Managing Consulting Projects is extremely difficult. You work in a hostile environment, long hours on difficult things. On top of that the bill for your services for the customer is pretty high so he will want to squeeze out of you as much as possible. At the same time his people may dislike you as you are an outsider that in their point of view pretends to know better. Therefore, many Project Managers fail on deadlines or cannot deliver value for the customer. Luckily there is a way to do a consulting project on time, get your customer and his people happy with the result as well as get well paid for your work. This course will help you drastically improve your knowledge and skills in managing consulting project. It is designed for project managers, especially those working in consulting. After finishing the course you will know: 1. How to prepare for the project to make your customer and your team happy as well to finish the project much earlier than your competitors 2. How to create value for your customer 3. How to deliver the project within the budget and way ahead of deadlines 4. How to execute the project without having to work 7 days a week 15 hours a day 5. How to overdeliver and get buy-in from your customer 6. How to build strong foundation for future projects 7. What tools to use 8. How to be efficient as a team The course is based on my 12 years of experience as a Project Manager in top consulting companies and as a Board Member responsible for strategy, improvements and turn-arounds in biggest companies in Retail, FMCG, SMG, B2B sectors that I worked for. On the basis of what you will find in this course I have trained over 100 consultants, business analysts and managers who now are CEO, Operational Directors, COO, Investment Directors, Directors in Consulting Companies, Board Members, Customer Insight Managers, Data Science Managers

1. 1
How to Manage Consulting Projects
Practical guide for Project Managers how to do fast and efficiently a consulting
project

2. 2
Managing a consulting project is quite challenging due to
many reasons
Hostile environment No industry knowledge Short deadlines
Poor quality of dataTeam issues

3. 3
Luckily, if you approach the project in the proper way you can do the
project fast, efficiently and with little stress

4. 4
I will show you step by step how to manage a consulting project
Teaching Phase Preparation Phase Execution Phase
Wrapping up the
project
Life after the project

5. 5
Thanks to this presentation you will
manage fast and efficiently a
consulting project

6. 6
The things you will see in this presentation is a summary of my
on-line course devoted to Managing a consulting project. For
more go t
Click to check my course
Practical Project Management for
Management Consultants
$45
$ 0

7. 7
What does it mean to
manage well the project?

8. 8
First you have to establish what does it mean to manage well
the project. Below what it does mean to me
You deliver what you promised
Within deadlines
Within the budget
Your customer sees value for
money
The customer is willing to do
new projects with you
The customer’s team would be
happy to trust you with new
projects

9. 9
Teaching Phase

10. 10
Introduction to Teaching
Phase

11. 11
If you want to do fast, efficiently good projects you have to
have the right kind of people. You can say that preparation
starts with proper teaching

12. 12
You will achieve it only by defining and implementing 3 things
Values
Profile of the
ideal consultant
Structure for
cooperation

13. 13
Values

14. 14
Consulting is a team work so you have to define what values you want
your team to follow. This is crucial as it will be something that will be
the bases for the team culture

15. 15
Before you start defining specific values it is good to decide on
2 important issues
Specialist Generalists
You buy ready-
made people
You grow people

16. 16
In my case I prefer generalists and people with little experience
that I can grow
Specialist Generalists
You buy ready
made people
You grow people

17. 17
In the case of my teams I always try to instill the following
values
Independent
Creates value
Support the team
Data driven
Smart lazy
Efficient
Despise politics

18. 18
Profile of an ideal
consultant

19. 19
As we discuss previously you want to turn inexperienced
graduates into seasoned consultants. This gives you greater
chances of success during the project

20. 20
You will achieve it only by defining and implementing 3 things
Tools Skills Areas of expertise
Sales Marketing Operations Finance
Current level
Target level
Problem
Solving
Sketching
Presentations
Interviewing Managing
People
Excel Power Point Access VBA

21. 21
Structure for cooperation

22. 22
For your team to cooperate you have to create and teach them standards,
templates as well as turn into modules as much as possible your process
and end-products.
Standards Templates
Modules Tools

23. 23
Standardize everything

24. 24
Why it makes sense to standardize?
Easy to go through what
you have done so far
You can reuse your
products
Less versions to manage
Brain works faster with
standards
You can find faster what
you need

25. 25
How to decide whether to standardize
Used by manyOften used
Last for longer time
Standardize

