The first thing you'll notice is that data is just one of the boxes here, right. And it's kind of the most useless. Right? Data is just data, you got to do something with the data for it to actually be useful. Right. So one is just in terms of the words that we use, data is not the same thing as information, analysis, insights or recommendations. Data probably looks like this. It's a cloud, it's a mess. Data can be old, biased, broken, partial, misleading even and look at the thing I added here at the bottom there can certainly be missing data. Data that probably should be there and it's not there. And so we're going to talk a good bit about tips and tricks on how to convert this data into insights and recommendation but not yet, all right. I really want to focus on credibility. Why is it the data is so important and it helps give consultants credibility and a common playing field with the client? So strong analysis, not just data. You notice that I am following my own advice and I'm using the right words analysis. Not just the data starts providing value to the client pretty soon. And here are comments that I heard on a client project kind of very early in the process. These are comments that I heard at the end but during the project itself. So one from a CFO they said, really good chart. I've actually never seen the data represented this way. TRhis makes lots of sense. Well, Pat on the back for John that's a win, right? Also from a VP of supply chain, I heard them say, this proves what I thought, I thought that was true and now I know it's true. Right? So we're converting myth or anecdote or a bias or a prejudice to fact, right, good job. And then finally here on the right data can also tell us what to do. If you have a product that is underpriced relative to the competition relative to the value that customers are getting. If you have a product where it's always selling out like you don't have enough of it because customers are loving it, you need to raise prices. So whether it's the head the heart or the hand, data helps you to score small winds with the client. Working with data, getting it to sing, S-I-N-G, is what consultants are really better than average, right? Our ability to gather, find, collect, create data, arbitrage, which is a kind of a fancy g matt word to say make it work together figure out the gaps, right? And to analyze it because at the end we're taking messy and missing data, we're generating credibility. Yes. But we're also creating what some people would say a common fact base a common set of facts that we can all agree on. So that towards the end of the project when we have recommendations were not fighting over definitions, right? The last thing you want to do at the final presentation is have somebody raised their hand and ask a really awkward question like, yeah, but that data doesn't make sense. Or that's your data, not my data. You don't want any of that drama to happen at the end of a project. So having a common set of data and understanding an analyses really pays dividends. At the end of the day, what are we trying to get? We're trying to get to the treasure, right. The insights helping client executives breakdown problems, make difficult decisions and create real change. So the recommendations, I've divided into the three different groups. So you have the new hires at the top. The first thing is when you are feeling somewhat comfortable with the data, it's relatively cleansed and validated. It's more right than wrong, put together some preliminary analyses and share that with your manager, you know, with a caveat, you know, let them know. It was like, look, it's not perfect. But I wanted to share this with you sooner than later. And the idea being your manager and you are interacting with a client, you know, almost daily and you want to have something to say. And so giving kind of an advance preview of some of this analysis is super useful also tableaux and click r two software packages that if you're kind of new in the industry and you really want to stand out take a look at? I'm sure Coursera has a course or module on tableau and click A lot of times you can get a 30 day or 90 day subscription for free. And these are really powerful tools for you to visualize data very quickly. When I was doing a lot of my analysis kind of work In 2004, 2007, 2010. We actually did a lot of our work on Excel and then we did the graphing later. But the software is so easy to use and it's so empowering that you can do graphs and visualization as you do the work, right? So do yourself a favor, spend the time, learn tableau or click. You don't have to learn both. And what you'll find is that you're going to be impressing your boss and your client. Pretty soon the second one for the internal folks, right? You're climbing the corporate ladder. It's hard to be a prophet in your own hometown, right? Which is to say a lot of times your family, your friends, people you're closest with your coworkers. They're the hardest to convince, right? And so with that it's incredibly important that you build credibility. Look for the data, do the analysis, do the hard work, pretend that you're an external consultant. Alright. You're going to have to go the extra mile in demonstrating your credibility for the solo consultants and entrepreneurs? What do you have? What's the tools that you have in your tool belt to really help you to sell more consulting work? Do you have some data analysis that you've done in the past that you can scrub and clean, take out the client information and share that with the future client to show Them one you know how to do the work and then to it creates a very simple tool for you to have some type of gap analysis right? The prospect the potential client wants to be here and they're here and your ability to show that using a data analysis in a kind of a cheap and easy way is a great sales tool that I strongly recommend.
