Tag Archives: consulting

Mar 01

Bacal’s Law of Consulting

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You probably don’t know that I’m the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Consulting, which is now out of print. I’m still interested in the consulting business, and recently came across a conversation with a “consultant” stating that organizations resist change because of fear, and a few other generalizations that suggested HE knew organization’s problems even before meeting them. Yuck. So, this is what you do upon being retained.

1) Assume that the organization has rational, coherent reasons for the things they do and how they do them, even if, on the surface, those things don’t make sense to you. SEEK THEM OUT.

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Aug 17

Learning To Say No, Important To Training/Consulting/Speaking Business Success

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In my travels, talking to trainers, consultants, and most importantly, customers and consumers of those services, a clear pattern emerges about one of the most common reasons training and consulting fail. On one level it’s simple. Training and consulting interventions fail because they are badly conceived, too limited in scope, allocated insufficient resources, or are in plain terms, a bad idea in the first place.

But how do these projects go ahead? Isn’t it the consultant’s or trainer’s responsibility to simply say NO to jobs where it’s impossible to succeed? Well, it certainly should be and that’s part of the expertise that we bring to the table and for which we get paid. Well, for some of us anyway.

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May 15

Pro Bono Work For Training/Consulting Business Marketing

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In response to a question about the value of doing free (pro bono) work to market a consulting or training business, Robert responds:

I agree that some feel pro bono work is a poor way to generate business, but I’m hesitant to discourage people from giving it a shot. Generally, I’ve found that pro bono speaking (or dirt cheap) doesn’t increase business, but there are exceptions. Some of it is blind luck. Some of it has to do with what you present and how you do it.

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