What they need to know...

In just about every area where you have to convey your thoughts in print it is wiser to restrict yourself to what they need to know.

Whether it is a CV, a quote, an end of engagement report or a marketing handout.

Every time there is an urge to add a little more detail or explain every nuance , and every time it has the exact opposite effect.

Instead of providing a more complete picture it clouds the issue. Instead of showing clarity it actually reduces the likelihood that you will get your point across.

I have always found that placing yourself in their position, and then writing it to make sure they had the information they needed to have or whatever decision you are helping them to work through.

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Tricks of the Mind

I am a big fan of Derren Brown. A "mentalist" performer from the UK. He is always very open stating that there is science behind everything that he does, and in explaining that his tricks and marvels are the result of psychology, science and slight of hand.

So when I found his book Memory: Tricks of the Mind on Audible.com, I couldn't resist. I am in a state of continual experimentation. With this blog, my newsletters, my sales approach and my consulting. Each experiment is researched, results recorded, and success factors learned quickly.

This has been no different. The book is very straight forward, less than an hour, and holds three really powerful little techniques. I was memorizing stuff within the hour. And I am pretty impressed with it.

So far I have applied this as a party trick, (to much applause) to recall bullet points on a long list from a presentation, and to recall a presentation given by one of my colleagues.

I have't gone to the point of memorizing shopping lists yet... but thats next.

I am not sure how it made me appear...but it was an incredible momentum booster for me to be able to recall points without struggling, I felt as if I had greater mastery over the events.

I am still working out the bumps on this one. Few things to perfect, and then I am going to move into this a little more. I think it is going to be an invaluable skill.

I fully recommend Memory: Tricks of the Mind as a tool for increasing your consulting skills if you are the sort of person who regularly buys and listens to audio books.


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Microsoft Word Skills Test

It amazes me that many of the people I work with and for do not have a basic understanding of Microsoft Word.

This is a fundamental skill for consultants, marketers or sales people. And one that can dramatically change your productivity, the quality of your outputs, and your ability to project a more professional brand.

This is a quick overview of some of the basic things you should be able to do quickly. (And Microsoft PowerPoint is another one, but thats for later)

Microsoft Word Skills Test

Do you know how to save a template as opposed to a document? Can you use templates once they have been saved?

Can you set and change headers and footers? Can you set different headers from page to page?

Can you turn one page only to a landscape position? (Leaving all other pages in portrait?)

Do you use formats instead of making one line bold and calling it a title?

Can you set formats so that they stay that way throughout your document? Yes? Then try these and see if your documents look better.

• In "Normal" set the paragraph to be 6 pts after each paragraph. A good spacing. It makes the document look clean.

• Set your alignment up for "justified". Then go into Tools | Language | Hyphenation and then check Automatically Hyphenate document. This makes the document look neat and automatically places a dash in a word if it is halfway through at the end of the sentence.

• Try colored underlines of "heading" formats. A nice touch sometimes.

• When writing in chapters or sections then use the paragraph section, again, to create a page break before the use of "Heading 1"

• Make sure to set up headings to use an outlined Bulleted format. This makes life a lot easier when you need to refer to the document at some stage in the future. 

Do you have software to automatically turn these into PDF documents? No? Then try PrimoPDF.com. It's free and I've been using it for years.

Can you insert a table and modify it?

Do you know what the Table Autoformats do under the "Table" menu?

Can you use the auto fields? For example, can you enter a field that automatically calculates the line number in a Microsoft table?

Can you insert images and manipulate them so that they look as you like? (E.g. centered, to one side, mixed in with the text etc)

Can you set captions for figures, pictures, tables etcetera?

Can you insert cross references? Yes? great - can you make sure they are updated as the document grows?

Next Steps

Please leave some comments to let me know how you are with this stuff. For me, they are basic skills but essential nonetheless. 

If there is a shortage of skill sin this area among the blog readership then I will run a short series of ;posts on MS Word skills such as these, as well as MS PowerPoint and maybe even MS Excel. 

Let me know...

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"No" is not an option (or never let them say "No")

When you ask somebody something they immediately try to think about the question. This is the basis of Socratic learning and Socratic conversation and is a very powerful dynamic when used correctly.

