Order Taker or Trusted Advisor: Which Are You?

I've been around the A/E and environmental business long enough to observe a gradual decline of our consulting role. Other old-timers I talk with generally see the same thing. Our younger colleagues may have missed the trend but nonetheless sense something is amiss. They want to be more valued, more respected, more trusted. We once were.

Why has our value as consultants been diminished? There are varied reasons: Clients are more sophisticated, our business is mature, our services are more commoditized, technology has narrowed the knowledge advantage—to name a few. But the reason that troubles me most is our voluntary forfeiture of much of our consulting function. We gradually stopped offering our advice as clients increasingly stopped asking for it.

There's an interesting parallel in the world of sales. A study of over 6,000 salespeople concluded that there were five basic seller profiles. The largest group, the Relationship Builders, employed the time-tested friendship model of selling. Buyers gave these sellers their business largely because they liked them. But the Relationship Builders were the least successful group, comprising only 7% of the top sales performers.

The most successful group was called the Challengers. They made up 40% of the top performers. These sellers were notable in their knowledge of the buyer's business, their distinctive viewpoints, and their willingness to challenge and push buyers toward what they believed was the best solution. In other words, they consulted buyers even when they weren't asked to—and it usually paid off for both parties.

The disparity might also be expressed as the difference between being order takers and serving as trusted advisors. All consultants aspire to be viewed as trusted advisors; it is the gold standard of our profession. But the reality is that many A/E professionals find themselves increasingly just filling the order. The client tells them what they want; the consultant dutifully does it.

Is it time to reclaim our consulting role? Perhaps it would be helpful to consider the differences between order takers and trusted advisors (the following is adapted from the article "From Order Taker to Influencer" by Vicki James):

• The order taker asks: What do you want? | The trusted advisor asks: What do you need?

• The order taker's inquiry: Focuses on project scope, schedule, budget. | The trusted advisor's inquiry: Focuses on how the project delivers business results.

• The order taker's response: Simply does what the client requests. | The trusted advisor's response: Willing to challenge and recommend other options.

• The order taker's advice: Tells the client what they want to hear. | The trusted advisor's advice: Tells the client what they need to know.

• The order taker's general approach: Transactional and tactical. | The trusted advisor's general approach: Strategic and relational.

Of course, the above comparisons oversimplify the distinction between the two roles. Most professionals find themselves spending time in both, depending on the client, the project, and other circumstances. But I think most of us will agree that we too often settle for the order taker role.

Where do we begin to reclaim our role as consultants? I've written at length about this subject in various articles in this space. Here's a quick summary:

• Let desired outcomes drive our project planning. Our projects must achieve specific strategic business objectives to be successful. We need to get more serious about making this a priority.

• Acknowledge the problem of project myopia. This is the tendency, prevalent in our profession, to focus on the technical details of project work to the neglect of seeing the bigger picture. Projects are not an end in themselves, but a means toward the end of serving client needs.

• Connect our work to the client's return on investment. In most consulting and design work, our completed scope is still an unfinished project. Someone must take what we have produced (plans, report, etc.) and convert it to something that returns value on the client's investment. We should take a more active role in facilitating better collaboration and integration of the different parties' project contributions. And we must extend our discussion about projects to the results they are supposed to deliver.

• Recognize the importance of nontechnical project elements. We've already touched on the strategic fulfillment our projects must accomplish. We should also emphasize the human element. Our work serves people, both in the finished project and the process of working with others to make it a reality. Attention to the client experience is gaining momentum in our industry; we would do well to give it the importance it deserves.

• Develop our consulting skills. As the consulting function slowly ebbs, what becomes of our abilities in this area? What about our younger colleagues who primarily experience the role of order taker? We need to be more intentional in building consulting skills such as active listening, communication, strategic thinking, problem solving, creativity, and collaboration.

Agree or disagree? Are we losing ground as consultants and advisors? I'd love to hear what you're seeing and experiencing. Click the comment button below and share your thoughts.