Getting Started in Consulting [Paperback]

Alan Weiss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2000 | Series: Getting Started In..... (Book 33)

Consulting is clearly one of today's most rapidly growing and changing fields, with total worldwide revenues expected to reach over $100 billion in the year 2001. With more companies outsourcing many functions and a growing population of professionals pursuing the dream of self-employment, there is a great demand for information on how to start a consulting practice.

This book provides focused, practical guidance on beginning a consulting business that teaches you how low overhead and a high degree of organization can translate into a six-figure income--in many cases, while working from a home office. Along with a wealth of helpful charts and tables, here is comprehensive coverage of essential areas such as:
* How to finance a consulting practice
* Marketing consulting services to corporate clients
* Writing proposals that sell
* Legal requirements for consulting practices
* Fee setting, billing, bookkeeping, and more

From downsized managers and executives, to retired professionals seeking a second career, consultants in large organizations who want their own practice, employed managers seeking greater employment security, to entrepreneurs, MBA and similar graduates who desire an independent future, and those who seek to establish a part-time practice, Getting Started in Consulting will prove an invaluable resource to attaining their goals.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Consulting is clearly one of today?s most rapidly growing and changing fields, with total worldwide revenues expected to reach over $100 billion in the year 2001. With more companies outsourcing many functions and a growing population of professionals pursuing the dream of self-employment, there is a great demand for information on how to start a consulting practice.

This book provides focused, practical guidance on beginning a consulting business that teaches you how low overhead and a high degree of organization can translate into a six-figure income—in many cases, while working from a home office. Along with a wealth of helpful charts and tables, here is comprehensive coverage of essential areas such as:

• How to finance a consulting practice
• Marketing consulting services to corporate clients
• Writing proposals that sell
• Legal requirements for consulting practices
• Fee setting, billing, bookkeeping, and more

From downsized managers and executives, to retired professionals seeking a second career, consultants in large organizations who want their own practice, employed managers seeking greater employment security, to entrepreneurs, MBA and similar graduates who desire an independent future, and those who seek to establish a part-time practice, Getting Started in Consulting will prove an invaluable resource to attaining their goals.

About the Author

ALAN WEISS, PhD, has consulted with hundreds of organizations around the world, including Mercedes-Benz, Hewlett-Packard, Merck, Chase, American Press Institute, and Times Mirror Group. He lectures widely and appears regularly on radio and television to discuss productivity and performance. Weiss is also the author of twelve books, including the highly acclaimed Million Dollar Consulting.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471384550
• ISBN-13: 978-0471384557
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,102,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Weiss: Biographical Sketch

Alan Weiss is one of those rare people who can say he is a consultant, speaker and author and mean it. His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc. has attracted clients such as Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Mercedes-Benz, State Street Corporation, Times Mirror Group, The Federal Reserve, The New York Times, and over 400 other leading organizations. He serves on the boards of directors of the Trinity Repertory Company, a Tony-Award-winning New England regional theater, and the Newport International Film Festival.
His speaking typically includes 30 keynotes a year at major conferences, and he has been a visiting faculty member at Case Western Reserve University, Boston College, Tufts, St. John's, the University of Illinois, the Institute of Management Studies, and the University of Georgia Graduate School of Business. He has held an appointment as adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Rhode Island where he taught courses on advanced management and consulting skills. He holds the record for selling out the highest priced workshop (on entrepreneurialism) in the 21-year history of New York City's Learning Annex. His Ph.D. is in psychology and he is a member of the American Psychological Society, the American Counseling Association, Division 13 of the American Psychological Association, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He was recently appointed to the Board of Governors of Harvard University's Center for Mental Illness and the Media. He has keynoted for the American Psychological Association on two occasions.
He is a 2006 inductee into the Professional Speaking Hall of Fame' and the concurrent recipient of the National Speakers Association Council of Peers Award of Excellence, representing the top 1% of professional speakers in the world
His prolific publishing includes over 500 articles and 25 books, including his best-seller, Million Dollar Consulting (from McGraw-Hill). His newest is The Million Dollar Consulting' Toolkit. His books have been on the curricula at Villanova, Temple University, and the Wharton School of Business, and have been translated into German, Italian, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese.


