1.

Foreword
Being a consultant. What does it mean? What is the difference between being a technical expert and being
a consultant? Many feel it is the direct contact and dealings with the customer.

This is a playbook from consultants to consultants. It has not been written by gurus, managers or wise men
from the east, but by the experts who have the lived experience of, and the passion to confront and solve
problems for the customers, also known as consulting.

The initiative to write this playbook was taken during the fall of 2021, when some twenty experts form the
Finnish Knowit organization took part in the Shapers of the Future training program. The main themes all
concerned how to build strong customer relationships, and so we worked on issues such as communication
and proactive action. The idea was that we would discuss and work out practical ways to improve our
customer work and thus to strengthen our reputation as a valuable partner for our customers.

To get the most out of this program, we committed to produce a playbook on how to work efficiently as a
consultant and to create as much value to our customers as possible.

Technical experts may never actually meet the customers, but being a consultant means, that the
customers are always at the center. Many institutions teach technical skills, but significantly fewer teach
good customer service.

What then is at the heart of valuable services? Services that customers want to pay for.

The price needs to be right. However, how the service is provided has a great impact on the perceived
value and the satisfaction of the customers. It is not only, the why and the what, but also how we get there.
Good service is about getting it done, but also about speed and friendliness.

As consultants, our job is to help our customers succeed in their businesses. We aid, support, and offer new
perspectives. A good consultant guides the customer firmly, but friendly, with a distinctly human touch. He
or she also recognizes areas of improvement and seeks to proactively improve on the workings and
processes of both the clients and us.

The goal here is to share a vast amount of experiences and insights gathered over many years to our
consultant colleagues so that we do not have to reinvent the wheel or learn everything by trial and error.

So, what is in here? At least thoughts and suggestions for customer encounters and communication, codes
of conduct for excellent teamwork and thoughts on how to make sure we have fulfilling and sustaining
work in the future. You may find that much of the content consists of material that might be deemed self-
evident. This is quite okay, as it turns out that most of what makes up valuable consulting can be found in
the seemingly obvious.

The legendary UCLA basketball coach John Obi-Wan Dumbledore Gandalf Wooden defines success as
follows: The understanding of and the ability to execute the fundamentals.

John Wooden: The Pyramid of Success

A good consultant doesn’t need superpowers, but the ability to take care of daily fundamentals and so-
called self-evident activities systematically and diligently. This playbook seeks to describe just this, how to
act in different situations, how to proactively communicate with the customers and how to be a productive
member of a team. In the midst of mergers and forming new entities, we have a great opportunity to mold
and create our shared ways of working, our culture.

This is not a manual to follow at all times and in all possible situations. Rather, this is meant to be a source
ideas and inspiration to return to whenever need be. To provide useful tips and hints for situations a
consultant confronts. This is hardly a complete handbook, but hopefully a collection of valuable thoughts.
Let’s improve on it together in case something instrumental is missing.

This is made for you!

2. Internal cooperation and teamwork

We humans are ultrasocial creatures, and practically all valuable things in life are produced together, with
other people. This is true for life in general, and perhaps even more so in the workplace.

The value produced by skilled consultation is also almost without exception a consequence of the
cooperation of many individuals. This is true even when the consulting work is produced solo, onsite at the
customer’s premises. Somebody else might have been involved with the customer case even before the
consultant joined the team. The value produced for the customer is often a result cooperation of different
people with different skills. And quite often the work is done by a team. A group of people who share some
interests and appreciations, but who are also different in other ways. Both as professionals and as people.

For the intergroup cooperation to be as smooth as possible, some fundamentals of excellent teamwork
need to be in place.

The first of these is a shared, emotionally significant goal. Without mutual goals there really is no reason
for cooperation, to give your best for the team. This seems to be much better understood in the world of
sports than in the realm of business. It may be true, that finding a meaningful, shared goals in sports are
easier than in business, but this doesn’t free the business people from this duty. The shared goals should be
identified and named, if we are to enjoy truly functioning cooperation.

