The Consultant's Handbook
Management · Nº 30
The Consultant's Handbook
Diagnose and Solve Business Problems
You delivered exactly what the client asked for. So why did nothing change?
24 tools, 12 ready-made templates, and one engagement followed from the first phone call to day 90, so you find the real problem before you sell the solution.
You get 24 tools to scope the engagement, turn a complaint into a question, gather facts from three sources, find the cause, recommend with options, and measure what changed. Plus the Diagnosis spreadsheet, already filled in with the example.
A book explains the method. This handbook puts it to work: the tool, a worked example, and a spreadsheet with your numbers.
One-time payment of $29.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.
The client called asking for a new system. Or a training program. Or a campaign. You know how to deliver that, so you quoted it, delivered it, and got paid. Two months later sales are flat, the report sits in a drawer, and the owner has stopped returning your emails. You did the work. You just never found out what the problem was, and neither did they.
THE SPREADSHEET
Diagnosis spreadsheet
Use the completed example as a reference and enter your business data in the marked fields. Check the instructions and the calculations before you make a decision.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Three situations this handbook solves
A prospect calls with a solution already in mind
They want help picking software. Before you quote anything, you run the entry conversation: why now, what have you tried, how will we know it worked. By the end of the call, the real problem is on the table, and it isn't software.
You're three weeks in and drowning in data
You go back to the one-page work plan. Each hypothesis has its analysis, its source, and a fact that would knock it down. You drop the two that don't matter and spend the week on the one that does.
The owner pushes back in the feedback meeting
Instead of defending the slide, you look for the concern behind the objection. You offer a small test, agree on how you'll measure it and the date you'll decide, and walk out with a date instead of a maybe.
INSIDE
What you'll find in each tool
Five parts, in the order of a real engagement. Start off right with the client and get the agreement in writing. Define the problem as a question you can answer. Gather the facts from data, interviews, and observation. Find the cause and recommend with three options on the table. Then make it happen: the feedback meeting, the resistance, the 90-day plan, and the measured result. Every tool has a step by step, a worked example, and an exercise.
WHAT YOU GET
Everything included in your purchase
- The Consultant's Handbook in PDF: 24 tools, each with a step by step, a worked example, and an exercise
- The Diagnosis spreadsheet in Excel and Google Sheets, with 6 working tabs, filled in with the example engagement
- The Template kit: 12 ready-made texts, from the entry conversation script and the engagement agreement to a fee proposal with three options
- 2 worksheets to fill in (entry conversation and one-page diagnosis) and a 30-day plan, one week per stage
- Access to your handbook on the Consylion platform
Full table of contents
The 24 tools, in the order you'll use them
Part 1 · Part 1 · Start off right with the client
- 01The consulting cycleFive phases, each ending with a deliverable and a decision the client has to make
- 02The entry conversationFour questions that separate what the client asks for from what's actually wrong
- 03The engagement agreementScope, deliverables, roles, and the success criterion in writing before you start
- 04The trust equationWhat makes a client actually follow your recommendation
Part 2 · Part 2 · Define the problem
- 05The key questionTurn a vague complaint into a question with a number, a deadline, and limits
- 06The issue treeEvery possible cause laid out, with no gaps and no overlaps
- 07Hypotheses from day oneA testable hunch that tells you what to analyze first, and what would knock it down
- 08The one-page work planEach hypothesis with its analysis, source, owner, and date
Part 3 · Part 3 · Gather the facts
- 09The data requestWhat to ask for in week one, and what to do when the client doesn't have it
- 10The diagnostic interviewA 40-minute script for the owner, the team, and the front line
- 11See the work where it happensOne observation shift that shows what the reports leave out
- 12The voice of the client's customerTen conversations that tell you what the owner isn't hearing
- 13Compare against benchmarksPut the client's numbers next to a reliable yardstick
Part 4 · Part 4 · Find the cause and recommend
- 14The profit treeWhere the profit leaks and how much, branch by branch, until the total ties out
- 15Is / is not analysisThe test that separates a likely cause from a good guess
- 16Findings from three sourcesEvery conclusion backed by numbers, interviews, and observation
- 17Options before the recommendationThree paths compared on the same criteria, so the client chooses
- 18The diagnostic reportThe answer on page one, and the pages that back it up
Part 5 · Part 5 · Make it happen
- 19The feedback meetingPresent the diagnosis and walk out with decisions, one per recommendation
- 20When the client resistsThe shapes resistance takes, and how to answer the concern behind each one
- 21The 90-day planQuick wins and structural changes, each with an owner and a date
- 22The result in numbersBaseline, target, and measurement, so you can show what changed
- 23Pricing your consultingA fee based on the value of the problem, offered as three options
- 24Close and continueFinal delivery, a testimonial, and the next engagement with the same client
Who it's for
It's for you if
- You work as a consultant, or want to, and every new engagement feels like starting from scratch
- You already advise clients as an accountant, lawyer, designer, or specialist and want to sell diagnosis as a service of its own
- You run a small business and want to look at it from the outside before you spend money on the next fix
- You want to price your work on the value of the problem and show the client, in numbers, what changed
It's not for you if
- You want a management routine for your own company, with targets, meetings, and a dashboard. That's The Business Management Handbook
- You want Ishikawa diagrams, the 5 Whys, and Pareto charts in depth. Start with The Quality Tools Handbook
- You need to build the strategy and the plan for the year. See The Strategy and Planning Handbook
- You're looking for a sure way to land clients or revenue. This handbook gives you a method, and the result depends on how you use it
Frequently asked questions
I don't have a business degree. Can I still use this method?
