THE WORLD of consulting has its share of global behemoths battling each other for large contracts. When it comes to the marketing sector, it’s more a case of niche, specialist firms who compete for clients with advertising and creative agencies.

It’s still a small consultancy sector: figures from MCA members show that work in this area turned over just £24m in 2007, although it increased by 14% as clients looked to make better use of their customer relationship management systems, increase customer loyalty and value, and understand the return on investment from marketing activities.

The MCA Marketing Consultant of the Year, Sarah-Jayne Williams, of BearingPoint, a management and technology consultancy with offices in London, says: “Where management consultants have the strength is that when we look at a problem, we look across all the functions within a company. We have exper-tise across the supply chain, customer relationships, strategy and marketing.”

Williams learnt her trade at the phone giant Motorola, where she worked for five years before joined BearingPoint, dealing with big-brand clients such as Sony Ericsson, Scottish & Newcastle and Volkswagen. At Motorola she carried out programmes that looked at making customer experiences more consistent across the whole company, and she has used those skills in helping configure other clients’ supply chains.

“Previously, lots of companies would have looked at themselves as being very product- or design-centred, whereas they are now looking to be customer-centric,” says the 34-year-old. “Understanding customer requirements is the key driver of all your systems and processes.”

The latest shift in the marketing arena is the increasing power of the consumer through social networking and online communities. “We call it the ‘connected customer’,” says Williams. “If you look at most of the companies in the FTSE 100, they have started listening to what customers are saying about them. Some companies are looking at collaborating online such as Microsoft, which has volunteers who provide free online customer service for the company in return for being first with products and discounts.”

However, she warns: “You can never really control what consumers think of you.”

Awards judge Dr Duncan Angwin, associate professor of strategic management at Warwick Business School, says Williams considered all the issues facing her clients and showed that she was able to respond rapidly to their demands and take things forward, above and beyond the limits of the mandate she received from them.

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