Another necessary fundamental is clear roles and responsibilities. Who’s responsible for what? What am I
accountable for to our team? In well-functioning teams, team members help each other out, but the
starting point must be a clearly communicated and shared understanding of the individuals’ roles and
responsibilities. Trust, a vital component of true teamwork, follows, at least in part, when team members
learn to rely on each other to fulfill their respective roles. One essential role in any functioning team is the
responsible leader. The more ambitious the goal, the more important it becomes that somebody takes
responsibility for making hard decisions and guiding the team in difficult times.

A third, critical success factor is a shared set of (preferably written) rules, a code of conduct. How do we
communicate with each other? By what means? In what kind of tone? What things do we take care of
together? And how do we ensure compliance to our code?

These three elements coming together make for a solid and enduring foundation for good internal
cooperation and thus, value adding consulting.

The significance of teams in our work

Functioning teamwork enables us to specialize and to collectively expand our knowledge base. Any
shortcomings of any one of us can be overcome from either one’s own team or a neighboring one, and
ultimately relying on all the resources of Knowit. Additionally, having teams makes it possible to share the
workload so that nobody is either swamped or without work. Smooth communication is a key to getting
work done efficiently. It is indeed quite easy to see the importance of teams for both motivation and
wellbeing of the consultants.
Different teams
There are very few levels of management in the Knowit organization. This makes it possible to organize
teams quite flexibly, according to changing needs. A consultant can belong to many different teams,
defined by things like job description, customer projects or personal interests. Some examples:
➔ Teams led by a formal manager (dealing with employment matters)
➔ Teams based on particular customer work, typically incorporating customers and sub-contractors
➔ Teams dealing with internal development
➔ Technology focused teams
➔ Teams that share a hobby
Most of these teams are not top-down steered and thus require proactive involvement and leadership from
all team members. What does that mean in practice? In the next chapter we have gathered some tips and
mission and goals, tools on how to build well-functioning, efficient teams. You will also find some questions
and challenges that you can put to your team and yourself. Who knows, you might be inspired to improve
on something!

The building blocks

A mission or goal
Imagine a football match without goals posts. Without them, the players would just pass the ball without
any direction, or any sense of accomplishment or failure. The whole undertaking would be meaningless.

Teams need a reason to exist. Criteria for deciding the right path and means to measure success or failure.
To keep progressing and evolving, there needs to be reflection on the reasons why we reached the target
or missed it. Was the objective correctly set? Was it clear to the members and were they committed,
unified behind the goals?
Question: Have your teams agreed upon preferably in writing?
Challenge: Discuss this in the teams and formulate a mission as well as short- and long-term
goals. Agree on when you evaluate their achievement the next time.

Do we need a cheerleader or a tribal chief?

Teamwork should be fun but hiring a cheerleader or a clown will not help. A bossy, self-absorbed or
otherwise dominant team leader will also kill the spirits quite efficiently. A committed, motivating person
can build the teamwork. Even though the team might be unofficial or temporary, there should always be
somebody in charge of the work and the development of the team. This person can be a responsible
customer consultant, an account manager, a project manager, a delivery manager, a competence lead or a
guild master.

The team leader should have sufficient time to take care of the most critical activities and he/she should
make sure that the responsibilities are clearly set and communicated together with his/her own leader and
that there is time allocated in the time budgets.
Question: In your teams, are there responsible team leaders in charge of the team?
Challenge: If the answer is no, discuss the tasks of the team leader and choose a person to be
in charge, even if only temporarily.

Equality and other values

For the cooperation within the team, it is important that all members can give their best. This will only
happen if the team members feel that their work and opinions are valued. A good starting point would be
that all work is of equal value. The end results and the deliverables will vary according to roles and
experience, but the efforts are equally valuable. Everybody should put themselves on the line. Fairly often
there is too much self-criticism in the teams. This can hurt learning, innovation and even discussion.
Sometimes you need to lower the bar and add to the communications to get things going.

