As we emerge from the pandemic and restart our businesses, let’s consider how collaboration and partnership can help everyone achieve win-win outcomes.
The client-consultant relationship has traditionally been one marked by constant negotiation between scope, delivery and fees. Horror stories abound with talk of shifting goalposts, scope creep, under-delivery as well as challenges with giving and receiving payment.
We believe it is time to reconsider the power balance given the current pandemic and recovery environment. Many analysts are thinking of a ‘W’ shape recovery based on when businesses can resume full operations. This is despite the productivity gains made with employees and talent working remotely, and the savings from potential real estate gains in the near-term.
How can brands and consultants work towards a win-win where brands receive the value they want, and consultants can continue to grow their business?
For many companies, the reality is that increasing headcount in an uncertain environment or revenue situation is not going to happen. Consultants represent a simple middle ground, a stopgap solution for the moment.
Brands can tap on expertise and specialist knowledge while avoiding paying for a full-time employee and the associated costs of benefits, time and training.
We offer perspective on three areas to consider when creating win-win scenarios with your consultant.
Mindset
· Drop the client-vendor mindset associated with a transactional relationship. Instead, focus on empowering your consultant as a partner to your business. Work on shared outcomes where the consultant can grow scope or fees as they support you in achieving our OKRs, KPIs or results.
· Provide access to information and context for the consultant to be effective. There is no point having an asymmetrical information sharing process, since that reduces the overall effectiveness of the consultant’s execution.
· Given that both parties are aiming to build a positive relationship, it is important to like each other and move beyond an arm’s length relationship. During this time, many consultants will function as a substitute for employee talent, and there is no point working remotely with team members you do not respect.
· It is good for both groups to learn about working style and preferences. Consultants would do well to pay attention to their advisory and means of providing counsel.
Scope and flexibility
· Commit and spend time on building a good brief as this will help you arrive at the final scope. A clear brief and realistic scope will govern the success of the relationship, and project.
· Avoid scope creep as it might result in mismatched expectations of outcomes.
· Parties should be flexible with one another given that WFH and remote working arrangements will not help with contextual understanding of a brand, culture, or company style. Overcome this challenge by running your consultant through a modified on-boarding process, for example when it comes to understanding culture, processes and reporting of results.
Alignment and partnership alongside fair compensation
· Approach the relationship as a partnership from the start. This might mean more time spent at the beginning to introduce the brand, onboard the consultant (like an employee) and introduce different colleagues or business unit leads. People take time to warm up especially over a video or call. Be realistic about expecting immediate results in the first 30 days.
· A simple rule of thumb here is use similar expectations of a new full-time hire, and how long you would give them to onboard and get up to speed. If you do have short runways, make sure that expectation is set out upfront. It is so easy in this climate for misunderstandings to happen.
· Compensation in this environment is a learning curve many decision makers with budget will need to overcome. There is a fair price for different levels of work and outcomes. The objective here is to find a consultant that views the budget shared as a win for them. This is not the time to negotiate for cheapest price because price will determine commitment.
· Keep in mind the relationship between speed of work, price and quality of work. It is possible for both parties to negotiate to an accepted compensation level or model.
· It pays to be realistic to achieve a good outcome. Consider varying the duration of the project, the volume of output, or the expected end goal. Review campaign/project objectives and whether it is aligned to business goals.
It’s a race to recover and return to realistic revenue and profit levels. It is not even about winning your competition. The companies that realise they can achieve more in a shorter time are those that actively seek to partner and collaborate for mutual growth.
We are Brand Utility is a business consultancy.
We offer strategy and tactics to support growth outcomes - revenue, scale, regional expansion and market entry – for our clients.
Areas of support include:
· Branding: Messaging, positioning, approach to market
· Marketing: Content, social media, email, community amplification
· Lead generation: Digital advertising, social media advertising, social commerce, e-commerce
· Integration of marketing with business operations: We function as a seconded marketing and/or PR lead for your brand
Discover more about our services at our website or book an exploratory consultation through this link.
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