What is a consultant?

Providing a job description for a consultant is a daunting task as it is a term that has multiple
meanings. The job title “consultant” is very broad and encompasses many different areas. One
can quickly conjure up an image of a nurse or a carpenter or even a CEO, but putting a face on
a consultant proves to be more difficult. Consultants are also known by many other names such
as contractor, temporary employee, specialist, advisor, mentor, guide and even unemployed.
Since consultant is such a difficult term to define and distinguish, misrepresentation may also
follow the term consultant. It is not uncommon for individuals to use the term consultant on their
resume when they are between jobs.

http://www.suite101.com/content/consulting-as-a-career-a23323

3 Skills a Consultant Must Have

Whether you're a consultant in the traditional sense of the word or are simply in the role where
your opinion is sought after, there are three skills, according to Peter Block of Flawless
Consulting fame, that you need to have to be successful.
Technical Skills
It is important that you possess the technical skills i.e. the expertise in a particular field to make
your opinion of interest to others. This ideally goes beyond what you may have been taught in
school and should include actual experience in your chosen field. In the information technology
industry this expertise can become obsolete very quickly so it is important to continually hone
your skills.

This shouldn't be confused with programming or hardware skills. Instead, the term technical in
this context means a certain level of experience and understanding of a particular topic.

Interpersonal Skills
A critical aspect of being a consultant is working with people. And that's where interpersonal
skills come in. You need some ability to put your ideas in to words, to listen to others, and to
provide support. You also need to be able to disagree and to suggest ideas counter to what
your client may be proposing.
Consulting Skills
This may sound odd given the topic of this post, but a consultant needs consulting skills. There
is a sequential process to consulting that you need to follow to get from start to finish. Executing
this process isn't necessarily easy hence the reason that it is called a skill in Peter's book. This
process puts you in a role that is very similar to an IT project manager.
http://www.akriconsulting.com/blog/3-skills-a-consultant-must-have/
(http://www.suite101.com/content/key-personal-qualities-of-a-consultant-a112365)

What Qualities Are Needed To Be A Successful Business Consultant?

Success as a consultant requires experience, people skills, objectivity and the

ability to run your own business

n order to accomplish these tasks, and to be successful as a consultant, there are certain
personal qualities that are considered essential.

Objectivity is Crucial for a Consultant

A consultant is required to establish trust and rapport with people at all levels of an organisation.
This involves listening without prejudice, and not judging until they have all the necessary
information.

Objectivity is crucial to any consultant. It allows them to view the situation from a helicopter point
of view, and demands that they listen to both sides of every argument and idea presented.

If a consultant is to walk into a business and quickly assess where the issues are, then
objectivity is essential.

Selling Skills are Needed by all Consultants

A Consultant Needs People Skills

This is the ability to interact with people in a respectful, relaxed manner.

The key word here is respect. Many intelligent people lack people skills, and hence do not know
when to be tactful, when to just stop talking and listen, when to voice their ideas and when not
to.

Put simply, people skills encompass the ability to interact with others in a manner that makes
them feel comfortable and secure, and where they know their opinions and ideas are important.

Without people skills, a person cannot be a leader, and a consultant needs to lead.
Leadership In Consulting

The qualities of leadership required as a consultant are:

 Assertiveness
 Knowledge
 Experience
 Empathy

Assertiveness is not being dictatorial. Assertiveness is being able to vocalise an opinion and
ideas in a confident and commanding manner. This is essential otherwise others are unlikely to
believe what a consultant says.

Knowledge and experience are intertwined. Knowledge is needed to acquire experience, and
experience in itself brings knowledge.

Empathy is the ability to "put yourself in the other person’s shoes". To see an issue from all
angles and viewpoints is necessary in order to develop and implement key strategies. If a
person is unable to exhibit empathy, and take into account the needs, fears and expectations of
all staff then their client will not implement the necessary changes they have recommended.

Pest Analysis For A Company In The Tourism Industry :

PEST Analysis for a Company in the Tourism Industry 

The Tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the 

world. The World Travel and Tourism Council estimates that in 2004 
Travel and tourism is expected to generate 

* US$ 5,490.4 billion of economic activity 

* 10.4% of total GDP 

* 214,697,000 jobs or 8.1% of total employment 

* 12.2% of total exports [1] 

My task is to conduct a PEST analysis for a company within the Tourism 
industry. 

Within the tourism industry, I have to select one area of interest 

like transportation, accommodation and transportation etc. and then 
one company doing business with these sectors related with the 
tourism. 

According to Leiper ?Transportation is the only link between the 

tourist-generating region and destination region?[2]So, transportation 
was a more interesting sector to discuss in the report but I tried to 
find a company which is related with all these main sub-sectors 
discussed

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above in the report. 

I have decided to look in the U.K market for such company because 
?Tourism is one of the largest industries in U.K, worth approximately 
75.9 £ Billion to the U.K economy in 2002 and supporting around 2.1 
million jobs.? [3] 

During my research on internet I found many companies offering 

services in the tourism of U.K but I have decided to choose ?Simply 
Travel? because of its variety of services offering related with the 
accommodation, transportation and attractions. 

1.2 Problem Formulation 

In the problem formulation part of my report I would describe the 

overall situation of the U.K Tourism industry. The service concept of 
?Simply Travel? will give us information about the services provided 
by the company. I will find out about the customers, competitors of 
the company. I will find out what political, economical, social and 
technological factors affecting the company and its demand situation.