Consulting Training – The Many Benefits of Consulting Trainings

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Having an in-depth knowledge on your chosen niche and a proven track record are not enough to succeed in the field of consulting. If you want to become a more effective consultant, you should consider attending consulting trainings. These can prepare you for your new-found endeavor.

Here are the benefits that you can get by attending consulting training programs:

1. Insider tips. Consulting trainings are usually being conducted by people who have already succeeded in this field. That means, they have been there and done that. So, they can give you insider tips and techniques that you can use to make your consulting services more impacting and more effective to give your clients great value for their money. Your trainers can also help enhance your presentation and writing skills if you intend to offer live or written consulting services.

2. Skills. Consulting trainings can help you develop or enhance certain skills that you need to become a better consultant. Your trainers will help you improve your communication, problem-solving, people, and analytical skills so you can better serve your clients.

3. Clear picture of what is ahead. If you are just starting out, I am pretty sure that you are clueless as to what you can expect the moment your clients signed up for your services. These trainings can help you prepare for these types of scenarios so you will not get caught off guarded later on. Your trainers will tell you exactly what you need to do; from signing up your clients, to drafting agreements, to collecting payment, to handling complaints. Through this, you will not appear amateurish to your clients.

Looking to Become a Consulting Design Engineer?

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Do you have a talent for disassembling and reassembling things? Are you good at figuring out how things work? Or maybe you have a knack for math, or physical sciences. If so, engineering might be a great way to make your living. Either way, if you’re reading this article, you’ve probably already decided to look at a career as a consulting design engineer.

What’s a consulting design engineer? That’s an engineer who’s been contracted to design a new complex system, whether it’s the wiring for an office building, a new fire suppression system for an aging school, or a new set of interdependent factory machines. Usually, a contracting firm or a municipality will hire a consulting design engineer whenever a major engineering project needs to be done.

If you’re looking at a career as a consulting design engineer, you’ll likely need to specialize in an engineering sub-discipline, like mechanical, electrical or communications design engineering. Here’s a quick primer on what you’ll need to do in order to become an engineering consultant.

Learn the basics. If you’re in high school, now might be the time to choose the elective classes that’ll help you learn the scientific basics necessary to learn the skills fundamental to becoming a consulting design engineer. Take advanced math and physics classes, as well as chemistry and biology as well. Also helpful will be art classes — drawing and drafting are essential skills. And don’t downplay shop classes; vocational-technical schools have great resources for budding engineers.

Pick the right college. This is where you make a list. Find all the colleges and universities with great engineering programs. Visit campuses. Make appointments to meet professors. Look at facilities. List your top schools, and your safety schools. The top engineering schools in the US are Cal Tech, UC-Berkeley, MIT and Stanford. Other great schools: Penn State and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In Canada try McGill University, The University of Waterloo or the University of Toronto. If you can’t get into a top school, think about whether it’s worth waiting a year to try again, or contacting the admissions office to see how you could do better on a second try. You can take classes at a local community college in the meantime, or try for an internship at a local engineering firm.

Get an Internship. Just because you’re in college doesn’t mean you can’t get great work experience. Visit your college internship or career counseling office to find out about local engineering firms that offer internships. These are a great way to get onto a staff as soon as you graduate.

Work! You won’t become a consulting design engineer right out of college. You’ll have to spend a long time working in your chosen field before your command of the trade is strong enough to strike out on your own as a consultant. Don’t worry, though — it’s very rewarding work.

What Inter Personal Skills Are Needed by Consultants?

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Consultants require the use of many skills when on a consulting assignment and when working within a client environment. Here are 4 interpersonal skills that the consultant should have. These are important in getting the desired results.

Listening
Being able to listen to what people at the client site have to say to uncover the truth about an issue. Many people will either give you, the consultant, too much or too little of the information that you require. A good consultant will ask the right probing questions and keep on asking them until he is satisfied that the person that he is interviewing has given up all they know. Knowing what to ask and having been prepared well prior to every meeting and interview with client personnel is the key.

