How to Succeed in Management Consulting by Victor Cheng

It's funny how until a couple of years ago he just wanted you to voluntarily donate 47 bucks to his favourite non-profit.

Now he is in full steam selling mode. My guess is that his job is not doing great (unlikely, seems like a smart person), or he just wants more.

(what is the sticker price, btw?)

$298 to purchase the How to Succeed in Management Consulting program and you are automatically enrolled in his Apex Alliance, formerly known as the Victor Cheng Elite Alliance (or something like that, but it had his name in it).

This networking group is 60 days free, then $147/mo automatically charged to your credit card after that.

His free stuff is not that great, can't see why one would pay for the other stuff.

In all honestly I think, in his e-mail, he is quite full of himself as well.

Well, I actually found his free stuff good - it has helped me a lot. And in his early emails he had some other useful tips.

But lately his thing has been - prepare, prepare, prepare - buy LOMS, buy LOMS, buy LOMS. And now it's become: be prepared to steamroll work - trough this new program.

Perhaps I am being too nasty. Perhaps.

I never looked at it that way. I always thought he was a pretty down-to-earth encouraging dude. However, the more I hear him talk and create new programs the more arrogant and selfish I think he is.

persimmon:

Personally, I think he takes himself way too seriously for me to be able to take him seriously.

Haha. How do others in MBB and other top consulting firms view him?

Guys, don't you think Victor might be a registered member here too?

He's definitely gone into typical sell-mode: talk about past successes, hint at the great stuff you'll get if you buy, etc., and it's pretty nauseating given that during his free case lecture he made a big deal about how case prep wasn't his career and he was happy to give some free help. Now, he's out there claiming that the free stuff isn't enough and you need to buy more.

I've always thought Cheng was a pretentious dick, and while his emails are definitely valuable, he clearly thinks his shit doesn't stink because he worked for McKinsey for 2-3 years and bolted soon after getting promoted to Associate. The case stuff was clearly his sweet spot, and I'm pretty sure this stuff will be good too, but he holds himself out as some sort of consulting guru when he consulted at a firm that wasn't his own for such a short period of time. He keeps saying that you learn something every day in consulting; in that case, there's a hell of a lot of stuff that he didn't learn by getting out so early.

MABird:

Guys, don't you think Victor might be a registered member here too?

Yeah, I agree with everything that's been said about him. That said, I was a part of the original webinar, and the information he doles out is indeed worth at least $300. If you think about it, $300 is less than a day of MBB salary and if you have a good consulting offer his advice does put you a few steps ahead. That said, the networking club is 100% not worth it. My suggestion - get the webinar, don't do the club.

I agree. I also was part of the original webinar, and the information has been extremely valuable during my first year at MBB. Excellent value for $300.

However, I don't want to stay enrolled in the networking club because I'm getting enough support from mentors at my firm.

It's really hard to justify a price of $147 monthly for what's essentially nothing more than membership on a list-serv. As much of a tool as he is, Cheng is normally pretty savvy when it comes to selling his wares, so I'm kind of surprised he over-priced it by this much. It also doesn't help that only a small fraction of the members are MBB and the vast majority are from second tier consulting firms.

Hi Everyone,

It's Victor Cheng here. I thought I'd respond to the many comments made about me, my website and various programs. It seems much of criticism stems from three key areas.

1) Everything on my website at www.caseinterview.com used to be 100% free. There are now a few paid products and this seems to have ruffled some feathers.

2) I've been marketing my newer programs like How to Succeed In Management Consulting ( www.caseinterview.com/hsmc/ ) and this seems to bother some people.

3) Finally, the perception seems to be that I'm arrogant and full of myself... and take myself too seriously.

Let me start by saying I take all comments and feedback very seriously. If anyone would on this thread has more feedback to share with me, please feel free to call me at 206-701-0250 x715 or via email at victor (at) caseinterview (dot) com.

I'd like to address these comments one at a time.

This is my first time posting on WSO, and I think there might be a post size limit, so I will address each criticism in a separate post.

To wrap up, let my comment on the remaining criticisms.

1) The $298 price for the How to Succeed in Management Consulting program htttp://www.caseinterview.com/hsmc/ is "appalling".

