Over the years I have been directly employed by a number of large organizations.  During that time I have seen consultants engaged on numerous occasions.

The most commonly communicated reasons for this are:

• capacity, that is we do not have enough internal resources to complete the required investigation/analysis/ actions
• knowledge/skills, that is we do not have the expertise internally or organization structure restricts capability so outside opinions are sought.

I wonder if in fact these rationalization are really no more than lip service to justify the perceived value of hiring an external party.

In many cases the consultant is engaged to provide strategic direction; whether it be organizational goals, directional strategy or issue specific (like revenue optimization).  It’s been my observation the consultants skills, knowledge, experience and expertise are not the ultimate driving factors for either their initial selection nor length they remain engaged.

If not knowledge, than what?

The bar to engagement as a consultant is obviously skill related as demonstrated by track-record, experience, reputation and so on.   That is, of course, at least the minimum knowledge bar must be met.  However, the most important and interesting attribute to being engaged and remaining engaged is presence.

In reality large organizations have the resources to acquire the skills and expertise directly (usually at a must lower cost than external consultants).  So the question is what “magic” does the consultant bring that causes them to be engaged even at the higher cost.   There must be a value equation that is positive or at least perceived to be so.

Consultants or would be consultants take note

The key here to being engaged as a consultant is the ability to sell yourself.  In a nutshell, it’s about your personality and presence.

Consider the expert in the news room who has a critical and key understanding of major news events, but these get communicated on the daily news broadcast by the good looking person with a well modulated voice (who also has some understanding of the news).  The person with the ultimate news gathering skills and knowledge of the integration of events that can provide in depth analysis and they are valuable but the star is the news caster, the one with the presence to go on camera and grab the audience.

What they think of you outweighs your skill.