For those who attended last Wednesday's forum, it was an extremely informative session. Hiring executives from ING, Erikson and Grady Health Systems answered questions on how, why and when they hired consultants. They produced a list of "to do's" as well as "not to do's".

When asked about how can a consultant get noticed, all three enforced the importance of learning about the organization and their current problems first. "Too many consultants come in and tell us of all the wonderful things they can do. The problem is that none of their skills are directly related to our current problems," stated Doug Matheson, VP of Marketing & Business Development at Erikson. "Consultants should know precisely how they can help us with a current problem."

"Send in a white paper the addresses how you've solved a similar problem also works," added Mark Kirby, Head of Corporate Advertising and Brand Strategy at ING. "Be patient, keep getting your name in front of us, and continue to send us stuff. As a consultant, you need to build your brand individually to get known," he added.

In addition to the panelists, about twenty people were in attendance.