People and businesses use consulting firms as their content and strategy experts. Whether you’re a celebrity trying to rebuild your brand after a Tiger Woods-size public image debacle, or a business navigating the bid process in an effort to gain governmental work, sometimes you need outside resources. Consultants bring their knowledge and expertise of a particular industry to the forefront as they assess company issues and offer strategic solutions to their clients.

Honesty

Above all else, a consulting firm must have an honest relationship with its client. The need for transparent and effective communication in all phases of the work a firm performs for its clients is imperative. If a consultant with expertise in the gaming industry is working to help his client obtain a casino license, he must acknowledge his limitations in bringing the coveted license to fruition. He will also need to lay bare any ties he has to industry regulators and competitors, and divulge all possible conflicts of interest.

Client Priority

Once a firm signs on to represent a client, that client needs to know it is the consulting firm’s top priority. Consulting firms often need to choose between clients if the work they will perform for their clients overlaps. Additionally, firms must fully dedicate themselves to their client’s mission, bringing a solid work ethic to each case and dividing staff and hours fairly among their case load. They need to perform all assigned tasks to the utmost of their abilities and resources.

Objective Assessment

Using the expertise of their niche, consulting firms look at each client case individually, analyzing the task at hand and offering impartial analysis. For example, while a business consultant might look at bottom line revenues and employee productivity, an image consultant has an entirely different set of responsibilities. That consultant might work to objectively analyze the flow of her client’s tweets and likes on social media to gauge what’s happening with his image. She might measure media coverage by looking for keywords as they relate to an incident or an appearance.

Plan of Action

Once the consulting firm has figured out what’s happening with its client, it then offers a plan and some possible solutions. If a new product was received in the marketplace with lackluster response, a client might hire a marketing consultant to look at what went wrong. More broadly focused business consultants might look at business plans, cost management, human resource allocation and risk analysis to offer management solutions to the client’s unique problem. The responsibility of the consulting firm is to identify problems and communicate potential solutions.