Choosing a Consulting Firm

A few weeks ago I was asked to review over 900 pages of proposals from 9 consulting firms. As you may expect this was quite a delightful way to spend a week at work and at home. After much reading, skimming, meeting and discussing, the group responsible for determining which vendors to bring in for presentations came to a decision to bring in three firms for two hours a piece. All three presentations were today and thanks to my friend, the coffee bean, I made it through all three and retained consciousness. But now, after all this time, a decision must be made. Here are the "highlights" from today's meetings:

Consulting Firm A
This firm brought six people for the presentation. All but one of them was younger than me, (and I'm not that old). They all wore dark suits, used the cliché "Think outside the box" once and twice told us that they didn't want to just provide us a binder of findings as the final deliverable and it be put on the shelf. They wanted to be sure we found value in implementing what was in the binder. One person told one semi-funny joke twice and they provided one color 17"x11" color handout while we listened to a two hour Powerpoint presentation.

Consulting Firm B
This firm had two people considerably older than me. One person spoke the whole time, right after lunch and before my second round of coffee. No jokes were told and they also told us twice that they didn't want to deliver a binder that just gathered dust on a shelf. They wanted to be sure we found value in implementing what was in the binder. They provided a nice color folder/brochure and a printout of their Powerpoint presentation. They put six slides on a page, twelve total on both sides. You had to squint to read the slides on the page and there really wasn't room for notes. The speaker spoke for exactly two hours and no jokes were told. My eyes stayed open but not by much.

Consulting Firm C
This firm brought four people including the owner. They were all older than me by some degree. They did not tell us anything about binders or thinking outside the box. They provided a nice folder of information and a printout of the PowerPoint slides. Two slides on one side of the paper providing plenty of room to write. They had about one third the amount of slides that the other firms had. All four people spoke and they had plenty of energy which matched my alertness thanks to round two of my coffee. I do not remember any jokes but I do remember laughing on multiple occasions. Most importantly, they ended their presenation 20 minutes early.

Naturally and for strictly professional and pertinent reasons, my vote is for Firm C, hands down.

(Please note: If you find this post boring, I'm sorry. Just be thankful youdidn't have to sit through what I had to sit through today :-) )