Aaron Kull Explains the Best Tools for Consultants

With businesses scrambling for ways to cut costs as supply chain shocks and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to jolt the market, consultants have become seen as a low-cost solution for increasing output and reducing waste. However, while the global management consulting services market rose to an estimated value of more than $316 billion in 2021 and may crack $800 billion by 2031, not every consultant is worth their fee. To find out how to distinguish oneself in a crowded market, we spoke with healthcare executive, entrepreneur, and consultant Aaron Kull. 

For those who want to rise to the top of the consultancy game, it's necessary to do your homework, Aaron Kull said. 

The first, and most crucial, aspect of consulting is developing a relationship with the customer or buyer with a keen focus on understanding their environment, needs and desired outcomes. In order to be effective in providing a valuable perspective and service, one must have a robust understanding of the customer dynamic to effectively guide them. No matter whether it's an issue of efficiencies, market corrections, supply chains, pricing, or something else, a consultant should always seek to first understand the concrete, measurable aspects of any and all problems their client faces. 

"Data generally tells the best story, and provides a critical window of visbiility and understanding into performance" said Aaron Kull. "Therefore, accessing and being able to contextualize and understand a customer's data is key. While this can hold degrees of difficulty, especially in the healthcare field, where data is difficult to access and normalize, having data driven theses and investigative methods will support findings with concrete evidence. Whatever it may be that we're studying from the customer perspective, we want to see the data." 

Once the data aspect is covered, the job truly begins. In many cases, executives already have somewhat of an understanding of the issues their business faces. But the goal of a great consultant is not to explain the problem, Aaron Kull said. It's to provide a great solution. 

That means consultants need to understanding the other side of business, the people side. 

"People also tell a great story. So they're a huge part of it. Hearing pain points and understanding process and understanding how people do their job by having conversations with them is a great way to get information," he said. "So it's always a triple threat approach of looking at the data, understanding current process, and then really digging in and understanding what people are doing. It's kind of like in therapy how your patient might not be the most honest representation of their symptoms. They kind of say what they want you to hear, so it's good to actually see things in action and pull the layers of the onion back a little bit to ensure that you're really addressing the right problems then getting to the root of them."

Finally, great consultants need to become familiar with the bird's-eye view of the business. Digging into market trends and economic forecasts is essential, Aaron Kull said. It can help consultants get a better grasp on the current and future size and scope of the business landscape. 

When those three components are understood-the data, the people, and the market-great consultants have all the information they need to produce elegant, workable solutions, Aaron Kull said.