26. 26
What other standardize?
Folder structure
Consulting
Naming of files
Proposals to customers
Typical company
Agreements
Deliverables
Analyses
Main processes
Internal documents
External documents
Main process
Dress code
Language of
communication

27. 27
Rules for standardizing
Use few standards
Internal standards
higher than external
Round up to closes
standard
Communicate standards
Teach standards

28. 28
Standardize everything –
example of Power Point
presentations

29. 29
What rules should be used for Power Point Presentations
Use the template
1 slide = 1 message
Agenda
Executive summary
Excel analysis for every
slide
Sources
Dates
Backup
Next version rule
Show money

30. 30
Rules for Excel

31. 31
There are some rules that should be used when building
analysis in Excel
Usage of colors
Consistency between
sheets
Pyramid principle
1-source rule
Repetition of
variables
Shortcuts
No mouse
Description
Data source
Master sheet

32. 32
Below there are some useful functions for Excel
Basic functions Financial / Mathematical Others
▪ SUMIF / SUMIFS
▪ COUNTIF / COUNTIFS
▪ HLOOKUP
▪ VLOOKUP
▪ MATCH
▪ SUMPRODUCT
▪ IF
▪ AND / OR
▪ IFERROR
▪ AVERAGEIF
▪ LEFT / RIGHT / MID
▪ FIND
▪ CONCATENATE
▪ YEAR / MONTH / DAY
▪ ROUND / ROUNDUP /
ROUNDDOWN
▪ TODAY
▪ VALUE
▪ WEEKDAY
▪ RAND / RANDBETWEEN
▪ MOD
▪ NPV
▪ IRR
▪ ABS
▪ MAX / MIN
▪ CORREL
▪ Pivot
▪ Slicer
▪ Relative addresses
▪ Formats
▪ Hyperlink
▪ Remove Duplicates
▪ Filters
▪ Sorting
▪ Data Validation
▪ Trace Dependents / Precedent
▪ Analysis Tool Pack

33. 33
Create templates

34. 34
Templates can save you a lot of time

35. 35
How to decide whether to make templates
Often UsedCan be reused
Time-consuming
Template

36. 36
Define what you should create templates for. In consulting
we use a lot of templates to make the repetitive work less
time consuming
Sales presentation
Consulting
Emails
Data request
Project Time sheets
Proposal
Agreement
Folder structure
Deliverable presentation
Dimensions
▪ For every product, branch
▪ All standard emails: about meetings, data request, workshop, sales emails,
thank you email
▪ For every product (project type) and branch – Word
▪ For every product (project type) – Word
▪ For every product (project type) – Word
▪ For every product (project type) and branch in Excel
▪ Library of standard slides with typical analyses to choose from
▪ For every product (project type) and branch – Excel

37. 37
Create modules

38. 38
Modules is something that helps you go beyond templates
and used them in a situation that seem not easy to be
standardized

39. 39
Creating modules enables you to turn even things that
Sales
presentation
About the company (history, experience, offices)
Problem description
Proposed solution
Pricing
Team
Contact Details
Rather standard
Unique

40. 40
Create universal
structure of folders

41. 41
In most cases in consulting you will be doing a lot of different
project and you may loose a track of what you have done
Supply chain
General audit
Cost cutting
Sales Force Management
Marketing improvement
Cost cutting
Supply chain
Supply chain
Sales Force Management
Sales Force Management
Marketing improvement
General audit
Supply chain
▪ After a few project you will be
lost – you will not remember
what was done on what project
▪ Consulting and many services
are bout managing knowledge
▪ If you organize the knowledge
properly you can reuse it on
other projects
▪ Therefore create universal
structure of folders

42. 42
Below an example of structure used for consulting project
Customer
folder
Project A
folder
Admin
Legal
PBC
Area A
Area B
Deliverables

