CONSULTANCY SERVICES

V.T. PODDAR COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES CONSULTANCY SERVICESGROUP MEMBERS

ROLL. NO. NAME OF THE GROUP MEMBERS AHMED ALYANI .D15 IRFANKHAN PATHAN .I16 BALWANT PATIL .G19 RITESH SHETHI .D22 SUNIL TIWARI .DSUBMITTED TO :- SITESH SURATI

What is Consultancy services ?Consultancy service is a particular type of service delivered under a contract for services, distinguished from other contracts by the nature of the work performed. Consultancy services involve the application of expert professional skills to: investigate or diagnose a defined issue or problem, carry out defined research, reviews or evaluations; or provide independent advice, information or creative solutions to assist the agency in management decision making.

Way to overcome the unique characteristics

You can find success in consulting by developing certain qualities. They make you more effective. After years of consulting experience, I have distilled these qualities into a top ten list.

1. Professionalism.

Consultants should always keep in mind that client relationship should remain at a professional level. It is sometimes easy for consultants to take on an employee attitude, which in many environments can backfire on the consultant and actually create a negative situation for the project.

2. Time Management.

Consultants should look for ways to adjust their work style to accommodate the schedule, budget and overall requirements of the project. This is particularly true when faced with pressure to maintain high quality within finite time and budget constraints.

3. Judgment.

Consultants are required to have good judgment when confronted with a problem. We should not jump to conclusions. Consultants should take time to consider the facts and to get feedback from their peers and management before reaching a decision

4. Team Player.

Consultants must demonstrate that they are team players and are willing to learn from team members, genuinely valuing the input and expertise of others. It is important to establish a collaborative relationship with peers.

5. Good Communication Skills.

The consultant should have excellent oral and written communication skills. Since we are often viewed as the subject matter expert (SME), we should be able to communicate our opinions effectively. In addition to English, it is beneficial to know the language widely used by the employees of the company. In some countries, the documentation may be in a local language. Ideally, the consultant can easily read this language without employing any translators.

6. Expert Knowledge.

Clients typically approach an external consultant for two reasons:

1) The client expects the consultant to have more expertise than the organizations internal resources. 2) Because clients do not have sufficient time to solve their own problems or implement their own projects. As consultants, our level of knowledge should be broad enough to know when to ask questions and/or where to research to find solutions. At all times, the consultant should remain current by reading journals, magazines, and informative websites and through networking with fellow consultants. We should know how to apply theory into practice and also be skillful in using appropriate tools (software, professional journals, etc.) to function efficiently in the job.

7. Good Listening Skills.

During the consulting process, consultants will meet different people with unique characteristics. Some will be verbose, others reticent. Having excellent listening skills will encourage all to talk freely. This leads to more information sharing which, in the end, can make the consulting process more streamlined.

8. Roles and Responsibilities.

It is important for consultants to understand the responsibilities of their role, as well as the practices and parameters of the job. You may notice that each client has a different take on what the role of a consultant entails. Clarifying your clients expectations and deliverables beforehand may possibly be the single most important task one undertakes. Remember that in a consulting role the client also has duties and responsibilities: they are bringing you in to recommend what they should implement. If they fail to implement within the agreed terms then you cant help them further and its time to walk away.

Remember that each client has his or her own preconceived view of the consultants abilities and capabilitiesviews that will almost certainly differ from reality by varying degrees. Some clients expect the consultant to be a god and recommend solutions that will fix everything that is wrong with their organization; others expect one to be nothing much more than a glorified mechanic called in to fix the photocopiers. Clarifying what you can and cannot do, and what you are willing to do, are paramount concerns before commencing work.

9. Involve Other Consultants.

Saying I dont know is often a very good answer to a question. An even better answer is I dont know, but I know people who do know. Consultants do not know everything, and should not be expected to know everything. Saying, I do not know will not damage your prestige. As an example, if your client has a problem related to legal issues, try to consult with a legal consultant to help your client find a solution to the problem.

10. Reputation.

Protect your public reputation above everything elseyou will not get an easy chance to repair it if it is damaged. If necessary, walk away from situations or contracts that could potentially damage your reputation. Consulting is not simply contracting by another name; it involves duties of care and levels of accountability, responsibility and integrity that may well be greater than those of the client. If that proves to be the case and you find a clients operations and methods are not ethical, then it is time to walk away. Be selective about the clients for whom you.11.

