Consulting Journal: Trends - Generalist or full service?

This article is reprinted from The Consulting Journal
http://www.consultingjournal.com

Trends: Generalist or full service?

by David Blakey

Which is the better name for a consulting firm that offers a range of services?

[Monday 10 November 2003]

Someone told me recently that my references to generalist consulting firms sounded contemptuous. They suggested that I use the term full service instead.

First, let me explain that I do not intend my use of the word generalist to be an insult. It just means that some firms offer a broad range of consulting services while others offer a narrow range. Generalist consultants work within a number of disciplines within a number of sectors. Niche consultants work within a single discipline, such as strategy development, or within a single sector, using as health.

Generalist consulting firms rely upon the knowledge and skills of their consultants, so the breadth of their services is related to the breadth of their consultants' knowledge and skills. ‘Generalist’ does not mean ‘universal’. It does not imply that these consulting firms cover every discipline and every sector. It certainly does not imply that these firms pass themselves off as having knowledge and skills in every discipline and every sector.

Similarly, niche consulting firms rely upon the knowledge and skills of their consultants, so the depth of their services is related to the depth of their consultants' knowledge and skills.

Many consulting firms fit into one of these two categories, and they will continue to do so. The major consulting firms that specialize in strategic planning will continue to do so. Many consulting firms will continue to operate solely within a particular sector.

Some consulting firms will move from being generalist to being niche, and the other way round. A generalist firm may find that it offers a greater depth of service in some disciplines and may choose to pursue clients principally in those areas. A niche firm may start to offer other services that are related to its principal area of expertise. Firms may be wholly generalist or wholly niche or predominantly one or the other or a mix of the two. This last example is common if firms employ IT or Web consultants to supplement their special areas of expertise. A firm whose speciality is marketing may have consultants who advise on Web marketing. These consultants may also advise clients on website design, metrics, search engine optimization, security and even development. The consulting firm will offer its clients depth in marketing and breadth in these other areas.

Beware of comparing depth in other area and breadth in another and of assuming than breadth implies lack of depth. Generalist consulting firms are not ‘shallow’. They simply choose not to acquire the significant depth in particular areas that the niche firms have.

I prefer ‘generalist’ to ‘full service’, because promoting oneself as a full service consulting practice can deter some clients. Let's say that I am called in by a client to work on their Web strategy. If I offered myself as a ‘full service consultant’, my client might imagine that I would pitch for any resultant design or development work. They might even imagine that I would attempt to win that work by writing my Web strategy report in a particular way.

You and I would deny that we would do this. But I have known consulting firms that have done it. In each case, a ‘full service’ consulting firm was trying to sell its ‘downstream’ services. In some cases, they even used their proprietary methodologies to attempt to capture the client.

Now, there may be circumstances when a client will welcome a ‘full service’ consulting firm. Usually, however, it is in the client's interests to put each new assignment out for competitive bidding. There are some assignments that can be done better by specialists from the niche consulting practices. And not all generalist consulting firms will have the same skills and expertise in the same proportions. Clients should be able to choose different firms for different stages of their work. A consulting firm that uses the term ‘full service’ can deter clients who wish to avoid their work being captured by a single firm.