How to become a successful consultant

Are you a successful executive or professional who would like to become a successful consultant?

If so, Brefi Group has an intensive six month coaching programme that will set you up in business and give you the skills in consultancy, facilitation, coaching and training that will turn you into a successful and rounded consultant.

We can save you 18 months

Many people, at some stage in their professional lives wonder whether there might be more to life than working for others. You might be facing early retirement or redundancy, but still feel that you have something to give back. Surely, all that experience could be of value to others? Why not become a consultant?

Consultancy is a profession in its own right, which requires specialist skills
It takes time to launch a new business and to establish a successful consultancy.
You might find that you do not enjoy self-employment.

It is very easy to waste 18 months to two years floundering. That's why we are here to help – help you decide whether consultancy is for you and then support you as you build your own successful consultancy business.

The three things you will most need when you start

Our experience when starting in business on our own was that there were three things we really needed.

The biggest challenge was that there was nobody to talk to. In your early days, you will find that self-employment is lonely. Just at the time when you need lots of advice and someone to bounce ideas off, there is no-one there. Later, of course, you build up a personal network and even get social support from your clients.
Then of course, there were lots of things we needed to learn. You will need to find out how to set up a business, how to set up your office, what to buy and where; and all the new skills and attitudes of your new role. You may be surprised what a difference your new identity will make – are you suddenly an expert, or 'trade'? How should you behave?
Finally, there was the challenge of finding work. Many people start well, calling on their existing network. It might look easy, but soon you run out of contacts. How do you go about building a new business network? And what should you charge? You might get a shock; and you are sure to over estimate the number of fee earning days in the year.

Consultant coaching package

Based on Brefi Group's 25 years experience, we have designed an intensive six month coaching programme to provide the three things that new consultants most need: -

fellowship – an initial support team and a community to join
consultancy skills – basic consultancy and sales training using powerful NLP models and techniques
commercial opportunities – association with an established organisation that allows you to participate in more challenging work and command higher fees

Here is what you get

Brefi Group's intensive coaching programme has been developed using the experience of our associates as they have built their own practices, and incorporating the values, processes and skills that are the Brefi Group approach.

Each programme will be designed around your personal needs. It is likely to include six monthly half-day face-to-face sessions with selected associates teaching you their personal specialism, interleaved with six formal telephone coaching sessions and supported by informal telephone access to the coaches.

During the programme: -

You will learn to differentiate between true consulting and contracting roles.
You will learn the key phases of a consulting project and how to write winning proposals.
You will understand why you should always prepare a proposal
You will recognise the value of interpersonal and consulting skills as well as your existing technical skills.
You will learn consulting skills, facilitation skills, coaching skills and presentation and training skills.

Programme structure

In-depth interview to explore you real aspirations and personal resources and explain the key factors to consider before committing to a new career
Psychometric profiling to discover more about what you have to offer and your most effective style
Introduction to starting up your own business
Face to face structured coaching
Telephone progress coaching
Informal telephone access and support from your personal coach

Launching your own business is like the mythical Hero's Journey. You respond to a calling to cross a personal threshold to a new mission and identity. Along the way there will be challenges, for which you will find mentors to support you. And when you have achieved one goal, you will be stronger but still faced with more challenges as you proceed. Consultancy is the best career for continuous personal and professional development!

Here are some of the issues you might wish to cover during your personalised programme: -

Building a successful consultancy practice

Building a personal value proposition
Sales/marketing campaign, databases, prospecting, contact records
Building personal relationships, networking and referrals
Public speaking, promotional workshops and exhibitions
Using the Internet
Sales letters, presentations and proposals
Contracts and terms and conditions
Action plan

Consultancy

Definitions and distinctions
Taking on the identity of a consultant
Managing client expectations
The five phases of a consultancy project
Data collection and analysis
Giving feedback
Business opportunities and charging models

Coaching

What is coaching?
The role of coaching in a consultancy project
Coaching models
Coaching skills
Business opportunities and charging models

Facilitation

Facilitation, awaydays and corporate retreats
Team building
Strategy development
Action planning
Scenario planning
Creativity and innovation
Business opportunities and charging models

Presentations and training

Learning models
Training processes
Accelerated learning
Design and delivery to avoid "death by PowerPoint"
Business opportunities and charging models

Why train with The Brefi Group?

Your objective as a successful consultant is continually to generate business from existing clients and referrals, as well as prospecting for new clients. But how do you do this when you have no existing clients? And how do you justify the fees you deserve if you are perceived as a self-employed start-up?

Brefi Group can give you an instant 25 year history, with a ready-made corporate culture, intellectual property and global web presence.

Founded in 1982, Brefi Group is a corporate change management organisation providing an integrated package of change consultancy, facilitation, executive coaching and training designed to improve corporate performance.

Our intellectual property and resources include: -

Expertise in Investors in People, management development programmes, scenario planning and executive coaching
Learning resource materials
Business processes
Brefi Group web site
CorporateCoach international newsletter
International database of contacts who are willing to be contacted
CorporateFeedback™ and BuddyCoach™ on-line TNA
CorporateDiagnostic™ diagnostic and analysis programs
E-commerce shop window and charging mechanism

Brefi Group will provide you with access to our learning resource materials, e-commerce facilities and diagnostic programs. In addition, you will be able to promote yourself by contributing to our international weekly newsletter, CorporateCoach, and supporting our conference and exhibition programme.

As an associate of Brefi Group you will be able to build hyperlinks with the Brefi Group web site, and appear on our own registry of consultants, trainers and coaches. As a member of our community you will be able to work with other local associates to obtain higher grade work.

What to do next

The reason that you are here is that you are considering a career change; this is a major challenge. Is it right for you now? How should you go about it? Where do you look for support – and advice?

We can help you address it.

When you are ready to move forward, the next step is easy.

If you are still undecided and would like to know a little bit more about our organisation before making contact, please visit our About us page and generally explore the site.