MC_ONE_ Consultancy Business MC1000.pptx

P RE S E N T E D BY:
E M M A S I TA M BU L I ( P H .D.)
08/15/2024
GREAT Consulting Services 1
Consultancy Business:
Getting Started from Scratch

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GREAT Consulting Services
2
INTRODUCTION

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Some Motivation

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CONSULTANCY BUSINESS PROCESS

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Outline of Presentation
 What is a consultancy business
 Consultancy business models
 Who is a consultant
 Characteristics of a good consultant
 Key considerations when deciding to be a
consultant
 Assessment before getting started
 Getting started with consultancy business

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Why Consultancy
 The work processes are increasingly becoming
more complex hence the need for good consultants
is ever greater.
 Every organisation across every industry, vocation,
or development cause, is bound to run into
problems. It is inevitable. It is a universal constant.
 Any outlet where people work together in the
interest of making money or contributing to
societal causes, is going to have to deal with
issues they may or may not have been planned for.
Hence consulting firms/ individuals are contracted
to solve them.

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What is a Consultancy Business
 It is entity comprising industry specific-experts
who offer professional advice, guidance and
actionable solutions to businesses or
development agencies experiencing issues that
they can not deal with in-house or internally.
 This work is performed at a FEE.

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What do Consultants/Firms Do?
 Consultants observe, assess and analyze a company
operations to offer SOLUTIONS. Good consultants make
big differences
 Consultants offer guidance and ACTIONABLE SOLUTIONS
to PROBLEMS the organisation may be having.
 Consulting firms tend to have specific focuses, and
companies pay them to lend their EXPERTISE on
problems that cant be handled internally.
 Consulting firms have presence in virtually every
industry.
 Some firms are SINGLE PURPOSE while others bring
together several different trades and practices in one
place.

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Types of Specialized Consulting firms
 Engineering Consulting Firms
 Financial Consulting Firms
 Healthcare Consulting Firms
 Human Resources Consulting Firms
 Political Consulting Firms
 Development Consulting Firms
 Environmental Consulting Firms
 Legal consulting firms
 Events management consulting firms

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What are Some of Business Models
 Solo Consultant Model ( independent)
 Consultancy Firm Model ( make sure you
choose an appropriate name; officially
Registered, bank account; address and
contact details, health/travel insurance)
 Hybrid Model – (Mix of these two models)

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Who is a Consultant
 An individual or firm hired to solve problems that
clients cant solve themselves.
 A consultant is one who gives professional advice
or services. You work in a particular industry and
offer expertise to help others with their problems
in the field that you know best.
 It is almost like training a new employee to take
over your job, you simply share your tips, tricks
and techniques, that you have learnt over the
years.

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Who Can be a Consultant
 Anyone can be a consultant – as long as they
have the experience, skills and knowledge in
the chosen field.
 You do not need to be recognized as an ultimate
best in your field to be a consultant.
 The first step is to take an honest look at your
own training and experience.

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Key Considerations Before Becoming a
Consultant
 Its important that you have excellent
time management skills to enable you to
submit your deliverables on time, handle
various clients simultaneously; and work
on expanding your cadre of clients.
 You must have EXEMPLARY networking
skills to help generate word of mouth for
your consulting business.

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How Do You Become a Consultant
 You need the ability to sell yourself and be up-to
date.
 You need to understand the area in which you
intend to be involved with.
 Examine your educational strengths, and combine
them with any training and on the job –experience
gained in the market place.
 To succeed, you must be an expert at recognizing
problems and shaping solutions to those problems.

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What Makes a Good Consultant
 Must be a skilled communicator; both orally and
written.
 Must know how to communicate your expertise.
 Must be able to SELL what you are good at or able to
provide.
 As a consultant you need to invests in the tools of your
trade e.g. computer, internet, printers, projectors etc.
 Must be able to prepare bankable proposals

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Important Skills of a Consultant
 Creative Thinking.
 Thinking Conceptually and Practically.
 Problem-Solving.
 Communicating Clearly and
Empathetically.

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Important Skills of A Consultant
 Collaboration with all job levels.
 Organization and time
management.
 Curiosity.
 Credibility.

