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ort. We work as a team with our clients at each stage of the analysis and right through implementation.‖ ?What’s your experience in my industry? ―At Bain, we work with clients in a variety of industries, and the experience we bring is in analyzing business issues, which we can work with you to apply.‖ “You bring the industry experience to the team. There is no way we can match your 10 years. We bring the strategic perspective and the analytical fire power. As a team, we can help improve your pany’s performance.” Sensitive Questions and Possible Answers (2 of 4) 28 ?What do consultants do exactly? ―The goal of Bain work is to improve financial performance. We may work at the division or the corporate level to improve petitive positioning, forecast market growth, target market segments, reduce costs or plan financial strategy. Bain is different from other consulting firms in that… Consultants manage datadriven analysis focused on beating your petitors. The result is permanent improvement to your pany’s financial position.‖ ?Where did you go to school? –factual answer ?What’s your background? –factual answer, but consider how threatening this may be to your audience. Try to position facts in a way that will be most sensitive to why you were asked the question Sensitive Questions and Possible Answers (3 of 4) 29 ?What can you do for us that we can’t do for ourselves? ―On some business issues, which pany is likely to deal with only occasionally, we bring conceptual expertise we have gained from analyzing many similar situations. An example would be acquisition work. Many times, the issue is one of resources—your job is to get the product out the door and that can be allconsuming on a daytoday basis. We have the time and the management mitment to concentrate on planning—often the good ideas are already within the anization and our role is to focus attention on them.‖ ―You run the business. You need your whole day to deal with: operating issues. You don’t have the time to analyze in depth key issues that may e up. But you need the answers to those questions to make decisions. In a way, you can consider us a SWAT team here to help you get over the hump.‖ Sensitive Questions and Possible Answers (4 of 4) 30 ?Objectives ?Client process ?Onsite at the clients ?Relationship building ?Key takeaways Agenda 31 CU79802T8W01 ?Zerodefect analysis and anized backup are critical to building credibility ?Be prepared to answer sensitive questions ?Avoid Bain jargon ?Listen and respond to client’s concerns ?Stick to your area of expertise ?Client’s behavior is not stupid or irrational。 it is driven by different incentives ?Having the right answer is only the first step。 the client process is critical to consensus building and implementation ?It is important to understand client perspectives to effect change and add value ?Maintain the appropriate personal/business relationship ?Take copious notes and respond to questions from anized backup ?When in doubt, ask your manager how to handle client situations Key Takeaways 32