Question: Is positive feedback on work well done abundant in your teams?

Challenge: Give positive feedback to a colleague whose work has helped you or given you joy.

On planning
Without a plan, the end result is anybody’s guess. What if you started walking towards a destination
without consulting a map? If you just chose your direction randomly?

There should always be a plan on the means to reach the goals and what are the milestones along the way
should be. Who does what, and when should the tasks be ready? The plan can be divided to three different
levels:

1) a strategic level, to create new opportunities

2) a tactical level, to reach these opportunities
3) a task level, singular steps to execute the tactical plans
In projects, the project plan obviously serves as the map. Other plans are needed within the teams for
other tasks, such as a plan for competence development.

On a company and BU level, objectives may come from top management. To reach these targets, the teams
should then make up their own plans, which may include other, internal goals as well.

In consulting work, one element to plan is resourcing, to make sure that enough people are assigned to get
the work done. Enough, but not too many. Another sometimes overlooked plan is marketing, to get the
competencies of the team better known.

Question: Do your teams have plans for the coming weeks or this year?
Challenge: If your team does not have a shared list of tasks, make yourself a Planner board, in
which you describe and prioritize your tasks (per team)

Roles in the team

Within a team, roles are typically based on competence, available time, persona and sometimes chance.
The roles should be discussed with the team, so that everybody knows who is responsible for what. The
purpose of roles is to help the members identify their own tasks and the expectations of others. Together,
the roles should cover all necessary activities so that no tasks are left unattended. Setting clear roles and
communicating them well also helps everybody understand whom they can turn to in case they need help.

At Knowit there are at least these roles:

➔ Customer Executive
➔ (Customer) responsible consultant
➔ Account Manager
➔ Delivery Manager
➔ Technical expert
➔ Subject matter expert
➔ Guild master / Competence Lead
These roles are quite generic and so all teams should discuss whether these roles are necessary and what
tasks they entail in this particular team. If many people have the same role within the team, you might
want to make some further specifications, such as Technical expert (AWS) or Technical expert (Azure/BI).
While assigning responsibilities and roles help clarifying the work, this should not lead to situation where
tasks that are outside the responsibilities should be ignored or left unattended.

Question: Can you name your role in your teams? Are your responsibilities clear to you?
Challenge: Do a round in your teams and have everybody describe their roles and list their
most important responsibilities.

Size of the team

For the team to work well, the team should not be too big. If and when the team consists of more than
about 10 people, communications can become difficult, and the efficiency starts to decrease. Should the
team’s area of responsibility be narrower (so that fewer people can handle it) or should the team be split in
two and then divide the tasks between the teams?

In case the team remains large, more effort is needed to ensure good communications, particularly from
the team leader(s). Who does what? Are there obstacles that would cause the task to stall? Agendas for
team meetings should be well prepared and schedules need to be adhered to.

Guild and competence area teams usually evolve around group of active people. In addition, there may be
a larger audience that participate on a more infrequent basis.

Question: Are your team’s sizes appropriate? Can the teams support your work, your
development and your well-being in your work?
Challenge: Talk to your manager about your teams and your roles in them. Are there some
areas or issues where there are no teams (or unofficial groups) that might interest others as
well and that should have a team?

Resourcing
There needs to be clear agreement together with managers and team members on what work is billable
and what is considered as internal work such as competence development. Also, clear practices on how
time spent is reported and on which detail. The team should use time that cannot be billed as productively
as possible and for this there should be a list of development tasks that the team members can use and
consult. Within the team it is also paramount to try and share the workload as equally as possible by
discussing current and future customer work.

Getting new or less experienced consultants engaged in billable work is important for everybody. One way
to do this is to form working pairs, in which the more experienced consultant supports the new consultant
and gradually gives more demanding tasks to him/her. Customer work is managed on a team level, so that
the teams can arrange the tasks more freely.