Yes. The method asks for discipline, not credentials: ask before you answer, back every finding with facts, and measure the result. Knowing the client's industry helps, but the steps stay the same. It's written at an intermediate level, with a worked example for every tool.
Can I use it on my own company instead of a client?
Yes. You step into the consultant's role: write the key question, build the issue tree, interview your team confidentially, and watch a shift. The hard part is accepting a finding that goes against your own opinion, and the handbook shows you how to test it.
What if the client doesn't have any data?
Then you measure in the field for a week or two: weigh it, count it, time it. The handbook shows how, and treats missing data as a finding in its own right. Tools 09 and 11 cover the data request and the observation shift.
How do I know what to charge?
Tool 23 walks you through it. You estimate what the problem is worth to the client over a year, offer three fee options, and check your effective hourly rate so you don't end up working for free. The proposal template is in the Template kit.
Does this work outside of retail or food businesses?
The example is a bakery, but every tool shows how it applies to services, retail, manufacturing and distribution, and independent professionals. The steps are the same. You swap in your client's numbers.
How long will it take to get through?
About 2 hours and 24 minutes of reading, or 6 minutes per tool, plus the exercises. The 30-day plan breaks it into four weeks: entry and agreement, the problem defined, the facts, then cause, recommendation, and feedback.
What do I get, and in what formats?
Each handbook is a PDF of about 100 pages with 24 to 27 tools. Every tool has step-by-step instructions and a worked example. You also get the handbook's spreadsheet in Excel (.xlsx), which opens in Google Sheets too, with the example already filled in. The message, policy, and clause templates are in the Template Kit inside the PDF, ready to copy and adapt. Read it in the member area or download the files.
How do I know if it fits my business?
Each handbook's page shows the problem it solves, who it is for and who it is not for, the full table of contents, sample pages, and the company used in the examples. The examples come from small businesses in several industries, with illustrative numbers. If it is not a fit, you can ask for a full refund within 14 days of your purchase, as described in the Refund Policy.
What is the difference between a handbook, an area set, and the Series?
A handbook solves one problem. An area set brings together every handbook and spreadsheet in one of the 6 areas, for less than the price of 5 single handbooks. The Consylion Handbook Series brings together all 100 handbooks and 100 spreadsheets, for less than the price of 8 single handbooks, and includes the next handbooks in the Series. Products outside the Series, from Consylion Life or Consylion Business, have their own price. They are sold separately and are not part of an area set or the Series.
Do I need to read everything before I start?
No. Each tool works on its own. Open the table of contents, pick the tool for today's problem, and start there. You can also read it cover to cover.
Do I need to know Excel?
The basics are enough: open the file and fill in the marked fields. The formulas are already built, and the handbook's example is filled in for reference.
How do I pay, and when do I get access?
By card or bank transfer, as a one-time payment with no subscription. Once your payment is confirmed, you get access to the member area by email. Approved card payments are confirmed right away. Bank transfers are confirmed when the funds clear. If access does not arrive within 24 hours of confirmation, check your spam folder and write to team@consylion.org.
How long do I have access, and how can I use the files?
Access does not expire, and you can download the files for offline use. The license is individual. You may read the handbooks, print them for your own use, and fill in and adapt the spreadsheet and templates with your company's data. If you are a consultant, accountant, or manager, you may apply the tools with your clients and deliver the result of your work, not the files. You may not share, resell, or distribute the files or the access.
How do support and refunds work?
Support is by email at team@consylion.org, on business days, with a reply within 5 business days. It covers questions about access, files, and payment. It does not include consulting or advice on applying the material to your case. You can cancel within 14 days of your purchase, without giving a reason, and get the full amount back through the payment method you used. Send the request to the same email. The details are in the Refund Policy.
CONSYLION HANDBOOK SERIES
The 6 departments of your business, for less than the price of 8 single handbooks.
This handbook solves today's problem. The Series solves the next one, and the one after that, with nothing more to pay.
- 100 handbooks with 2,403 ready-made tools, to read on screen and download as PDFs
- 100 spreadsheets for Excel and Google Sheets
- 6 business areas
- Lifetime access, unlocked once payment is confirmed
One-time payment of $197.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.
Management · Nº 30
Find the problem before you sell the fix
Clients will keep showing up with requests. This handbook gives you the questions, the templates, the spreadsheet, and a worked engagement so you can find what's really wrong, recommend with options, and prove in numbers what changed. How you use it with your next client is up to you.
See all 100 handbooks · $197.00
One-time payment of $29.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.