After spending years as a consultant for a Big Four firm and as an executive for a large telecommunications company, where he served as the buyer of numerous consulting projects, John Tobin grew frustrated with the traditional consulting model. In 2001, he founded Slalom Consulting, an experienced-heavy alternative to the big IT consultancies. Having recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, Consulting's One-on-One checked in on the firm's progress.
Consulting: How's business?
Tobin: In 2010, we reached $209 million in revenue, just over a 45 percent increase from the $143 million we generated in 2009. In 2011, we're projecting at least 40 percent growth. Our headcount now exceeds 1,000 consultants. Individual offices are really taking off. In 2010, our San Francisco office nearly doubled its headcount to 140 professionals and grew the number of core accounts from five or six to 18.
Consulting: What do you think accounts for your success?
Tobin: Clients are really responding to the differentiation of our model. First, they appreciate our focus on local markets. We work hard to build a sense of intimacy among our consultants, our clients and our communities. By focusing only on clients near one of our offices, our consultants don't have to worry about traveling. This is not only great for enabling our staff to achieve work/life balance, but it also helps them dedicate themselves to our clients' needs. And our clients, many of whom are former consultants, get the value of having someone available five days a week. Second, we're targeting an underserved portion of the market—the upper middle market, Fortune 1000 companies generating $1 billion to $4 billion.
Consulting: What else sets your firm apart?
Tobin: We have a very different leverage model and value proposition than most of the larger IT firms we compete with. We only hire experienced people; our average consultant has been working in the field for about 10 years. One of our clients' biggest complaints about competitors is that their junior staff is learning on their dime. Our consultants have time-tested skills. Our clients call our teams 'all stars' because they are more experienced and more capable of getting results faster than traditional, highly leveraged firms. We focus on generating outcomes in three to six month cycles; we don't compete for the massive two-year projects.
Consulting: Internally, how does your firm differentiate itself?
Tobin: The intimacy we build with our clients is similar to the personal relationships we build internally. We're running pretty hot right now [headcount grew only about one-third as fast as revenue in 2010] and if we're not careful we know we could overburden our folks. We focus a lot of time and energy on getting to know our people, where they are in their lives and what they want to do outside of client engagements.
When we see consultants working too many hours, we encourage them to take a time out and catch their breath. Built into our leadership structure is that each of our senior people is responsible for the welfare of between 12 to 1 5 consultants. They are responsible for coaching and talking them through their personal and professional goals. As we've grown, we've made sure that the ratio doesn't climb much higher so that each senior leader can really focus and not be too spread out.
Consulting: In the 2010 Best Firms survey, Slalom's consultants rated their morale higher than any other large firm in the profession. What do you think accounts for that level of job satisfaction?
Tobin: I think our consultants really appreciate our investments in the firm's culture. We hold social events every month within each office. And then, we all get together companywide on a quarterly basis. Each office also sponsors weekend getaways for our consultants and their partners. And after someone has been with us for three years, we also offer a one-month sabbatical [at 75 percent of their base pay], which enables our consultants to do the things they've always wanted to do but never found the time.
Consulting: What's the plan for 2011?
Tobin: We're continuing our internal technology investments to help capture and share the innovative frameworks being developed within each office. We're also investing in career development and training. We've previously outsourced most of our training, but we're actively working to do more of that internally. And over the next two and a half years, our plan is to grow from eight local offices to 13, by adding footholds in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis/St. Paul and Houston.
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