Earlier this week I was speaking to a good friend and client when he was told me about a call he received from a consulting firm. On this initial call, the consulting firm tried to sell him on services to streamline his department and reduce staffing, without taking the time to really vet out my friend’s department structure or what works or didn’t work. His call reminds me of the story of “The Mexican Fisherman” that came off the short story “Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral”, published by a German writer, Heinrich Böll, in 1963. Many of you may have heard this story before, but for the others, here is a version of it:
There was a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Mexican village. He saw a fisherman come back to shore having caught quite a few fish. The businessman asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?” The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.” “Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman asked. “This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said.
The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?” The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back home and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”
The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman. “I am an MBA from Harvard. I could help you to become a more successful person. You should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible, then sell the excess fish. When you have saved enough money, you could buy more boats and set up your own company. After a few years, you can take your company public and you will be rich.”
The fisherman asks, “And after that?” The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies in the village for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”
The fisherman was puzzled and asked, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”
What this story reminds me is that many times, these so-called ”experts” or consultants pretend to know what you need to improve processes or structure of the team, without having a clue or taking the time to assess the environment before selling you these services. For all you know, they could be selling you services for the sake of selling, when what you have going on is right for the company. They ignored the first rule of selling, “Know your customer”.
Entertaining these solicitations from vendors can be time-consuming or strictly annoying. Here are a few items to keep in mind when you get these calls:
Who does what? – Some companies prefer to keep all tasks and responsibilities in-house to maintain internal controls. On the flip side, I encountered a client where they outsource many of the tasks externally (financial reporting, proxy preparation, SEC filings). Depending on how much your company wants to handle could help determine the staffing needs in your group and whether some things can be done more efficiently by an outside vendor.
Budget- Is your company’s CEO also the janitor and security or does your company have titles like “Assistant to the Assistant of the Assistant of the Administrative Assistant”? How much does your company have to work with? If the answer is near zero, it would save you and your manager’s time and effort avoiding these exploratory discussions with these consulting firms.
Knowledge of the consulting firm – Try to gauge the breadth of knowledge of the person trying to sell you the service. Do they have an idea of what you do or the depth of your department? Are they just rattling off terminology without knowing what it is? Do they have a proven record? A long trail of thought leadership/writings you can review? Hint: If they can’t tell the difference between common stock and soup stock, just hang up. If the consulting firm expect you to give them tens of thousands of dollars and can’t take the time to educate their sales people on some basics, that is a bad sign. “No está bien“, “nicht gut”, “白搭”, “निकम्मी चीज़”.
If it turns out that the consulting firm appears to know what they are doing and potentially add value, and you have an in-person meeting, just have a can of shark repellent handy.
If you need any assistance in obtaining that can of shark repellent or know you need some help with you stock plans or compensation programs, but just need sure how to find it, please feel to reach out to us anytime. We will ensure that you end up in the right place, with the people, doing the right thing.