Issue link: https://htpgraphics.uberflip.com/i/392122
22 Selling Section 4 Approach – outlining how you will address the key issues, clarifying why this is the best approach and, if appropriate, stating why you are particularly well qualified and/or experienced to use this approach. Tasks – what you will actually do to address the client's issues. Employ some judgement about the appropriate level of detail. Clearly you need to specify how you will address the issues, and outline particular rare or unique expertise or equipment. Low-level details of experimental techniques are probably not required. It should be obvious to the client that what you are proposing to do will address that particular client's problems and is the best practical approach; if there is any significant chance of this not being clear then spell it out. Remember to build contingencies (time and money) into your plans. Resources – what resources of time or facilities will you apply to the tasks? There is a widespread suspicion that leading consulting firms tend to use their highly-experienced and hence impressive staff to sell assignments, but then use low-cost and inexperienced staff (armed only with keenness and clipboards) to undertake the work. For a research institution, this translates into a suspicion that the senior researchers will sell the work and then give it to their students to do. It is therefore worth you making it quite clear who will undertake the work. No-one expects you to undertake simple and repetitive tasks, but it is important to clarify what work you will delegate and who will supervise it. Note also that there will be contractual issues, such as confidentiality and ownership of intellectual property, that affect everyone involved in the project. This needs to be resolved in practice and where necessary clarified in the proposal. Deliverables – this rather ugly but commonly used word specifies what will be the output(s) of the assignment. Consultancy, of course, is not about the creation of knowledge, it is about the delivery of value, and the client will want to know what they will get in exchange for their money. Typically the deliverable will be a report: state this and outline the contents of the report. For example, the contents of the report may include opinion about the cause(s) of the client's problem, recommendations about how best to resolve the problem, suggestions for future actions to prevent recurrence, the project methodology, the experimental methodology and all experimental results in detail, along with the conclusions and recommendations.