DON’T TRUST CONSULTANTS 17
The solution is to put in all the information, divided into sections so that it does not
all have to be read. Identify what the reader needs to know, what is essential for the plan
– and then document it as concisely as possible. Use plenty of clear headings followed
by a concise summary and then more detail. This allows readers to be selective, and slow
down to read in more detail topics that interest them especially.
Don’t trust consultants
I would say that the worst possible thing you can do is to call in management consultants
to write a business plan for you. This may be a bit harsh, although a true example illus-
trates the problems.
The chairman of a medium-sized organisation realised that his business was not per-
forming well. He called in one of the top consulting firms, and let them charge him a
handsome fee for preparing a weighty and glossy plan. He followed the first few steps of
the plan, recruiting managers to fill new positions as recommended. Then it all fell apart.
There was no coherent understanding, no buy-in, no commitment to the plan. The new
managers were experienced business people and they had their own ideas about how to
run the business. The plan fell into disuse and the whole process failed. Each new man-
ager pursued personal objectives and the company was as badly off as before. Within a
year most of the managers left, exhausted by working in an organisation where the chair-
man continued exactly as he had before the expensive consultants had arrived.
‘A consultant is someone who saves his client almost enough to pay his fee.’
ARNOLD H. GLASGOW
There might be occasions when management consultants can usefully be asked to take a
fresh, professional look at a company and develop a business plan. This usually happens
after an enterprise has grown out of control – such as early in the life of a new business
when it starts to get bigger than its entrepreneurial founder. The best that consultants
can do in this instance is identify what new management skills should be recruited to try
to rescue what is obviously a target for a takeover.
I want to tell you a story
Once, I saw a strategy presented as a series of bullet points. An executive
commented ‘this is just a shopping list’. He then read exactly the same points tied
together with a few extra words and became excited about ‘an excellent strategy’. It
seems that oversimplification can be counterproductive. Always try to tell a story.
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