Patience
Patience is something that all consultants soon learn to have a lot of. Consultants are often seen as a bother by client organization personnel. They see the consultant as taking up too much of their precious time. They promise to fit you in but are normally distracted by their work loads, telephone calls and other interruptions when you finally get them to sit down with you. This run around is pretty normal. Often details have been left out and a revisit with a client employee that you have already interviewed is required.

Objectivity
Try and be as objective as possible at all times. Remember why you are at the client site and what is expected of you as the consultant. Many people will give you the “inside scoop” on other employees or tell you about the company’s “dirty linen”. They themselves have a lot of preconceived notions about other people and departments, as well as experiences and run-ins they have had and cannot wait to tell you about them. Often this is just distracting noise, which has very little factual basis. It is counterproductive to play favorites, just because of what you may have heard second hand about someone or some other department within the client organization. Objectivity and keeping an open mind must be maintained at all times.

Being engaging and nonthreatening
Many client personnel view you as an outsider. You come in and disturb them, and ask lots of questions. The employees become suspicious and start to question the motivation behind you being at the client’s offices. They see you as a threat to either their jobs or that you may bring changes they may not like. Being able to put people at ease and not view you as a threat is almost always necessary, until they get used to seeing you around the client’s offices. It is a good idea to have a prepared opening statement when you initially meet client employees, explaining the reasons for you being there and what you are expected to deliver at the end of the process or project. Naturally one can only release the facts that the client sponsor that employed you allows to divulge. Also assure the client employees of your discretion.

Mark has 30 years in business experience, covering a wide range of industries and areas of expertise, including business consulting.

How IT Consulting Can Help With Business Optimization and Promotion

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In today’s changing business environment, IT consulting is one of the most needed services. All the business niches are saturated with a high level of competition and unlike before consumers today have a wide range of options to choose from. Such a high level of competition has made every business to rethink its promotional strategies and business optimization efforts. Conventional methods are not good enough to handle this high level of competition. We really need something more substantial.

We need to have professional guidance to optimize our business and our promotional efforts. We can get this professional guidance from IT consulting service companies. We can hire an IT consulting company to make an in-depth analysis of our business. They will help us with business optimization and promotion.

Before our IT consultants can optimize our business for best performance, they have to understand our business model fully. After making a thorough study of our business they will come up with a detailed report on the current scenario, recommended modifications, and procedures to be followed etc. They will also identify the problem areas that drain most of the energy, time and money of the organization. They will help us break down the complex structure of the organization and simplify the entire process so that it is manageable by our team. They will also identify redundant processes that are eating up our resources and money. Most often, such problems occur because of lack of proper procedures and a feedback or control system. By hiring an experienced IT consulting service provider, we can get all the processes streamlined. We cannot accomplish all these by ourselves. We need the required expertise to make a complete business analysis.

After business optimization follows business promotion. Business optimization itself is both time consuming and complex process. Once successfully optimized, IT consultants will help us with latest promotional strategies that will help us achieve our business objectives. If we try to skip business optimization and go for business promotion, we may not be able to achieve the desired business objectives. Every organization over a period of time gets into management issues and poor feedback or faulty control systems. Once in a while all these need to be cleaned up so that we can attain the required level of efficiency. Lack of efficiency will drain the organization’s resources and the output or the achievements will not be proportional to the efforts made.

It is best when the same IT consulting service handles both business optimization as well as business promotion because they are two sides of the same coin and needs to go hand in hand.

IT Consulting services which has been helping small, medium and large enterprises achieve their performance excellence for many years. By letting an IT consultant handle our business optimization and business promotion, we can focus on the core business activities that can be handled only by us without being distracted.

