There are a lot of companies today that buy and use professional advisory services in order to gain competitive advantage over traditional and upcoming rivals, to augment training and skill sets, to gain fresh perspective as well as to take advantage of the best practices across industries and functions.

Over the past decades the global consulting market has grown to become a multi-billion dollar industry. As a result of the varying market definitions used by frequently cited analyst bodies (e.g. FEACO) and firms (e.g. IDC, Gartner, Kennedy, Source), the estimates for the size of the market differ substantially, ranging from roughly $90 billion up to nearly $350 billion *.

Even though the fees paid to consultants and advisors may be seem to be large, but it is quite small when compared to the amount of money at stake after the implementation of the advice. Unfortunately the senior management which is very competent in buying goods and equipment lacks the same level of experience when it comes to the purchase of services. They make the cardinal mistake of assuming that the tried and tested rules of buying goods, that have served them well over the years, will also apply to the hiring of consultants.

So what should a client keep in mind?

First and foremost it should be recognized that the ultimate goal of hiring a consultant is to reduce uncertainty in a particular domain. Without a clear cut understanding of this objective, the purchase of the service does not make any sense at all. So you are basically looking for professionals who can identify and reduce this uncertainty.

Secondly, the prospective consultant should be able to hit the nail on the head in terms of addressing the substantive problem directly. A consummate professional will ask probing and insightful questions to understand the relevant background and to pinpoint the exact problem that the client is facing. There is no point in wasting precious time in listening to their past success stories, when the hallmark for possible success lies in the degree to which consultants can talk to the issues of relevance. Trust being a two-way street the client also has to be upfront with the consultant and provide accurate information when asked for.

Thirdly, watch out for the salesman. Clients need to be able to differentiate between salesmen and true professionals. A salesman is more interested in his pitch than in your problem. He/ she will extol the advantages of their firm, name drop big clients and impress you with the arsenal at their disposal in terms of range of services that they can offer. They are very good at obfuscating the issue at hand and are more focused on the terms of the engagement. Sometimes, consultancies send their salesmen for the initial meeting and the actual work is done by different professional. Always insist on talking personally to the person who will handle your project, before you finalize the contract. This is the only way to ensure that you will get the services that have been sold.

Keep the above mentioned cautions in mind and you will avoid wasteful expenditure on impractical data and poorly implemented recommendations.

* Consultancy. uk -global-consulting-market.