Business Consulting Assignment PDF

Background Consider your position as a standalone consultant running your own business, working with a consulting firm or whether you are a generalist, work in a specific industry, consult in a specialised area or alternatively, are you the client and the person seeking to hire a consultant to assist with your business/organisation? Be clear whether you are the client or the consultant. While not compulsory, it is advised that your position be consistent with Assessments 1 and 2. Your position determines the narrative and the perspective you undertake when designing, structuring and writing this assignment. • If you are the consultant then you are developing a plan to attract, maintain and grow clients

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9026BC Business Consulting 2020 Term 2
(Student name)
(Student Number)
Consulting Plan
Word count: 2573

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Contents
Background...........................................................................................................................................2
Value proposition..................................................................................................................................2
Consulting Industry...............................................................................................................................3
The Consultancy Plan............................................................................................................................3
References.............................................................................................................................................8

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Plan Objectives
Being a consultant in a growing consultancy market like that of Australia’s (Asia,
2019), there is always a need to develop and update a new plan to attract and maintain clients
to work with. Due to the increase in demand for specialist consultants, there is an increasing
number of consultants entering the market. This increase not only leads to growing
competition in the market, but also makes it increasingly difficult to maintain existing clients.
This Consulting plan aims at providing an overview on how the consulting business will
operate over the next twelve months. Everything from the value proposition, to how multiple
projects will be managed, will be considered in this plan.
Background
Before embarking on the consultation plan, it will be useful to recount what exactly
consultation is. Consultation is a professional service that helps an organization or business
to analyze and solve critical problems, improve organizational performance and help the
organization seize new business opportunities (Kipping, M. and Clark, T., 2012). The system
used by consultants differs from project to project. This Consultancy plan will be focused on
providing a successful and an advanced game-plan for consultancy services. Maintaining a
positive and healthy working relationship with current clients is also an integral part of the
plan. Therefore, this plan will involve not only how the business will survive during its
twelve-month period and how it will maintain the existing clients, but also what type of
clients the business wants to attract and what kind of operational strategies it will use in order
to achieve this.
Value proposition
The Consultancy plan aims at showing how different kinds of strategies and methods
will be used in order to ensure that all of the clients’ needs are met, without any wastage of
time and other resources and how the business will operate and develop during its first year.
The plan helps in ensuring that effective and appropriate strategies are being implemented by
the consultancy organization to maximize efficiency. Another benefit of the plan is that it will
ensure the client that the best methods will be used to solve any problems that are being faced
by the client, and all the requirements will be met. It analyses the networking strategies that
will be used to attract customers and the different types of customers that the business will
gain in time. The customer will be assured that all of their wants and needs will be given
importance and will be fully filled, and the project will be delivered on time. Choosing our
consultancy business will benefit the client in many ways, such as the client will be kept up-

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to-date with all of the project movements and plans, all of the clients needs, no matter how
small it will be met. The consultancy organization will ensure that all of the problems faced
by the client will be solved using the most effective methods, as quickly as possible, ensuring
that the client becomes a repeat customer.
Consulting Industry
Like every other business in every other industry, the consultancy business goes
through high and low moments. Due to the economic change, currently, the demand is high in
Australia. Consultancy services are highly dependent on the economy (Kaplan, 2017), as
when the economy is growing the demand for consultancy increases as it is more of a luxury
service rather than a need and when the economy slows down, and people focus more on
their needs, the consultancy business struggles. The consultancy business attracts a number of
people that hope to become Consultants, as it gives them the opportunity to become their own
boss, have the freedom to develop creativity and a chance to earn money. This leads to more
competition in the industry.
The Consultancy Plan
During the first year of operation, in order for any business to survive, there needs to
be sufficient cash flow (Hari Lall Garbharran, 2014). The same applies to the consultancy
business. In order to survive during its first year, the business will need a strong cash flow
plan as finance will be one of the most critical factors in determining whether the business
will succeed or fail (Jasra et al., 2011). The initial start-up investment required and a budget
for expenses will have to be decided on, along with a pricing structure to ensure a study
inflow of cash and the break-even point of the business will have to be calculated in order to
know when exactly the business will start generating a profit (Alnasser, Shaban and Al-Zubi,
2014). These factors, along with organizational planning, the growing economy, and growing
demand, will ensure that the business will not fail during the first year of operation
(Mehralizadeh and Sajady, n.d.).
Another important factor for surviving the first year of consultancy is trust. It is
important to build the business and client base grows; a solid foundation of trust is
established between the firm and the client. The objective of growth is also a daunting task
that the business will face during its first year of operation. A useful framework that can be
used to ensure growth in the first year is the GROW Model by Sir John Whitmore. The model
consists of four stages that are; Reality, Options, and Way forward. The GROW method
helps in coaching clients who are going through a period of change or are having difficulty
moving forward (Whitmore, n.d.).

