This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

The people who succeed at consulting are not usually the best practitioners. They are the ones who solved the four problems that sit around the work.

Being findable. Being chosen. Delivering to a defined end. And knowing whether the whole thing makes money.

Why good consultants stay small

The offer is described as an area of expertise rather than as an outcome someone can buy, so every conversation starts from scratch. Work arrives through referrals only, which means income is unpredictable and the pipeline is invisible. The engagement has no scope boundary, so it expands until the fee stops covering it and the client is annoyed anyway.

And the pricing was set by looking at what someone else charges, with no idea what the practice actually costs to run.

The practice, the positioning, the pipeline

Forty-two lessons. Eight on the consulting engagement itself: what clients pay for and how the number is arrived at, which enquiries to decline, running a diagnostic through audit, surveys and interviews, writing a report that produces action, turning diagnosis into a strategy, implementing change so it is accepted rather than merely installed, and showing progress in a form that keeps the engagement alive. Those lessons use people and organisational work as the worked domain; the structure applies to any advisory practice.

Then six on positioning, taken from brand work: the audit, the positioning statement formula, the messaging matrix that turns one position into six versions for six audiences, tone of voice, campaign structure, and a monitoring dashboard.

Selling, delivering and the arithmetic

Then six on winning work: AIDA, SPIN, FAB and the value proposition canvas, BANT qualification, the elevator pitch, objection handling with LAER and Feel-Felt-Found, CRM, funnel analysis, and productivity for a practice with no colleagues to absorb the slack.

Then ten on delivery by PMBOK 7, which is what separates a consultant from an advisor: charter, stakeholder mapping, scope boundaries, work breakdown, schedule, budget, risk register, working with a client team you do not manage, progress control, and a closure that actually happens.

And twelve on business finance: the operating model, how models evolve as you grow, translating intent into financial targets, process inefficiency, budgeting that supports decisions, indicators across four dimensions, Lean, and what has to exist before you hire your second person.

Who is teaching this

Mike, the number one HR instructor on Udemy. More than 1.6 million course enrolments, over 150,000 professionals trained, PHRi and SHRM-CP certified, HRCI representative in more than 10 countries. I built the people function of the unicorn Preply and worked at Wargaming, Alfa-Bank and iDeals, and I have run an independent practice alongside that, which is where the uncomfortable parts of this course come from.

What is included

• Lifetime access to all course materials

• Active instructor support in the Q&A section

• Udemy Certificate of Completion

• Practical assignments and real business cases

• A section with additional courses, tools and resources

One sentence to write first

Write what a client buys from you, in one sentence, without naming your profession. If the sentence describes what you know rather than what changes for them, that is why the conversations are hard and the price is contested. Enrol now and start the first lesson today.