Research Tricks for Becoming

the Consultant Clients Count On

Four Criteria Add Value Where it Matters Most

Today’s consultant is being asked to do more and know more. Regardless of the industry you’re
serving, it’s no longer enough to provide your clients with basic information. You need to provide
value-added thinking that drives change, transforms processes and aligns behaviors to better
ways of working. So how can you be sure you’re providing what’s needed and how it’s needed?
Here are some tricks for success.

BE RELEVANT.

1
This sounds simple enough, but how are you ensuring that the insights, research and recommendations you’re
providing are relevant? You can prove your relevance by adopting the latest trends and tactics in the consulting
space—such as asset-based consulting. Asset-based consulting is a modern approach that leverages tools
and software as vital assets.

According to a recent e-book from 9Lenses 1, “…asset-based consulting takes some of the tasks or services
that consultants have traditionally performed with their skills and expertise, and productizes them, turning
them into tools that can be used repeatedly and consistently for client engagements. Using tools as a key
asset for consulting will allow consultants to achieve more efficient results, demonstrate ROI, and better
meet the expectations of today’s clients.”

What tools are you using to turn information into insights?

Do you have research solutions that connect you to the right content and help turn that content into
trusted, actionable insights? Taking this first step will ensure you’re global, local, accurate, comprehensive
and up-to-date—everything you need to be relevant.
Research Tricks for Becoming the
Consultant Clients Count On

Four Criteria Add Value Where it Matters Most

CONTEXTUALIZE FOR THE WIN.

2 Information without context won’t put your organization ahead.

You need to add value and provide the thought leadership clients
are seeking.

Often, the most effective way to fill in the context around the insights and strategies you deliver is by defining
trends and behaviors through the lens of current and historical data. Be sure to work with research that
includes recent articles, blogs and studies along with historical data going back decades. With the complete
picture, you’ll identify one-time blips or patterns over time and point clients in the direction that best serves
their business needs.

To provide even more meaningful context around the data you provide, consider content enrichment. Are you
finding and tagging subjects, industries, companies, people and places to contextualize your results? Whether
you tag the content or your research provider does, content enrichment allows you to capture broad concepts
more efficiently, find companies with common names more easily, research industries with more success, and
add deeper context to complex keyword searches. You’ll save yourself time and build better results.

STRIVE TO BE RELIABLE.

3 Clients rely on you to be the expert in everything—from competitive

intelligence, regulatory information, and company profiles, to
technology advancements, market news and industry information.

Yet, how do you build trust with your clients amid growing distrust of information? When BBC Future Now
interviewed a panel of 50 experts about the “grand challenges we face in the 21st century” 2 many named the
breakdown of trusted information sources. “The major new challenge is the new shape of truth. Truth is no
longer dictated by authorities, but is networked by peers.” Clients need to trust that insights driving the future
of their business are indeed driven by data, truth and real world context—and not social influencers.

Ensuring credibility can be as simple as aligning with research firms who have decades of experience cultivating
relationships with trusted content sources. In your efforts to be the trusted source for your clients, are you
and your teams spending time sifting through blogs, social networks and incomplete articles only to find dead
ends? Instead, use aggregated sources organized in simple interfaces that are vetted before they ever get to
you. This way, you’ll spend your time on tasks that matter—like developing deep insights that can be trusted
and turning them into strategic recommendations your clients will put into practice.
Research Tricks for Becoming the
Consultant Clients Count On

Four Criteria Add Value Where it Matters Most

BE RECENT.

4 The pace of information is accelerating almost daily.

With 24-hour news cycles, social media and videos on demand, staying current is a growing challenge.
As a consultant, you need to be aware of the latest happenings on a variety of issues—from your clients to your
current or new competitors, from potential partners to trends and issues impacting the state of business. One
way to accomplish this while making the best use of your time, is by leveraging custom alerts and search terms
that can be localized or global in scope, depending on your needs. And with mobile functionality offered by
leading research partners, you can amend the alerts, add to them or change them no matter where you are.
It’s one of the smartest ways to be in the know for your clients and their business, as well as stay one
step ahead of the other firms working to win your business away from you.

Want to learn more about elevating the role of your consultancy

with the clients you serve?

Contact us at 1-888-46-NEXIS, or read more about the real results you can achieve
through strategic research at www.lexisnexis.com/nexis.

LexisNexis.com/Nexis  @LexisNexisBiz  LexisNexis.com/BizBlog  800-628-3612

LexisNexis, Nexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks of RELX Inc. Other products or services may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. © 2018 LexisNexis. All rights reserved.

1
http://offers.9lenses.com/hubfs/_Downloadable_Content/Asset-Based_Consulting.pdf
2
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170301-lies-propaganda-and-fake-news-a-grand-challenge-of-our-age