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Can you cross-sell consulting services?

By ⋅ 28 March 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

It really is a billion dollar question. One of the most important strategic choices a consulting firm has to make is whether to specialise or diversify.  Conventionally, the decision has been driven by size (small firms specialise, big firms diversify): the point at a firm crosses from the first to the second signals its transition [...]

What price a price? (Or what clients really think about price and value)

By ⋅ 23 March 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Six years ago I visited India for the first time. I will never forget walking out of my hotel on to the streets of New Delhi to be confronted by the almost complete absence of everything I knew and understood. Having worked out the basics – which, for the western tourist, is largely a matter of [...]

Fee rates: down but not out

By ⋅ 27 June 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

As part of our research on consulting in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, we inevitably asked consulting firms how much they’d seen prices fall during the recession. Overall, we estimate that fee rates among multinational corporations have dropped by between 10% and 15%, and those among large regional or national companies by as [...]

The three stages of commoditisation

By ⋅ 12 April 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Consulting is always being commoditised but has yet to become a commodity. Commoditisation has always snapped at the heels of the industry, but emerging challenges and new technologies has historically allowed the industry, on balance, to stay ahead. And that’s what consultants do: they keep on running. But just occasionally it’s worth looking back over [...]

Question: How much can you save by using 2nd tier consultants?

By ⋅ 13 March 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

  Answer: £6 million* *Clearly that’s a dirty big asterisk, right? Well, yes. And no. Here’s how we worked it out: Fees Independent research shows that consulting fees for 2nd tier firms are anywhere from 20% lower (graduate consultants) to 60% lower (partners) and are typically, for junior and senior consultants, 45-50% lower. Let’s be [...]

Buy now, pay later

By ⋅ 1 February 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Another permutation of the sensitivity about prices in the consulting industry at the moment is the rather novel proposal, suggested by some clients, that they’re willing to pay more for a consulting service, but only if they can pay next year.    I say “novel”, but this approach to pricing is implicit in many long-term [...]

Do winter sales apply in consulting too?

By ⋅ 1 February 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Discounting isn’t just confined to the high street. Consulting firms are already cutting their fee rates, even though all the indications are that the consulting industry grew slightly in 2008 and most firms are not in a position where they are desperate for business. Indeed, compared to the last downturn in the consulting industry, firms seem to [...]

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