Job rotation is also to be recommended, if possible, by for instance switching customers from time to time.
At Knowit we have a large spectrum of different kinds of customers and jobs. Cross-unit learning within the
company is obviously encouraged and new challenges can also be motivating.

Question: IS the work divided evenly within your teams? And how about those less wanted
tasks?
Challenge: How do you plan and agree on resources? If you do not yet have functioning
processes, think about what tools you might use to get this done?
Working habits
Here are some essential teamwork matters that you may want to discuss and agree on.

Schedules
Agree on meetings and checkpoints. Important things usually have a timeline and if not, think about the
necessity of assigning one. There can only be a limited number of things to actively pursue and advance at
any given time. Leave the rest for a back log to await it’s turn.

Tools
Choose appropriate tools and communication channels for the team to use. Also agree on where to
document any work produced.
- Communications channels: Slack, Teams, SMS/WhatsApp
- Documenting work and files: Confluence, Sharepoint
- Task lists and managing work: Planner, Jira

Measuring and evaluating work

Agree on the ways to evaluate the work produced. In addition to quantifiable measures such as rate of
billable work, response times and certifications, some qualitative measures may be relevant, such as
customer feedback or satisfaction.

To track progress and achieving objectives, the Objective Key Results method may be used.

Receiving critical or corrective feedback is never pleasant and should therefore typically be given on a one-
to-one basis and preferably in person. Positive feedback can be spread around more openly.

Question: Do your teams have ways to evaluate success and how do they measure
productivity?

Competence
Make sure that the team possesses the competencies needed to reach the objectives. If this is not yet the
case, you can consult the competence leads to find out whether the lacking competencies can be found in
neighboring teams or units. Within the team objectives there should be a plan on how to increase the
knowledge and the skills within the team. Together you can agree who focuses on what area, in order to
increase the competencies on a broad scale.

The end product of the team’s work

Does the customer get anything else but the invoices? The end results or the deliverables are agreed upon
with the customer. This often entails content that the team can use in the future. It can be a description of
a solution, training, sales or marketing materials, a checklist, a code, or a method.

Sharing work done by the team to a colleague or a wider audience can serve as inspiration and a source of
new, valuable ideas to somebody else.

Challenge: Could some work that your teams has done serve as a public reference or as a tool
for sales and marketing to present and to secure future work?

Building an identity
Working in a well-functioning team is one of the most important factors of well-being. It also serves to
create a picture of what working at Knowit is like. As a starting point, the team and Knowit should be seen
as ”the best alternative” to its members and also more broadly, from a recruitment perspective. This goal is
attainable when the team works actively towards this end. Many things are outside our control, but with
active communication and cooperation, even big and difficult issues can be improved upon. And though all
change is not progress, progress always requires change. The structure of our company has changed a lot
lately and many teams are shedding their skins. This makes for an ideal moment in time for us to think
about and to build a new and improved Knowit identity and brand.

Question: What should change in order for your team to be the workplace of your dreams?
Challenge: Discuss in the team, what you would change, if it was possible.

3. Communication in a consulting business

The value of consulting is based fundamentally on the fact that the consulting party has something
to offer that the customer does not already possess. Additionally, it is often useful and valuable to
have outside professionals to look at things from a different perspective, seeing and formulating
views that provide valuable insights. But the substance of the knowledge must be solid and
relevant to the customer.

However, that is not enough.

Because the customer is not an expert in the same way as the consultant is, the consultant needs
to be really skilled in communications as well. At least if he/she wants to be on top of the game, a
well-respected professional. You need to be able to convey your expertise in a manner that is
accessible to the non-expert. Otherwise, it may happen, that the customer does not perceive the
potentially valuable input of the consultant in which case there actually is no value produced. Not
to the customer, and consequently not to the consultant or Knowit.

