Why Hire a Consultant and Then Change Nothing?
If someone gave you the winning lottery numbers, would you go buy a ticket? Personally, I might not. It would depend on a number of factors, the greatest one being whether I believed the person who was passing along this million dollar piece of information. Even if they are telling me something that could make my life considerably easier and lead to large amounts of cash, if I don’t buy into it then I won’t even take the time to run down to the store and put down a dollar for my winning ticket.
The same thing could be said for companies that hire consultants. There are a couple assumptions you can make when a company is either in the process of hiring or has already hired someone as a consultant.
1) There is a problem
Unless the company is putting someone on retainer to poke around and tell them how great everything is, then chances are the consultant was hired for a specific reason (or reasons). Most likely there is something the company feels is not operating very efficiently, a task they didn’t feel confident tackling on their own, or a specific skill set they are looking to improve. And…
2) They are interested in finding a solution
It seems reasonable to assume the company wouldn’t be paying good money on a consultant if they didn’t feel like there was a strong chance they could make some improvements to whatever problem they are facing. Otherwise, why bother in the first place? There’s minimal value in having someone point out your battery is dead unless you’re ready to get out the jumper cables and get it working again.
But, the fact of the matter is, a surprisingly large amount of companies that spend serious money on in-depth reports with numerous recommendations end up scrapping the vast majority in lieu of either sticking with the status quo or hiring someone else so they can repeat the process. I have a few theories on why this might be:
1) The implementation would be too costly
2) The company doesn’t have the ability to implement the changes
3) The value was not communicated clearly
4) The company doesn’t trust you
Looking at the first two reasons, it seems kind of counterintuitive to even hire a consultant in the first place if you aren’t going to be able to tackle any of their recommendations. It’s sort of like going to a doctor and then refusing treatment. Why not just save yourself the energy and skip the process altogether? Similarly, if it’s likely the company won’t be able to afford the manpower required to implement any changes, then why bother having someone lay out all the things that can’t be fixed?
But, while the first two reasons fall squarely on the shoulders of the company, it’s the last two that are of more interest, since they revolve around the consultant’s direct interaction with the client. Both of these last two reasons have an awful lot to do with the consultant’s ability to communicate with the client and whether the information was presented in a way that makes sense, is reasonable, and is persuasive.
The consultant could be pushing a client to make some simple changes to increase traffic, boost conversions, and increase revenue by 200 percent, but if they don’t clearly communicate the end result and why the process is worthwhile, it’s likely the client will be resistant to making any changes.
Some consultants tend to speak above their clients in an effort to show how knowledgeable they are and make sure the client is left impressed and feeling like they must have hired an “expert.” However, the reality is that these type of relationships rarely seem to generate results for clients, as they’re left with a lot of advice they don’t fully understand and no clear point to start tackling any changes.
However, as is the case in most industries, there is a fair amount of people with questionable ethics and little to no experience in generating actual results. Sometimes these people can be extremely successful over short periods of type by using charisma and shiny graphs to impress prospective clients. However, there is also a chance that the glossy sheen will fade rather quickly once the client starts asking additional questions and is not satisfied with the answers they receive. In this cases, it makes sense for the client to simply scrap the consultant and move onto someone with a more established track record of success. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and it’s fair to be skeptical of anyone who can’t offer specific case studies and a record of proven results.
The best consultants are like a good teacher, and they don’t just focus on explaining the “how,” but they also make sure to communicate the “why” in a way the client will understand. If the client truly believes in the solution, they will most likely bend over backwards to try to implement whatever changes they need.
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Tags: Client Interaction, Consulting, Implementation
