Читать книгу The Consulting Bible - Alan Weiss - Страница 54

The second aspect of conceptual agreement is metrics, that is, the indicators or measures of progress and/or completion. This is important so that both you and the buyer can judge relative success at any given time, and the success that occurs is attributable to your contributions in the project. This is vital to demonstrate ROI and justify fees.

Examples of metrics might include:

 Sales reports showing rapidity of sales closing after first contact.

 Quarterly sales totals of client reorders and rapidity.

 Anecdotal reporting of stress levels at meetings and absentee reports submitted weekly.

Note that these can be both objective (based on empirical evidence) and subjective (based on perceptions and observed behavior). That's fine, as long as you and the buyer both agree on who will do the anecdotal reporting.

Questions to develop metrics may include the following 10 inquiries:

1 How will you know we've accomplished your intent?

2 How, specifically, will the operation be different when we're done?

3 How will you measure this?

4 What indicators will you use to assess our progress?

5 Who or what will report on our results (against the objectives)?

6 Do you already have measures in place you intend to apply?

7 What is the rate of return (on sales, investment, etc.) that you seek?

8 How will we know that the public, employees, and/or customers perceive it?

9 Each time we talk, what standard will tell us we're progressing?

10 How would you know it if you tripped over it?

Hint: If the buyer isn't sure of a measure, ask, “How do you know the quality or performance is not present now, and how would you know when it does occur?” or: “What is the condition causing you pain now that you would like to remove and how would you know it's gone?”

It's vital to establish effective measures with your objectives. Too many buyers claim they want to go “from good to great” based on a popular book, or to reach “world‐class standards” based on someone's inflated mission statement. These mean nothing if you can't identify them. The legendary training expert, Bob Mager, has written in several of his books, “How would you know it if you tripped over it?”

Not bad advice.