Why Do You Need Legal Nurse Consulting? They Can Win Your Case

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Imagine that a client comes to you with a medical lawsuit to bring against a hospital. You listen to the case and think to yourself if this is true, then this will be one of the easiest cases in the world to win – the client was most obviously the victim of careless medical care. So, you figure that you’ll analyze the client’s medical records to get the proof that you need. But, you open up the medical record and then you realize one important, tiny little detail that you had previously forgot: you have no idea what any of it means.

This is when your law firm needs legal nurse consulting. Legal nurses help close cases by interpreting valuable medical information while acting as a legal assistant. They can interview plaintiffs and defendants, write up reports, and testify as expert witnesses in a courtroom setting. These types of nurses also understand the “business” side of medical delivery. Indeed, legal nurses are absolutely vital to any law firm that’s serious about winning their cases.

Consider the following example case. An elderly nursing home has a resident with many symptoms, including dementia, diabetes, CRF, and so on. This resident is, naturally, completely dependent on the nursing home to care for them. One day, a nursing assistant found a bruise on the patient and let the nurse know about it. Later that same day, the elderly resident passed away. The autopsy confirmed that the resident had fallen within a few hours of the elderly person’s death. When the family sued, a legal nurse who was called in to review the medical records cited a lack of any documentation regarding the bruise or fall. Both the home and the nurses were convicted of tampering with medical records and wrongful death. Due to the victory, aided in no small part by the legal nurse, the administrators are now serving 10-year jail sentences.

While it may be clear that legal nurse consulting is very beneficial to your law firm, many owners are concerned about the cost. Good legal nurses have been known to charge up to $150 an hour for their work. However, many are also willing to work in-staff for less than six figures. As such, if you’re a firm that has any thoughts of dealing with medical suits, you can’t afford to not dole out much of these responsibilities to a good legal nurse.

It’s also imperative that you hire/retain a good legal nurse. The designation of LNCC (Legal Nurse Consultant Certified) demonstrates that the candidate has at least five years of registered nursing experience, plus at least 2000 hours of legal nursing experience, and has passed a comprehensive exam that directly assesses many of the duties that legal nurse consulting entails. In addition, like many other professional certifications, this has to be renewed every five years, so you know that anyone holding a LNCC has more than adequate legal nurse consulting expertise. Indeed, while it is possible to take people who are just registered nurses and use them in a legal capacity, it’s much better to look for the LNCC designation. That way you know you are getting someone who has had a lot experience in both the medical setting and the legal one.

Website Usability Consultant – How to Select One

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When building a new website, or assessing an existing one, there are two types of consultants whose input is critical to the success of your site. One is a Usability consultant and the other, a SEO consultant. This article will discuss the former.

A Usability consultant is an expert in the area of online consumer behavior. His or hers expertise includes: knowledge of all industry norms and standards of website usability including navigation, layout, category/button/link labeling, e-commerce functions and more. The consultant can assess a site to determine if it is user friendly or if it will cause frustration and dissatisfaction among site visitors, resulting in lost sales and opportunities. The assessment should not be in general terms – but very specific to all components of a web page and the site as a whole.

When selecting a Usability Consultant to assess and/or test your test make sure that they have experience with the type of site you own (such as e-commerce, service oriented (lawyers, libraries, etc.), or informational). Ensure that they have actually conducted usability testing in a focus group research facility with participants recruited based on specific criteria pertinent to the website.
Question the potential consultant as to the type of report you will be receiving. Aside from being well written, it must contain screen shots of your web pages with clear detail as to problems found and, as importantly, actionable recommendations to fix them. Ask for a prioritized list of the recommendations.

The website usability consultant you select must also be extremely knowledgeable in SEO (search engine optimization) and website metrics. Usability and SEO are closely linked and the affects of both are reflected to your site’s metrics.

Lastly – ask for references. A Usability consultant should gladly provide you with several.

Do I Really Need Style Consultants?

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We all need to take care of our image these days! Indeed, more than ever first impressions are very important wherever we go. That’s why men and women alike are seeking the help of style consultants to revamp their wardrobe and look.

