The Consultant's Handbook: A Practical Guide to Delivering High-value and Differentiated Services in a Competitive Marketplace

Written very clearly with easy to implement guides. Realistic case studies. This book is an excellent investment.

Easy to read. Very insightful. Invaluable reference to someone who wants to develop consultative skills besides their existing competencies.

Very insightful. Very useful.

Great book.

This book is a breath of fresh air. It’s a book which is exactly what it says it is – a handbook for consultants. It takes you through different elements of offering a consulting service, clearly explaining what’s needed and giving examples to help you fully understand the points made. What struck me is that the advice in the book is all highly practical – it doesn’t just set out high level theory as to what a consultant is but really gets into the nitty gritty of it. For example there’s a chapter on Managing Client Meetings which takes you through how to plan the meeting and suggesting how to structure the meeting to get the best results. This is a level of detail which I often feel is missing from business books. Although the examples in the book are from scenarios involving large businesses, I could easily see how I could apply a lot of the techniques and structure to working on small projects. The client meetings section is one that particularly jumped out at me and I will be going through that again to feed into how we run meetings. Another area which really struck a cord with me is the importance of good communication in project work. This is an area which I always feel I need to improve, so I will be dipping back into this as well. And I really do feel like this is a book which I will be able to ‘dip’ back into to pull out particular information, which is exactly what you need with a handbook. I love the way the chapters are laid out, with regular sub-headings to give each a really strong structure, the examples boxed out to differentiate from the rest of the content, and a summary at the end reiterating the important points. My tidy brain really appreciated the structured approach. I think you can probably tell by now that I’m a big fan of this book. More of the same please!

This book is a great piece of work with excellent insights on best practices not only towards external consultants, but also for internal consultancy work. It provides you very quick ideas on how to deliver a premium service to your stakeholders, improving considerably your possibilities to perform better and positively impress who really matters. Furthermore, I got to know the author in a five-day crash course, in which hands on was the rule and theory just to build foundation. It's easy to understand why the book is so hands on, having known Samir now. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that does not have the time, but has the ambition to grow one step in his stakeholder management skills.

I highly recommend this book. I seldom write a review to recognise an author/ book but this book is really well-written and insightful. It suggests great and practical advices for consultants to succeed in their fields. I would definitely expect more publications from the author

I had the pleasure of taking a consulting course taught by Samir Parikh 14 years ago. To this day, this course remains the single most influential training experience in my career. So it was with great anticipation that I read "The Consultant's Handbook", and I was not disappointed. The book's title sums it up; if I had to choose just one practical reference source on consulting, this would be the one.

Easy to read and understand book. Give me knowledge and experience to be professional in meeting room.

Bought as Christmas gift, will be back each year whenever Amazon has Prime Day Sale and looking forward to Black Friday deals!

Should be read by all consultants, would be consultants and anyone working with consultants. It sets out clearly, simply and with lots of relevant example what consults do and how they work. Clears up all many common misconceptions out there about what consultants do and how they do it. It really is a handbook as there are excellent practical sections on how to consult including managing meetings,how to advise and how to prepare for consulting.

UK Business guru, Samir Parikh brings his wealth of experience to bear in a comprehensive analysis of the role of the business consultant. That often misunderstood figure for whom entrepreneurial newbies and business students look to for advice and direction as they seek to steer their business course towards profitability and sustained growth. Using case studies drawn from different areas, the author fleshes out the do's and don'ts within these case studies, and analyzes how success and failure in business is often down to narrow margins. Of interest to business study students in particular who will find this straightforward, easily understood work a rich seam of information to mine and digest.

I was a bit dubious about whether this would help me as I think about settling up as a consultant because what I'm planning is quite niche but I was pleasantly surprised. It's very practical and easy to read with lots of sensible advice to avoid pitfalls and offer excellent service. It made me think about things I hadn't done and will be very useful.