Physical evidence for the consultancy service.1)Adequately define their unique qualities in terms of capability statement, Brochures, Market position and credibility in their chosen field.

Unless this is carefully and consistently done, a consultant will not stand out from the crowd in a clients mind. Without anything unique to evaluate the consultant by, the client is then forced to use price as the principal basis for selection. Not only does this preclude the opportunity for negotiated agreements and a reduced opportunity for higher fees, but it cause assignments to be lost through competitive bidding.

2)Precisely define who their prospective clients are.

This a marketing fundamental, but many consultants they dont develop enough detail about their prospective clients. While they may know their industry, they may not have not selected their top 30 target clients. They may not have identified the key decision makers (KDMs) and key decision influencers (KDIs) within those target client firms. When duck hunting as a teenager, I learned to not shoot at the flock, but instead at a specific bird. Its the same with consulting. Successful consultants select their top target clients and then learn everything about them.

3)Become an authority in their field.

Through failing to position oneself as an expert or an authority in the chosen field of expertise, a consultant misses many opportunities for assignments and increased fees. After all, a consultant is essentially a problem solving resource to a client. The more credibility that can be attached to a consultant, the more consistent the assignment flow. This demands creative thinking, the ability to gather publicity for oneself and doing outstanding work for clients who can give referrals to their friends and associates.

4)Pay attention to gut feelings when selecting clients.

I have found my intuition to be the best judge of a potentially successful or bad relationship with a client. Whenever in the past, I overrode my gut feeling about a client and went ahead with the project, I invariably ended up with problems completing the job or collecting my fees, and feeling bad about the client. And, they had bad feelings towards me. No one benefits from this kind of lose-lose situation.

I no longer take assignments unless I like the client. Not only does this makes the Assignments more fun, but I get paid and everyone remains happy. Having this flexibility to select your clients is one of the great benefits of being a consultant.

5)Give special treatment to long term clients.

It so easy to start to take long term clients for granted, thinking that they will always be there to give you assignments. NOT TRUE! Every client is special and should be treated that way, no matter how many assignments you have done for him/her. Ive seen clients give assignments to another consultant just because they were tired of being taken for granted. Simple things like not promptly returning a phone call can lay the seeds of dissatisfaction, and open the door to you losing the next assignment from a client.

Self Service Technology in consultancy service.There are a few major areas in which technology now is able to help provide key advantages to businesses in engendering customer loyalty by improving customer service:1. Websites

Providing areas on your website where customers can answer their own questions or seek answers from others.

2. E-mail.

Using E-mail as a way to improve customer service and more quickly respond to certain needs or help request.

3. Communications.Unifying communications so that you know that the customer who left a voice mail also sent an e-mail with the same request a few days ago.

4. Software.

Better managing customer relationships with more sophisticated data-gathering tools, such as customer relationship management software. 5. Help lines.Helpline in nothing but a customer care which is provided by the consultation firm or by the company to the customer for solving their query at the any time or at any place.

Distribution of consultancy services

Distribution of services are generally able to give the responses to the four question and they are as follow as WHAT? HOW? WHERE? WHEN?

The customers service of experience and types encounters with services employees are a function of how the different elements of the flower of services are distributed and delivered through selective physical and information process.

What is distributed?

If you mention distribution, many people are likely to think of moving the boxes through physical channels to distributors and retailers for sale to end users. In services though often there is nothing to move. Experiences, performances, and solution are not physically shipped and stored. Means informational transaction are increasingly conducted via electronic channels.1. Information and promotion flow - distribution of information and promotion materials relating to the services offer. The objective is to get the customer interested in buying the services.2. Negotiation flow - reaching an agreement on the services features and configuration, and the terms of the offer, so that a purchase contract can be closed. The objective is to sell the right to use a service.3. Product flow many services, especially those involving people processing or possession processing, requires a physical facilities for delivery. For information processing services, such as internet banking, distance learning, broadcast news, and entertainment, the product flow can be undertaken via electronic channels, employing one or more centralized sites.

The distribution of the services are distributed in two types of process and they are as follow as :(1) physical process:in types of process the consultancy services are given related to the goods or products that customer want to purchase or consume it in this type of the services the consultant are providing the services or advises relating to the any good or product. E.g. health care & financial advisory (2) Information process: e.g. tours & travels career guidance

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