43. 43
Tools

44. 44
You have to find tools for the most often done activities
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Analyze ▪ Excel ▪ Learn advanced formulas ,
formats and VBA, shortcuts
▪ Test Access, SPSS, R
for specific purposes
▪ Present ▪ Power Point ▪ Learn animation, using of
templates, shortcuts
▪ Test Prezio, Powtoon,
Explain everything for
this purpose
▪ Collect knowledge ▪ Database on Google
Sheet with links
▪ Use advanced function and
templates, use zapier for
partial automation
▪ Test Get Pocket,
Evernote
▪ Manage projects and
teams
▪ Database on Google
Sheet
▪ Learn advanced features of
Google Sheet that will enable
you managing the project or
team
▪ Test Asana, Leankit,
Smartsheet, Trelllo,
Nobe
▪ Sell ▪ Direct sales and
content marketing on
events
▪ Increases your network
(LinkedIn) and start
propagating content
marketing on different
platforms (Guest blogging,
reports distributed to
customers, Slideshare)
▪ Use Linkedin
Premium, Buffer,
start microblogging
on Twitter, Google+
▪ Get cloes.io for cold
calling and delegate it
partially to other
team members

45. 45
The same goes for any department. Below an example of
engineers
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Prepare projects
for clients
▪ AutoCad ▪ Create libraries
▪ Store previous projects
▪ Buy add-on Autocad
that changes the
drawing methods
▪ Time in hours
needed for 1
project
▪ 16 hours ▪ 10 hours ▪ 2 hours

46. 46
List of the most important tools for consultant
Analyze Present Sales & Marketing
Knowledge
Management
Market research Team management

47. 47
The things you will see in this presentation is a summary of my
on-line course devoted to Managing a consulting project. For
more go t
Click to check my course
Practical Project Management for
Management Consultants
$45
$ 0

48. 48
Preparation Phase

49. 49
Introduction to
preparation phase

50. 50
Most consulting project are done in a bad manner. If you
prepare properly you can shorten them, create more value
and earn more
▪ Project Start
Task 1
▪ Data Gathering
▪ Analysis
▪ Presentation & Discussion
▪ End of the project
2 3 4 5 6 7
▪ Project Start
Task 1
▪ Data Gathering
▪ Analysis
▪ Presentation & Discussion
▪ End of the project
2 3 4 5 6 7

51. 51
There are number of thing that you should prepare ahead of
time
Issue tree Presentation template Data request for the customer
Teams defined Schedule of meetings
Market research
List of contacts

52. 52
Create Issue tree

53. 53
The first you should do is to create an issue tree that will help
you structure the project
Issue tree

54. 54
Below you can see an example of how issue tree is build
Area of analysis
Area 1
Problem 1
Problem 2
Possible Reason 1
Possible Reason 2
Possible Reason 3
Possible Reason 4
Possible reasonsSuspected problems
Analysis to be
performed
Analysis 1
Analysis 2
Analysis 3
Analysis 4

55. 55
Issue tree – example – chicken meat producer
Area of analysis
Transport
High costs of transport per ton of
goods
Big level of waste and breakage in
transport
Possible reasonsSuspected problems
Analysis to be
performed
Analysis of correlation between type
of packaging and percentage of
damaged
Analysis of time spent on the way and
kilometers covered in that time
Analysis of designed routes, their
length and the influence of possible
changes
Analysis of fuel usage and kilometers
covered by vehicles
Analysis of load carried on the way
back
Badly designed routes
Too big fuel usage
No shipments on the way back
Low usage of resources
Badly designed method of packaging
which makes the product prone to
damage
Speed not adjusted to the product
Badly organized work and schedule of
deliveries
Limitation on delivery time of finished
goods
Analysis of level of overtime, daily
organization of drivers work
Analysis of Clients’ preferences on
delivery time

56. 56
Below you can see example of issue tree in Retail Chain
Development
Area of analysis
Retail chain
development
Low growth in sales
Decreasing EBITDA of new stores
Possible reasonsSuspected problems
Analysis to be
performed
Analysis of rents vs comparable
competition
Salaries growth vs rotation – comparison
with competition
Analyze the change in sales after opening
new stores / on-line introduction
Analysis of number of openings vs
availability of new places
Low LFL due to cannibalization (on-
line, new stores in old locations)
Few new openings in locations
Increasing rents due not proper usage
of purchasing power
Growing salaries to keep low rotation
High cost of building new stores
No support from the shopping malls
Not optimized formats, expensive
fixtures
Analysis of contracts with shopping malls
Analysis of cost per 1 sq. m, number of
fixtures, cost per fixtures

57. 57
Create Presentation Template

58. 58
The second step is to create a presentation template on the
basis of the issue tree
Issue tree Presentation template

