New prospective Maven clients are often considering working with strategy consulting firm for the first time.  They have likely worked with outside firms for accounting, legal, IT and HR issues, but have not sought external assistance for strategy work.  We are often asked, “Why should I work with strategy consultants?  How are you going to be more helpful than my executive team tackling this issue?”  It is a good question and not every company would benefit from working with consultants.  But many companies greatly benefit from working with strategy consultants on their most difficult challenges.

 

Big results require big changes.

Value from consultants can come in many forms:

• Solving New Problems – most businesses are solving problems everyday.  You are in the trenches fixing a customer issue, deciding who to hire or finding new ways to make your company faster and leaner.  As the business grows you must solve problems you haven’t had to solve before.  Consultants are expert problem solvers. We are able to break problems down into pieces and collect as much information and data as possible to make fact-based decisions.  We have also solved problems across many companies and industries.  So while the problem is new for your business, it is likely the problem as been solved before by another business.

• Independent Point of View – some business challenges are well known in the company and there are different “camps” with different beliefs on how to address the problem.  These different camps can lead to inaction because there is no consensus on what to do.  Consultants can often play the role of an independent voice in the discussion.  Our goal is to make the overall best decision for the business.  By relying on a fact-based approach and being from outside the business, we can drive consensus and move the organization to action.

• Faster Results – many executive teams have the capability to take on new challenges, but often do not have the time.  Consultants are quick learners.  We can jump into a new problem, quickly get up to speed and accelerate the time to a solution.