Consultant vs Operator: What’s the Difference?
At Bratti + Co, we are commercial operators & go-to-market experts, not management consultants. We promise to deliver, not consult. We strive to become your trusted partners in revenue.
What exactly does that mean and why is this what we hang our hat on at Bratti + Co? Let’s break this down a bit further.
“We are commercial operators & go-to-market experts, not management consultants.”
The definition of an operator is “someone who operates,” which in turn means “to cause to function” or “to put or keep in operation”.
The definition of a consultant is “one who consults another” or “gives advice or services”.
The difference between the two comes down to the layer of action that is provided as commercial operators and go-to-market experts.
→ A consultant comes up with the strategy and discusses its benefits and outcome.
→ An operator produces the plan and walks through the implementation, checking off the boxes as they come.
→ A consultant lays the groundwork for a hiring plan and provides a road map.
→ An operator determines the desired persona, performs interviews, and supports the decision-making process.
→ A consultant is surface level and stays clean.
→ An operator dives deep and gets dirty.
Consultants live and breathe in PowerPoint decks and lay out the road map. These are a great starting point, an appetizer if you will. However, if you want the real meat and potatoes of a project then you need an operator who can implement the substance of the PowerPoint.
Consultants are the business professors of the real world. Very smart, provide value, thought leadership and insights into their specific areas of expertise; however, they aren’t out in the business world actually running businesses.
As important as a vision and strategy are, they do not hold the same weight without follow-through, implementation, or the ability to stand it up. Through our experience, this is where we see the most failure – the great idea but no plan or path to implementing it.
Ideas without execution remain ideas.
“We strive to become your trusted partners in revenue.”
What do “quiet quitting”, typical contracts and the traditional consulting model all have in common? They’re all based on providing an activity that produces an end result(s). The problem with this is “what if the solution does not generate the best results or a path to greater success is found during the engagement?” Under these traditional relationships, there is no incentive to alter the course to deliver better results. Through our relationship, there is an incentive to alter the course for more favorable winds.
These incentives are why we at Bratti + Co prefer to have a stake in the end result of the work with our clients. Through our work, we assist our clients in making the necessary adjustments that not only implement a strategy but exceed the desired results and generate more revenue for our clients. Through this structure, we’re constantly looking for creative and effective ways to maximize efficiency, find what works, and identify opportunities where we can dump gas on the proverbial fire to expedite quality results.
Rather than “how do we get from A to B in this timeframe?” our thought process is “which levers can we pull to get from A to B as quickly as possible and not only beat expectations, but blow past them? Do these levers make sense? If so, how quickly can we pull them?”
This breakaway from the traditional consulting mindset focuses on producing results that achieve as much success as possible for all parties involved instead of only what is expected and obligated when contracting a consultant.
We are your trusted partners in revenue and performance instead of only trusted partners in fulfilling an obligation. Your success is our success. When there is much work to be done, we are with you every step of the way.
Let’s get to work.
Prescriptive Profits #4