59. 59
You can see how to create a presentation template in a
separate presentation. Where there is a step by step guide
Management Consulting
Presentations
Practical guide how to prepare a great presentation
presentation

60. 60
Conduct independent Market
Research

61. 61
The next step after the presentation template is prepared is
to do market research
Issue tree Presentation template Market research

62. 62
Market
research
Consulting
methods
Off-line
research
On-line
research
Market research methods can be divided into 3 main
categories

63. 63
You should also visit your customer
Get to know the
customer and his team
Visit his factory /
headquarters
See his product in stores / talk
to his customers

64. 64
Check my presentation on market research to see to carry out
such market research
Market research
Practical guide for startups and entrepreneurs
presentation

65. 65
Send data request with
formats

66. 66
The next step is to request data from the customer
Issue tree Presentation template Data request for the customerMarket research

67. 67
There are some rules for data request that you should follow
Specific
Sent in advance
Get direct contact
Talk it through with the
customer
Remind them about the
data
Ask for raw data
Ask for examples of
reports
Double check integrity of
data

68. 68
Define the team and roles

69. 69
Now it is time to define the teams
Issue tree Presentation template Data request for the customer
Teams defined
Market research

70. 70
The team and the structure depends on the below. Below
example of a an operational audit project
Project managers
• CEO
• Asen Gyczew
Production Team
• Production Director
• Deputy Production Director
• Shift Manager
Planning Team
• Chief Planner
• Deputy Chief Planner
• Planning Specialist
Purchasing Team
• Purchasing Director
• Purchasing Specialist A
• Purchasing Specialist B
Sales and Marketing Team
• Sales Director
• Marketing Director
• Country Manager
• Export Manager
• B2B Manager
Project Sponsor
• Owner A
• Owner B
• CEO
• Supervisory Board Chairman
Roles
▪ Participate in Steering Committee
Meetings
▪ Supervise of the project on the behalf of
Company A
▪ Select of Solutions
▪ Support in implementation (when
needed)
▪ Gather data
▪ Participate in workshop and project work
▪ Carry out part of analyses
▪ Implement solutions
▪ Daily management of the project
▪ Agreeing the daily priorities
▪ Teaching the team members
▪ Supervise the teams

71. 71
Typical structure of a project

72. 72
Below you will find some example of project duration for
projects done in management consulting
Business
Analyst
Associate
Senior
Associate (PM)
Director Partner
▪ Operational
Audit
Type of
project
Duration in
months
▪ 3-5▪ 1-3 ▪ 1-2 ▪ 1 ▪ 0.2
▪ Performance
improvement
– 1 area
▪ 2-3▪ 1-3 ▪ 1 ▪ 1
▪ Strategy
project
▪ 3-5▪ 3-6 ▪ 1 ▪ 1 ▪ 0.2
▪ Turn around ▪ 5-10▪ 9-24 ▪ 2-3 ▪ 1 ▪ 0.4 ▪ 0.2

73. 73
Schedule Meetings

74. 74
One of the last steps is to schedule the meetings with
customer team
Issue tree Presentation template Data request for the customer
Teams defined Schedule of meetings
Market research

75. 75
List of contacts

76. 76
The last step is to prepare contact list that will facilitate the
commuication
Issue tree Presentation template Data request for the customer
Teams defined Schedule of meetings
Market research
List of contacts

77. 77
The things you will see in this presentation is a summary of my
on-line course devoted to Managing a consulting project. For
more go t
Click to check my course
Practical Project Management for
Management Consultants
$45
$ 0

78. 78
Execution Phase – Technical
Tips

79. 79
Introduction to Execution
Phase

80. 80
From the preparation phase you should have a lot of data as
well as the template for deliverables
Issue tree Presentation template Data request for the customer
Teams defined Schedule of meetings
Market research
List of contacts

81. 81
Now it is time to turn those data into solid end-products
Templates and data
Presentation in Power Point and
models in Excel

82. 82
Execution if you are prepared is fairly easy. Still, there are
some tips that you should learn to make the execution
process smother
Technical tips Tips relating to relationships

83. 83
In this section we will talk about technical tips that will help
you deliver the project on time and make the customer and
your boss happy
Tools for
managing the
team
How to create
a to-do list
Deadlines Critical chain
Interim
Meetings
Proper
Analyses in
Excel
Production
process of the
presentation
Buy-in
Meetings with
the customer
How to
overdeliver

84. 84
Why manager should not
work?

