You don't win new business as a consultant unless you invest time in nurturing client relationships, create relevant ideas to help your target customers, and respond to requests for proposals. This is all called Business Development, or BD for short.
Not many people like it. And the ideal model is one where you don't have to do too much of it in order to get a big fat pipeline of billable work that lasts for months, if not years.
However, it's a reality of the consulting model, and at some stage during the year, whatever your level in the organisation, you are dragged into some form of BD activity. Rarely is it an enjoyable experience, and quite often you're coming up with answers to problems where you have no reference point to determine if what you're proposing makes sense.
And then there's that other challenge in that more than 50% of the time, the client has already decided who they want to do the work, so every single minute you spend on crafting a response is utterly futile.
Then you win a job. Celebrate briefly. And then find out the problem you actually have to solve is way harder than you imagined.
Luckily Consulting is a collaborative environment where everyone has your back every step of the way. Ahem.
By the way, I once got reported to the Human Resources department for referring to myself, in a blanket email to staff about the adventures of our hapless Corporate Touch Rugby Team, as 'Mr Big Bucks' who bathes like a hippo in a bath filled with all the money I make.
So to anyone who is upset by the image of Strategy man bathing in all the dough he makes, suck it up and show some resilience.
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