”Communication typically fails, except by accident”. This somewhat cynical view is borrowed from
legendary Finnish communications guru Osmo A. Wiio. It is surely a caricature and an
exaggeration, but there is some truth to it. Good communication is difficult, but thankfully for the
most part a learnable skill.

Generally speaking, the main responsibility in producing mutual understanding in any

communications situation lies with the sender, regardless of the formals and relative positions of
the communicating parties. However, in a customer/service provider situation, it is wiser to
assume that the responsibility sits with the service provider. Knowit, in this case. Please keep in
mind, that responsibility does not mean that failure in communication is always the service
provider’s fault. The question is not who to blame, and sometimes one can surely see, that the
main reason for a misunderstanding is the poor communications of the customer. It is still our job
to help the customers express their wishes and concerns clearly, for the work to flow smoothly.
Well formulated questions can help.

As with any skill, we learn mostly by doing. It is also important to structure the communication so
that there are suitable and precise feedback mechanisms in place. Did we get it right? Was our
intended message received as intended? To ensure this, we should have a systematic way.
Good communications begin with taking good care of the so-called fundamentals, the most
important one being the objectives. What do we want to achieve in terms of understanding,
thinking, emotions and/or actions? This basic aspect of communicating well is disturbingly often
poorly thought out.
You can find more tips and hints regarding the objectives and other important elements of
successful communications from the checklists in this booklet. Use them and improve on them,
when you come upon some idea that could be valuable to us all.

Communication is the most important tool of influence and always a part of the consultant’s daily
work. The best results usually require that we not talk only about technologies, tools, and project
methods. And that we do not rely solely on our ways of working and strengths but draw from
them. Otherwise, there is a risk that we focus too much on ourselves. What we should do is strive
to produce value every day (and night). The surest way to fail in customer work is to criticize of
refuse to use certain tools or existing ways of working. A consultant’s job is to analyze, adapt and
to learn in order to develop better ways of working and to create value for the customers. The
purpose of communication is to find about the customer, the organization, the teams, the people,
the goals and the challenges.

We should talk primarily about people, values, company culture and the future passionately and
positively.

About communication in general

• Know the objective. If you don’t understand what the customer means, ask.
• Know your counterpart. Is he/she a representative of business or an engineer? What is
his/her presumed level of understanding about the issue in question?
• Take different cultures and customs into consideration.
• Make sure that everybody understands.
• Ensure that everybody uses terms that all can understand
• Be honest about your own and the customer’s actions
• Do not criticize or underestimate the requests or idea of the customer. Let’s be solutions
oriented and bring up different perspectives in a constructive manner.
• Remember to also give positive feedback to the customers – what has been done well,
where have they succeeded.
• Appreciate and value your own work and never diminish it when talking to the customers.
Avoid terms like ”hack”, ”quick and dirty” or ”makeshift” and rather use terms like ”Proof
of Concept” or ”Minimal Viable Product”.
• Strive to be quick in your replies. Do not let the customers wait unnecessarily.
• Do not harshly criticize competitors or other parties.
• Don’t let yourself to be provoked in difficult situations but rely on agreed processes (see
above). Also, do not focus on assigning blame but on finding solutions.
• Always seek to learn from customer feedback, be it positive or corrective.

Written communication
• Use your words in an appropriate, courteous, and knowledgeable fashion
• Always sign your messages and include appropriate greetings
• In all written communication, use clear and correct language. Use full sentences, pay
attention to grammar, and formulate language that is easy to read and understand. If
uncertain, ask a colleague to check and correct any mistakes found.
• Think about both form and content.
Verbal communication
• Listen to the end
• Give others a chance to speak
• Do not interrupt
• Bring your own opinions and questions forward
• Use appropriate language
• Articulate clearly
• Speak with respect
• Pay attention to tone
• Express emotions respectfully

Physical communication
• Be on time (before the meeting begins), especially when at the customer’s premises
• Greet and shake hands, if appropriate considering covid and other current rules, make eye
contact. Say goodbye.
• Follow meeting codes of conduct
• Say thank you, be polite and answer questions
• Be present, make notes and do not multitask!

