The Consultant's Scorecard: Tracking Results and Bottom-Line Impact of Consulting Projects [Hardcover]

Jack Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1999

Measure the business impact - and return on investment - of any consulting project! Consulting clients want to know that the large fees they pay will bring measurable results to their organization - and successful consultants work hard to communicate the value of their work to clients. The problem is, both consultants and clients have been frustrated by the lack of rigorous methods for measuring the impact of the consultant's work. "The Consultant's Scorecard" offers solutions to this "accountability crisis" in the consulting profession by explaining how consultants can prove the value of their work to clients. Just as important, the book explains how clients can - and should - hold their consultants accountable for delivering measurable results.Written for both consultants and clients, "The Consultant's Scorecard" offers simple data collection techniques to help consultants in any industry measure the value of their work for clients in six key areas: client satisfaction; new knowledge and skills acquired by the client; successful project implementation; business unit impact; return on investment; intangible benefits.'" The Consultant's Scorecard" is the first book to present a comprehensive, practical approach to showing the bottom line of consulting. Using proven techniques, supported examples from leading companies, six key measures are developed to show the complete impact of consulting, including measuring ROI. This balanced approach to measurement is essential for consultants who want to show the value of their interventions, and for clients who want to hold their consultants accountable for delivering measurable results. Jack Phillips' unique approach to measuring the return on investment of consulting makes "The Consultant's Scorecard" a must read for anyone involved in the consulting process' - Stephen R. Covey, author of the No. 1 best-seller, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People".

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Measure the business impact--and return on investment--of any consulting project! Consulting clients want to know that hte large fees they pay will bring measurable results to their organization--and successful consultants work hard to communicate the value of their work to clients. The problem is, both consultants and clients have been frustrated by the lack of rigorous methods for measuring the impact of the consultant's work. The Consultant's Scorecard offers solutions to this "accountability crisis" in the consulting profession by explaining how consultants can prove the value of their work to clients. Just as important, the book explains how clients can--and should--hold their consultants accountable for delivering measurable results. Written for both consultants and clients, The Consultant's Scorecard offers simple data collection techniques to help consultants in any industry measure the value of their work for clients in six key areas: client satisfaction; new knowledge and skills acquired by the client; successful project implementation; business unit impact; return on investment; intangible benefits. "The Consultant's Scorecard is the first book to present a comprehensive, practical approach to showing the bottom line of consulting. Using proven techniques, supported b examples from leading companies, six key measures are developed to show the complete impact of consulting, including measuring ROI. This balanced approach to measurement is essentiaal for consultants who want ot show the value of their interventions, and for clients who want to hold their consultants accountable for delivering measurable results. Jack Phillips' unique approach to measuring the return on investment of consulting makes The Consultant's Scorecard a must read for anyone involved in the consulting process."--Stephen R. Covey, author of the No. 1 best-seller, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

About the Author

Jack Phillips, Ph.D., is the founder of Performance Resources Organization, now the world's leading consulting firm specializing in accountability issues. The author or editor of more than 200 books and 100 articles, including The Handbook of Training Evaluation and Measurement, he has served as a bank president, Fortune 500 training and development manager, and professor of management at a major state university. His clients in 20 countries include such internationally respected companies as AT&T, Federal Express, Lockheed Martin, Motorola, and Xerox.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071348166
• ISBN-13: 978-0071348164
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #568,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good overview, but light on the actual details, January 10, 2001

By 

Douglas Collins "Fuzzy Front Ender" (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Consultant's Scorecard: Tracking Results and Bottom-Line Impact of Consulting Projects (Hardcover)

Phillips provides a good, general overview of the metrics to consider in evaluating the return on consulting engagements. However, the book could have been significantly improved by the addition of at least one complete example of an application of the suggested method for calculating ROI, including a more in-depth treatment of the many survey methods suggested. Further, some of the snippets of the quantitative examples are simplified to the point of being misleading. Finally, the concept of the scorecard, which was part of the title of the book, was not developed in the text.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to show the bottom line impact of consulting, June 6, 2009

By 

Erik Gfesser (Lombard, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Consultant's Scorecard: Tracking Results and Bottom-Line Impact of Consulting Projects (Hardcover)

It is quite surprising that more reviews have not been written about this text by Phillips, because it is seemingly rather difficult to find other works that directly address the bottom line impact of consulting (especially outside the training space). Before acquiring a copy of this book, be aware that the content is rather substantive, reaching nearly 400 pages. Although much more math was expected, the author's argument that complex formulas for return on investment (ROI) are really not needed made sense after reading chapter 8, which begins by discussing the viewpoint that "the phrase return on investment in consulting is occasionally misused - sometimes intentionally. In these situations, a very broad definition for ROI is offered to include any benefit of the consulting intervention. ROI is thus defined as a vague concept in which even subjective data linked to a program are included. In this book, return on investment is used more precisely and is meant to represent an actual value arrived at by comparing consulting costs to benefits. The two most common measures are the benefit-cost ratio and the ROI formula. Both of these are presented, along with other approaches to calculate the return or payback. For many years, consultants sought to calculate return on investment for consulting interventions. If a consulting intervention is considered an investment and not an expense, then it is appropriate to place consulting in the same funding category as other investments, such as those in equipment and facilities. Although the other investments are quite different, they are often viewed by management in the same way. Thus, it is critical to the success of the consulting intervention to develop specific values that reflect the return on the investment". The lack of complexity is a strength of the process presented, and offered a reminder of a comment made recently by Warren Buffet on Squawk Box (CNBC) that the investor needs to be wary of stock picks based on complicated formulas (i.e. developed by quants). However, there is much more to "The Consultant's Scorecard" than ROI calculation, the subject of which consumes a small portion of the content. Presented are 6 different measures collected in a consulting intervention that present a balanced viewpoint of the success of the consulting project and involve both qualitative and quantitative data collected at different time intervals: (1) reaction and satisfaction, (2) skill and knowledge changes, (3) implementation, application, and utilization, (4) business impact data, (5) financial payoff, and (6) non-financial intangible measures. As Phillips states, "the ROI process [presented here] is not for every organization or individual consultant. The use of the ROI process represents a tremendous paradigm shift as an organization attempts to bring more accountability and results to the consulting process. It is client focused, requiring much contact, communication, dialog, and agreement with the client". However, the opinion of this reviewer as a software engineering consultant is that portions of this process might be utilized as needed, as long as these are taken in context, just as any other modern methodology. Although this reviewer has been known to state to colleagues that everyone uses a process, regardless of formality, since process is really just a way of doing things, because showing the bottom line impact of consulting does involve considerable client involvement, core aspects of this process are expected to be needed to remain in place. This book is well recommended to both consultants and clients, and if the potential reader exists in either of these audiences and does not value ROI, the 14 myths of ROI presented in the introduction to this work are recommended minimum reading.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended!, May 29, 2001

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Consultant's Scorecard: Tracking Results and Bottom-Line Impact of Consulting Projects (Hardcover)

As any consultant - and author Jack Phillips - will tell you, the days when a consultant could make a living by sharing the latest trendy approaches to business are long, long gone. Today's executives expect consultants to adhere to the same standards of accountability that consultants themselves have advocated for years. Therefore, the ability to determine a consulting project's return on investment is an important skill for both executives and the consultants they hire. Phillips offers a practical approach to ROI that somehow avoids consulting jargon and complex formulas. Although it lacks case studies that show how to overcome specific obstacles to data collection and interpretation, this is a valuable book that fills in an important piece of the consulting puzzle. Best of all, it does so in a common-sense way that can be understood by carbon-based life forms, therefore we [...] recommend this book to consultants and those who hire them.