The business world of today can no longer afford to get a mere piece of advice, a recommendation or a report from the consultant orthe consulting company, just to implement everything else themselves as their respective situation requires. What entrepreneurs need is to have their problems solved in those areas that are out of their professional expertise. 

The business world of today can no longer afford to get a mere piece of advice, a recommendation or a report from the consultant or the consulting company, just to implement everything else themselves as their respective situation requires. What entrepreneurs need is to have their problems solved in those areas that are out of their professional expertise. 

Today´s entrepreneur, who has been battling ceaslessly with problems and getting into a strong turbulence of new and new changes (this turbulence has once been covered by Peter Drucker), is looking for an ally, an independent partner who will help them:

  1. find a suitable solution of the problem arisen,
  2. introduce the solution, in a joint effort, into the company´s practise, both inwards and outwards (towards customers, suppliers and other special interest groups),
  3. evaluate the real results and benefits to their company.

An entrepreneur seeks high professionalism here, because a consultant´s services are not at all cheap, and also looks for a consultant with experience of many years. It is just this extensive experience which should bring an entrepreneur through trouble without losing their credit, that is without unnecessary losses.

If a consultant wants to succeed and bring their client maximum benefit, they have to become a member of the management team. Only then they can fully grasp the real essence of the entrepreneur´s problem, only then they can get all the views of the problem arisen not letting themselves be blinded with just a single view (the one of the entrepreneur-client). At the same time a consultant has to keep their distance in order not to slip into a bad predicament with no solution in sight. Finding ways out of problems – this is what they are hired for. It follows that a consultant should stand with one leg inside of the company and with the other outside. 

The result of a consultant´s work is not a report with recommendations but a resolved problem!

PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the biggest consulting companies, confirms clients no longer want five consultants, but they come up with a problem. Subsequently, they are interested in how we can help them find the solution. According to a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, this approach is the reason why 86% of clients are fully or at least partly satisfied with their external consultant. It is a very high percentage indeed! Today´s entrepreneurs need much closer relation with their external consultant than before. Getting real benefits from the work of consultants requires an insight into the heart of the matter and knowing the circumstances. (Source: Vernon, M.: Get value from your consultants. Management Today 6/2006)