When you are running a seminar do not have somebody go around and ask everyone if there is something that you could be doing better, or if there is something missing. You think you are providing good customer focus, but what you are really doing is getting people to think negative thoughts about the seminar.

Your questions need to set up a dynamic where they have a choice of options that are favorable to the outcome you want.

"When should we meet next?" is better than "Do you want to meet again?"

"Whats the best way for us to proceed?" is better than "Should we proceed?"

And always make your intentions clear. You are looking for the opportunity to find a proving ground. A piece of work where you can prove your worth to them. Your goal, stated, is that you want to be working with them in ten years time. (Not just for ten months)

One way to help them to say yes is through options. For example:

Option 1. Your preferred route

Option 2. A choice that would be okay, but not your preferred option

Option 3. A long shot. The one they can rule out automatically and work their way closer to your preferred options.

Your questions need to provoke thought on outcomes that are desirable to you. Not dead ends. You want them to decide on something that continues the relationship, continues with the meetings and prospecting, or continues the engagements you have with them - not something that is going to cut everything off.

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The Number 1 Reason for Cold Call Success

I remember when I was just starting to get into sales that I read a heck of a lot about my "unique value proposition". Something that would wow every client and something I had to get out there within the first 30 seconds of every cold call.

What garbage!

First of all there is very little that is really new under the sun. Everything has been done, and there are others who can do what you do. They may do it differently, with a slightly different slant, but overall it is nearly impossible to be truly unique.


So thats out.

Second of all, you do not have one value proposition you have many. It really depends who you are talking to, who you represent, and what you are selling.

Sometimes I am the local vendor

Other times I am representing a company that is 4,000 strong in Australia and 40,000 strong globally.

Yet other times I am representing an organization that is so flexible it can turn on a dime.

Or I am representing a company with unparalleled technology for this specific application.

If the person you have called on a cold call is willing to give you a fair hearing, then the number 1 reason for your success or failure will be determined by how well you can tune into their immediate thinking, and how well you can second guess who they want to do business with and what they might see as valuable in a partner.

Homework helps, experience helps more, but the key super-power you are going to need in this area is that of perception and understanding the market, because you probably won't have the time to establish a link and glean their requirements from early conversations.

Don't ask leading questions. Don't immediately jab out with crazy value promises. And do not, under any circumstances, start asking questions first.

Hi, I'm (Insert your name) I am the (insert your title) I would like the opportunity to introduce my company to you if thats not inappropriate". Stop, wait... they say okay, then state your case.

You win, you get a meeting, you lose, you get to try again with a different prospect. Great fun stuff...

Related Posts

5 Tips for Cold Calls 
Turn your LinkedIn account into a powerful revenue generating tool 

Secret powers

My career has been built around the fact that I am actually pretty good at reliability engineering. In fact, I am pretty confident that I am one of the better practitioners in the field globally. (Amazing what really good mentors will do for you)

But more and more I find that nobody knows that. They get me to present, because I do that pretty well, I run the sales efforts, I manage the marketing and I have developed quite a reputation as a networker. So much so that it occupies almost all my time, most of my discussions, and it is the thing that people tend to recall about me these days.

I rarely get to use my secret super powers anymore.

The other day I had to run through a specific methodology and discuss some of the finer points of the technical side with a couple of my consultants. They were somewhere between impressed and astonished. I think my command of it helped, but more than anything else they had no idea I did that sort of thing.

Amazing isn't it... what used to define me absolutely is now just something else I have in my backpack of tools. It hides in there along with VB programming, guitar playing, motocross racing and martial arts.

As life moves forward we move with it almost without realizing how we have transformed along the way. Yet by looking back you can pick up some of the hidden powers you used to rely on so much to help in todays work.

After the other day I thought I would take it further - so I am going to be keynoting at a conference in reliability engineering later this year.

Why job boards should be dropped from your job hunting regime

When I was a lad I used to get the Saturday newspaper every week without fail. This was the one with all the jobs in it. The one which I could use to try to fathom what was happening with the local job markets, who was hiring, for which roles, and what skills they needed.

It was invaluable training for the proactive career management I have practiced ever since then.

