| | By Mick James
Starting and growing
your own consultancy is
one of the biggest steps
you can take, and all too
often it's one which is
forced on consultants.
Sometimes the motivation
is different – to give
something back, to make a
different kind of a
difference.
Nicola Davis is very
much a career consultant,
having plunged straight
into a consulting career
after leaving university.
"Management
consultancy seemed
sophisticated and
interesting, I couldn't
get my head round doing a
nine-to-five job in the
same place," she says.
She joined a small,
entrepreneurial
consultancy in
Nottingham, after writing
a "cheeky letter" in
reply to an advertisement
for a more experienced
consultant. She stayed
five years before moving
to a larger consultancy
to broaden her
experience, finally
joining Deloitte to
experience delivery and
implementation on the
very largest projects.
There she met her husband
– also a consultant, also
named Nick – and by 2005
she was beginning to | |
|
| | question her work/life
balance.
"I started to get
tired with the travel,
and because my husband
was also a consultant we
could both be sent
anywhere," she says. "I
wanted to be able to
choose the work I did,
and I didn't want it to
always be about
commercial decisions."
With her husband she
came up with the plan for
N² Consulting, focusing
mainly on SMEs but also
working with the charity
sector.
"We wanted to be able
to make an impact and
really take our clients
somewhere, so SMEs really
play to our strengths,"
she says. "Working in
large organisations,
sometimes the front line
is too far away. We like
the creativity of working
with entrepreneurs,
businesses that take
risks every day."
Charities seemed a
natural complement to
this work.
"The idea to target
the charity sector came
out of that," she says.
"We are not charity
specialists but approach
them as people who have
been firmly embedded in
the business world. That
sector should be even | |
|
| | more motivated than the
commercial sector to make
a profit – the more
profit they make the more
people they help."
The initial plan was
that Davis would focus on
business development and
relationship building,
while her husband would
be the "delivery arm".
"We wanted to build a
business, not just to be
a couple of contractors,"
she says. N²'s preferred
route to market is
through intensive
networking, both on a
person-to-person basis
and through
organisations, such as
the IoD (Institute of
Directors), where Nick is
a great believer in "not
just being attendees but
getting stuck in" and
involved at the committee
level.
Another route is to
offer clients a certain
amount of discounted or
free introductory work
upfront. "We do a small
amount of pro bono work
for charities, one client
at a time, to show our
commitment to the sector
and what they will get
for their investment."
Davis will also run a
half-day workshop for
commercial clients. "I'm
happy to spend the time
with them and see what | |
|
| | comes out of it," she
says. "Usually what will
come out of it is a
detailed set of client
requirements – you've
almost workshopped the
problem."
This is intensive
work, but ensures that
there is a genuine
empathy and cultural fit
with clients, which in
turn is a great predictor
of success for the
project.
Because of the
relationship-based nature
of the business, Davis
has found it hard to step
back from delivery work,
and for this reason the
firm has decided to take
on another consultant.
Unusually for a small
consultancy, the initial
growth plan is to hire
graduates.
"Because all the work
with clients is so
personal they wouldn't be
happy just to be handed
to someone else," says
Davis. "The new person
will work on every
project and do a lot of
the legwork – there'll be
a lot of blending. The
advantage for clients is
that their budgets will
now go a lot further,
they can have us for
longer."
Eventually the plan is
to start more graduates | |
|
| | and as the business
expands and they gain
experience, to also
second them into
industry.
"It's a long haul, but
they will go through a
rigorous development
programme, which will
cost us a lot of money,"
says Davis.
It's very early to say
what shape the business
will take, but Davis can
look ahead to a firm that
might consist of 25
people, with a ratio of
two consultants to one
director.
"For me the perfect
size of a consultancy is
about 25; more than that
and you start getting
into procedures and
bureaucracy, and you need
a different type of
person to run it," she
says. "Getting there
might take the majority
of a career, and after
that we hope to see a
group of directors coming
up behind us."
| |
|
Previous Page 