In 2002, Nick Canitano, EntryPoint's former Managing Partner, and I were both coming off professional successes and thinking about what was next. Nick had built CCAi Consulting into a regional consulting powerhouse. I was ready for something new after years of consulting.

The marketplace was changing. Things moved faster and faster. Finishing projects on time and under budget was still important, but it didn’t give a consulting firm competitive advantage anymore. Neither did technological sophistication. Everybody had those; they were table stakes.

We thought we might want to build a firm together, but we agreed that we didn't want to do it the old way. We wanted a firm that would be "consulting the way it should be."

We were able to start with a clean whiteboard and design a firm that would work for our clients, for our associates, and for us. We knew that we wanted to do interesting projects that delivered solid business results with the kind of people we wanted to work with.

The next step was to figure out what "consulting the way it ought to be" meant for clients. So, we spent six months or so talking with business people, CEOs and CFOs and the like, from all over. We asked them what they wanted. Most had tough things to say about consultants.

To put it bluntly, many of them felt like they'd been screwed by consultants. They thought they'd paid a bunch of money for projects that sucked up time and energy but didn't deliver any business results. We knew we could do better.

We decided that small-mid-market companies were the best for us to work with. We knew from experience that these companies make great clients. They're action oriented and results focused...just the kind of people we knew would appreciate us and that we love to work with.

Small-mid-market companies aren't awash in money, either. That makes them much more disciplined about decision-making and execution. We agree with Warren Buffett that "easy access to funding tends to cause undisciplined decisions."

Once we decided who we wanted to work with, we knew who to hire. We searched for experienced people who crave the opportunity to produce business results and work on challenging projects. That was fine, be we also wanted a special kind of person.

The best consultants have three kinds of skills: technology, business and people skills. Most of our competition acts like technology skills are the most important. We disagree.

We hire for demonstrated aptitude and attitude. We want people who understand business, because they must produce business results. We want people who've proved they understand specific industries, because every industry is different.

We go after people who've proven that they understand business processes and how to use technology to improve them. And we want them to be able to decide just how much technology to use and how to apply it.

The people we hire need to be able to communicate with business people. It doesn't matter how smart you are or how many technological tricks you know, you have to be able to listen to your client, understand the issues, and communicate in business terms.

Those are the people we hire for EntryPoint. They're experienced consultants who have both business and people skills. We create an environment where they can tackle challenging projects and work with people they like. We figure that will keep them around and productive.

"Consulting the way it ought to be" meant that we needed to create a culture where our people would leverage each other's knowledge and abilities by communicating with each other. Nick and I both saw too many consulting firms where people did better if they hoarded information. We decided that EntryPoint would be different.

We're doing pretty well. We know that, because we use something called the Net Promoter Score, originally created by Fred Reichheld of Bain and Company. We're proud that our Net Promoter Score is higher than some companies that are known for their excellent service, such as Southwest Airlines, Amazon and Costco, and comparable to legends like Harley-Davidson.

We think we've developed a firm that's "consulting the way it ought to be" for our clients, for our people and for us. We crave the opportunity to help you become one of the clients that love us because we help you improve your business results and build profitability and competitive advantage.

Feel free to contact me at (216) 674-9068, or by emailing pmartin@entrypointconsulting.com.

~Pete Martin

 

 

In 2002, Nick Canitano, EntryPoint's former Managing Partner, and I were both coming off professional successes and thinking about what was next. Nick had built CCAi Consulting into a regional consulting powerhouse. I was ready for something new after years of consulting.

The marketplace was changing. Things moved faster and faster. Finishing projects on time and under budget was still important, but it didn’t give a consulting firm competitive advantage anymore. Neither did technological sophistication. Everybody had those; they were table stakes.

We thought we might want to build a firm together, but we agreed that we didn't want to do it the old way. We wanted a firm that would be "consulting the way it should be."

We were able to start with a clean whiteboard and design a firm that would work for our clients, for our associates, and for us. We knew that we wanted to do interesting projects that delivered solid business results with the kind of people we wanted to work with.

The next step was to figure out what "consulting the way it ought to be" meant for clients. So, we spent six months or so talking with business people, CEOs and CFOs and the like, from all over. We asked them what they wanted. Most had tough things to say about consultants.

To put it bluntly, many of them felt like they'd been screwed by consultants. They thought they'd paid a bunch of money for projects that sucked up time and energy but didn't deliver any business results. We knew we could do better.

We decided that small-mid-market companies were the best for us to work with. We knew from experience that these companies make great clients. They're action oriented and results focused...just the kind of people we knew would appreciate us and that we love to work with.

Small-mid-market companies aren't awash in money, either. That makes them much more disciplined about decision-making and execution. We agree with Warren Buffett that "easy access to funding tends to cause undisciplined decisions."

Once we decided who we wanted to work with, we knew who to hire. We searched for experienced people who crave the opportunity to produce business results and work on challenging projects. That was fine, be we also wanted a special kind of person.

The best consultants have three kinds of skills: technology, business and people skills. Most of our competition acts like technology skills are the most important. We disagree.

We hire for demonstrated aptitude and attitude. We want people who understand business, because they must produce business results. We want people who've proved they understand specific industries, because every industry is different.

We go after people who've proven that they understand business processes and how to use technology to improve them. And we want them to be able to decide just how much technology to use and how to apply it.

The people we hire need to be able to communicate with business people. It doesn't matter how smart you are or how many technological tricks you know, you have to be able to listen to your client, understand the issues, and communicate in business terms.

Those are the people we hire for EntryPoint. They're experienced consultants who have both business and people skills. We create an environment where they can tackle challenging projects and work with people they like. We figure that will keep them around and productive.

"Consulting the way it ought to be" meant that we needed to create a culture where our people would leverage each other's knowledge and abilities by communicating with each other. Nick and I both saw too many consulting firms where people did better if they hoarded information. We decided that EntryPoint would be different.

We're doing pretty well. We know that, because we use something called the Net Promoter Score, originally created by Fred Reichheld of Bain and Company. We're proud that our Net Promoter Score is higher than some companies that are known for their excellent service, such as Southwest Airlines, Amazon and Costco, and comparable to legends like Harley-Davidson.

We think we've developed a firm that's "consulting the way it ought to be" for our clients, for our people and for us. We crave the opportunity to help you become one of the clients that love us because we help you improve your business results and build profitability and competitive advantage.

Feel free to contact me at (216) 674-9068, or by emailing pmartin@entrypointconsulting.com.

~Pete Martin