After a while this time honored tradition was replaced by regular checking of online job boards. In fact job boards such as Monster.com and Seek.com.au (In Australia) all but replaced the job classifieds in newspapers. At least they did for me and I cant recall the last time I bought a newspaper for a professional appointment.

You could set up email alerts for very specific roles, and even apply online. (Imagine that!)

But after a while, it all got very tired.

When you advertise within a state or a city, you get local interest, local applications and there is a limit to the flood of resumes, even during hard times.

But the internet knows no boundaries. From my home in Newcastle, Australia I can apply for jobs all over the globe if I like. And definitely all over Australia.

...and so can everybody else....

So suddenly there are a flood of opportunities, not all of which are strictly relevant. And there are also a flood of people applying for them, not all of who are strictly relevant.

It was convenient, but started to become like the online version of pouring through the classified ads.

Overwhelming information, overwhelming responses to candidate hunters, overwhelming choice for employers... and when the number of decisions is too great - people choose not to decide!

Bad though that is, there is yet another reason why job boards are destined for the scrap heap of history...

Ever heard someone say that "80% of jobs aren't advertised"?

In fact every single survey I have ever seen on the issue, and my own career history, supports the fact that the best candidates, and the best jobs are sourced through professional networks.

And Monster.com/HotJobs.com/Seek.com.au, although great in their short time to shine, don't have "networks" - just jobs.

Enter the social media phenomena. LinkedIn contains the profiles of most people who matter in the business world today. From Bill Gates to John McCain and from the technician through to the CEO of most companies.

Everyone is there, everyone is connecting, and everyone is starting to get the idea that LinkedIn is a 24/7 trade show that everybody came to.

Alongside my profile I have jobs that relate to my main area of work.

I can search for significant people who are within my industry sectors and connected to me in some way.

Or I can peruse the groups I belong to - checking for relevant jobs in my area.

Recruiters can plumb the depths of their relationships to try to source the most suitable candidates, rather than troweling the job seekers market with a big net like a newspaper classified or Job Board post.

In fact the value of a recruiter in todays market can be directly linked (and now measured) to the breadth and depth of their sector or discipline specific network connections.

They can check recommendations in an instant, search for potential referees, and check out the candidates work history; all before they even establish contact with them!

And when they do they have one distinct advantage. This person isn't moving because they are disgruntled, unhappy, disappointed or looking for a step up. So any move for them will be positive with decidedly less baggage. Brilliant!

Job boards are suffering the same fate at the hands of LinkedIn and Twitter (to a lesser extent) that they did to Newspaper job ads less than ten years ago. I am sure there are still great jobs out there on job boards... but the odds of finding a great job, and being accepted for it are far FAR smaller than if it comes through your own network of trusted resources, contacts and connections.

Have you had any similar experiences vis a vis Job Boards and LinkedIn in particular?

What to do with all those ideas...

I originally wrote this post thinking about consultants - but I think it applies to anybody who has to manage a team of innovative, intelligent and motivated who have large ego's.

(For clarification - I like consultants to have an ego, if they do not they are less likely to be able to develop commercial relationships with decision makers and executives.)

Innovative people throw out several brilliant ideas per day. Some of which are commercially viable, some of which are just intellectual exercises, and some of which could change the world.

The problem is - what to do with so many great ideas?

Many of us seem to think that there is an idea approval agency and all we need to do is tell someone our idea, and wait for them to come back to us with the plans to move it forward.

That way it is no longer our problem. We've done our bit, we thought of it, and if nothing happens then thats somebody else's fault. (The person we told)

Not gonna happen! As a manager of consultants, and someone who interacts with lots of other consultants, I hear a vast number of brilliant ideas ever day. I couldn't act on 10% of them even if I tried to!

You need to turn ideas back on the people who came up with them. The key thing I try to get through to people is "Thats great, now how do we put it into practice, and how do we make money from it?"

The detail of what to do with an idea, and how to turn it from a good concept to a commercial reality generally stops people from rushing towards me as soon as they have had a blood rush to the brain.

And when I do speak to them about their ideas they are generally well formed, and there is a definite plan behind hem.