Taking care of your clothes and look speaks a lot about your personality. Going for a job interview dressing professionally will increase your likelihood to get the job. However, if you go to an interview without thinking through of what you are going to wear and just grab the first garments that you see, you will most likely make a bad impression especially if the garment you chose is inappropriate.

Who Needs a Style Consultant?

Everybody needs a style consultant. Fortunately, each and every one of us can afford one as it is just a matter of having the right budget plan. You will find later on that hiring these professionals will cost you less money. Just imagine how many times you bought clothes and accessories that you didn’t use later on because you realized they do not look good on you! How many times you have wasted your money on such bad shopping purchases. However, if you hire professional consultants, you can rest assured that every single item you will buy will be worn because it will look good on you.

How do I Choose the Right Consultant?

You should not go ahead and hire the first company that you see on the sidewalk or on the internet. Hiring a consultant means that you should be able to connect with that person on a personal level. Building style does not happen overnight. You should be comfortable enough with the person you hired so you can talk to her/him about what you really want and not just follow what is suggested. There should always be a personal touch to that; your personality should, at least, surface so you will not feel totally alien in your own skin. Make sure to interview a minimum of 3 image consultants and see who has great style suggestions and who you can connect with. Try to find out if they are willing to meet and talk with you first before you sign the contract.

After all, you should be comfortable and at ease with the the style consultant you hire and the whole experience should be both fun, worthy and fruitful.

The Benefits of Using a Supply Chain Consultancy

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Using supply chain consultants can bring many benefits to your business. This article will outline what a supply chain consultant could do for you and your company.

Profit

Of course the aim of all businesses is to make a profit. Using a consultant can help you maximise your business income and can often make the money you pay them a very worthwhile investment.

Due to their industry specialism and sector knowledge a consultant can help you:

o Work out where you’re spending too much on your operations and how to cut down
o See how your expenditure compares with other like-for-like businesses
o Negotiate with third party suppliers
o Calculate the correct stock levels

A Fresh Look

When you’re too close to your business, it can be hard to take an objective view of the issues affecting it. Using a consultant can bring a fresh pair of eyes to the situation. The consultant will be able to give you unbiased and informed advice on issues such as:

o Strengths
o Weaknesses
o Threats
o New opportunities

An Overall View

A consultant will be able to see the big picture when it comes to your supply chain. They will be able to advise on what effect a tweak in a link of the chain in one place could mean elsewhere, and advise you on the best strategy that will benefit your business as a whole.

A specialist consultant will also be able to advise on the best long-term strategy for your business; one that will fit in with your overall business goals and plans.

A logistics consultancy may also be more knowledgeable in current industry best practice than you due to their constant immersion in the industry. They can offer ideas or innovations that you would never have considered or come across otherwise.

Training

A consultancy specialist can also transfer some of their experience to your staff through training, equipping your business to keep the supply chain as cost-effective and efficient as possible in future.

Areas of expertise

A consultant can help you at all areas of the supply chain. For example:

o Suppliers
o Purchasing
o Production
o Inventory
o Warehousing
o Distribution
o Retailers
o Customers

Business Network Consulting Ensures System Defenses Are Up to Speed

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A business has the option of seeking outside expertise when certain technology goals prove to be difficult. Network outsourcing is becoming common as new innovations change the way systems need to perform. Security consulting is a highly desired service because of the increased need for data reliability in today’s business settings. Various types of equipment must be implemented to collect, evaluate, and house the data a company uses to service their customers. The days of a business being able to manage these components easily are long gone. A network administrator may be capable of keeping track of the basics but remaining on top of necessary security items can become complicated. Companies are finding that these tasks may be better handled by a dedicated professional or team. Small organizations have one very big complication due to the extensive cost involved with hiring the necessary staff members. They can afford a network administrator but not the whole package. Business network consulting offers solutions based on costs and needs such as outsourced monitoring or security services. These services may be acquired as needed when full time costs are not possible for smaller companies.

