Day 1: Creating Value for Clients

• Understanding the consulting context, challenges, and the consultant’s role.
• The concept of the consulting industry.
• Consultants: types, skills, and values.
• The “truly professional” consultant – required skills and competencies.
• Integrity issues in consulting.
• Professionalism in consulting – best practices for building consulting project teams.
• Consulting as a profession.
• Developing professional consulting capabilities.
• Presenting models used by consulting firms to analyze client cases.
• Marketing consulting services – internal and external marketing, public relations, and relationship management.
• Understanding organizational values and aligning with client expectations.

Day 2: Building Confidence in Your Skills

• Conducting productive client meetings (face-to-face and virtual).
• Developing strong, trust-based relationships with clients and colleagues.
• Building effective and motivated project teams.
• Influencing clients and building a compelling case.
• Delivering proposals and recommendations that achieve desired results.
• Understanding the dynamics of organizational transformation and individual change.
• Identifying priorities when supporting clients during implementation.
• Distinguishing between good management practices and productivity.

Day 3: Client Analysis and Value Delivery

• Creating a customer journey map to identify complementary products and services.
• Steps to get started with your client.
• Discussing data collection methods.
• Using different data collection approaches, including interview considerations.
• Data analysis techniques.
• Developing key skills to:
  • Assess the client’s situation and fully understand their challenges.
  • Clarify the value proposition for the client.
  • Manage and exceed client expectations to improve retention.
  • Develop client-focused conclusions and recommendations that add value and deliver results.
• Managing and addressing resistance.

Day 4: Presentation Skills and Reporting

• Report writing skills: status reports and gap analysis reports.
• Practicing how to write effective proposals and deliver presentations.
• Strategy and organizational consulting.
• Key business elements: information, IT, value chain, and future growth drivers.
• Managing and monitoring a consulting project from start to finish.
• Applying structured problem-solving models to improve project outcomes.
• Best practices in writing recommendations and highlighting results.

Day 5: Advanced Consulting Practices

• Consulting for CEOs and boards of directors.
• Consulting in the public and non-profit sectors.
• Core consulting services and managing multiple stakeholders.
• Key dimensions of consulting interventions:
  • Content focus
  • Dynamics of mergers and acquisitions consulting
• Ethics in consulting firms.
• Closing projects to ensure maximum client satisfaction, identifying upselling opportunities, capturing lessons learned, and maintaining client relationships.
• Presenting a comprehensive practical case study (to be completed over 20 working days) as a requirement for certification.