My questions to them are, in no particular order:

1) What is it? - This alone gets people thinking. people tend to often confuse an idea with an opportunity. For example, I could have told you in 1990 that a way to organize the worlds information would be great - but I could never in my wildest dreams have come up with an idea like Google.

2) Who wants it? Is there a real want out there? And if so which industry, discipline, sector, country etcetera would want it? And why do they want it? Is there anything around today that does the same job? Are we replacing something, or creating something that doesn't yet exist?

No analysis required. People didn't know they wanted a fat pen until one existed. So I don't tend to look too much to studies, research and particularly not focus groups. (Yuck)

3) What will be needed to put it into practice? Is this innovation or iteration? Is it something extremely new (like SaaS when salesforce.com launched) or is it just additional functionality, slightly different business models, or a different form of getting people to give you their attention?

4) How much will it cost? Rough figures of money, resources or time. There is always a cost, it is just a matter of working out what that cost is. Also, we need to work out who pays for it. Will a client fund the development of this? Or is there a friendly client who will allow us to test run it with their people / site / equipment etcetera.

5) What's it worth? As well as who wants it there needs to be some form of rough idea of how much this could make. Not magically appearing figures that strangely add up to the hurdel rate for investment - but non-emotional conservative estimates of earnings.

We need to know whether this is an asset, something that will earn money almost by itself, or an enabler - something that will allow us to entrench ourselves further, maybe build an additional service offering, or charge slightly higher rates.

I love innovation and I love innovative people. But enough is enough or you just end up as the dumping ground for everyones brilliant "this will change the world) random thoughts.

I am not in favor of setting a high bar, nor do I have any hesitations in branching into sidelines and other areas.

But I do want to put some of the responsibility for validating ideas back with the people who have the greatest stake in them, their originators. If they have a convincing argument then I will help to take it to the next step, if they don't then there is no way that I am going to be able to help them further.

Can you compete? (Pt 2 of 3)

The first post in this series  was all about defining some of the more powerful areas where competitive advantage can exist.

But what can you do now, today, to try to define your own competitive advantage in your marketplace. The answer is... actually quite a lot.

The secret to all competitive advantages, in fact to all commerce, is scarcity and value. If you are able to create or highlight something scarce that clients will value then you are ahead of the pack.

Network

Your network is probably the greatest trust based asset that you can have. An address book filled with colleagues, former clients, associates and service providers who all trust your character and your ability to do what you say you can do.

It is hard to overstate this - your network is your key competitive advantage and if you don't have a very extensive one then you need to start building on right now.

Your network can inform you of great roles before they are advertised, of looming tenders and contracts, they can introduce (refer) you to others who need your expertise and they can give you repeat work.

In the vein of scarce and valuable  it is more important who you know than how many people you know. (Yet another argument against Linkers on LinkedIn ) If you are in marketing I probably cannot help you to generate revenues directly, but the VP of Marketing for Ford, or Tesco or maybe even Google. (Unlikely I suppose)

When IBM bought PWC for $8 billion they did so partially because of their "boardroom access"; code for network of course. I have held more than one position in Europe and Latin America partially because of my network, and my clients benefit from the fact that I can facilitate networking opportunities across industries and countries.

Do not doubt the competitive advantage of your network. Whether it helps you to get in touch with people who can give you work, or whether it actually drives others to contact you or refer you.

What do you know?

In a hyper connected, information overloaded world unique knowledge is exceptionally rare. And when it exists it is generally a temporary situation.

So uniqueness of knowledge is not going to happen...but scarcity could do.

I have worked on reliability engineering projects in the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and Australia. There are precious few people in the world who can make a statement like that. That makes my ability to understand large scale change and how it is affected by cultural differences (or more importantly how it is the same) is pretty scarce. It's an advantage.

Your combination of experiences and skills are scarce, nobody else has exactly what you have - you just need to know how to weld them into a competitive statement. Maybe its your combination of skills. An engineer with an economics degree, an economist with a degree in ancient history, a marketer with a passion and intimate knowledge of adventure sports.

Whatever it is - sifting through all the things you can do  and have done will help you to find which can be combined to produce a competitive advantage.

A track record of achievement

Related to the others, this is also a killer competitive advantage.