Virtual communication (Teams/Zoom)

• Make sure you have a ”clean” background or use background pictures provided by the
company
• Have your cameras on, especially if the customers have them on. Check in advance, if
possible.
• Check you sound and visuals prior to the meeting
• Be present. Take part in polls (Mentimer/Teams polls). Do not multitask.

The skill of asking questions

This material is based on an article we found on LinkedIn called ”On the Art of a Question”
(https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/art-question-janne-korpi/). Below are some of the main content
of the material. You can find more detailed an in-depth examples in the original text.

”Let us start with a philosophical maxim: A good question is better than a good
answer.”

Asking questions is one of the most important tools to guide thinking and work. Finding the right
questions can be challenging. Here are some rules of thumb to help you form good questions.

1. Ask about one thing at a time and make sure the respondent knows what that one thing is
2. Make sure the respondent understands the words and the terminology used
3. Ask short questions. This is easier if you remember rule number one.
 4. Make sure you prompt the right amount of emotional response for what the goal of your
questionnaire is
5. Do not hint at the answers you would like to hear
6. Unless you have a pressing reason to, don't ask questions for which you can find answers
elsewhere.

The Scope of a Question

To finding out what people think, we need to define the scope of the question - which in practice
breaks down to three different things: topic, focus and context.

The topic of the question tells us what the overarching subject of the question is. Is it what
respondents consider important, or frustrating? Their fears, hopes and dreams?

The focus of a question refers to what kind of information you are trying to extract from the
respondents' thinking. Are you looking for explanations or causes? Just people's general thoughts?
Ideas for actions?

Finally, the context of the question describes what kind of limits we want to impose on the
information we want the respondents to deliver. Are we asking about the respondents' daily work,
or their thoughts on leadership?

4. Customer meetings

The value adding work of the consultant can often take place in ways and instances that the customer can
neither see nor hear. Therefore, the actual meetings and contacts with the customer become quite
important in determining the success of projects. The experience of the value is very much influenced by
the experience of the meetings, even if the actual work is done elsewhere.

First you need to get the work, the projects, and this often involves several different meetings with the
customer. Sometimes these are initiated by the customers and sometimes by the consultants. In these
moments, it is of vital importance that you understand the customers’ problems, needs, challenges, goals
and dreams, so that you can offer services relevant to the situation. It’s also important to convince the
customer that Knowit is the right partner for this project.

When the project/work has been secured, it is time to make sure that everybody involved has a shared and
precise picture of the project goals and the details concerning the work itself. This also requires successful
contacts and meetings.

And off we go, to work. As stated earlier, much of the work can take place remotely, and so to maintain
customer peace of mind and satisfaction, more contacts and meetings are needed.

The final stage of the project also entails meetings in which we secure the customer satisfaction and also
lay the foundation for continued trust and cooperation.
There are some ways of working with regards to meetings that can be set as a standard, and you will find
our suggestions, tips and hints in the checklists that follow. You will surely notice that some of the points
seem so basic as to be self-evident. However, experience has shown us, that way too often these things are
self-evident in thought only, not in practice, at least not systematically.

If, for some reason, you do not have the time or the inclination to read the list closer at this time, at least
consider this maxim from Master Coach John Wooden: ”Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail”. As in
basketball, planning and preparation are key, so make sure you invest in it properly. You can find practical
tips in the lists that follow.

To valuable encounters!

PS. Customer meetings vary in many ways, and all hints do not necessarily apply. But always make sure that
the true fundamentals are in place, such as the goals of the meetings.

Internal pre-briefs
Internal pre-brief is an event in which we make sure that we understand the customer situations and
what we expect as an outcome from the upcoming customer meeting. The meeting can be first
customer meeting, in which we mostly listen, or a second customer meeting, in which we share our
suggestions, or a sales meeting or something else.