85. 85
Business Analyst
170 170 x # of BAs
▪ Deliver on deadline high quality of
analyses
▪ Make the team deliver on deadlines high
quality of analyses
▪ Manage relations and conflicts with the
customer
▪ Sell new projects
Project Manager
Your work as a Project Manager is totally different then the
work of a business analyst or consultant

86. 86
A good project manager doesn’t work
directly. He manages people and
relations

87. 87
This means that some things you should avoid doing
Create Slides
Perform Analyses
Gather Data
Sketches slides
Checks the presentation
Inspire / suggests analyses
Ask for data
Checks analyses and
suggest changes
Checks integrity of data
Avoid doing
Things you should
do instead

88. 88
How to manage your team?

89. 89
To manage you need 2 main tools that will help you keep
track of the project and the people
Presentation template
To-do list
Storage
Communication with the
team

90. 90
As said previously as PM your day will be mainly about meeting with
customer directors but you should spare some time for the team as
well
Status Update
Meetings with customer team
Analyzing & Checking
▪ 9:30-10:00
▪ 10:00-15:00
Meetings with customer team
Meetings with customer team
Meetings with customer team
Status Update
▪ 15:00-17:00
▪ 17:00-18:00

91. 91
There are some rules for that will make it easier for you to
manage your team
Daily updates with the
team
Weekly update with the
customer
Internal Deadlines very
aggressive
Get early buy-in
From the beginning create
end products
Transfer end-products to
the customer
Educate the customer how
to use the products
Double check integrity of
data

92. 92
Let’s have a look how a 7 week project should look when it
comes to execution
▪ Project Start
Task 1
▪ Additional Data Gathering
▪ Analysis and slides preparation
▪ Presentation of intermediate works
2 3 4 5 6 7
▪ Transfer and teaching
▪ End of the project
▪ Creating the product using critical
chain method
▪ Fine tuning
▪ Getting buy-in
▪ Overdelivering
▪ Selling new projects

93. 93
Tools that your team will need

94. 94
You have to find tools for the most often done activities
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Analyze ▪ Excel ▪ Learn advanced formulas ,
formats and VBA, shortcuts
▪ Test Access, SPSS, R
for specific purposes
▪ Present ▪ Power Point ▪ Learn animation, using of
templates, shortcuts
▪ Test Prezio, Powtoon,
Explain everything for
this purpose
▪ Collect knowledge ▪ Database on Google
Sheet with links
▪ Use advanced function and
templates, use zapier for
partial automation
▪ Test Get Pocket,
Evernote
▪ Manage projects and
teams
▪ Database on Google
Sheet
▪ Learn advanced features of
Google Sheet that will enable
you managing the project or
team
▪ Test Asana, Leankit,
Smartsheet, Trelllo,
Nobe
▪ Sell ▪ Direct sales and
content marketing on
events
▪ Increases your network
(LinkedIn) and start
propagating content
marketing on different
platforms (Guest blogging,
reports distributed to
customers, Slideshare)
▪ Use Linkedin
Premium, Buffer,
start microblogging
on Twitter, Google+
▪ Get cloes.io for cold
calling and delegate it
partially to other
team members

95. 95
The same goes for any department. Below an example of
engineers
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Prepare projects
for clients
▪ AutoCad ▪ Create libraries
▪ Store previous projects
▪ Buy add-on Autocad
that changes the
drawing methods
▪ Time in hours
needed for 1
project
▪ 16 hours ▪ 10 hours ▪ 2 hours

96. 96
List of the most important tools for consultant
Analyze Present Sales & Marketing
Knowledge
Management
Market research Team management

97. 97
How to create a to-do list

98. 98
To do list will help you to arrange you work into smaller
actionable pieces

99. 99
There are few rules that will help you write down the to-do
list and make the best out of them
Put everything on a list
Use multiple lists
Specific actionable things
Divided jobs into small
tasks
Set pace
Use calendar as one of the
lists
Go through lists regularly
Use tools to track tasks
execution
Put project as to-do list

100. 100
You can use different type of list of to-dos
Next Actions
Lists by status – by Getting Things Done
Projects Waiting for
Someday
Maybe
Home
Lists by place – by Getting Things Done
Work On-line Calendar Phone
To be done
Lists by status
Currently
Doing
Done
Topic Research
Lists by production stages – example of udemy course
Presentation Script Recording
Post-
production
Upload