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The consultancy business will need to utilize a number of frameworks and strategies
in order to make their services more efficient and to attract new customers. One such
strategy is the Blue Ocean Strategy; this strategy is used to develop new markets and renders
the competition irrelevant. This method requires the consultants to either assist in developing
new products or services for the market or to assist in updating the existing ones. In order to
add value to the product. The Blue Ocean Strategy is not only a way of reshaping the market
place, but it also helps in expanding and increasing the customer base (Kim and Mauborgne,
2015). Another consultancy model that the business will utilize is the Boston Consulting
Group (BCG) Model (The growth-share model). In this model, the market growth and the
market share are considered, and the model aims to identify which investment will prove to
be profitable and should be pursued and which ones will likely fail (Jurevicius, 2013).
Which particular approach is used by the business will depend on the particular client’s
needs, the business structure, size of the business, and the industry it operates in. Proper and
efficient utilization of the consultancy plan ensures that the consultancy business gains new
customers and helps in increasing the business success rate, which in turn can lead to higher
prices being charged from customers (Marks, 2014).
Without process management, managing multiple projects will prove to be a difficult
task for the business during the first year of operation (Watt, n.d.). Developing a project
management process that can be adjusted for every individual consultation job will help in
saving time and other resources. Utilizing the consultancy Project Management process
developed by Zipursky will help in managing multiple projects at the same time and will
ensure that all projects are on track and proceeding according to plan. The four-stage process
consists of assessing, plan, implement, and optimize. Another benefit of using this process is
that it will serve as a sort of framework for a plan that may be presented to the client. This
will help in not only keeping existing customers but also attracting new customers as well
(Zipursky, 2017).
Networking is another key aspect needed for survival in the first year of business
operation (Tips to survive your first year in business, n.d.). The business will need to
establish an online presence through sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This presence is
particularly required if one is starting a new business that does not yet have any existing
customers. With already established business, it helps in gaining new clients and helps
reaching a larger target audience. Physical networking on the other hand has to do more with
self-confidence as in these events the client will judge your body language (Nonverbal
Communication: Chapter 4 | Interpersonal Relations, n.d.) and how you pitch yourself rather

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than your business proposal. It involves impressing and developing a relationship with the
client before a contract has even begun.
There also exist a number of strategic models that exist to help in networking, more
specifically in developing an online presence. One such model is the Ten C’s model. The Ten
C’s model framework focuses on the factors that help in selling and succeeding in an online
business. Ten C’s consists of content, communication, convenience, customer, connectivity,
cost and profitability, customization, capability and competitiveness, and community and
culture (Hanlon, 2017).
In the ever-growing consultancy business, the target audience or the bronze customer
will be the public, i.e., all the businesses, whether small start-ups or large organizations,
International corporations, and the government. The Silver customer base will consist of the
already existing clients that will be given preference over the bronze level customers and will
be repeat customers that already have a good relationship with the business. The third type of
client will be, the gold or platinum clients. This level client will have priority over all others
and will be big corporations with multiple branches in different countries. The reason that
platinum or Gold clients will be given preference is because they will not only lead to the
consultancy business earning large amounts of money, but will also help the business in
gaining a respectable image in the market and therefore attracting new customers. In the first
few months, the business will mostly get bronze and silver level customers; however, if all
networking strategies are followed, and the business develops a good image, it may be able to
attract a Platinum or Gold level client towards the end of the business year.
How the consultancy business will operate and function its projects was already discussed
earlier in the project plan. However we will briefly go over how long will be spend on each
project and how many projects are expected in the first year.
When the consultancy business gets a project from a client, it will take three to four
weeks in developing a solution for the problem that the client’s organization is facing after all
possible solutions are thought of; the consultant business will take a further two weeks in
choosing the best possible solution for the problem. After the best plausible solution has been
decided, the business will prepare a proposal for the client in one week. After the proposal
has been accepted by the client, the consultancy business will take a further two to three
weeks in order to plan for the implementation stage, in order to ensure that the process goes
smoothly.
Throughout the process, the client confidentiality will be given utmost importance as
confidentiality is one of the most crucial aspects of any business deal (LLC and Halpern,

