{"id":514,"date":"2020-02-28T16:27:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T16:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/?p=514"},"modified":"2020-02-28T16:27:25","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T16:27:25","slug":"consulting-101-questions-and-how-to-ask-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/28\/consulting-101-questions-and-how-to-ask-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Consulting 101 – Questions and How to Ask Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Questions and How to Ask Them<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A consultant\u2019s job is to create answers and asking a good\nquestion is the number one tool you have in your consultant\u2019s tool belt to get\nthose answers. As you try to figure out the hidden problems and the clever\nsolutions, you will be interviewing your clients in what are called requirement\ngathering meetings. Below are some high-level guidelines you can follow to be\nsure you\u2019re getting the most out of your client requirement sessions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Bring something to write with. This is\nimperative. A notebook, a laptop or a tablet are acceptable and put your\ncollege training to good use and take notes while listening to a flowing\nconversation. Information will come at you fast, so be prepared.<\/li>
  2. Start by first asking what core problem they are\ntrying to solve. If you already know what the answer is, restate your\nassumptions and ask the group to validate. Starting with questions to why you\nare there and lining up high-level expectations is a good place to start.<\/li>
  3. Ask questions that will give you a good general\nunderstanding of the client\u2019s role, their responsibilities and how they\nintersect with the goals previously discussed.<\/li>
  4. It is ok to ask the client to repeat something\nthat was missed or was unclear. You will not catch or comprehend everything the\nfirst time it is spoken. <\/li>
  5. Keep digging to get the answers you are looking\nfor. Remember, clients are usually explaining something they do day in and day\nout and will either gloss over valuable details or assume that are familiar\nwith. Follow-up questions should explore deeper into topics and be targeted to\ngetting to the core answers you need.<\/li>
  6. Do not ask the same question for multiple days\nor meetings to the same person. It is completely fair to ask for further\nclarification on a previous topic if you are stuck, but if you have just forgotten,\nthen you need to be taking better notes the first time around. This can ruin\nyour credibility as a good listener and attention to detail. Asking the same question\nto another client team member is fair game, however, as the misalignment in the\nanswers may represent the misalignment in the business you are attempting to\ndiscover. <\/li>
  7. It is always helpful to repeat back what you heard\nand ask if your understanding of something is accurate. You may misinterpret a\nresponse and catching it early on is always best.<\/li>
  8. Unfortunately, there are such things as dumb\nquestions. As previously mentioned, the more research you can do prior to\nlanding on site, the better shape you will be in. It will be expected of you to\nhave some core level of skill, expertise and competency, so be sure to do your\nhomework.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Are you interested in starting a career in consulting? Be sure do read the full book Jack of all Trades Master of Some; An Introduction to Consulting<\/a> available on Amazon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Questions and How to Ask Them A consultant\u2019s job is to create answers and asking a good question is the number one tool you have in your consultant\u2019s tool belt to get those answers. As you try to figure out the hidden problems and the clever solutions, you will be interviewing your clients in what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book","category-consulting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":517,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions\/517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}