Consulting is the process of delivering expert advice on a topic. A consultant is the expert that delivers it. Anything can qualify him/her as an expert, including experience, academic accomplishments, and/or even basic third-party observation and analysis of a problem. But what makes a great consultant is the ability to deliver the advice in a practical, easy-to-understand and easy-to-implement way.

This brings us to the differences between advisory and implementation consulting. The consulting industry has a bum rap because it is perceived as merely producing reams of reports and recommendations for a bundle of money without actually “doing” anything, nor consideration for the budgets and politics involved in implementing their recommendations.

This however isn't an accurate picture. Yes, consultants do produce lots of reports and recommendations because who would suggest big changes to their boss without evidence that it's at least backed by good, solid research. But the misperception starts when clients don't realize (and consultants neglect to remind them) that after consultants get the evidence (the reports), and come up with the ideas on how to make more money for their clients based on the evidence (the recommendations), it's the clients who are supposed to execute.

Of course, most consultants would be more than happy to execute - for a fee. And many clients are indeed aware and prepared to engage more consultants to implement great money-making ideas backed by the most sophisticated evidence money can buy.  After all, the cost of hiring a consultant to do it all is both financially and psychically negligible if it produces a whole lot more money than it cost; but also if it doesn’t work, because then clients can blame the consultant for the failure, preserving everyone’s jobs.

However, generally speaking, most clients are not willing, able, or capable of executing recommendations, which is where the rest of the misperception occurs. For most of the advice consultants offer, the stars literally have to align in order for it to yield the sort of results consultants promise.

So, why are consultants still hired? For the same reason your dentist doesn't clean his own teeth; or your accountant doesn't do his own books. In almost any case, a third-party can offer unemotional, objective options and advice to help you make the best choice (which, surprisingly, may not always be the answer you wanted to get in the first place). 

The trick is to offer the right kind of advice at the right point in time for every type of business.  This responsibility takes on an extra challenge for consultants working with entrepreneurs with limited resources and even fewer sources of good ideas and advice.  And this is where Conxulting.com comes in. 

It is our sole mission to be an entrepreneur’s most reliable and can’t-live-without advisory resource.

Contact us. We love all feedback and questions.