Recommended Consulting Books

Books about the Consulting Business
	Getting Started in Consulting, Second Edition This is one of the best known books on being a consultant. It’s also one of the best. A well-written and practical guide is laid out for the reader and is filled with valuable advice.
	The Business of Consulting: The Basics and Beyond This book (with CD-Rom) won’t help you master your area of speciality as a consultant but it does definitely pack a punch when it comes to giving you the goods to get your business up and running. Lots of information in a step-by-step approach. A classic.
	Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used Probably the best part of this book is the information it covers about the daily challenges consultants face. Don’t buy this book if you’re looking for a step-by-step guide to setting up and running your consulting firm. Buy it if you’re looking to grow your company and be better equipped to handle the many obstacles consultants can run into on a daily basis.
Books on Consulting Fees and Contracts
	Value-Based Fees: How to Charge – and Get – What You’re Worth The concept of value based fees is critical to any consultant’s success. Especially if you want to start earning more, this is a book you should read. It is written in a fairly easy to read manner and the author uses some humorous examples throughout.
	Working With Independent Contractors This is just as much a book as it is a resource guide for anyone that needs to hire consultants. The book guides you through the whole process, what to expect, how to make it work, and so much more. It also provides a CD with a huge list of forms you can use right away to speed up the process and make it so much easier to successfully work with consultants.
Books about Marketing and Sales for Consultants
	How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling Every single one of us in business is in sales one way or another. Put differently without sales, your business won’t grow. This book provides a ton of valuable information that shows how you can become a better salesperson, make more money and grow your business – yes, even your consulting business too.
	Customer Centered Selling: Eight Steps to Success from the World’s Best Sales Force This is an easy to read book that will help any business increase their sales. Forget all those fancy sales techniques, this book shows you how to focus on the single most important element of every business – your customers – and how to turn that into information and sales.
	Get Clients Now!(TM): A 28-Day Marketing Program for Professionals, Consultants, and Coaches This is a great guide to helping you set up your own marketing action plan to bring in new client business. Simple as that.
Books about Consulting Jobs and Careers
	How to Get Into the Top Consulting Firms For anyone looking to land a job with one of the big consulting firms this book is a must. Often compared to Marc Cosentino’s “Case In Point”, this book provides a strong and easy to follow framework explaining how to successfully handle the case interview process used by the top firms.
	Vault Guide to the Top 50 Management and Strategy Consulting Firms, 2009 Edition If you’re looking for an inside peak at the consulting industry from the top, this is where you’ll get it. Recent news, hiring processes, pay, benefits and all the rest are provided through interviews with over 1,500 consultants
Books on Business Strategy for Consultants
	The Boston Consulting Group on Strategy: Classic Concepts and New Perspectives This is a great book that covers many ideas on strategy. It provides not only the fundamentals to get your mind into that strategic mindset, but also delivers tools to help you with implementing strategy.
	Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t This is a fact filled and fairly dense book. But if you’re interested in what makes a great company so successful this book is a must have. Any business, management, or strategy type consultant will find immense value in reading this book that can be applied to your client work.
	Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, 20th Anniversary Edition This is THE classic book on marketing. That said if you’re involved in running a business, or consulting to help someone run a business, this is a must have book. It’s an oldie, but a goody. And while some of the examples have lost their color, the principles are timeless.