Introduction: What Clients Want from Consultants and What Consultants Want from Clients

Abstract

It’s not hard to find negative feedback about consultancy in the media:

Their [the pure-play e-consultants] plight arguably has more to do with their own self-destructive behaviour. They weren’t designing websites, they were building ‘end-to-end’ solutions to save a client from getting crushed … ‘You have more money than time,’ they cooed, and billed out their legions of tattooed 20-something webheads at $400 an hour.¹

When consultants show up and root around inside your company, several things can happen. They may perform dazzlingly saving you millions of dollars and pointing you in the direction of lucrative new markets. They could also run amuck, costing you tons of money and pushing your company to the brink.²