He is interviewed and quoted frequently in the media, and is an active member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. His career has taken him to 54 countries and 49 states. (He is afraid to go to North Dakota.) Success Magazine has cited him in an editorial devoted to his work as 'a worldwide expert in executive education.' The New York Post calls him 'one of the most highly regarded independent consultants in America.' He is the winner of the prestigious Axiem Award for Excellence in Audio Presentation.
In 2006 he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Press Institute, the first-ever for a non-journalist, and one of only seven awarded in the 60-year history of the association.
He has coached the former and present Miss Rhode Island/Miss America candidates in interviewing skills.
He once appeared on the popular American TV game show Jeopardy, where he lost badly in the first round to a dancing waiter from Iowa.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

140 of 145 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For experienced Consultants, too, December 21, 2003

By 

Rick Sline (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Getting Started in Consulting (Paperback)

If you've already read Getting Started in Consulting, chances are you've re-read it several times and checked out some of Alan Weiss' other books. If you haven't read any of Weiss' books - and are a Consultant or are thinking about becoming a Consultant - this is a good place to start. Although this book covers some common ground with Weiss' popular "Million Dollar Consulting", there's enough unique information in each to warrant reading both.

The book starts out auspiciously in "Chapter 1 Establishing Goals and Expectations: You Will Be What You Decide to Be, Nothing Less, Nothing More". To support this thesis, Weiss points out that despite experts' warnings about much hard work and travel a consultant must endure for a maximum of a $300K income, he runs a 7-figure practice from his house with no staff or office. "The problem is that if you educate yourself incorrectly at the onset, you're vulnerable to successfully meeting the exact wrong set of expectations." - Written like a true consultant.

The first order of business is to manage your financial situation - be prepared for a slow first year.

He presents the Ten Traits - "ideal consultant behaviors and attributes as they apply to a solo practitioner, based on my observations of success and failure over 27 years.... If you have a reasonable chance of performing well in these 10 areas, you've got an excellent shot at making it as a consultant. Eight out of 10 might do it. Less than that and you may be setting yourself up..."

Other important areas covered in the book are:
Why collaboration is often a bad idea.
Your office space, office equipment, and software
Legal, Financial and Administrative
The essential components of marketing and selling

In finding the right buyer, don't get stuck with the gatekeeper. A number of very useful techniques are presented to identify and get past the gatekeeper, among them the simple test "If you and I reach agreement today, can we shake hands and begin tomorrow?"

Closing the Sale actually begins much earlier than you would think. By the time the proposal is presented, the sale should have already been made. The relationship building process provides the foundation for the "conceptual agreement on outcomes"; the proposal is just a formality to acknowledge that agreement.

Weiss explains why your proposal should be simple with no "legalese" and short (2-3 pages).

The key to a high-dollar practice is using a win-win pricing model where the client participates in establishing the value to the organization of what the consultant will provide.

Although the section "Forty Ways to Increase Your Fees" is very enticing, it's generally 40 tips to support the results-based approach, although a number of the suggestions could be used to increase the contract amount by expanding the scope/results..

In the latter part of the book keys top maintaining a successful practice are presented along with ways to achieve passive income which can in some cases lead to more active income business.

If you've read through this review to this point - why aren't you reading the book?

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best startup guide there is, October 1, 2003

By 

"mgavaghen" (Ellicott City, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Getting Started in Consulting (Paperback)

I have been preparing to walk away from a six-figure job and launch a consulting practice for almost a year, and during that time I read every book I could find on that profession. Not that I believe that reading a book is all one needs to do to qualify; rather, it would be foolish not to perform as much research as possible before taking the plunge.

Alan Weiss' books offer the most practical, best-written and truly valuable advice I've found. And this one is the most wide ranging for kicking off a new full-time practice.

And I suspect that like most works that run counter to conventional wisdom, the majority of readers will not perform the necessary "background" marketing activities, will not make their proposals the logical culmination of a collaborative sales process, and will not base their fees on demonstrated value rather than billable time. All the better for those of us who do.

I followed Alan Weiss' guidelines and donated a nine-hour training program to a major non-profit group -- which will not only help some people who desperately need it, but also put me in front of a formidable board of directors for some potentially significant engagements.

Win-win, anybody?

64 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'd go for a 5 Plus if it were available, September 19, 2000

By 

John C. Dunbar (Sugar Land, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Getting Started in Consulting (Paperback)

First, this is not really a beginner book. Oh, it's great for people just starting out in consulting. But it is doubtful they will fully appreciate the advice in this book.

If you have read Million Dollar Consulting by the same author then you will be prepared for his recommendation on billing on value... not on hours.

In this book, Dr. Weiss presents his grand unified recommendations on the proper way to organize and start your consulting practice. This book is easy to read. And, there's lots of examples of real situations.

Dr. Weiss has a web site and lists other materials for sale. I reviewed one of his videos on line and he is very humorous in person.

He claims to make more than $1 million per year consulting (and speaking). He went from 0 to over $1 million in 6 years. He's an organizational consultant.

I rate this book a MUST READ if you are a consultant. I've also ordered his other materials. A fair amount of this other material was included in this new book.

John Dunbar