In a market where hundreds of consulting firms compete for the same clients, Rolf Thrane, CEO of New York's Mitchell Madison Group, decided to set his firm apart from the rest. In 2003, Thrane decided to offer clients an unconventional proposition: demonstrate his firm's commitment to achieve a performance objective by sharing in the cost, risks and benefits. "The big firms – the McKinseys, the Bains, the BCGs – they strive for independence," Thrane says. "We do not run Mitchell Madison that way. In fact, we are dependent, even co-dependent with our clients. We have an arrangement where our work is tied to the result or outcome of the work we're performing. In essence, we become a stakeholder in our work. Thrane, who began his career with McKinsey, says that while big firms certainly have their place, clients often want more from the experience.
"One of things that is beginning to plague the consulting industry is the diagnostic work that exists in the traditional consulting model," Thrane says. The model is, 'Let's diagnose the world, look at different strategic options and then come up with an implementation plan.'" Then the consultants are off to the next engagement, he says. "We don't work that way. We do the diagnostic work, we present the options, we come up with the implementation plan, and then we get very involved in the work where it hits the bottom line."
That flexible business model, (Mitchell Madison Group will work anywhere from 100 percent fee basis to 100 percent contingency and everything in between), means that often clients will seek out Mitchell Madison.
"We tend to not do a lot of selling. We're more in the referral business or in the relationship business," Thrane says. "And that carries over to our consultants. Mitchell Madison tends to go more native than some of the bigger firms do," Thrane says.
"Those firms do a lot of interviewing and conducting a lot of 'us vs. them' meetings," Thrane says. "We go in and work extremely close with clients. In fact, sometimes I get nervous that [my employees are] so entrenched in the client's business that they may never come back." The always do
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