Five Ways to Raise your Game in Consulting - Part 7

Seventh in a Series

How to Differentiate Yourself and Your Consultancy

Experience on Market Differentiation

By David Norman, FCMC, CMC-AF

In this, the final blog, we will attempt to pull it all together and paint a picture of how you can further differentiate yourself in a crowded marketplace.  We would hope we would not have to describe Why you should do this, that it is self-evident.

But, first, as I have written previously about the very public ethics lapses in management consulting, this article came across my newsfeed this week:  From The Guardian, “John Oliver on management consulting firms: They shouldn’t bet to be invisible” in which he tore into the behaviors associated with management consulting (mostly using McKinsey & Company’s lapses as examples) and concluded by saying “but if their work, as they claim, really does impact the lives of millions of people, they shouldn’t get to be invisible, and they should expect must more accountability for their mistakes.”

Once again, the profession within which I have worked for five decades is maligned with a broad and public brush.  All management consultants are not unethical, many live and practice to a higher standard of professionalism. In this series I have outlined not only these very public ethics lapses but also present five ways you, as a management consulting professional, can distance, or differentiate, you and your practice from others who are not so inclined.

Management consulting within the U.S. is likely the largest unregulated, unlicensed professional service.  It is up to us, the individual management consultant (whether as a solopreneur, within a small to larger boutique consulting firm, within a large professional services firm, or even within industry or government as an internal consultant) to do something positive about our individual and collective professional image.

Five Ways to Reclaim the Profession

In the series’ first blog we said that within the crowded marketplace most consultants separate themselves or their practice by segment, that is, as consultants in IT, Operations, Strategy, HR, Marketing, Fintech -- the list goes on.  They may also market themselves by sector, i.e., government, healthcare, manufacturing, services, etc.  But, note, both of these ‘differentiators’ are associated with What they consult in.  Within the segment and/or sector, there remains the need to further separate themselves from their competitors, so they choose length of practice, history, types/sizes of clients, location and other points that seem salient to them.

In these blogs, we presented other, completely different means of differentiation; one that successfully works for us in the Institute of Management Consultants.  It is not based on what you consult in, but how you consult.

How you consult is about the skills, techniques, learnings, and credentials you acquire to better serve your clients, and indeed society at large. These become synonymous with professionalism. Simply put, they are:

• Adherence to an enforceable Code of Ethics

• Understanding and Practicing from a Consulting Competence Framework

• Adherence to a Code of Professional Conduct

• Internationally-recognized Certification as a Management Consultant

• Training in International Standards for Consulting, ISO 20700 

Together, as a package, what you offer to your clients (your ‘skills,’ or your What you consult in) become amplified and augmented by How you consult.  It is my contention, and that of many of my peers, that being a practicing professional and highlighting this in all marketing, online and otherwise, further separates you from an estimated 1,000,000 other consultants.    

How would it feel and, indeed, how would you be more successful if you seriously considered not only your skills (What you consult in) but How you consult?  Do you adhere to a Code of Ethics, a Consulting Competence Framework, and a Code of Conduct.  Are you certified in the very thing (e.g., management consulting) that you profess to do?  Are you trained in an international ISO standard as relates to management consulting?

As management consultants fighting for our next ‘gig’ we try to differentiate ourselves and our practice from all the others who compete for time, attention, and dollars.  We tend to do this by segment we serve and/or our experience in that segment.  My belief is that, while appropriate, this marketing does not go far enough, especially considering the sheer numbers of people involved in consulting.  Why not, look instead at how you consult. 

•  Do you tell your prospects and clients you adhere to an internationally recognized enforceable Code of Ethics?  

• Do you understand and live up to a professional Code of Conduct?  

• Do you know there is an international Consulting Competency Framework?  

• Are you Certified?  

• Finally, do you use the checklists in ISO 20700 to improve communication and project clarity?  

Take a few minutes and surf https://imcusa.org, look at the Code of Ethics, the Code of Conduct, the Competency Framework, Certification, and training in ISO20700.  

Thanks for your attention over the past seven blogs.  More on consulting follows.