Proper prioritization and resource allocation are vital to the success of small consulting firms. However, lean teams often deal with challenges like juggling many projects and clients at once and navigating competition from bigger industry players.
When projects aren’t delivered on time or within budget, client relationships, revenue, and your firm’s reputation can quickly take a hit. According to a 2023 survey by Consulting Success, 57% of consultants get at least 60% of their business from referrals. Without happy clients to refer your firm, your business could drop drastically.
Here, we cover strategies your firm can implement to ensure projects are delivered on schedule and within budget to keep your clients – and team – happy.
Delivering on Time: 4 Strategies for Success
We’ve all wished we had more time to get things done. But is time really the issue, or is it time management? Oftentimes there are barriers to delivering projects on schedule that we might not be aware of. The following tips can help you identify and mitigate these pain points at your consulting firm.
Create a Detailed Scope of Work
When beginning a project, develop a clear project timeline that is agreed upon in writing and signed by both your firm and the client so that everyone is aligned. Ensure your team understands deliverables and other client expectations while making sure the client knows what’s needed from their team throughout the process. Spending time in the details creates a strong foundation for the project.
Break Large Projects Into Milestones
Large projects can feel daunting. Breaking them down into smaller parts can make them feel more manageable.
Before deep diving into a project, create a plan that works backward from the final due date and sets interim deadlines for key milestones and deliverables. Then, break those deliverables into smaller tasks to help keep things constantly moving. No need to grab a pen and paper for this – it can easily be managed by implementing project management software.
Instill a Culture of Accountability
Empower your team members to take ownership over their work so it’s not only completed on time but at a high quality. One way you can do this is by using project management software to link each employee’s tasks to a broader company goal so they can see how their work is directly moving the company forward. This can help create pride in their work and a greater commitment to the success of the firm.
Consistently Track Progress
Workforce management solutions make it easy to monitor deliverables throughout the entire project timeline to ensure everything remains on track. Simple but effective tools for progress tracking are essential, especially at small consulting firms where things must move quickly.
Solutions like coAmplifi offer this information through quick visuals, like progress bars. This software can also send alerts when assignments are at risk of becoming overdue or when they become past due so that swift action can be taken.
Delivering Within Budget: 3 Best Practices for Small Consulting Firms
In addition to delivering projects on time, it’s also crucial to deliver them within budget. Budgeting itself can be time-consuming, and small firms often don’t have the funds for dedicated financial staff. Fortunately, project management software can help in this area when the following actions are put into practice.
Track Time Closely
With a workforce management system, you can closely track billable versus non-billable time to make sure time spent on the project is staying within budget or to determine if resources should be reallocated. In addition, billable hours are automatically transferred to a pre-bill for review in preparation for submission to the client for payment.
Automate Budget Depletion Monitoring
Put a stop to constantly checking budget numbers by automating this process with tools like project management software, which can monitor this for you. Admin tasks like billing and invoicing can also be automated, saving your firm time and money and enabling your team to prioritize higher-value tasks.
Optimize Resource Allocation
Make sure the right professionals are working on the right tasks to help keep costs down. With workforce management software, you have real-time visibility into a team member’s availability, assigned tasks, and productivity level. By considering this information along with their job description, you can determine if they’re a good fit for a project.
Keep Clients Happy With Better Project Management for Your
Client satisfaction can be impacted by all kinds of factors, but it ultimately comes down to their expectations being met. Delivering projects on time and within budget by way of proper planning and execution is non-negotiable for small consulting firms that want to succeed.
More firms are turning to workforce management solutions like coAmplifi to streamline their processes. From comprehensive project management to time-saving automation, everything is available in a single platform for increased organization, collaboration, and efficiency.
Enhance your firm’s processes to support your team and delight your clients. Schedule your demo now!
