How to Grow Your Consultancy

Maya Herrera claims clients find her expensive. Nonetheless, they keep knocking at her door. Hererra is among the most highly regarded consultants in Manila. She is also the managing director of Solutions Inc., a management consulting firm specializing in providing actuarial services, technical advice to financial security companies, employee benefits advice, and strategic human resources consulting. In June, Herrera spoke at a gathering of development professionals at the Asian Management Institute. There, she had some advice to give to those who wish to follow her path - to build an enterprise from a successful independent practice. Consulting firms are generally concerned about managing funds and projects. Herrera suggested keeping three crucial objectives in mind. First, protect the firm's reputation as you would your own. Second, cater to the strategic market. Finally, manage risks or the scope of the work and expectations of the client. "Engage, disclose, document," Herrera said. If a problem arises, make it a habit to inform everyone involved in the project. "Always elevate and escalate as necessary," she added. Consulting service management also needs to have the following elements, according to Herrera: an operating structure to manage such aspects as service quality, client satisfaction and budget accounting; standards for client management and reporting; and standard operating procedure for client engagement, documentation and disclosure. A firm needs a number of people to come on board, Herrera pointed out. One must be a practice leader or a subject matter expert who will approve standards in a specific practice area. Relationship managers are crucial, and they do not necessarily have to be technical consultants. As Herrera put it, "You have one per client and his main job is to make sure the client is happy." Project managers take charge of the actual job and under them are technical teams. Together they are the "direct delivery people." A firm would also need support teams to make reports, a billing and collection officer, an accounting group and administrative staff. "You need to have someone who manages quality, someone who manages relationships and someone who actually manages delivery," Herrera summed up. Standards are necessary for smooth operation and this covers a wide range of activities. These would include protocol in communication and decision-making as well as standards for project management, technical review, reporting, filing and performance evaluation. She enumerated a firm's potential assets: reputation; information base, especially for research-type consulting; knowledge base; client base; relationships; and employees. "The statistics you already have is a really good asset because you can update it every month and send it again and again; slice it in different ways," said Herrera. The talent pool is a firm's most important asset, and it pays to keep them happy. Herrera said employees consider career development, compensation and benefits, culture, leadership and work-life balance in a company they seek to join. Employees also weigh these factors in relation to their job and the company they work for: travel days, morale, training hours, voluntary attrition and the ability to meet client needs and make a positive impact on them. "The best way to find out if people are happy is to find out how many of them are voting with their feet." Herrera quipped.