Consulting toolkit saying it with charts

CONSULTING TOOLKIT

Communicating your recommendation

Saying it with Charts

© 2007-2012 IESIES Development Ltd. All Ltd. Reserved
© 2007-2012 Development Rights All Rights Reserved

Over the years, humans have expressed themselves in many
different ways…………

Sales spiked in the third quarter
Machinery sales by Quarter in 2009
90
US$m

27.4
20.4 20.4

1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

Source: Annual Report
Doc Ref: Cat005 Page:

Powerpoint Chart
© 2007-2012 IES Development Ltd. All Rights Reserved

Charts are the key medium of professional business written
communication, so mastery will improve your career prospects

 To communicate your recommendations and the rationale
clearly, your charts will need to be:

• Designed to illustrate the message you want to convey
• Easy to read
• Professional
• Engaging
• And sometimes even creative


Charts are the key medium of professional business written
communication, so mastery will improve your career prospects

A “GAME” PLAN FOR COMMUNICATION

G oal What result do you want from your presentation?

A udience Who are the audience, what are their concerns and agenda?

Message What is the key message of your presentation?

E ngagement
How are you going to grab and hold their interest?


Presentations must be designed to fit the situation

TYPES OF PRESENTATION

Factual
Private Equity

M&A Proposal Tour Guide

Consulting

Data Heavy Data Light
Case Study
Board Update

Business Sales Pitch
Our Recommendation
Focus Analyst Meeting
Business Plan
Recognition/Awards

Emotional
Source: Professor MacEachern © 2007-2012 IES Development Ltd. All Rights Reserved

The most important step in creating a chart is to decide what
you want to say

Craft the
message
•What do I
want to say? Illustrate the
message
•Is it Data or
Concept? (or both) Simplify
•If data:
• What type of •Have I eliminated
comparison? all visual “noise”?
• What type of Be creative
basic chart?
•How can I
engage the
reader?

you want to say

Craft the
message
•What do I
want to say?


Writing a good message is a very valuable skill you will build
with practice and feedback

 Your message should….

….be the one thing you want your audience to remember about
the chart
….stand-alone, even without the rest of the chart
….be one line, or at maximum two lines long
….be written in a full sentence
….be as punchy as you can make it
….include key numbers where appropriate
….fit directly into your storyline

•Only one message per chart!!!

Your chart-making skills will improve with practice

CLASS EXERCISE

In pairs, craft messages for these charts


you want to say

Craft the
message
•What do I
message
•Is it Data or
Concept? (or both)
•If data:
• What type of
comparison?
• What type of
basic chart?


There are three broad types of chart

TEXT
• This is the main point
• This is a sub-point
- This backs up the sub-point

DATA CONCEPT



Use the layout to help communicate concept charts
TYPES OF CONCEPT CHART

WHEN WHERE


There are 6 basic forms of data chart

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
COLUMN LINE 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

4th
Qtr

3rd
Qtr

2nd
BAR PIE
Qtr

1st Qtr

TABLE DOT (X-Y)
Size Share
100
Segment A 180 25%
80
Segment B 65 15%
60
Segment C 105 5%
40

20

0
0 2 4 6 8 10


To determine what sort of data chart to use, first consider what
sort of comparison you are making

You can compare:
• Components
• Items
• Across Time
• Frequency
• Correlation
 What type of comparison are these?
• Outsourcing is 25% cheaper than in-house production
• Sales drop 25% for every 10% increase in price
• We have a market share of 25%
• Revenue has grown 25% over the last 2 years
• Average tenure of staff is 3 years, with 80% between 1 and 5 years

you want to say

Craft the
message
•What do I
message
•Is it Data or
Concept? (or both) Simplify
•If data:
• What type of •Have I eliminated
comparison? all visual “noise”?
• What type of
basic chart?


After you have drafted your chart, you should try to simplify to
illustrate the message with the least visual “noise”


Try to reduce numbers, stack rankings to make it easy on the eye
and use shading/colour to highlight the message


Simplify your charts as much as possible, so the message “jumps
out”
• Cut out all visual “noise”
– Data/Numbers that does not illustrate the message
– Duplication (e.g. numbers and a scale)
– Make numbers easy to digest (e.g. $6.3m, not $6274966)
– Attract the eye to key information – e.g. C.A.G.R %

• Keep wording to the point, avoid complex phrases

• Use consistent, professional fonts and layouts

• Use layout, diagrams and pictures rather than text
Your job is to require the reader do the LEAST
POSSIBLE WORK to understand the chart!

We will use a standard template for our charts
This is the LEAD or MESSAGE

It states the conclusion you want the
This is the TITLE
reader to remember from this chart

It explains what
Sales spiked in the third quarter
the data is
Machinery sales by Quarter in 2009 This is the DATA
US$m 90

It illustrates the
MESSAGE

27.4
20.4 20.4

This is the
SOURCE 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

Source: Annual Report
It documents Doc Ref: Cat005 Page:
where the data
came from Why do Management Consultants
use standard templates?

Consulting toolkit saying it with charts

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