Seven Cs of Consulting, The

Value differentiation

In many cases, just offering the customer a review that sets out the value delivered is not sufficient. As considered in the opening section on the nature of the industry, consulting is a trade-based operation where the ability to sell products and services is a core competency. You must ensure that the closure process not only reinforces what you have delivered but how it stands apart from what a competitor might have delivered. The art of the closure is in reinforcing the factors that differentiate your outcome from that of your competitors as well as confirming what might be perceived as the commodity element of your proposition, as seen in Fig. 12.3. Value differentiation might be seen as the difference between the ...