GAPS
The range of consulting possibilities is, quite literally, endless. Today, we live in an age of specialization. More information has been created in the past 30 years than in the previous 5,000. As a result, there is no way any single individual can know all there is to know about everything, so naturally outside help and expertise is sought to fill the knowledge gap. That is why consultants exist—to fill in the gaps. Your task is to figure out (1) what you know and do well and (2) if (and how) you can market your knowledge and skills.
“So,” you ask, scratching your head, “how do I do that?”
A good place to start is to list all the areas in which you feel you have significant and substantive skills, knowledge, and/or expertise. In making this list, do NOT limit yourself to those areas of expertise or skills that are derived from your job. The list should also include those things that you just naturally excel at doing.
For example, if you know everything there is to know about computer systems because that has been the focus of your entire professional career, all the skills associated with that knowledge should definitely be a part of your list. However, if you also possess a talent for developing systems to keep people organized in their daily lives at home and at work, then this skill also deserves to be on your list.
RANK YOUR SKILLS
Once your list is complete, go back through the items and indicate your range of expertise in each of these areas on a scale from 1–10. A 10 indicates that no one can address this task better than you, while a 1 means that you could probably use a consultant yourself to help you hone this skill. Now, go back through the list again and eliminate any item that falls below 7.
If you still have more than 10 items, go back through the list and again numerically rank what is left. Your goal is to narrow down the list to your top five items. Once you have a five-item list, assign a number of 1–5 to indicate which area of expertise gives you the most personal satisfaction. Remember the quote from sales trainer Paul Karasik: “What motivates people is doing what they love.” When you are a consultant, you can make money by practicing your favorite skill or dealing with the subjects that interest you most. Assigning a 5 to an item means that an area satisfies you very much, while a 1 means that you may like working in that area, but you don’t love it.
So, now you have determined not only your top areas of expertise, but also which areas and tasks you most enjoy. Your next step is to assess what you offer in terms of skills, knowledge, and expertise and how, or if, your offering fills a need. Remember, consultants are problem solvers. What problems do organizations and individuals have that you can help them solve? More importantly, who will hire you to solve their problems?
Your potential clients will fall into two broad categories: businesses and individuals. Business clients look to consultants for help with:
•Accumulating capital for a business venture
•Launching a new product
•Entering a new market
•Expanding their share in an existing market
•Computerizing business processes
•Reorganizing the corporation
•Planning or updating employee compensation and benefits programs
•Implementing or upgrading computer systems
•Opening a new office, branch, or division
•Dealing with mergers and acquisitions
•Increasing productivity
•Reducing costs
•Improving quality control
Individuals tend to hire consultants for guidance about more personal issues, such as:
•Writing a résumé
•Finding a job
•Selecting a career
•Learning to use new software
•Learning foreign languages and gaining cultural insights
•Getting motivated
•Improving workplace skills
•Enjoying better relationships
•Feeling better about themselves
•Becoming healthier and more physically fit
If your area of expertise includes a niche or very specific skills, knowledge, or experience, you should consider promoting yourself as a specialist. Clients tend to prefer specialists because specialists can immediately step in, take over, and do the job alone, without supervision—quickly, correctly, and competently.
Consequently, specialists are almost always paid better and are in more demand than generalists. If you cannot identify a specialty right now, you have time to make that determination later. In many cases, consultants seem to drift toward a specialty by accident or circumstance rather than by deliberately choosing it.
PROVIDING SERVICES
Finally, in defining your marketable skills, experience, and knowledge, give some thought to how you will provide services. Consulting services can be grouped into five categories: advisory services, implementation services, training and development, publishing and product development, and contract and temporary consulting.
In a nutshell, these categories describe the various capacities or ways in which you can offer your marketable skills, knowledge, and experience. A more detailed description of each of the consulting services categories is below.
ADVISORY SERVICES. Most consultants act as advisors. They give recommendations and suggestions, but they don’t implement their ideas, and they aren’t the ones who decide which recommendations will be put into action.
IMPLEMENTATION SERVICES. Some consultants implement the solutions they (or others) come up with. An accountant, for example, not only shows you ways to get a tax refund, but also completes your return. A computer consultant, in addition to recommending a computing solution, may assemble the components, install and integrate them at the customer’s site, do the custom programming, train the client to use the system, and even provide ongoing maintenance and support.
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT. Many consultants specialize in training the employees of client organizations in various job-related skills. About half of the nation’s annual training budget goes toward basic and “soft” skills (business writing, customer service, teamwork, leadership, management, time management), while the other half is spent training employees in technical and “hard” skills (local area network troubleshooting, Microsoft Office, sales forecasting, compensation management, regulatory compliance).
PUBLISHING AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT.
