Why Does Consulting Work?

This week I want to talk about why consulting works. Consulting isn’t a perfect business. It doesn’t work every time, and goodness knows, nobody knows better than we do that consultants have a very poor reputation. But applied correctly and done right, consulting does allow a lot of businesses to really make improvements. So, why is that?

And I think I have a really simple answer.

Think about it this way. Say I’ve put on some weight. I’m doing the same amount of exercise and eating the same, already going to the gym and trying to take care of myself, but the weight is piling up and I don’t really have an answer for that. So I go to a personal trainer, they whip me into shape and it doesn’t take very long at all. Now, could I have done these kinds of workouts with that level of intensity on my own? Yeah. I could have, but I didn’t. Because I needed a coach to really drive me to a new level of performance. And, this is key, I was paying them, so I never missed a workout. I was paying them, so I showed up on time and I did what they said, and they coached me on nutrition and all this other stuff, so it worked. And if you think on it, personal trainers are consultants.

We’ve had coaching clients tell us that we didn’t tell them anything they didn’t know. But, they said, the difference is, I was paying you for it and I wanted to get value for my money, so I took your recommendations. Now, they may not need us any more than I need the personal trainer, but because they were paying us money, they sat up and took notice, and implemented the recommendations that we had made. People want value for their money, and that’s why consulting works. That’s why coaching works. That’s why hiring a personal trainer works. Money talks.

So, when somebody in their company says things need to change, we need to do this, or we need to do that, you can gauge their seriousness and their intentionality based on if they’re willing to invest time and money in training, IT and systems, succession planning, strategic planning, etc. If they are not willing to invest time and money, they’re not serious about the change. And, if you are willing to invest time and money, having a coach can drive you to a higher level of performance than you could have achieved on your own. That’s why consulting works.

We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences with this!

Interested in learning more about our coaching program? Call RLO Training today at 800-755-0988.