Editor's Note: It's All About Results

It's a question we've asked consulting leaders for the last 18 months, and it's one that more often than not gets a consistent reply. When asked how the marketplace for consulting services has changed since it experienced what has widely become described as the worse downturn in the consulting profession's history, consulting leaders uniformly tell us their clients are asking for results at the very start of an engagement. In other words, what was once reserved for the engagement's post-mortem phase is now part of the courtship.
"It's not (as if clients) were never concerned about the value they were getting or the return, but what has changed is they are now justifying launching projects, especially high-ticket projects based upon the kind of certain returns and certain timeframes that they're going to get," explains Bill Pace, CEO of Kurt Salmon Associates. Having in the past dabbled in selling results, KSA realized the time had come to make what it calls "business outcomes" part of its overall approach. It's a move, Pace exclaims, that has called for enormous change within the firm.
"It sounds so simple and like such a no-brainer, but it's actually huge.