- Quill Team
Consulting Jargon

By Amanda Huang
Consulting is officially defined as the business of giving expert advice to other professionals, usually in financial or business matters. Demand for consultants in the business world will always be booming so it’s important to familiarize ourselves with consulting lingo. Here are some of the most common terms you might encounter:
Consulting:
On the beach: period of time when a consultant is not assigned to a project
20,000 feet view: an overall or cursory look at something
Buckets: another way to say “categories” or “groups” when talking about a project
Buy-in: support or agreement from stockholders
Chargeable: Most important number for consultants (almost like a consultant GPA). It refers to the number of hours for which you get to bill your client
Engagement/project/case: the current project you’re working on; specific piece of client work
Leverage: the use of resources, materials, people and knowledge you need in order to finish a project
Subject matter expert (SME): the person you call first when you need to know more about a specific topic
Straw man: the outline of a document without all its fluff, or content
Tighten up: refining Excel documents, grammar, formatting, spell-check
Stay tuned for more additions to the business jargon dictionary!