Best Practices In Consulting: Recommendations from Women In Consulting Annual Survey
Now in its 18th year, the information from the Women In Consulting (WIC) Best Practices Research Report: Recommendations for Successful Consulting has been used by scores of consultants as a source for insights on what drives success for their consulting businesses.
The recommendations are from a professional survey, run annually, that takes an in-depth look at the state of best practices across consulting firms. All consultants, including those beyond the WIC community, are invited to participate in this confidential survey.
All survey participants, as well as WIC Professional, Contributing, and Executive members, receive:
A free copy of the survey report when it is published
Membership into a Community dedicated to discussing how to put these best practices in place
Access to a complete overview of the results in video format
Exclusive access to interviews with consultants who have used these best practices and reveal their successes and challenges.
If you are not a Professional, Contributing, or Executive member of WIC or did not participate in this year’s survey, you can purchase a copy of the report here and also receive access to the community and the interviews.
“It’s hard to believe how many years WIC has run our consulting best practices survey. Over the years, it’s offered interesting insights into the evolution of consulting businesses, such as revenue and profitability trends and fees, consulting expertise and specialties, business structure and operations. These in turn help our WIC community and beyond gain critical insights in how to streamline operations and drive growth of their consultancies.”
Ellen Grace Henson, Marketing Mechanics WIC President, 2017-2019
Research Scope
The survey asks detailed questions about strategies and tactics consultants used to more effectively manage and drive growth for their businesses in the previous calendar year. These include:
Total revenues, fee types, and profit
Challenges faced
Best practices to generate new business
Use of social media and online marketing
Number of subcontractors used
Here are words of wisdom from a few of our survey respondents:
“Network with a Passion.”“Network with a Passion.” “Word of mouth is everything. Never burn bridges or leave a bad impression." "Be direct. Be honest. But be respectful.” “Value people. Clients, vendors, freelancers... it’s all about relationships.” “I can trace about half my income last year to WIC in some fashion or other (referral, direct subcontractor, etc.)”
Special thanks to Women In Consulting volunteers
Michele Madansky, PhD, Michele Madansky Consulting, had the great pleasure to review, consolidate and analyze the qualitative data.
Ellen Grace Henson, Marketing Mechanics, managed the project overall in addition to doing deep and broad analysis, identifying differentials and trends and helping shape the themes.
Jen Berkley Jackson, The Insight Advantage, has been involved since Women In Consulting first began conducting this research. She helped define the flow, programmed the survey, and created data tables.
The 2019 final report was produced by:
Gabriela Martínez, Texto Graphic Design. This is the eighth year Gabriela has been responsible for layout and design.
Tiffeny Price, Content Author, was the report writer, helping to organize the report flow and tell the story of the research findings.
Sharyn Fitzpatrick, Marcom Gurus, provided her expertise in managing the production of the webinar, reviewing the report in detail.
