Consultancy Services - How they persuade customers

Due to consultancy services being intangible and their results being difficult to evaluate, and as there is no obvious knowledge base on which consultancy services are build in combination with an enormous competition among consultancies, successful consultants must have other ways of persuading clients in order to be chosen among the competitors. Clark argues that successful consultants achieve this by creating a reality that persuades clients of their expertise and the value and quality of their services. They manage and manipulate the interaction process between clients and consultants in order to build the best possible impression. This can according to Clark be captured and illustrated by using a dramaturgical metaphor. The created impression is, due to the lack of alternative appraisal factors used by clients to evaluate a consultancy’s expertise and the future performance that can be expected. As a consequence it is essential for a consultancy’s success to be able to persu...