101. 101
I use 4 types of lists
To be done
Managing me
Expecting from
others
Recurring items
Managing
personal team
Master list
Monika
Lidia
Michael
Lisa
Project done for
customers
Project A
Project B
Project C
Project D
Supervising
startups
Startup A
Startup B
Startup C
Startup D

102. 102
Deadlines

103. 103
Why you need deadlines?
To know when it has to be
done
To set priorities properly
To manage properly
Parkinson Law
To communicate with the
rest
To create sense of urgency

104. 104
We have 2 types of deadlines
Internal External≪

105. 105
Critical Chain

106. 106
One of the biggest problem for efficiency is the so called
Parkinson’s Law – Work expand so as to fill the time available
for its completion

107. 107
People when asked to evaluate the time certain things will
take build in buffers
A B C
A + B + C
A + B + C
A B C Central buffer
Declared time
Buffer time
Real execution

108. 108
Interim Meetings

109. 109
Let’s have a look how a 7 week project should look when it
comes to execution
▪ Project Start
Task 1
▪ Additional Data Gathering
▪ Analysis and slides preparation
▪ Presentation of intermediate works
2 3 4 5 6 7
▪ Transfer and teaching
▪ End of the project

110. 110
There are number of reasons why you want to make frequent
meetings with the customer
Make sure that you are
creating value
Create relationship with
Manager / Director
Educate the customer about
your approach
Involve the customer and
make him co-responsible
Make the customer
participate in the project
Get the customer accustomed
to the end-products
Get to know his negative
remarks on the product
Look for new projects

111. 111
Create Excels that are ready
for external user

112. 112
Analyses should be made from the start according to the
standards and look like end product
Clear structure
Master sheet
Description
Use the pyramid principle
Use color coding
Put sources
Keep track of versions
Don’t create too big sheets
that are difficult to track

113. 113
Production process of the
presentation

114. 114
As you may remember from previous lecture you want to
transform the data you have gathered into a presentation
Templates and data
Presentation in Power Point and
models in Excel

115. 115
For this to happen you have to follow some rules
1 person is in charge of the
whole master presentation
Different people can have
assigned different parts
Every day you have to
combine parts into 1 master
Every slide has to have a
Excel to back it up
Don’t throw slides – shift
them to backup
Keep track of versions
Everybody does his own
slides
At the end you can send the
presentation to graphics
department

116. 116
In practice the person that keeps the master has to assigned
specific slides (sections) to specific person

117. 117
If you are in charge of the master file you assign specific parts
of the presentation to specific consultants

118. 118
At the end of every day they should send you updated
version of their part and you should put it in the master

119. 119
How to get a buy-in?

120. 120
What is a buy-in?
Customer agrees with you
He is happy with the project
outcome
He will support the project
publicly
He will gladly pay for your
service
He considers the project
value for money
He will want to work with
you in the future

121. 121
How to get the buy-in?
Make sure that you are
creating value
Meet with him often to
create a relationship
Educate him about your
approach and the
products
Involve him and make
him co-responsible
Show him how he can
benefit from it
Overdeliver
Prepare him to sell it to
the whole organization

122. 122
Meetings with the customer

123. 123
Let’s have a look how a 7 week project should look when it
comes to execution
▪ Project Start
Task 1
▪ Additional Data Gathering
▪ Analysis and slides preparation
▪ Presentation of intermediate works
2 3 4 5 6 7
▪ Transfer and teaching
▪ End of the project

124. 124
There are plenty of reasons why weekly updates with the
customer as well as informal meeting are so important
You get his feedback early
and often
You have an opportunity to
educate him
Understanding difficult
things takes time
You get exposure for you
and the team
Increase chances of future
projects
Helps you define how to
overdeliver
You become more of a 1
group than opposite sides

125. 125
How to overdeliver

126. 126
By overdelivering we mean doing more than expected and
faster
Define the expectations
Doing more
Doing Faster

127. 127
The things you will see in this presentation is a summary of my
on-line course devoted to Managing a consulting project. For
more go t
Click to check my course
Practical Project Management for
Management Consultants
$45
$ 0

