6 Consulting Circus Tricks
posted by John Spacey, June 27, 2016Never give a sucker an even break.
~ P.T. Barnum, founder Barnum & Bailey Circus
IT consultants are generally good people. Consulting is a noble industry that delivers a great deal of value. However, managing large contracts with big IT consulting companies isn't for the faint of heart.
IT consulting is a tough industry that knows how to get paid. It's important to be aware of some common tricks of the trade if you're managing IT vendors.
1. Bait and Switch
A consultant uses an a-team before a contract is signed (e.g. for an RFP) but brings in a b-team after the contract is signed.It's natural for consulting companies to use their best people for sales. If you ask for resumes of your actual team they tend to present highly popular resources who may not be available when your project starts.
Mitigation: the cheapest consultants aren't always the best, include the right to reject resources in the contract, interview resources.
2. Title Inflation
The economics of human resource management are different in the consulting industry.Like any organization, when a consulting company promotes someone they have additional costs. However, they also generate additional revenues by increasing the resource's rate.
Title inflation was endemic in the offshoring industry in the 2000s. It was common for resources with 2 years experience to be considered senior.
Title inflation is also prevalent with hot new skill sets. University graduates might be hired and presented as experts after attending IT training.
Mitigation: the cheapest consultants aren't always the best, include the right to reject resources in the contract, interview resources.
3. Scope Creep Cheerleading
When a consulting project manager lets needless scope creep run wild because it's generating additional revenues.It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.
~ Thomas Sowell, economist
Mitigation: manage projects with internal resources, use a different consultant to manage project, fix price contracts that are designed to prevent a vendor from profiting from scope creep.
4. Divide and Conquer
When a consultant becomes embroiled in your internal politics it's natural for them to use it to their advantage. For example, pitting political adversaries against each other.Mitigation: separate internal meetings and meetings with consultants, present a unified front to consultants at all times.
5. Tall Tales of Product Glory
There's a fine line between salesmanship and misrepresentation. It's common for a solution's capabilities to be greatly exaggerated. For example, a vendor may suggest that customization effort is minimal when in fact it's significant.Mitigation: involve your technical staff in any conversations with a vendor, make product selection a highly competitive process, due diligence in product evaluation, small pilot projects to test products, references from happy customers.
6. Fear Uncertainty and Doubt
Fear Uncertainty and Doubt is a commonly deployed sales tactic that uses remote possibilities to scare customers away from competitors.For example, vendors may suggest that an open source product violates patents to instill uncertainty and doubt. Implanting such fears about the competition is known to dramatically improve sales (especially for large vendors).
Fear Uncertainty and Doubt is also commonly used to sell security products and services.
Mitigation: adopt a balanced view of risks, avoid making decisions based on emotional fear responses.
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