CONSULTANCY SKILLS

There are three components to consultancy skills:

• The body of knowledge, skills and experience that the consultant has on offer. This might be civil engineering, tax law, software applications or whatever the consultant is expert in.

• Experience or knowledge of the application of the specialist skill to a specific area. This might be, for example, an industrial sector, a geographical area, or a particular type of problem.

• Consultancy skills, which enable the consultant to deliver his or her expertise within the client environment.

These three components are like the legs of a three-legged stool: all have to be present if a consultant is to carry out the role effectively. If one leg is missing, the stool is at best wobbly and at worst falls over. This book concentrates on the third component - the skills required to engage in consultancy, which are necessary irrespective of the specialist expertise of the individual or the area of its application. The skills can be divided into two: 1) those relating to business aspects of consultancy: product development and marketing; the sales process and how to manage it; commercial aspects of dealing with clients; and managing the business as a whole; 2) those needed to conduct these tasks well: how to sell; problem solving; operating consultancy projects; and managing client relationships throughout.

There is overlap between all these topics. But the message that the reader should take away is that it is not sufficient simply to have knowledge to be effective as a consultant: there are real skills needed as well - and these are the basis of this book.