When someone says that they are a consultant of some sort.........?

Question

for example.....im a marketing consultant, or a health care consultant, or design consultant......what really is their job.....? these people always seemed to be overpaid for something that one can do for themselves

Answer 1

Actually as a "sals consultant" my job is first to find the deficiency in each rep's performance at the client company. Some reps have minor deficiencies and thus the progress for them is minimal whereas others who are on the lower rungs have the best ability to improve and this is really what the company wants: a unified force of reps who each are pulling their weight.

Some consultants want ridiculous fees for - as another person stated "Pointing out the obvious" - but more often than not, upper level management will not budge unless they can be given solid reasons WHY they should. Most managers & supervisors are too close politically to deal with such situations thus an informed Third Party's Opinion is often what is needed to get upper management to give the okay.

Should company's utilize more in-house intelligence? Definitely! Do they? No!

While not degreed, I have a proven track record in sales that goes back many, MANY years with verifiable results and third party endorsements. My goal as a consultant is to help my client achieve his/her goal whether they're selling Kool Aid on the corner with beans and weiners OR for a multi-billion dollar firm who has sales reps that just are not trying hard enough.

I have a reference library on Sales material that borders on 3,000 volumes alone and yes I have read each and every one of them from cover to cover. You have too if you're going to be a consultant!

Also I have gone into company's who used a previous
Marketing and Sales "consultant" that charged them thru the nose yet gave them little to no results and have cleaned up their mess! Some people - including MBA's do NOT deserve the term 'consultant' because all they do is talk the talk and not walk the talk.

Overpaid? Well when I show a client some new ideas for motivating his sales force to improve their closing ratios guess what? He thinks my fee is TOO LOW! Several companies not only gave me a bonus but also set me up with consulting for other companies all because I was fair and up frotn with them.

Remember too that "consultant" is just someone who you're seeking advice from and that's ALL many consutlants give. I on the other hand will learn the product &/or service and go out and sell this for the company for a couple of weeks using various techniques I'm familiar with and strategies I've come up with. THEN I take each rep one by one and show them how I sold it and what they can do to adapt this to their own communication style.

My style of consulting is not a quick fix thing as very often I'm working with the company for many months tweaking and improving their performances. It's a tedious and painstaking process but when the fiscal livlihood of my clients is on the line, I cannot afford to cut corners or screw around!

Answer 2

Consultants point out the obvious and provide options that are politically too hot to handle for the in house managers.

Answer 3

Consultants not only for payment but also have more practice and effort for searching candidates and satisfy companies.

Answer 4

They have some kind of expertise, experience or charisma that they are able to sell to companies. They get work done that companies can't get done for themselves.