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Key Considerations When You Deciding
Be a Consultant (Individual)
 Education (Do I have the right qualifications)
 Work Experience
 Passion must be your number one pull factor
 Expertise - has mastered their craft – field /industry
enough to be DANGEROUSLY KNOWLEDGEABLE on a
topic
 What value can he or she add to clients
 Figure out what your market needs

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Some Motivation

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SHORT GROUP WORK
Discuss with your neighbor the following
questions:
 Think about your area of expertise, then
identify some common skills that business
often look for.
 What skills are you planning to sell?
 (4 Minutes discussions with neighbor)
 (1 Minute sharing at plenary)

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How to Start Your Consultancy Business
Step One: Assess your Knowledge and Skill Set
 Remember consultants are hired to solve problems
that business cannot solve. Therefore you need
deep knowledge in a specific area so that you can
offer value to your clients.
 Assess your strengths to figure out where you can
be of help. You also need to take an objective
reflection on your weaknesses or missing skills
you may have so that you fill the gaps
 Also check if your area of expertise requires some
certification and licenses e.g. engineering, ACCA
and Lawyers often need some form of licenses.

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Step Two: Find Out What Your Market Needs
 Find out what kind of questions, problems, and
pain points businesses in your chosen field of
expertise often have.
 You can ask experts within your field, check
adverts and professional bodies. What are
thought leaders talking about, what topics are
hot on forums?
 You can also identify established consultants
within your field and ask them topics of interest

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How to Start Your Consulting Business
Step Three: Choose your legal Structure
and Business model
 Choose your legal structure – its best to
formalize your business right from the
start for legal and taxation purposes.
 The three most common forms of
businesses are sole proprietorship,
Companies and hybrid model. Many
independents consultant often prefer solo
business model.

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Step Four: Market yourself/ firm
 Prepare your business plan – to help you
think about your marketing strategies,
how do clients get to know you and your
services.
 Marketing your Consulting business –
networking, referrals, cold calling, public
speaking, books, articles and newsletters
and advertising

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Step Five: Decide where you will operate
from
 Create your office – ( at home or Public
office sharing or rentals)
 Decide as to whether you need personnel
to help you depending on your workload. If
you are recruiting permanent personnel
then think about statutory obligations like
pensions, health insurance and others

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Step Six: Build Your Reputation through Delivering
Results
 Stay organized and deliver results so that you can get
repeat customers and referrals
 Stay organized so that you do not miss deadliness and
meetings
 Delivering results is crucially important for the
success of your consultancy business, hence be sure
to stay on top of the industry trends, and check-in with
clients to ensure you are delivering on results that they
want and that you are helping your clients to succeed

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Assessment before starting (! Of 3)
 Get clear on your market niche
that you want to fulfill.
 Understand what problems your
potential clients are facing
 Ask yourself these questions:
What value can I add to this
client

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Assessment before starting (2 of 3)
Do I have the EXPERTISE required
by my industry of interest
Do I have the EXPERIENCE
RESULTS – can I deliver on results
being asked? Can I form a team?
What is my interest in this niche

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How/Where to find Consultancy Jobs ( 1 of 2)
 Search Newspaper adverts for RFP or EOI
 Search Company Websites for RFPs or EOI
 You can build your own web-page
 Send unsolicited proposals
 Pitch your profile on social media such as
Go Zambia, LinkedIn among others
 Register on database/ rosters of big
consultancy firms –they will contact when
they have jobs that match your skills set.

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Where/How to find Consultancy Jobs (2 of
2)
 Distribute your CVs and or Company
Profile to prospective clients
 Network with others – other consultants,
Professional events held by the industry
 Friends and family can be source of
information

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How do you sustaining your business
 Be on the look out for relevant trainings to
continuously upgrade your knowledge and
skills.
 Attend conferences and workshops
 Read current books, journals and
publications around your field of expertise.
 Continuously Improve your skills – public
speaking skills, presentation skills – join the
toastmasters
 Continuously learn how to market your skills

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WORK SCHEDULING TO SMOOTH CASHFLOW

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Some words of wisdom

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The End
Thank you for listening
I invite your questions?

MC_ONE_ Consultancy Business MC1000.pptx

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