsey study showed that the average new customer spends $24.50 at a given web site in the first 3 months as a shopper. The average repeat customer spends $52.50 every 3 months.

•          Most companies lose 50% of  their customers in 5 years (Harvard University)

•          70% of repeat purchases are made out of indifference to the seller, NOT loyalty. (eLoyalty) 

These above statements make it very essential for the business owner if wants to grow and outperform the market he has to work on his internal operations and the starting point is to integrate Sales, Marketing, Strategy, Process, People and Technology… to maximize customer acquisition, value, loyalty and relationship embarking a total customer experience.

CRM plays a very vital role as a foundation to the entire customer lifecycle management and one need a very robust yet easy to work CRM solution.

Many a organizations have invested on bulky servers and CRM software’s and still operate on a spread sheet mode to make decisions … the year 1999 will be marked in history for the dawn of a breakthrough solution in the CRM space which is growing too fast a one stop solution that utilizes the power of Cloud coupled with concepts of SaaS and PaaS is the SALESFORCE.COM

Various modules in the SFDC today help the organization benefit in areas of Customer Acquisition, Retention, Loyalty, Evangelism and above all Cost Reduction…

My decade long experience working on Analytics and Six Sigma have thought me a very easy formula that works in all areas … Y = f(x) … the key CTQs which are available with me can be classified as Suspects, Visitors, Prospects, Subscribers, Patrons, Members, Ticket Buyers, Users, Consumers, VIPs, Volunteers, Annual / Major Donors, Advisors, Advocates, Legislators, Strategic Partners, Sponsors, etc…

and what do we know about them thru various channels online and offline are Problems, Pains, Fears, Needs, Wants, Likes, Goals, Influences, Relationships, Affiliations, Alliances, Experiences, Aspirations, Options, Expectations, Questions, Knowledge, Skills, Activities, Attention, Communications, Interactions, Emotions, Memories, Satisfaction, Perceptions, Beliefs, Admirations, Attitudes, Opinions, Values, Learning, Ideas, Motivations, Objections, Priorities, Choices, Behaviors, Personality, Self-Concepts, Trust, Loyalty, Attention, Recognition, Time, Energy, Risks, Investments, Rewards, ROI, Lifestyle, Lifecycle Stage, Social Class, Culture, Sub-culture, Age, Family, Education, Hobbies, Interests…?

One of the key roles of a CRM consultant will to establish the relationship and define key metrics for the scorecard that the company should look at to make decisions … with the help of Exact Target Marketing Cloud app it becomes very easy to implement the social analytics / engagements / campaigns thru various channels like emails, e-survey, viral marketing, web, blog, online communities, e-commerce etc… to create richer relationships with the customer.

The very next step once the data and analytics is established is to look back at the customer management business processes to redefine where CRM can and should provide the greatest value, may be use a pareto principle … the 80-20 rule and shortlist the top areas and incrementally implement the CRM in these targeted processes.       

Here is when the Solutioning is drawn and the technology partners will be engaged actively and use the cloud and salesforce platform to bring into life the process shaped by the company working with the CRM consultant... post go live a continued support from the back office cements a lifelong rendezvous in this journey… J