IT Network Consultants: How Do Professionals Find Harmful Vulnerabilities?

IT network consultants begin by assessing the current setup to determine where threats could develop. The information gained during an initial assessment allows the consultants to find areas for improvement and also helps a business make necessary decisions. What a provider assesses greatly depends on the needs of a business as well as their current networking setup. External access, firewalls, overall architecture, physical security, server arrangement, operating environments, and various other areas may be part of this initial solution research. Data regarding equipment, operating environments, domains, and hosted systems is gathered to create a security profile which is often used as a blueprint for further decisions. The entire network is then scanned to determine where vulnerabilities are present. It is an attempt to see how easy it is to reach critical systems or data. Any defined vulnerabilities are inspected in more detail manually, in an effort to rule out misguided information from the scan. This prevents a company from wasting time on unnecessary resources and leaves the focus on fixing relevant areas on the network.

Penetration tests are next on the roster for IT network consultants attempting to increase security. The approach is performed as if they are an internal person attacking the network. It challenges individual defenses by finding any weak points where personnel could obtain restricted or company sensitive data. The consultant’s goal is to ensure availability and system integrity cannot easily be compromised. A final overall assessment is made on collected data. Any vulnerability caused by networked systems is made apparent for resolution. The client then makes decisions on what actions they prefer to be taken and has the business network consulting firm working with them to achieve desired results. A small business may use this service to enhance security thus allowing their hired administrator to perform all other related tasks. It can also be a full service where any sized company receives an assessment, solution implementation, monitoring, and maintenance.

When to Fire Your SEO Consultant

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If your company is seeking an SEO consultant to oversee your corporate presence on the Internet, you need to be aware of a few things… One thing I hate to see is a company paying a so called ‘consultant’ to spout out SEO advice that the business actually takes to heart because they have no other frame of reference…. It drives me nuts, because there are a lot of so called consultants out there that are stuck in the 1990′s still. Here are some tips to follow if you are considering hiring one:

1.) If the SEO consultant is OBSESSED with alt tags, time to find a new one. Alt tags are nothing more than a title that is placed on an image in your web site. The alt tag is mainly for accessibility, not for propelling your web site into the top ten rankings in Google, MSN & Yahoo.

2.) Does your consultant have a web site of their own? Can you find it? If they can’t get themselves found, can they advise you on how to get found?

3.) Does your SEO Consultant keep advising you to stuff more and more keywords into the meta keyword tag? This tag is not crucial to SEO success, in fact, Google pays little if any attention to it. Anyone can stuff a bunch of keywords into a web site. Fire at will.

4.) Does your consultant know how to interpret Google Analytics and make informed decisions as to how to move forward with your web site? Time to post a new want ad.

5.) Does your SEO consultant insist on submitting your web site to 10,000 search engines and directories? Time to part ways. What search engine do you use when you need a product or service?

6.) Does your SEO consultant love to blame others for your lack of presence in the search engines? There are times when terrible web design or programming can interfere with SEO, your SEO consultant should have analyzed the web site prior to making any judgement calls, etc.

7.) If your consultant has never heard of Yahoo site explorer, MSN Live Search tools or Google webmaster tools, time to Google a new search engine marketing expert.

8.) If your SEO consultant can’t compose an intelligible paragraph much less optimize one, it’s time for them to fly. There is a true art to optimizing copy for a web site, if you don’t notice that it’s optimized, it’s optimized by a professional.

9.) If your SEO consultant is more obsessed about keywords and NOT quality content to feed your prospects, tell em’ to take a hike. TRUE optimization is for web site visitors, the search engines should come secondly.

10.) If your consultant doesn’t provide you with reports or proactive insight, send em’ packing. Seek a relationship with a internet marketing firm that’s dedicated to helping you grow.

Spend some time learning the basics about SEO before you hire anyone. I do recommend “The Truth About Search Engine Marketing” it’s a quick read and very grounded.