How SAP Consultants Keep Projects Coming

By Valeri Wickersham
Director of Human Resources, Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.

“Show me the money!” This famous line from Jerry McGuire serves well as a mantra for SAP consultants. While a burning drive to work with cutting-edge technology and an irrepressible yearning to solve complex business problems plays a role in enticing SAP professionals to pursue careers as independent consultants, the primary reason these professionals forego secure, permanent roles for careers fraught with risk and unrelenting travel can be summed up in a single word - Money.

And we’re talking about serious coin. Depending on his or her experience and area of expertise, an independent SAP consultant can make as much as 1.5 to 2 times more than if he were to ply the same skills and experience in the corporate environment. According to Information Week’s 2006 National IT Salary Study, IT professionals with SAP skills are among the highest paid in the industry. The same holds true when SAP professionals step into the lucrative world of consulting, providing they can stay in high demand and gainfully employed.

For SAP consultants, time spent looking for projects rather than working on assignments literally translates into thousands of lost dollars. To maximize annual earnings requires consistently working and billing as much time as possible. So how can consultants ensure they spend their time working on assignments and billing clients rather than scrabbling to find their next piece of work?

Hold tight to the hand that feeds you

The surest way to steady pay for SAP consultants is staying in the good graces of existing clients. The most promising source for a consultant’s next project is the clients they’ve performed well for in the past. Companies would much prefer to hire someone they know and trust rather than risk bringing in an unknown. Successful consultants know this, which is why they lose the mercenary tendencies after rate negotiations and maintain a laser-like focus on solving a customer’s problems once the project has begun.

A successful SAP consultant distinguishes himself from clock-milking contractors by comporting himself as a true partnersolving problems, exercising impeccable integrity and adhering to a strong work ethic. He is sincerely vested in his client’s success and wholly dedicated to solving critical business challenges. He strives earnestly to bring a project to successful completion, not to extend an engagement with unexpected work. By ensuring that he delivers genuine value with every engagement, a consultant increases the likelihood that a client will call on him again when the need arises.

Be known by reputable players

Having direct access to clients is a great way to land a great rate, but direct access projects can be few and far between, particularly when it comes to securing work on choice, high-profile projects with large global companies. More and more, these projects are managed by a few hand-picked firms. And we’re not just talking about Big Five types.

A new breed of independent, mid-sized SAP consulting firms has grown in popularity over the past several years, having accrued valuable, hands-on experience and honed a wealth of SAP skills. These firms should not be confused with the plethora of IT staffing outfits cluttering the market. (Consultants are well advised to steer clear of staffing firms who deliver no tangible value to the market.) By contrast, this new breed of consulting firms delivers much needed expertise and has earned the respect of partners and large global clients. It behooves talented consultants to identify and initiate a dialogue with these reputable, rapidly growing firms as they represent what is perhaps the most promising route to a steady stream of high-profile, well-paying engagements.

Build your personal brand

It’s no secret that word of mouth is a powerful force in the SAP consulting word. Good consultants benefit greatly from a positive reputation in the industry. Sub-par consultants are quickly weeded out for poor performance. But doing good work may not be enough for a consultant to achieve rock star status. Talented and successful consultants need to aggressively and persistently build their personal brand.

Attending networking events and using networking tools are a must. Securing recommendations from existing clients and capturing testimonials is critical. Publishing articles on specific areas of expertise and speaking at SAP conferences and trade shows greatly enhances a consultant’s personal brand. It’s extra work, but the payoff is well worth the effort.