Consulting Business Plan

How can you take your skills and expertise and package it to become a successful consultant? There are proven time-tested principles, strategies, tactics, and best practices the most successful consultants use to start, run, and grow their consulting business. Consulting Success teaches you what they are.

Seismic changes occurring in the workforce are leading to more and more people entering the world of contract, freelance, and contingency work. Rapid changes in demographics and advances in technology have led companies and talent to engage in profoundly new ways and consulting is one of the keys to success.

There is an art to advanced consulting as well as a science; who you are is as important as what you do. Bill Pasmore draws on his four decades of experience as a consultant and teacher of consultants to show listeners how to see possibilities that are not evident, conduct analyses that support the value of more comprehensive work, build relationships that engender deeper trust, adapt to changing circumstances, and empower members of their team to take independent actions while maintaining overall control of an engagement.

Andrew Sobel offers a proven, 100-day plan for conquering 14 tough client development challenges and growing your client base. He's encapsulated 25 years of unique research, including personal interviews with over 3,000 top executives, into a practical road map for winning more new clients and growing your existing relationships. You'll learn specific strategies to move confidently and predictably from a first meeting to a signed contract, and discover the agenda-setting techniques that create a steady stream of sole-source business.

Welcome to the wonderful world of consulting. It's a world I know well, having lived it for more than 30 years. What does a consultant do? Well I'm glad you asked. Consultants are brought into a project for their expertise, to speed the project along, and to share their knowledge with the client. Consultants are sought more for their wisdom than for their advice. I try to help the client come to wise decisions rather than telling them what they should do - nobody likes to be told what they should do.

Management consulting is a $250 billion industry and growing at a rate of over four percent annually. Many predict that more than 40 percent of the US workforce will soon be contingent, freelance, or consulting members of the workforce - making this book more relevant than ever. Individuals become independent consultants out of necessity or preference: necessity because they lost their job or the company offered an attractive exit package; preference because they want a career change, more control over their time, or an enriched, varied work situation.