Hi,
First of all, here are the general ways to provide the recommendation:
The typical structure is the following:
For example:
The problem is that In many cases, you can't provide a definite answer since you don't have enough information
Consultants may be testing several things:
Imagine a case when you have to make a decision whether a PE fund should acquire a company. You make a proper structure (Market, Competitors, Company, Feasibility of Exit) and in 25 min of a case, you've managed only to go through the Market and Competitors branches of the analysis. What will be your recommendation?
In this case, you have to provide a Soft Recommendation:
Best,
Vlad
Be structured, build an answer tree:
1. Ask for time (though BCG at least will probably never accomodate, "the client is in front of you and asks for an update)
2. Top of the tree, level set and remind me what the question was
3. Answer first. "I have 3 recommendations: A, B & C". I call this the "go horizontal" phase, as you will simply count and list the recommendations, no explanation yet.
4. Come back to each recommendation and detail them. I call this the "go vertical" phase, as you now really drill down into each recommendation: what you found, how that is relevant, what it will give you; make sure to point out if a recommendation is 90% of the answer, or if one must be implemented before the next btw.
5. Next steps: Either (5a) something else you haven't had time to implement yet, or (5b) offer to help implement the current recommendations. I also put risks in there, if needed: "we understand changing the comp structure of your sales force can be a little daunting; rest assured, we have experience doing this and would love to help you implement this recommendation"
Hi,
Reco is like initial structuring, it take a moment to build in order to be impacting. Si take at least 1 minute and 2 if you can.
- Start with direct answer to the question asked, then bring the arguments (2-4) with supporting numbers
- Structure of the reco should be logical and not based on the chronological order of resolution that happen during the case
- I am sure you have an opiniong so please dare supporting it with your reco, and not formulating the reco you think is expected. Otherwise this will be very hard if you are challenged by interviewer on why you said so.
Hoe this helps
Best
Benjamin
PS: Never say "I worked a lot, went to bed at 4pm, and did all these analyses". Client doesn't care, they just paid you $1M for the assignment, your private life is irrelevant. By explaining what you uncovered, the work (and your talent) will show itself.