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If you're not staffed on a project you can be assigned to a senior guy to work on a proposal (pitching new projects) or other business development (often small unpaid projects for a client like a market research or looking at a specific task or something like that).
Sometimes you also do proposals for follow-on work while staffed on a project. Normally it's the leadership's job to identify opportunities like that, but if you can identify ideas for that and pitch them to your partner, it can be very valuable. Eg. you're working on a strategy case for some client and you see how screwed up some part of their organization is (eg. one of their departments is a mess and doesn't work as it is supposed to), and you point it out to your director. He agrees and you make a short deck for him to go and discuss this issue with the client's executive and possibly sell an additional project to deal with that. That happens, and when it does you get a lot of brownie points.
Yes - the equivalent of a BB pitchbook in consulting is a proposal. They are functionally the same thing, and are often done by resources who are are on the beach.
Is the term "on the beach" used as frequently in IB as it is in MC?
Damn....
So what % of time would you say an average MBB consultant spends on proposals? Versus actual cases?
On the other hand I know people who spend over 50% of their time doing proposals or other business development work, or sometimes being staffed as "free resource" for a few days on other people's projects. These guys usually do not get promoted any time soon, or at all (counselled out).
Agreed. At least at my MBB, I've only ever had to do Dev work when I was on the beach. Very unlikely that we'd be asked help out while actively on a case unless you're at a roll point but usually the case sells itself really.
Very very little time is spent on this. As others have said, this is pretty much only done when you are between projects, and you usually don't spend a lot of time unstaffed/not on vacation. A lot of people take vacation in between projects, and then are staffed by the time they are back.
Alright...I'm sold! Now if you guys could tell me your take on a BB IBD -> MBB transition, that would be terrific! Haha
Business school is the obvious way to do that.
Other than that, many offices outside the US, especially in the developing world, do not have as strict/structured a recruiting process and will look at any qualified candidates for a lateral - that includes bankers. So you can just apply through the regular channels, preferably through a referral by anyone in the office (seniority doesn't really matter - anyone can forward your CV to the recruiting).
You're not likely not keep the seniority though (but they might be willing to throw in a year of tenure for an exceptional analyst with a few years of banking experience).
I agree with what most folks have written, which is that junior folks don't do so much pitching. However, a few caveats:
This is different for BA's and Associates. A good BA at McK is a very hot commodity, so they generally will have very little if none at all "beach" time. Plus, most of them leave after 2-3 years so doing client development is largely pointless unless they are on the beach.
Associates on the other hand are basically on the "Partner or leave" track. To smooth the path to EM and definitely required reading for AP is having Partner "supporters". A good way to cultivate "supporters" is to help them with their proposals.
As an EM, particularly after you get your feet under you, you'll be asked to do much more of this client development work. You won't make AP unless you have a strong "value proposition to the Firm" and "know something about something". And the proof of this is often how successful you are at starting to participate in development activities.
If you have bandwidth, it's always good to do BD work whether or not you're on the beach (weekends and evenings are a great time for this). Partners will love it, you increase your network, and it's something great to bring up during reviews. Also, if you do BD work for a manager/partner you like, you can become their "go-to guy" and add them as someone who will come to bat for you.... always a good thing.
I did a ton of BD work as an Associate and it definitely helped with networking and reviews.
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