Things to do prior to the pre-brief:

• Determine the participants and send out invitations
• Set objectives for the meeting: what should be made clear, what effect(s) should the meeting
have and what decisions need to be made.
• Schedule time for a post customer meeting debrief, preferably the next day after the meeting.
Slack is also an option.
• Set the agenda and determine how much time to use on different agenda items to
accommodate all crucial issues.
• If the meeting is not initiated by us, ask and agree on who makes the memo. You can suggest
Knowit people for this.
• Decide on ways of communicating our messages (ppt slides, memo template, technical demo,
other ways)
• Roles to consider for Knowit participants
o scribe (memo), facilitator, expert etc.
o Where can the pre-prepared memo be found? Make sure everybody has access.
o The role of the facilitator is more that of a leader of the discussion
o The discussion leader makes sure that we stick to the agenda ad that the schedules and
the main structures are upheld
o The customer responsible makes sure we have a concise understanding of the
challenges/needs.
o The expert acquaints himself/herself sufficiently to be able to make preliminary
suggestions as to how we can help (in case this is a first meeting with the customers
where listening is paramount, these suggestions may be wise to withhold for now)
o Prepare: familiarize yourself with the objective. Have an internal dialogue before the
customer meeting. Our understanding of the issue at hand should be uniform, even if
potentially wrong. Therefore, asking questions and listening is so important in
customer meetings.
 o Try to understand the position and the motives of the customer as best you can.
o Ask yourself, what value can we produce in this situation.
o Get acquainted with the customer environment, if possible
o Be on time
o Turn off unnecessary notifications (mobile, slack, Teams etc.)
o Make a note of questions that puzzle you
o Also note issues that need to be understood for future actions

Customer meeting
o If this is a first meeting, prepare your introduction. Long, short, what issues are relevant to this
customer and this meeting
o If you meet new people, make a note of their names and their roles
o Ask, listen, be present
o 80/20 rule – the customer should be the one doing most of the talking. In future meetings, the
customer expects us to have suggestions, but even then, it’s a good idea to find out what the
customer thinks about our ideas and to be ready to modify based on what you hear (this being
our first suggestion)
o Make plenty of notes and have at least one designated scribe
o Everybody makes notes and the memo is shared by Sharepoint or Microsoft365 document
sharing (in some projects Confluence is used)
o Stick to the schedules and the agenda
o Always end with a decision, a call to action, some next step, perhaps a new meeting

After the meeting:

o At the end, make sure everybody agrees on what has been decided
o Debriefing
o The best time is immediately after, no later than the next day. Otherwise, things will be
forgotten, particularly emotional responses and images of non-verbal communication
o What went well?
o What will we do differently next time?
o Action points, what/who/when?
o Make sure the memo is accessible to all.
o Agree on who ensures the follow-up with the customer

5. Proactively securing new work

The world of consulting is exciting in the way that you first need to get the work before you can actually do
it. There will, of course, be longer projects and lasting partnerships, which is all desirable and good. At the
same time, it is wise to always consider yourself on probation, and that we need to earn the customer’s’
trust again and again. An integral part of successful consulting is always securing the next project.
Sometimes, this is called selling.

In traditional consulting firms the consultant is not a salesperson. And the salesperson is not a consultant.
However, a really good salesperson works in ways that are clearly consultative by nature, providing
significant value already during the negotiating stages. And vice versa, a truly valuable consultant actively
looks for opportunities to deepen the cooperation and to find new ways of producing value, to the
customers and to the company, within the boundaries of his or her professional identity, naturally.

A consultant that is close to the customer and knows the customer well, can be a really valuable asset, both
to the customer as well as to Knowit. He or she might see, hear and understand needs and problems that
the customer does not (yet) notice. When the consultant then acts on this understanding and insight, the
customer may end up getting swift and timely assistance to tackle problems that may have gone unnoticed
altogether. And for Knowit, this kind of action can result in offering help in places that are not subject to a
public bidding. And even if the project is later opened to other possible partners, the relative position of
Knowit is very strong, having been present at the uncovering of said need.

