Consulting Skills

We have given this module the title “consulting skills”, and it covers lessons we have learned building a consulting business. Ultimately though, whether you are a consultant or in-house, these skills will help you get things done.

You can know everything there is to know and even speak at conferences around the world, but the fact is that SEO makes no difference to anyone unless it gets done. The sad truth is that many technical site audits sit around gathering dust and never get implemented. As consultants, it is our job to understand our clients’ businesses and to develop the right strategies to help them achieve their goals. On top of this, it is also our job to make sure that our recommendations are implemented, and this isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Even though the client is paying for you to tell them what to do, there is no guarantee they will actually do it.

At Distilled, we try not to talk in terms of project deliverables being big documents. We try to talk in terms of change being the deliverable. Ultimately, we want to effect change within our client’s organization. When you think of projects in these terms, it refocuses your approach and makes you act differently. It makes you think about how to actually get stuff done and make a difference to your client’s business. Delivering a document that no one ever reads or implements is not effecting change.

To get to the point of effecting change within your client’s organization, you first need to focus on yourself. You need to develop your own skills and know how to get things done. You also need to know how to work effectively within a team, to the point where you get the best out of each other.

Once you’ve mastered these areas, you are in a far better position to step into the client’s environment and effect change. This module will teach you how to effect change, especially when change is hard.

This module is structured in the following way:

• Personal productivity
• Team productivity
• Managing clients and effecting change