128. 128
Execution Phase – Tips regarding
the relationships with the
customer

129. 129
Introduction to the soft tips

130. 130
From the preparation phase you should have a lot of data as
well as the template for deliverables
Templates and data
Presentation in Power Point and
models in Excel

131. 131
Execution if you are prepared is fairly easy. Still, there are
some tips that you should learn to make the execution
process smother
Technical tips Tips relating to relationships

132. 132
In this section I will show you short tips regarding the
relationship with the customer
Be humble / human
Build relationship with people

133. 133
In this section we will talk about soft tips that will help you
deliver the project on time and make the customer and your
boss happy
Befriend
everybody
Give credit and
don't steal
ideas
Downplay your
estimation
Show in good
light others
What and
when you
should admit
Concentrate on
the problem
not on the
people
Other tips

134. 134
Befriend everybody

135. 135
Usually people talk to their pears. You and your team should
build all sort of relations with the customer team
CEO
Director A Director B
Manager 1 Manager 2 Manager 3
Specialist A
Specialist B
Specialist C
Specialist A
Specialist B
Specialist C
Specialist A
Specialist B
Specialist C
Project
Manager
Consultant A
Consultant B
Consultant C

136. 136
Give credit and don't steal
ideas

137. 137
You are competitive creature and you want to be in the spotlight
but you should not steal ideas from the customer’s team. Always
gives credit to specific worker

138. 138
Downplay your estimation

139. 139
You will be tempted to show the customer the maximal
potential savings / results he can get by implementing what
you have created.
Achieved results
Estimation
Supply Chain Sales &
Marketing
Production HQ

140. 140
It seems counterintuitive but you should always downplay your estimation
(savings, potential improvements). Try to manage expectation as probably
only 60-70% will get implemented
Achieved results
Estimation
Supply Chain Sales & Marketing Production HQ

141. 141
There are plenty of reasons why it such a move will benefit
you
You manage expectations
ahead of time
You play with mental
accounting
You project yourself as
humble
The estimation you make
will become the goal for sb
It opens new possibilities
for new projects
In this way you account for
random things

142. 142
Show in good light employees of
your customer and your team

143. 143
You want to be a star which is ok. Yet as a Project Manager
try to give a lot of attention to your team and the team on
the customer’s side

144. 144
There are plenty of reasons why it is in your best interest to
put the customers’ team in the spotlight
You increase the buy-in
Your credibility increases
Customer is less likely to
argue with you
Customer is more likely to
pay you
You strengthen your team
You boost the ego of your
people
The team will want to work
longer and more for you
You open new routes to
upsell new projects

145. 145
Concentrate on the problem
not on the people

146. 146
Whenever there is a problem there are two ways to approach
it. You can look for the culprit or to try to solve the problem

147. 147
By focusing only on the problem and not on the culprit you
gain a lot
You cool down the emotions
You avoid the snowball effect
that can destroy you
You solve the problem fast
You kill any future politics
You establish yourself as a
true leader
You may change the attitude
of the whole organization

148. 148
Admit when you don't know
something

149. 149
Time and again you will not know things specific for you
customer. There are plenty of reasons for that
Customer is using slang
You have smaller experience in
the industry
You are not getting all the
information
They have problems with
formulating the real issue

150. 150
By admitting when you do not know you gain a lot
You strengthen the attitude
to concentrate on problems
You stop being at
disadvantages
You have more chances to get
to the real issues
You show respect for the
people you work with
You build relations
Since you learn from them
there are more likely to learn
from you

151. 151
Other tips

152. 152
Below other small tips that I recommend implementing
Admit mistakes
Avoid politics
Eat in the same place as
ordinary employees
Participate in integration
activities
Gradually relax the dress
code
Spend time to talk over
the coffee with random
people
Bring cookies to meetings
Make the meetings short
and sweet

153. 153
The things you will see in this presentation is a summary of my
on-line course devoted to Managing a consulting project. For
more go t
Click to check my course
Practical Project Management for
Management Consultants
$45
$ 0

154. 154
Wrapping up the project

155. 155
Introduction to wrapping up
the project

156. 156
In the Execution phase you were trying to turn the template and
issue tree into a final presentation supported by a few GB of
analyses
Templates and data
Presentation in Power Point and
models in Excel