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2010), and all information relating to the whole project will only be accessible by and
available to the relevant parties, and no information will be released to the public before the
project has actually started and put into effect. The proposal will be signed by both parties in
the presence of witnesses. The consultancy process and rates being charged will depend on
the type of client, and the type of job that is required so will vary from client to client.
However some aspects of the consultancy process shall remain the same, such as the
implementation process will not be started until half the total cost is paid to the consultant,
before the project begins the consultant and the client or the relevant person representing the
client will have to sign the contract in the presence of two witnesses from both sides, and that
no alteration in the cost of the project shall be accepted or is possible after the project has
begun. Both parties are expected to maintain a certain level of ethics in order to ensure that
all conditions are met, and all terms should be followed with a lot of ethical considerations
(Dutt et al., 2015).
The consultancy business does not expect and over-flowing the number of clients in
its first year of operation. The business may only get one client in the first month, or even get
zero clients in the first month, but that is expected. Until the business is able to establish a
client base through networking, the chances walk-in clients are low in the consultancy
business. After the first two-three months, the business will start getting its first round of
clients and will then use the management process strategies mentioned before in order to
ensure that all projects progress simultaneously and are finished in time. Towards the end of
the business year, the business will have established a steady client base of regular customers
and will be steadily growing towards gaining new ones.
Whether or not the consultancy business will be successful during its first operational
year be highly dependent on the client. Often businesses forget that the most important factor
in ensuring success and growth is the client (Grebennikov, 2019). If the consultancy plan
being offered to the client does not cater to the needs of the client, it will not be effective. It
does not matter how much value is added to the product or service if the management does
not listen to what the client wants. In trying to impose the firm’s own opinion on to the client,
the firm will not only waste time and other resources but will also lead the firm to lose the
client and can even lead to a bad reputation for the business,
If the client is listened to, and the project plan is developed according to his specific
needs, the client will believe that he is buying a new strategy that will not only help the
business grow but will also increase profitability and help increase productivity for his
organization and will, therefore, be willing to pay any amount necessary.

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Two of the most important factors that are needed to ensure growth and success in
any business is setting goals and managing time. The consultancy business will establish a
thorough twelve-month plan in order to ensure maximum utilization of time and resources. A
strategy that can be used to achieve this is the One Goal a Day strategy. This strategy believes
that every day the firms should have a goal that they wish to achieve, the goal needs to be an
important one and needs to be something that will help the business move forward (Adams,
2016). In conclusion, in order to keep growing, the business will have e a proper plan with a
system of constant checks and balances, each step in the plan must be completed effectively.
On-time, the plan for the consultancy business will consist of setting up the business,
establishing a network attracting customers starting projects keeping up and managing the
projects while developing a relationship with the client delivering the projects on time, and
fulfilling all the necessary requirements only then can the business grow. After the twelve-
month period has ended, the business will have established a vast customer base and a good
reputation and will be on its way to becoming one of the leading consulting agencies in the
market.

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References
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Planning, Controlling, And Decision Making In The Industrial Jordanian Companies.
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