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Being a consultant on the global arena is a much more complex task than just being a consultant in your home country. In addition to the core consulting skills and knowledge one has to possess extra “international” skills and one’s knowledge base has to constantly grow and evolve. There are several specific tips from my own experience I can give a consultant who wants to expand his/her work internationally: 1. GAINING CREDIBILITY is crucial. However, credibility is not a universal concept. Your credentials that make you sound credible in one country my mean nothing in the other. Your MBA degree with Marketing/International Management major will definitely show you as a qualified expert in USA but, if your Western client asks you to work on a project, say, with Russian aviation authorities your MBA will not mean much to them. Most likely, they will not even have a clue what it is. For them, your knowledge of the language and the country specifics as well as expertise in aviation sector will be the indicators of credibility. Be prepared to the situation where you will not gain credibility on the first day, may be not even on the 3d or 10th. In many cultures it takes weeks or even months before they start trusting you. Be prepared to build your credibility day by day from little things: how prompt and in which manner you reply to e-mails, how you sound on the phone, how you deal with minor challengers and how you behave during negotiations, etc. And these “little things” vary from country to country. This is why I said earlier that your knowledge base has to grow continuously: if you just finished a supply and logistics project in Brazil it does not at all mean that you know 100% how to approach a supply and logistics project in India. But once you’ve built your credibility this is 50% of your success guaranteed. 2. AWARNESS is very closely connected to the previous point. For example, in marketing, a standard marketing plan has not changed for the most part for decades (except for the Internet Marketing/e-commerce was added recently). Porter’s 5 forces, Value Chain Analysis are standard static tools. Once you’ve learnt them – you are good to go. Countries, however, change; regimes change; foreign policies, rules, and regulations constantly change – the world is dynamic. And you have to be always aware of these changes with regards of the countries you specialize in. How to build your awareness? The easy way is to read, watch and listen. Join (an) international organization(s) in your area, for instance, international Chambers of Commerce, International Trade Club, World Trade Center (these are present in major US cities). Attend their workshops, seminars and presentations, read their newsletters – evolve with the world around you. 3. However, there’s another trick: in many countries, it is not so much important what you know, but WHO YOU KNOW. And unfortunately, most of those countries are the ones that represent the most attractive markets nowadays, i.e. India, China, Russia, etc. These are relationship-building cultures. It’s all about networks and connections. And Western companies will most likely seek your help as a consultant to build these connections or to give them connections (preferably) if you have them already. Let’s be realistic: it often happens that the client knows how to conduct Value Chain Analysis, he doesn’t need you for that. He needs not so much what you know, but who you know in his country of interest. This is the most difficult part: you either have “the international connections network” or you don’t. You cannot learn it, you have to build it. And it is very hard if you have never worked in a particular country, don’t speak the language, etc. It is very hard to suggest anything in this case except for “go to another country and live/study/work there for at least a year”. 4. BE HUMBLE. Americans are world famous for being arrogant and arrogance never helped anyone. For me being arrogant means being narrow-minded and shortsighted, the qualities that a good consultant should not possess. So be humble, open your mind, listen to other people. Never come to a negotiating table with “I know it all, I’ve done it all” approach, especially if you are dealing with Asian cultures. You’ll be amazed how much you can learn if you admit for a minute that you might not, actually, know it all and the other party might have some great ideas you all can capitalize on. 5. SPECIALIZE. I often meet consultants who would present themselves as experts in a discipline, say, business development, but never narrow it down to an industry or a country or set of countries (if we speak about international consulting). It is impossible to know everything, so if you say you know it all, for me it means that you know bits and pieces from everything but really you are not an expert in any particular field. This approach is unacceptable on international arena either. I will not consider a consultant credible who worked in China for a while but claims he is an expert in Asia overall. I would always question him how much does he really know about Japan or India? 6. DOING BUSINESS ETHICALLY. Corruption is not an uncommon phenomenon in a lot of countries. To see how common, in fact, it is you can visit this great site: http://www.transparency.org So what would you do if you are asked to pay 10,000 USD to close a 10 million USD deal? Everyone will answer this question with his consciousness in mind. I personally would never agree to it because the 2nd most important thing a consultant has to offer after his knowledge is reputation. I wouldn’t stain it with some dubious deal, but that’s me. The only thing I can advise here is be prepared that at a certain point in negotiations such an offer might be put on the table. Know your options beforehand, be ready with a counter-offer. Not in money terms, of course, but meaning be prepared to give up something that is important for the other party but does not raise a question of ethics. May be loosen up a deadline for the project completion that seems too tight for the other party. May be offer a different type of collaboration or organize a free training for the other party at your company’s facilities. Whatever you can offer – and be prepared with that offer in advance. These are just a few tips but hopefully, they will make your transition to international arena easier. And always remember, whatever you do locally, will remain on a local level, your successes as well as mistakes on international level will always be known internationally.
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About the author: EMAdvice = Emerging Markets Advice (www.emadvice.com) provides consulting services in the field of international marketing and busiess development. We are your Navigator in the uncharted territory!
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