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Independent Consultant Survey Results – Part 3: Consultant Predictions and Emerging Trends

Editors Note: This is the third in a series of four articles presenting highlights from the 2009 M Squared Consulting independent consultant survey. You can read the first article here. The second here. A PDF copy of the full report is also available for download.

Economic Outlook
The overall sentiment of our consultants was very pessimistic when we asked about their economic outlook. 48% of the respondents felt things will get worse before they get better. 24% are cautious but generally positive about 2009, while only 6% are optimistic about 2009. This is in marked contrast to prior surveys where the most common sentiments were optimistic.
Survey responses:

  • It will get worse; the recovery has not arrived: 48%
  • Cautious, but generally positive about the present year: 24%
  • There will be some growth, but not a true recovery: 13%
  • It will remain flat: 9%
  • Optimistic about the present year: 6%

One M Squared consultant wrote: “Certainly I’m anticipating a significant decline vs. 2008 but my aim is to ‘hang in’ this year & work on developing more contacts…”

Economic Recovery

“I am generally positive about the prospects for consulting opportunities. That said, I also do believe that the overall world economy will get worse and the recovery will not arrive until 2010.” - M Squared Consultant

We also asked for a prediction of when the economy will recover. Here are the results:

  • In more than 12 months: 64%
  • Between 6 and 12 months: 31%
  • Within 6 months: 5%

Another M Squared consultant wrote: “I think that Q1 will be dismal and that we will see a turnaround in the second half of the year. People want some good news and as soon as we see any glimmer, people will jump on it. It will most likely be a slow upward trend as we recover.”

Social Media

The rise of social media and its use in business were the trends most frequently cited in the survey. Of the 1,110 consultants surveyed, 684 identified themselves as belonging to a social media or networking group. Of the 684, over 80% of them are members of LinkedIn and over 40% have profiles on Facebook.

The survey revealed these as the most popular social media and networking groups for our consultants to participate in:

  • LinkedIn: 80%
  • Facebook: 41%
  • Plaxo: 13%
  • Twitter: 9%

“I consult in this arena and have been active in social media for over a decade. Blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Ning, Twitter, Plurk, Friend Feed, Flickr, LinkedIn, Plaxo, the list goes on and on…” - M Squared Consultant

“Increasing interest in social networking. It will become an integral part of marketing.” - M Squared Consultant
Social Media Use
When asked how they use social media to build their business, the most common response involved networking. Targeted introductions, building and maintaining contacts, and reconnecting with past contacts were among those listed as ways in which consultants network to build their business. Some respondents mentioned writing blogs or participating in online group discussions in order to gain visibility. Others mentioned referrals and word of mouth to obtain business prospects through social media.
Here are a few representative answers from our consultants:

“Use Ning.com to connect and communicate with members of a couple of groups. This gets my name out there and helps with marketing through name recognition and being aware of potential client needs as discussed in forums or calls for assistance.”

“I use Facebook to schedule events and send these events to interested people. I participate in some networking groups to give my opinion on how certain industries are developing. I use these relationships to reach out to people who may be able to help mean win consulting jobs or who are connected to companies or industries I have targeted.”

“Have not yet exploited it for revenue generation. Mainly use it to understand the competition and gain market insight through profile changes and discussion groups.”



This entry was posted by Kimball Norup on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 9:08 am in Consultant survey, Consulting, Management Consulting. Feel free to leave me a message about this post below.

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