We’ve written before about how to spot difficult clients, and the types you might run into. They’re usually just a tiny proportion of the clients a consultancy attracts, but their influence can be significant. And sometimes you just have to move on. Here are some thoughts about how to do it.
The desire to do great work for our clients can lead to over-servicing. How do you spot it, what does it mean for you, and how can you get the relationship into a more balanced state?
There are moments (possibly several times a minute) in everyone’s business life when you know you need to make a change. But will it be worthwhile? What you need is a return-on-investment calculator.
Every consultancy has a set of measures that they use to keep score. In fact, for every 10 companies we speak to there are about 12 different perspectives on what the right measures are. In this blog we make the case for why profitability should be your ‘One Metric to rule them all’.
Where do you get inspiration and support? There are a few regular blogs that we think are must-reads for consultants.
Clients. Sometimes it feels like consultancy would be more fun without them. It would certainly be easier.
So you have chosen some shiny new software for your business. It washes whiter, solves all your problems and has an upgrade available which makes a lovely cup of tea. Plus, it’s modern cloud software with well-designed user interfaces that should make it really easy to get up and running.
Going virtual has lots of advantages - lower fixed costs, the flexibility to expand (or contract) rapidly when demand changes, and fewer geographical restrictions. We look at the options: serviced workspaces, outsourced tasks, virtual comms and full outsourcing of the back office.
When you started your business and ate everything that you killed, profit was a meaningless concept - you took home what you billed. But, as you grow you are likely to find that net profit margins reduce significantly and are stubbornly hard to get back up.
Traditionally, consultants have spent a large part of their life in trains, planes and automobiles, and were the original fuel for the portable computer market of the 1990s. As well as the original road warriors, there are now an increasing number of companies who have decided to shun the old-fashioned physical office...