Under any circumstances, at any time, and in any market; if you can show that you have done this or similar in the past. And you have a line of people who are willing to tell about how you were able to draw immense value while doing it, then you are head and shoulders above.

This is particularly true within specific industry verticals. Your track record of achievement makes you a "safe pair of hands" for people to place their trust in. Someone that industry members will gladly tell their colleagues about , and someone that competitors will compare themselves to. (The greatest of compliments, and not a bad marketing tool either)

In essence... you can draw competitive advantages out of what you are today. Should you invest time and money in creating scarce IP - definitively! Should that stop you from speaking about competitive advantages that you already possess ...never!

Principles of Street Smart Consulting

A few random thoughts on Street Smart consulting and some of the principles that I have used to great success over the years. I am pretty sure that these concepts are useful for small business as well as consulting practices. 

Not an exhaustive list, but one that I think contains the kernels of success. I have reduced them to statements, so some of them will probably inspire questions.

1. Create, find and spread leading practices

2. Be the news not the ads

3. Extraordinary value (Always, every time)

4. Don’t be a commodity, ever!

5. Build trust based assets (Passive revenue generators)

6. Leverage trust to leverage time

7. Allocate capital wisely (Spend wisely, not cheaply. And spend on things that will increase revenues or profits)

8. Referrals win, every time (And B2B referrals win over trusted source referrals)

9. Innovate always (Embrace and follow technology)

10. Engage as equals

11. Deliver value and get it acknowledged

12. Spend wisely, not cheaply

13. Don’t ask if they can’t say yes.

14. Think in years act in minutes

15. Don't try to be where they are, be what they are looking for

16. Adapt. (Social media is where many clients are now - are you doing it well there?)

17. Develop and market IP continually

18. Under-promise and over-deliver

I had a few more, about 24 in total. I think I need to turn this into a 30 page eBook... 

4 key to thought leadership

The consulting industry is always one step away from being a commodity. And the problem with being in a commodity industry is that you can only compete on issues like price and guarantee of supply. (And the second one isn't as scarce as you would hope)

How can you stop from being seen as a commodity? There are many ways, however the principle way I know is to make your offerings both scarce and of value. (This, combined with Trust = Magic Formula consulting)

Both of these are actually more complicated than they appear once you start to dig down into them, but scarcity is the hardest one to really master.

Scarcity can be many things. It could be the IP you hold, the software you (and you alone) are able to bring with you, your experiences and your skill combinations.. heck it can be many, many things. But one of the real winners is if you are seen as a thought leader.

Thought leadership is scarce by nature. By definition there can be only one leader - so how can you make sure that leader is you?

If you follow Seth Godin  you will notice that he is often bucking the trends. He advocated permission marketing at a time when display banners (interruption marketing) were the rage on the internet, he picked up on the fact that winners actually do quit, and he has been predicting the demise of the newspaper industry since before it was trendy to do so.

Michael Gerber is another classic thought leader. He broke down the entire concept of entrepreneurship to take away the mythology and instead proposed a very practical, step by step approach to creating a great vision for your company and acting upon it.

So what are the common themes?

1. A leader doesn't do what everyone else does. That would be following.

A leader, particularly a thought leader, is evaluating what everyone else is talking about, and looking at the other side of the coin.

If everyone takes it for granted that it is true, then it probably isn't. The world used to be flat, the boom was going to last forever (every time), sub-prime mortgages were a great idea and so on.

When we got our first PC, a 286 I think it was, my Dad said "This has a 20 meg memory, we couldn't fill that in our lifetime even if we tried!" and all his computer mates agreed...

2. It must be short and concise

Great ideas, particularly great ideas that are contrary, must be able to be boiled down to a very simple and powerful statement or paragraph.

Some of the greats I recall or have coined are: (Apologies to the originators of these if I misquote them)

• Not how many but who - Seth Godin in relation to the death of mass marketing 

• Don't try to be where they are, try to be what they are looking for - me in relation to trust based marketing

• Don't focus on the activity, focus on the outputs - Alan Weiss on Value Based Fees (R)

• Vertical Loyalty is dead - Daniel Pink talking about how work has changed in Free Agent Nation 

• Change doesn't take a long time, it takes a nanosecond - Tom Peters on Excellence (I think)

There are many, many more - but you get the picture.