The program is geared toward someone who just got a $80,000 - $200,000/year job offer. $298 is equivalent to the first 4 - 8 hours of pay for such a person. The top firms will be bill out a new Associate at $300 in that Associate's first HOUR on the job.

That investment is something like 15 basis points of one's income for the year... a fraction of a fraction of a %.

So while some would consider the price excessively high, I would argue investing half of your first day's paycheck to make sure the other 364 days go smoothly seems reasonable.

This is to just point out a different perspective on this topic.

2) To the comments about my promoting my products too much, I agree with that. I am currently working on re-balancing that as I think I ended up overshooting the balance I was looking to strike.

3) And finally, on the topic of arrogance. I would appreciate it if someone could give me some examples of when I have done this. I have an archive of all 300 emails I've written in these two locations:

http://www.caseinterview.com/category/articles/ http://www.caseinterview.com/category/success-stories/

I thought I was being very careful about this -- only stating facts and 3rd party opinions about me.

For example, when I was at McKinsey, I was, factually speaking, rated in the top 10% of my start class globally. So out of 100 people, McKinsey determined I was one of their top 10 consultants at my level in the world.

I can see how that might come across as arrogant, but it's NOT my perception of myself. It is McKinsey's perception.

Another example, I serve as an expert source on business topics for reporters at Fox, TIME magazine, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and the Wall Street Journal.

These are all factual statements too ( www.victorcheng.com/press )

Now in consulting, it's really important that you establish your credibility with clients so they will take what you have to say more seriously.

I mention these accomplishments not because I think they are important, but rather because the point I make AFTER I mention these accomplishments IS important.

And in general unless people hear the credibility-building accomplishment first, they tend to ignore everything else.

If anyone has suggestions on how to do this in a more effective way, please let me know. I am open to suggestions on this topic or any other that has been mentioned. Please feel free to contact me directly at anytime.

Again my phone number is 206-701-0250 x715 and my email is victor (at) caseinterview (dot) com.

I am on your email list and find those to be valuable. I haven't paid for premium content (yet), but certainly would pay $300 if I was getting to close to actually preparing for a MBB interview. You shouldn't have to point out to anyone remotely qualified to work at a MBB that $300 invested in a $200k salary is money well spent (these same people are willing to spend $150k on an MBA for that same purpose). That said, I can't imagine any derivative of your products being worth $147/mo (at least for me).

Djfii, thanks for clarifying your comment.

I understand your point that my on-going program for new consultants might not / definitely would not be worthwhile for you at the $147/mo price point. I imagine others might feel the same way -- or at least be uncertain about it.

That's one reason I let people try the program you referring to (Apex Alliance) for two months for free when they buy the How to Succeed in Management Consulting program ( www.caseinterview.com/how-to-succeed-in-management-consulting ) .

That way each person can determine for themselves if it is worthwhile for them, BEFORE having to pay the monthly. My goal was to make the deal as fair as possible.

Military_PE_Guy - thanks for the more specific feedback. Sounds like everything did work out in the end with the PE gig. Congrats.

-Victor

Alright Dr Joe, point taken. Thanks for pointing it out - no offense taken.

I didn't mean to suggest that the particular service wasn't worth $147/mo to anyone - I just meant that it wasn't for me. I would find a lot of value (certainly in excess of $300 worth) in material that helps me ace an interview at MBB. However, I already have a few friends that are partners and engagement managers at the three firms, and combined with the network I would build at whichever firm I ended up at (having already spent the $300, offer in-hand), I just don't see a need for additional services, at any price point. I'm naturally boisterous and prone to accumulating friends in any and all environments. Again, that's specific to me and my circumstances, and it's certainly the case that others might see some value in ongoing material / networking. If they didn't, presumably you would have lowered your price or stopped offering the service altogether.

I guess the intent of my original post was to be more supportive of what you're providing than anything else. I think you're getting bashed slightly harder than is warranted.

Djfii - Thanks for clarifying the intent of your comments and elaborating on your background. It makes a lot of sense in that context. And as you suggested, there are a lot of people new to consulting who don't have the network of informal relationships that you do, so the Apex Alliance groups was intended to be an additional resource to those who didn't have access to comparable resources elsewhere. - Victor

I thought I would chime in as someone who has just recently swapped careers from electrical engineering to management consulting. I hope I don't get burnt too badly by the intellectual horsepower of the other posters.

