Client-consultant relationship

By Alison Huntington

The headline of our Client Perception Study in the French consulting market is that 59% of clients are willing to pay more for the services of the leading consulting firms. Yes, you read that right.

This news may come as a surprise – France is still a tough market, where every percentile of growth is fought for, tooth and nail. And they may wonder where all these clients are hiding. We can’t tell you that, but what is important to know is there are far more clients willing to pay more for some firm types, and far fewer for others.

By Alison Huntington

The ‘bromance’ may be a fading Hollywood genre, but it’s alive and well in the world of consulting. Having been kindly invited to several analyst days with consulting firms, it struck me that the clients wheeled out to sing a firm’s praises are always men.

And then I noticed that it’s always men introducing them. No, I lie – I heard one female partner speak at a tech firm once, and her specialism was (you guessed it) HR.

By Fiona Czerniawska

“What would I advise a consulting firm to do? Spend more time on relationship development. We have a very, very good account manager: he sleeps, eats, and breathes our industry; he meets with us once a month just to have coffee and talk about the state of the business – it isn't a sales call, just something he thinks is important to do. And the people he brings with him are just the same.”