157. 157
To wrap up the project there are 4 things you should do
Prepare the final
version of
deliverables
Train the customer
to use your
deliverables
Transfer deliverables
Sell future mini-
projects
▪ Make the
presentations self-
explanatory
▪ Make the Excels idiot-
proof
▪ Add sources
▪ Add table of content
▪ Arrange meetings
with customer team
to show them how to
use the tools
▪ Make them use the
tool and check for
mistakes, omission
▪ Prepare instructions
(written or recorded
in video / audio)
▪ Make a table of
content
▪ Handover files to the
PM on their side
▪ Handover tools to the
people that will use
them

158. 158
Prepare the final version of
deliverables

159. 159
Your main deliverables will be presentations and analyses in
Excel

160. 160
Train the customer to use
your deliverables

161. 161
Below other small tips on how to train the customer how to
use the end-products
Make the end products
idiot-proof
Provide instructions
(written or recorded)
Meet one-on-one with
the future user
Meet in bigger groups to
explain general rules
Make a table of content
Make the users play with
the products
Have a few meeting with
the customer PM

162. 162
Transfer deliverables

163. 163
When we talk about transferring the deliverables we have in
mind 3 things that have to be done
Hand over files Arrange a meeting with all the team
members
Arrange a meeting with the Steering
Committee

164. 164
The things you will see in this presentation is a summary of my
on-line course devoted to Managing a consulting project. For
more go t
Click to check my course
Practical Project Management for
Management Consultants
$45
$ 0

165. 165
Check what course will help you to be word class
Management Consultant
Top 10 courses that every
Management Consultant should
take
My super objective view
presentation

166. 166
There are also some books that I highly recommend
Top 25 books that every
Management Consultant should
read
My super objective view
presentation

167. 167
Subscribe to our channels:
www

168. 168
You can also find some useful tips on Excel
Business modeling of offline
businesses in Excel
A practical guide
presentation

169. 169
You can also find some useful tips on Excel
Retail for Business Analysts and
Management Consultants
A practical guide
presentation

170. 170
You can also find some useful tips on Excel
Essential Excel for Business
Analysts and Consultants
A practical guide
presentation

171. 171
Check my extensive presentation on productivity hacks to see
how you can me 10x more productive
Management consultant
productivity hacks
How to be lazy and still get things done
presentation

172. 172
Check my presentation on market research methods to
understand them properly
Market research
Practical guide for startups and entrepreneurs
presentation

173. 173
Check my presentation other presentations
Essential Lean Manufacturing for
Management Consultants
Practical guide how to cut costs
presentation

174. 174
You can also have a look at how to create a financial model in
Excel
Financial Modeling for Business
Analysts and Management
Consultants
Step by step guide
presentation

175. 175
Check also my other presentations
Management Consulting
Presentations
Practical guide how to prepare a great presentation
presentation

176. 176
Check my presentation that will help you get into consulting
How to get into consulting
Practical guide how to pass the case part
presentation

177. 177
I recommend also looking at some techniques to improve
your business. Click on the cover below to go to the
presentation
How to become world class
analyst
A practical guide
presentation

178. 178
Check also my other presentations
Management Consulting
Presentations
Practical guide how to prepare a great presentation
presentation

179. 179
Check also my other presentations
Production for Management
Consultants
Practical guide
presentation

180. 180
Check also business modeling in Excel
Business models
Practical guide for startups and entrepreneurs
presentation

181. 181
Check my presentation on starting and running consulting
company
How to create management
consulting presentations?
A practical guide
presentation

182. 182
Check my extensive presentation on productivity hacks to see
how you can me 10x more productive
Management consultant
productivity hacks
How to be lazy and still get things done
presentation

183. 183
If you need more detailed version on productivity hacks you
can check our course on productivity hacks
Click to check my course
Management Consulting
Productivity Hacks
$45
$15

184. 184
Check my presentation on restaurant business model to
understand it properly
How to open a successful
restaurant
A practical guide
presentation

185. 185
Check my presentation on on-line models to understand
them properly
On-line Business Models
A practical guide
presentation

186. 186
For more check also my on-line course
Click to check my course
On-line Business Models in Excel –
Practical Guide
$45
$15

187. 187
Check my presentation on starting and running consulting
company
Start and run consulting
company
A practical guide
presentation

188. 188
There is an interesting summary of ways to test cheaply
businesses
MVP – how to test your business
idea without building the
product
A practical guide
presentation