The purpose of this
project was to develop a comprehensive tailored training program to
help senior executives develop and utilize the knowledge and skills
needed to generate new consulting business. The training would be a
point-of-need program that would include an interactive multimedia knowledge
base, a coach and a business development director for each team. Statements
were generated initially by ten persons who were experienced in selling
services to large clients. These were mapped in an initial pilot concept
mapping session and were subsequently edited once more into a final
set of 95 statements. Fifteen senior consultants then sorted these and
a 16 cluster map was generated. The map shows three clear regions that
move clockwise. Beginning at the top are a number of clusters related
to building the organizational infrastructure to assure a high-quality
business development environment. These include the need to build strong
teams, leverage existing skills and experience, develop necessary management
infrastructure and provide training.
Figure
1. Concept map for a point-of-need client development training program.
The region on the lower
right of the map describes the heart of the client development effort
and includes: developing the right attitudes among team members; selection
of and marketing to clients; building, and developing and maintaining
client relationships. The final region describes the results of such
efforts including the benefits and value to the firm, the gains in experience
that they are likely to achieve, and their improved position within
the industry and relative to the competition.
This map is broader
in scope than most that are done to develop a training program. It includes
both the organizational infrastructure issues needed for such a program
to succeed and the outcomes that would be expected. For developing the
training itself, the development team will focus on the clusters in
the region on the lower right of the map which most directly describes
the content of the program itself.
