Effective Meetings for Management Consultants & Analysts

In the second section, I will show how you should prepare for the first interviews during consulting projects. We will discuss tools that will help you with the preparation.

Issue tree is a simple yet powerful concept used in consulting for structuring discussion and picking the right topics to concentrate on. In this lecture I will show you the principles of using it as well as a practical example

In this lecture I will summarize what kind of examples of issue trees we will present in the next few lectures

Here I will show example of an issue tree in Logistics

Here I will show example of an issue tree in Retail

Here I will show you ana example of issue tree in FMCG

We will discuss here the value of rough estimation and why it’s worth starting from it

In this lecture you will get to know our favorite method for first rough estimation – the bottom-up method. We give you also 2 examples with Excel calculation how to use it.

Top-down is the little brother of bottom-up approach – not used that often but still very useful for re-segmenting the market (niche an low cost strategy) 

In this lecture I show the backward thinking /induction. This approach enables you to design the whole process, company on the bases of the expected outcome

Key Performance Indicators are extremely important to understand and manage a business. In this lecture I will show you how this is achieved. In the next lectures I will show You using an exmaple of a cinema company how to apply KPIs in practices

Imagine that you were responsible for managing the cinema. What KPIs metrics you would look at to see whether you are doing a good job?

We will show here KPIs for cinema

The data you have gathered will be used in your business analysis. You can also fill in the slides prepared in the very beginning and modify it if needed

The data you have gathered will be used in your business analysis. You can also fill in the slides prepared in the very beginning and modify it if needed

Before meeting with a specific director you want to know 2 things

• KPIs, drivers, metrics that matter

• Benchmarks for those KPIs, drivers & metrics

There are a few places that you can find what you are looking for we will discuss them in this lecture

In this lecture, we will briefly discuss how to do a rough estimation.

In this lecture, we will briefly discuss how to estimate the size of the market

In this lecture, we will briefly discuss how to analyze competitors

In this lecture, we will briefly discuss how to analyze trends

In this lecture, we will briefly discuss how to do consumer research

In this section I will show how you should conduct the interviews. We will discuss useful tools and frameworks. I will also discuss briefly how to take notes during the interview

You should create a framework for your interviews. It will help you to discover the problems fast. In this lecture I will show you mine

You should create a framework for your interviews. It will help you to discover the problems fast. In this lecture, I will show you mine

In production, you will know far less than your customer’s team so you have to use smart ways to get to the bottom of the things. 5 Why is one of such methods? In this lecture, I will show you how to use it in practice

One of the tools to understand your business is to look at the organizational chart of your firm. I will show you what kind of things you can draw out of it.

In this lecture, we will have a look at an example of an organizational chart from FMCG firm.

In this lecture, we will have a look at an example of an organizational chart from a consulting firm.

We will discuss some simple rules that will help you take notes during interviews

I will show you examples of notes I have taken during an interview

• In the 4th section, I will discuss regular meetings that you have to conduct during the consulting projects. We will discuss the general framework. Afterward, I wills shed some light on how to get buy-in as well as how to over-deliver

Regular meetings with the customer a key to success. Below my general framework for such meetings

Remember also about some general rules that is good to follow during regular meetings

• Introduce the presentation template early

• Use the same template every time

• 1 message = 1 slide

• 1 slide = 1 Analysis in Excel

• Communicate everything 2x (in person and repeated by email)

• Do regular meetings with people on different levels

Let’s have a look how a 7 week project should look when it comes to execution

Buy-in is extremely important for the success of your project. I will show in this lecture what it is and how to achieve it  

In this lecture, I will talk about the importance of formal and informal meetings with the customers 

Overdelivering is the key factor in building long-lasting relationship with your customer. Here I will show you how to achieve it 

After that, we will discuss briefly how to be successful during presentations. We will discuss how to win audience, how to be clear during the presentation, how to minimize the risk of attacks and how to deflect attacks

There are a number of ways to win the audience over

• Show the money / value fast

• Give credit to customer’s team

• Send the presentation ahead of the meeting

• Create an Executive Summary

• Prepare backups slides and Excels

• Talk the presentation over with people before the meeting

• Bring cookies to the meeting

• Don’t do the meeting around lunch

• Don’t do the meeting around lunch

• Don’t be stupidly stubborn

You should try to be as clear as possible during the presentation. Below some tips on how to achieve it

