All consultants loathe “gatekeepers,” who see their life’s work as protecting the boss from the sales rabble on the streets. But the very worst are those who use the “V” word: Venders

There are venders, of course. They sell paint, computer printers, plant food, window washing services, and, oh yes, training programs. The last are those out-of-the-box, off-the-shelf production line boxes which account for over $40 billion of corporate spending each year, with perhaps one-one-hundredth of a percent justified by return on the investment. (Of course, they are all “customized,” meaning the name on the box is changed.)

Consultants are neither commodities nor venders. They are partners with senior line and staff management who bring demonstrable value-added which is not resident within the client. Good consultants work against clear objectives (manifest business results), measures of success (metrics), and value to the organization (impact of the objectives). They decided whether or not the client makes sense for them, no less than the client deciding whether the consultant is the right choice.

There is an ethical responsibility for a consultant to meet personally with that corporate executive who has the fiduciary responsibility for making an investment in a consulting project. We have to hear the objectives from his or her lips, to assess reasonableness. We have to agree on the internal or external measures of success. We have to establish the value of the successful project, so that the investor can justify the ROI.

That can’t happen through an intermediary, no matter how well-meaning, no matter whether they believe they have been “tasked” to filter out consultants and solicit proposals. Any proposal provided without meeting the true “buyer” of the service is unethical, an attempt to gain business without the qualitative underpinning. (And this is why RFPs—requests for proposals—are so stupid. They propose a solution to be implemented and ask who can implement it the best for the least money.)

People in HR, training, and other staff and support positions can play the best role by facilitating the consultant and the buyer meeting as peers and potential partners. Every time I hear a support person say, “You can only do business here through me,” I know I’m dealing with an insecure ego, not an organizational asset.

There is a reason there are so many consultants and consulting firms (eliminate the people between jobs and those just fooling around, and we’re still talking well over a quarter million people in the U.S. alone): They are needed to provide cost-effective, situational help for major issues.

By all means, feel free to solicit bids for printers or for painting the parking lot stripes. Buy boxes of training materials by the hundreds or the ton (and you’ll always get a better deal near the end of the training firm’s fiscal year!). But don’t plan to buy consulting help as if it’s a commodity.

As in the famous line by the attorney before the Senate subcommittee hearing, “What am I, a potted plant?”

© Alan Weiss 2007 All rights reserved.