Navigating the corridors of consultancy power can be exceedingly complicated. The prevailing corporate behavior of each organization differs, and you need to fit in yet stand out at the same time. And it is no good behaving like a chairman when you get your first major consulting role."Organizational politics" is the unspoken process whereby some consultants achieve greatness, while others lust unproductively after power. If you are unprepared to...more
You may feel that previous experience and general management qualifications, even an MBA, may mean that you are suitably qualified to undertake management consulting successfully. In reality, the majority of independent consultants struggle to maintain a profitable practice and success is limited to the few consultants who have a clear and focused strategy for developing a tangible consulting service.Indeed, we cannot expect to be employed as a...more
The consulting industry has enjoyed significant growth during the last decade, averaging between 20% and 25% growth depending upon market sector. The reasons for this are easy to understand. The competition generated by the new global economy has resulted in many companies downsizing in terms of internal employees. This has meant that their need for professional external skills has increased, as and when deemed necessary. The information age has also changed the way that Company Directors and Managers think and operate. Instead of only having to consider change or strategy perhaps once every year or even five years, they now have to consider change and strategy daily. This means that their dependence upon external sources of information, guidance, training and service implementation has increased substantially and this trend is set to continue, even during the recession. As unemployment increases, it becomes a more cost-effective option for organizations to hire in specific skills on an independent basis as and when they need them. Employees constitute a fixed cost, whereas consultants are considered to be variable.All major proactive companies and indeed governments now depend...more
Research from the leisure industry tells us that only 7.5 per cent of members who join a gym actually attend on a regular basis. The remaining 92.5 per cent still pay their annual or monthly membership fees but do not attend regularly.What is even more interesting is that members who make up this 92.5 per cent have no regular attendance patterns at...more
A successful product must connect with the personal values of customers. Consultancy services are no different. A consultancy product experience includes both the expression of the product and the interaction with the product. Clients are looking for three basic things from a consultancy product that will improve their business: Is the product...more
The Academy of Business Strategy has always been fortunate enough to be in a position where demand from potential clients for consulting services has always outstripped supply and the same has been true for Certified Professional Consultants. The reason for this is simply because we do not provide clients with any short-term consulting services. This ultimately restricts us in terms of the amount of clients that we can service. For example, upon graduation a Certified Professional Consultant would have an established portfolio of five clients each having signed a five-year assignment. The reality is that this constitutes the minimum period that client services usually take. In most cases services will be implemented for much longer periods than this. Consequently an individual Certified Professional Consultant would do well to be able to take on one new client every five years and such clients are therefore likely to be introduced, either through the Academy of Business Strategy, or through the consultant's own client portfolio.Many consultants now have a short waiting list of potential clients if there is an indication that a client assignment is nearing conclusion. Once again,...more
WHO CAN REGISTER AS AN ASSOCIATE?Anyone who is registered as a student on either the Post-Graduate Certified Professional Consultant (CPC) program or on the Post-Graduate Certificate in Career Management Strategy (CCMS) program are eligible to...more
Vemma is a network marketing company that provides different kinds of healthy juices with several tasty flavours along with an opportunity to grow your own Vemma business. The concept of Vemma's products is to eliminate the "pill fatigue syndrome" -...more
Marketing a startup is one of the biggest struggles for any entrepreneur. You need to increase sales and grow your customer base, but effective advertising is expensive. While the internet provides significant opportunities for low-cost and no-cost...more
Most people dont know that it IS possible to make money online, whether it be enough to live off of, or just an extra bonus on top of youre wage. Most people think you have to have a high paying job or a college degree to be able to make a lot of...more
Millions of people surf the internet every single day. Also every day, thousands of new websites are created which then begin to struggle for attention, competing against all of the sites that are already in existence. And as it turns out, those...more
Snow plow businesses are essential to a communities in locations around the States that experience harsh winters. Heavy snowfall can inconvenience and eventually debilitate families who live in places with cold climates. Prior to the onset of the...more