• Imagine that you are talking to a 5-year old kid

• Don’t use consulting bullshit jargon

• Use terms / definition used by the customer

• Make simple slides

• Follow 1 message = 1 slide rule

• Use trackers to show where you are

• Discern between useful and interesting

• Crack a joke from time to time

• Don’t overburden them with messages

You don’t want to have people attacking you during your presentation. Below some tips on how to minimize the risk of this happening to you

• Talk the presentation over before the meeting

• Use the critical chain method to the project delivery

• Have often regular meetings with the customer

• Make yourself likable

• Remain calm no matter what

• Have your team present during the presentation

• Make the Customer’s director deliver some slides

• Stress that what you show is not yet the final version

• Reframe attacks as feedback

• Send them a lot of detailed materials

At any given presentation you may expect some hostility. Below some tips on how to deflect attacks if they happen

• Identify what you disagree on

• Don’t be stupidly stubborn

• Admit if you are wrong

• Use backup slides and Excels to clarify issues

• If there are doubts write down the question and promise to go back to them

• Go back to them with a data-driven detailed answer to the questions

• Have your team present during the presentation

• Don’t get stuck on some parts

• Take some hostile attacks to the extreme to show that they are not valid ones

During longer projects devoted to implementing the recommendations, you will also have to conduct implementation meetings with the customers’ teams. We will discuss this issue in this section

The kick-off meeting is the first implementation meeting. Below what you have to do before the meeting and during it

• Agree how you will manage the project with the sponsor

• Agree on resources with the sponsor of the project

• Set the general goal and deadline for the project

• Select the team and agree with their superiors

• Organize the kick-off meeting

Below things you should do during the meeting:

• Agree with the team how you will work

• Set regular hour and day of the meeting

• Explain to them the to-do list and the tool for this

• Create the to-do list

• Send the to-do list

The kick-off meeting is the first implementation meeting. Below what you have to do before the meeting and during it

• Agree how you will manage the project with the sponsor

• Agree on resources with the sponsor of the project

• Set the general goal and deadline for the project

• Select the team and agree with their superiors

• Organize the kick-off meeting

Below things you should do during the meeting:

• Agree with the team how you will work

• Set regular hour and day of the meeting

• Explain to them the to-do list and the tool for this

• Create the to-do list

• Send the to-do list

For the regular implementation meetings, I recommend the following framework

• Show the to-do list on the screen

• Go through each point and ask for an update from the team

• Update the to-do list during the meeting

• Add new points to the to-do list if needed

• Make a decision if needed

• Make sure that all to-dos are assigned, have deadline and status update

• Send the updated to-do list after the meeting

To-do list – highly popularized by David Allen in Getting things done is a great tool to make sure that you do the right things at a fast pace. In this lecture, we will talk briefly about applying them in practice. I will show you the principles of using it, types of a to-do list as well as a practical example, including the one I am using.

If you are a Project Manager or a Deputy Project Manager you will also have to conduct everyday meetings with your team. We will discuss this issue in this section. You will learn general rules for internal meetings, KPIs that will help you manage the project, tools you can use to manage a project

Below some general rules for internal meetings

• Only your consulting team is present. No bullshit meeting

• Some are group meetings whereas some are 1-to-1

• Should be done by the project manager or his deputy

• The goal is to check where we are with the current project

• The group meeting is relatively short

• 1-to-1 tend to be longer

• Do the group meeting at least 1 a day

• Use the presentation template or the Kanban to check how are you doing

• Check the KPIs

• Check the Excels & data integrity during 1-to-1

It’s good to define some KPIs that will help you track progress. Let's have a look at some options

There are 2 main ways to control the progress of the project. To achieve this you can use the presentation template or a Kanban showing the status of all activities/analyses that are supposed to be delivered as a part of the project. We will look at the kanban in this lecture.

As you may remember from the previous lecture you want to transform the data you have gathered into a presentation. We will discuss the rules you should follow for this to happen

By using the right tools you can drastically improve your productivity. In this lecture, I will talk about how to get and use the right tools in practice. I will show you as well a practical example