The Executive’s Guide to Consultants: How to Find, Hire and Get Great Results from Outside Experts

The Executive’s Guide to Consultants: How to Find, Hire and Get Great Results from Outside Experts PDF

Author: David Fields

Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional

Published: 2012-11-23

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0071801936

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Maximize Your Return on Expertise Research shows a high proportion of consultants fail to deliver results on time, on budget, and on target. Rare is the project that exceeds your expectations. But help is here. The Executive's Guide to Consultants explains how to ensure that every project delivers measurable benefits every time. This book will help you find experts, invest wisely, accelerate change, and achieve your most important goals by tapping into the genius of others. The Executive's Guide to Consultants contains breakthrough ideas covered by no other book, including: Sophisticated new contract structures that maximize your ROI Essential methods for reducing project risk Cutting-edge techniques for making change stick after the consultant leaves You will also learn to: Spot "chameleons" and other low-quality consultants who peddle tired ideas and deliver disappointing outcomes Get better results faster, while lowering fees Find the ideal consultant, coach, agency, or advisor for your precise situation Enforce accountability with outside experts and your own internal team Imagine if you could collect the wisdom of dozens of the country's top CEOs, combine it with the experience of a hall-of-fame consultant, and add a bucketful of unconventional thinking. You'd have The Executive's Guide to Consultants. Easy to read and packed with examples, checklists, templates, and guidelines, this book is the ultimate toolkit for maximizing your ROI from outside experts. Get extraordinary results from every consultant you hire "An extraordinary book. Clear, comprehensive, and eminently readable, it is THE book on how you can extract true business value from outside experts." -- Scott Cotherman, Chairman, TBWA\WorldHealth, subsidiary of Omnicom Group, Inc. "This is the Master Class for those who are smart, innovative, ahead of the pack, and who intend to stay that way. If you're not yet in that league, you should read this book twice." -- Alan Weiss, author, Million Dollar Consulting and The Consulting Bible "A terrific guidebook, with much of the advice equally applicable in managing your organization's internal talent. It's an easy, engaging read with a wealth of insights and detailed action steps--I highly recommend it." -- Brian Walker, President and CEO, Herman Miller, Inc. "A powerful antidote to the strained relationship between consultants and clients." -- Garry Ridge, CEO, WD-40 Company "This book shows you how to make your consultants' work stick. No more major investments in experts or programs that evaporate after only a few months or years." -- De Lyle Bloomquist, President, Tata Global Chemicals "Fields's messages are delivered in the way that all executives would like our outside resources to do it: capably, with straight talk and incredible insight." -- Ralph Scozzafava, Chairman and CEO, Furniture Brands

The Executive’s Guide to Consultants: How to Find, Hire and Get Great Results from Outside Experts

The Executive’s Guide to Consultants: How to Find, Hire and Get Great Results from Outside Experts PDF

Author: David Fields

Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional

Published: 2012-10-23

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 0071801928

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Maximize Your Return on Expertise Research shows a high proportion of consultants fail to deliver results on time, on budget, and on target. Rare is the project that exceeds your expectations. But help is here. The Executive's Guide to Consultants explains how to ensure that every project delivers measurable benefits every time. This book will help you find experts, invest wisely, accelerate change, and achieve your most important goals by tapping into the genius of others. The Executive's Guide to Consultants contains breakthrough ideas covered by no other book, including: Sophisticated new contract structures that maximize your ROI Essential methods for reducing project risk Cutting-edge techniques for making change stick after the consultant leaves You will also learn to: Spot "chameleons" and other low-quality consultants who peddle tired ideas and deliver disappointing outcomes Get better results faster, while lowering fees Find the ideal consultant, coach, agency, or advisor for your precise situation Enforce accountability with outside experts and your own internal team Imagine if you could collect the wisdom of dozens of the country's top CEOs, combine it with the experience of a hall-of-fame consultant, and add a bucketful of unconventional thinking. You'd have The Executive's Guide to Consultants. Easy to read and packed with examples, checklists, templates, and guidelines, this book is the ultimate toolkit for maximizing your ROI from outside experts. Get extraordinary results from every consultant you hire "An extraordinary book. Clear, comprehensive, and eminently readable, it is THE book on how you can extract true business value from outside experts." -- Scott Cotherman, Chairman, TBWA\WorldHealth, subsidiary of Omnicom Group, Inc. "This is the Master Class for those who are smart, innovative, ahead of the pack, and who intend to stay that way. If you're not yet in that league, you should read this book twice." -- Alan Weiss, author, Million Dollar Consulting and The Consulting Bible "A terrific guidebook, with much of the advice equally applicable in managing your organization's internal talent. It's an easy, engaging read with a wealth of insights and detailed action steps--I highly recommend it." -- Brian Walker, President and CEO, Herman Miller, Inc. "A powerful antidote to the strained relationship between consultants and clients." -- Garry Ridge, CEO, WD-40 Company "This book shows you how to make your consultants' work stick. No more major investments in experts or programs that evaporate after only a few months or years." -- De Lyle Bloomquist, President, Tata Global Chemicals "Fields's messages are delivered in the way that all executives would like our outside resources to do it: capably, with straight talk and incredible insight." -- Ralph Scozzafava, Chairman and CEO, Furniture Brands