On the next pages you can find some ideas and tips as to how you, as a consultant, can take part in securing
new projects and continuing work. Try them out and add your own thoughts and suggestions!

What is proactive new project acquisition in practice?

It can begin with a thought. Some idea regarding something more to do for the customer.
Something new. Something to help solve an identified problem, to plug a leakage of money. It may
translate into a few additional consulting hours. Or maybe a totally new project spanning many
months. The goal is to continually improve on the customer environment. In the end it’s about
ensuring that we have work in the future. And when you find a good idea, something the customer
gets excited about, you may get to do even more interesting things.

The “ten commandments” of the proactive consultant

Here is a checklist for practical actions that you can use to find new work almost without thinking about it:

1. Be active: ask, listen, talk, come up with ideas! For example, you can ask the customer
what would be the “fulfillment of wishes” in the new system.
2. Know your client: what is his/her role and what is he/she striving to achieve in his work? Ask
for background on business needs, as discussing new needs often comes to the fore.

3. Identify customer needs and concerns:

• Listen: There is always something going on around the current work
• Ask: how, why, what do you want to solve, what is the problem?
• Watch: comment, give feedback, evaluate the work (own and others' work).
4. Keep your knowledge up to date by following publications and news. Apply your skills and
think about how new technologies or things you learn could be utilized in the client’s
environment.

5. Create credibility by generating added value. Build added value by building trust between
you and your customer. Getting a new assignment is easier if the customer knows you and
trusts you. By then, you’ve probably already proven you know a lot about the subject, and
you’re constantly thinking about what’s best for the customer.
 6. Spread awareness to the customer about new technologies and opportunities. For example,
if you know of an advanced solution made for another customer with the same functionality,
tell the customer about it!

7. Feel free to come up with ideas! They can be development targets, project ideas or even
Proof of Concept blanks. Think about how you would develop the customer’s system yourself if
you were the customer in charge of it. If possible, try to get development ideas in the
customer's development idea portfolio, backlog, etc.

8. Try to ensure that the supplied system is used properly and fully. For example, you can
suggest presentations in the customer's organization more broadly or end-user training.

9.Drive a culture of continuous improvement. Ask for feedback from both the client and
colleagues. Based on the feedback, you will be able to improve your performance and
influence future decisions. Ways to obtain feedback can be, for example, retro-monitoring or
similar evaluations. You can also suggest collecting feedback / experience through meetings or
surveys. These often spawn new needs for further development. You can also suggest /
arrange a workshop on development/roadmap. If necessary, make use of business
advisory/insight/facilitation teams.

10. Anticipate resistance and concerns. You may encounter situations that affect the desired
outcome. These include the development of a new system and its integration with core
business systems. In these situations, it is worth preparing for resistance to change. In other
words, be prepared to address the concerns your customer has when a new application affects
the operations of existing ones.

Taking ideas forward

How are the development needs identified by the customer taken forward in practice? The most
important thing is to bring up ideas at a low threshold and share them with someone who will take
the matter forward, for example to a project manager, delivery manager, lead consultant or
account manager. If you’re not sure who to share your idea with, ask your team leader.

In order not to forget a good idea or get caught up in your mind, describe the need for
development briefly, for example with a few bullet points. If the development idea goes
completely to another solution area, get the idea into a sales lead / opportunity. Within your own
solution area, make a technical description if necessary or open the background and needs of the
development topic in more detail. It's a good idea to post the idea to Confluence or Sharepoint's
customer site.

The ideas are reviewed and further processed together with the responsible persons who take
care of the customer relationship. Promoting an idea is not the sole responsibility of the
consultant, but the consultant has a key role to play in bringing out new ideas. And every idea -
even the smallest one - is important!