Baby steps: Shifting back the balance of power

By Julie Ahadi.

I used to enjoy sleep. And then I had a baby. Much like the heyday era of consulting, when an abundance of cheque-happy clients and high fees was the norm, I used to roll around in bed on a Saturday morning thinking ‘there’s plenty more where that came from’. Not only has my window of opportunity for a relatively easy life closed, but I am now conditioned not to be able to sleep, even if I am permitted to.*

And to some extent, I’m the problem – I’ve created an adorable baby Frankenstein. At some point along this magical journey, my daughter may just (may just, mind you) have mistaken my kindness for weakness. The moment she’d call; I’d jump. And she got used to it. And so did I. And it really didn’t need to come to this – I’d read all the books, listened to (far too many) people’s helpful advice and yet here I am – me and my eyebags. But, like so many sleep deprived, busy mums (and there are plenty busier than me), I soldier on.

When the balance of power takes a nose-dive in any one direction, it’s always going to be difficult for the descending party to reassert any notion of authority. The stable door is open; the foal has bolted. Such cause and effect principles are pretty obvious really, especially for anyone with any business acumen. So why, then, when it comes to fees, did consulting firms not see the inevitable consequence of dropping fees so dramatically (or in some cases, not charging clients at all just to be able to get the foot in the door)? We have tracked this phenomenon for years and have lots of anecdotal data to suggest that prices have never recovered. In some cases, consulting firms charge the same client 20% less today for the same service than they did five years ago. Clients cracked the whip in response to either a financial crisis or simply a saturated market, and consultants buckled under the pressure and gave in. What choice did they have?

More importantly, now time has passed and the dust has settled somewhat, what choices do they have now? It’s in a consultant’s DNA to want to bend over backwards for a client; to do anything to keep them happy and close. The client is at the centre of every consulting firm’s universe, after all. And that’s fine – that’s how things should be. But against the backdrop of growing challenges to the economic viability of the consulting business model something’s going to give. The quality of the service offered by consultant to client will inevitably suffer somewhere along the way, and while much effort has been expended trying to explain that to clients, in the long term consultants stand to lose much more through the impact on their reputation.

So, action needs to be taken. And while the opportunity for a two-way conversation isn’t really available to me right now, a good place for consultants to start might be an honest conversation with their client. Do it in peace time – while the going is relatively good – and clients might just listen. Try it in war time – when economic conditions worsen – and they almost certainly won’t. In other words, do it now.

Of course it isn’t easy convincing anyone, of any age, to give up something when they have had it so good, but it’ll help everyone in the long run. Personally, I know I need to toughen up and learn to switch off. But it’s easier said than done, so in the meantime, I’m really hoping that my chief client will cut me some slack.

*I have, in baby terms, been ‘sleep-trained’. I’ve been outwitted by a 13-month old.