I've emailed Victor countless times, and he's always replied within a few hours with something substantial. It's important to note that he never once verified whether I had paid him anything. If I didn't find the emails from his mailing list useful, I would have de-registered. If I found his messages annoying, I would have likewise de-registered.

I don't see how Victor is any different from the countless other professionals advertising their services.

This thread is quite ridiculous. You are basically knocking on a guy for exploiting a business opportunity that he has leveraged for noble means.

"Wall Street Oasis"? Wtf? Stop knocking on Capitalism!

You would've priced an 8 hr program from a leading consulting professional below $300? It ends up being ~$35/hr.

I ordered his program - found it EXTREMELY insightful and well worth the money. Next time please dont comment on something you haven't even purchased. Empty reviews are not helpful to anyone.

i think the last 3 posts are fake accounts

You are certainly free to share your opinion :).

I think you are a major troll. Go under your bridge.

.

If credibility is measured by banana points or post counts then I would have none as I never come to this site. I am part of Victor's Apex Group and this was posted in the discussion forward which is how i found this. Believe what you want though but you really shouldn't knock something until you've tried it.

Wow. Seems like victor is getting a lot of support by users with no previous post history. That's uncommon.

I think we are going a bit overboard here. While I admit that at first glance it looks like Victor decided to make a few new screen names, I think he would be able to anticipate this reaction, and would hence not go through the trouble of doing it in fear of looking like someone who needs to invent screen names to defend himself.

In fact, I bet he is quite unhappy about this turn of events and the new posters who are defending him, because it really does look like he is spamming the site, and I don't think that is the case here.

Of course, we will never know.

For what it's worth.. I don't post much (or haven't in the last few years) but my SN is over 2 years old.. That would have been a pretty proactive spam strategy on behalf of Victor.... just saying

For what it's worth.. I don't post much (or haven't in the last few years) but my SN is over 2 years old.. That would have been a pretty proactive spam strategy on behalf of Victor.... just saying

Victor, ignore these bastards and keep up the good work. I was able to proceed to 2nd and 3rd round interviews with your free videos and materials.

People will probably discredit me for having "no bananas" but I signed up to this just to comment on this thread.

Victor - I think you're doing a great job and I've found your materials very helpful.

I do think however that you would make more of a profit if you had chosen a lower sticker price. Comparing the price of MP3's with the potential gain of a job offer is not a comparison that students are likely to make.

Being a student I'll let you in on how our mental arithmetic goes:

"It'll take me 2 hours to find this illegally / find friends to share this with... that means I save $150/h... That's more than I get in the supermarket so yes it is definitely worth the time."

The Internet-generation do not really seem to have that feeling of right or wrong that I think you will have if you've grown up with cassettes and VCR tapes etc.

Now - if the price had been $100... then I don't think most people would have bothered with the fuss.

The good thing for us who are serious about mgmt consulting is of course that your material doesn't reach quite as many so we sustain that little competitive advantage. That's at least how I try to motivate my recently spent $300 :)

Cheers

Wow.. First off, I have no issues with victor making money from his product. Setting the price is his call. In fact, if he decides to put all his content behind a login page and charge money for membership - that is still his call. I am sure he does not need to be told that a lower price would bring in more buyers.

I have been subscribed to his stuff for a few years now and I feel that his earlier content was much more useful - derived from years of experience in an industry. I thank Victor for doing that. He has,without a doubt, helped a lot of people aspiring to get in the management consulting industry.

Lately, however, I think he has started thinking of himself as an idol. His content is falling in quality. It has blatantly philosophical topics. As far as I am concerned, I do not want to know a management consultant's take on life, philosophy and aging. To me, a management consultant is not an expert on life advice.... I think this is why many people, including myself, find him to be full of himself now. Company restructuring, management problem solving, quantitative analysis and managing client relationships are a completely different story and I do want to know what MCs thinks about those.

Lastly, there is a very strong correlation between brand new WSO accounts and support for Victor on this thread. It is hard to dismiss that as merely coincidental.

3-year-old topic, guys.