Maximizing the Value of Consulting

Maximizing the Value of Consulting PDF

Author: Jack J. Phillips

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2015-05-19

Total Pages: 549

ISBN-13: 1119123674

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Provide organized, efficient, relevant consulting with lasting value Maximizing the Value of Consulting is an indispensable, practical guide for managing, measuring, and delivering the results that make internal and external consulting a lasting value to clients and the company. Sponsored by the ROI Institute and the Association of Internal Management Consultants, this book provides a roadmap to relevance for consultants operating in the increasingly fast-paced, changing, dynamic environment. Readers will learn how to use resources properly and manage the investment efficiently, while truly connecting to the business, securing appropriate levels of commitment, and providing adequate levels of support. Detailed coverage includes guidance toward calculating the value of consulting in terms that executives understand, including business impact and ROI, and using the appropriate tools to show how things are working throughout the process. Whether organizations are using internal or external consultants, or both, consultants can provide better value to the company. Consultants are needed to provide advice, support, and insight into the processes undertaken to improve the business, and integrate the input of different functional units into a more streamlined strategy. This book is designed to help consultants provide the utmost value to clients by maximizing organization, efficiency, and ultimately, ROI. Manage for value with better organization and cost control Set objectives at multiple levels to deliver useful results Measure implementation, impact, ROI, and intangibles Use final results to drive appropriate actions, creating lasting value The skyrocketing need for internal and external consultants will continue, in almost every functional area ranging from HR and technology, to auditing and risk management. Maximizing the Value of Consulting provides a manual for relevant, value-driven consulting, with world-renowned expert insight.

The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients

The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients PDF

Author: David A. Fields

Publisher: Morgan James Publishing

Published: 2017-03-21

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1683501659

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This deeply insightful guide to understanding what clients really want is “an indispensable resource for consultants” (Keith Ferrazzi, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Never Eat Alone). Independent consulting is a potentially lucrative enterprise—but the reality seldom matches the dream. Most solo consultants and boutique consulting firms are perpetually within six months of bankruptcy due to the sputtering unreliability of their new business engines. The problem, according to international consulting expert David A. Fields, is twofold: 1) lack of a consistent, proven plan, and 2) fundamental misunderstanding about what clients want in a consultant. Fields, who has helped hundreds of consultants and boutique firms worldwide build profitable, sustainable practices, replaces the typical consultant’s mindset of emphasizing expertise and differentiated processes with a focus on building relationships, engendering trust, and solving clients’ existing problems. In The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients, Fields synthesizes his decades of experience into a step-by-step approach to winning more projects from more clients at higher fees. From nuts-and-bolts business advice and tactics to a deeply insightful breakdown of the human side of a very human profession, Fields, named one of Advertising Age magazine’s “Marketing Top 100,” delivers a comprehensive guidebook that is at once highly approachable and satisfyingly detailed. “If I could have just one book on client strategy, this book would be it.” —Marshall Goldsmith, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Triggers

The Flawless Consulting Fieldbook and Companion

The Flawless Consulting Fieldbook and Companion PDF

Author: Peter Block

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2012-03-21

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 0470927054

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Don't venture into the consulting field without this essential Fieldbook & Companion! Following on the heels of the best-selling Flawless Consulting, Second Edition comes The Flawless Consulting Fieldbook and Companion. Whether you work as a consultant or you work with consultants, this relentlessly practical guide will be your best friend as you discover how consulting influences your business- and real life-decisions and those of others. The Flawless Consulting Fieldbook and Companion is packed with: Sample scenarios Case studies Client-consultant dialogues Hands-on tools Action plans Implementation checklists "Wow! A companion a business owner can't be without! The insights of 30 consultants the caliber of Peter Block is priceless." --Sue Mosby, principal, CDFM2 Architecture Inc. "This book is a companion piece for both the desktop and bedside of those who do consulting full time or in their role as leader. I plan to keep this book close to me to both guide and inspire my work." --Phil Harkins, president, Linkage, Inc.

How to Use a Consultant in Your Company

How to Use a Consultant in Your Company PDF

Author: John J. McGonagle

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2002-02-28

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0471201383

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Obtain the Best Consulting Services for Your Business In this chaotic age of new technologies, downsizing, andreengineering, managers and executives are relying more and more onthe consultant. Hiring the right consultants for your company andmaking effective use of them is a vital skill, and yet there hasbeen a lack of guidance on this topic-until now. How to Use a Consultant in Your Company delivers expert advice andpractical guidelines on how to successfully create and manage theclient/consultant relationship-to your advantage. John McGonagleand Carolyn Vella provide up-to-the-minute information on: * Defining your consulting needs * Finding and selecting the right consultants * Managing the paper trail-corporate policies, contractingissues * Working with an individual consultant or an entire firm * Handling disputes, lawsuits, and complaints * Evaluating consultants Including forms and other materials for help in developing formalpolicies, billing procedures, and more that you can adapt to fityour own situation, How to Use a Consultant in Your Company is theone-book-fits-all solution for anyone responsible for getting themost out of their company's consultant.

Fundraising Basics: A Complete Guide

Fundraising Basics: A Complete Guide PDF

Author: Barbara L. Ciconte

Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Publishers

Published: 2008-12-18

Total Pages: 627

ISBN-13: 1449664954

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As nonprofit organizations face heightened scrutiny by the general public, donors, regulators, and members of Congress, the Third Edition of the essential book on the basics of fundraising provides new, up-to-date and valuable information that every fundraiser needs to know. With ethics and accountability being the primary theme of the Third Edition, this practical guide will continue to provide an overview of the field and give development staff, managers, and directors a platform from which to operate their fundraising programs. The new edition also provides much needed information on giving trends, computer hardware and software available for fundraisers, cost estimates and workflow timetables, and the importance of the Internet. This primer remains a must-have for anyone new to the fundraising arena.