“It’s an age-old question: How do you know if a consultant is any good? Maybe the best way to gauge their success would be by asking how many people want them back. That’s where Conpulse comes in.”
ConPulse is a Performance Management System dedicated to Consulting Services. It gives a real-time balanced scorecard for each assignment delivered by your Firm allowing you to drill down per capability and engagement partner. The standardized Survey and longitudinal analysis of the results ensure transparency, drive improvements and provide insights for development.
Measure what is measurable and make measurable what is not.
Even though production in management consulting appears to be mostly intangible, there are still dimensions that can be measured based on the expectations of the clients. In the ConPulse, the dimensions are:
Commercial Approach
Were the client teams convinced by the proposal? The pitch? Was the proposal in line with their expectations? Want it or not, Consulting Firms have to sell, and sell well. Knowing the selling potential and what areas to strengthen (content, presentation, …) can help you level the ground during a competition and get a fair chance vs all competitors.
Delivery Quality
How did your Consulting Firm perform on the traditional triad: quality, time, and cost? Evaluate the quality of the deliverables, the respect of the timeline and the budget.
Talent & Expertise
Were the talent, the seniority and the expertise at the level expected? 64% of Consulting Users declare working with Consultants to access skills or expertise not available in-house. But the level of expertise is also the first reason of dissatisfaction.
Delivery Posture
What was the Consulting Team behavior during the project? Were they flexible? Reactive? Able to build trust with the teams? The way Consultants interact and build relationships with their clients is a key success factor for a Consulting Project.
Impact
What impact had the Consulting Firm on the organization regarding savings, ROI, change, and the like? You want to know if the Consulting Team delivered the excepted impact on the parts of the project that mattered the most for the client.
Net Promoter Score
What Net Promoter Score are you getting ? In other words, how much are your customers willing to recommend your Consulting Firm to a colleague or a friend?
Once all of the relevant dimensions have been measured, you will have a wealth of inputs that your firm can use to:
– Measure the impact of your projects
– Understand what are the best performing areas
– Create individual ScoreCard per project / per partner
– Compare the Performance of the different partners
– Identify the Low- and the High-Performers
– Initiate improvement plans ranging from commercial to delivery and expertise
– Enter a continuous improvement journey
[1] The mnemonic S.M.A.R.T. is associated with the process of setting objectives in this paradigm. “SMART” objectives are:
· Specific – Target a specific area for improvement.
· Measurable – Quantify or suggest an indicator of progress.
· Assignable – Specify who will do it.
· Realistic – State what results can realistically be achieved, given available resources.
· Time-Related – Specify when the result(s) can be achieved