Short, compact, yet complex. They carry a lot of detail. How do you know? because when you tell people they inspire questions.

3. They must be fact based

"10 anecdotes does not data make" Alan Mather, phenomenal IT consultant from the UK. If you are going to make a statement against the present trend then you need to be able to prove it.

Stories, tales, research, case studies and statistics are all mediums of proof that you can use to support your version of the truth once you have it formed.

4. It must contain obvious and recognizable value

I have an opinion on just about everything. In particular I have a lot to say on raising small dogs like Jack Russells. Unfortunately nobody is too interested in this and it isn't going to help anyone make more money. (Which is what this blog is all about)

So its out...

All of the statements above, the contrary points of view that are listed, contain an easily recognizable kernel of value.

There are more, of course, but these are four elements that I have been able to use to great commercial effect when trying to stake out a scarce position in the marketplace.

If you have any others please add them below... I'm sure that being open is a strong part of thought leadership also.

Turn your LinkedIn account into a powerful revenue generating tool!

In the past couple of months I have met two CEO's of companies that I may want to partner with at some stage, and three VP level executives who I am actively pursuing a long term commercial relationship with.

All of this happened because of LinkedIn. It is easy to fritter away hour after hour networking like mad with very little to show for it. But if you try to make connections instead of contacts, and relationships instead of sales, then it all comes together a lot easier.

1. Be authentic and sincere. 

• Don't invite people with the standard LinkedIn one liner unless you know them very well, and they have already agreed to link on the network. 

• Its bad manners and takes a heck of a lot for granted!

• Answer sincerely without linking back to your site, products or services. If you are only bombing related areas with uninvited statements about how great your stuff is then people will tend to shy away from you.

• Take your connections seriously. Hide them on LinkedIn, respect their privacy and don't send them emails that are unanticipated, or promotional.

• Post news articles that teach, help people to learn, and provide real and significant value. There is a lot to be said about the benefits of "giving it away" - another post.

• Don't use the one liner, one paragraph stuff on your profile. Fill it out, get a professional shot taken and post that. Make sure it fits with the persona you are, and the persona you want to exude. 

• Collect recommendations. Not spam ones, but real ones from people who others would see as a trusted source. 

• Only give recommendations to people you know and can truly vouch for. Period!

• Make sure your headline ells the world actually who you are and what you can do. Do not use the Top Linked, or LION tags. I avoid those people like the plague. I have better things to do with my time than to link to people who want me as another notch on their profile.
  

2. Be consistent

• Comment on questions in your areas, and on discussions in your field. Not everyday, but regularly.

• Networking is marketing. Spend at least 30% of networking time on your LinkedIn network and it's management. (And spend the other 70% on real world networking)

• Join a handful of related groups and regularly post items there from your blog. Be very clear on this... they should not be commercially focussed - ever! Always try to add value, teach and inspire, not get under their radar and spam them. We are all too wise for this these days.

3. Become a center for networkers

• I have two groups for related areas. One is related to my day job and the other is related to my passion. (Consulting) Each of these are open forums for others to network in. 

• Set up your groups to take your news feeds. So your posts appear there automatically. 

• Also, set the group up to receive other news feeds. Our group (Consulting Pulse) has several feeds including the feed from this site. It also has the feed from Seth Godin's blog, Dan Roams blog, and a news feed from Topix.com. I intend to add more.

• Protect them there. Just as you would hide your connections to stop them getting spammed by people who know you are "connected", you must also protect members of the group from being spammed. 

• Get rid of spam posts and ban their authors. Move the jobs to the Jobs tab, participate in teh discussions and send regular announcements. 

• Again - make sure the announcements are ntwork oriented - not "buy my stuff" oriented.
  

The group has 2,500 members  and growing very fast. I am dedicated to making it a safe haven for consultants to network and learn, and a place where they can get in touch with a lot of the latest thinking on the field of consulting.

4 Leverage off-network tools

• Collect great recommendations from great people. be harsh. My colleague is a great guy and would be happy to give me a recommendation..But I already have several from colleagues and I can't risk filling it up with people who are not as authoritative as some of my other connections. 

• Use them! Put them in quotes, on documents, as part of the dust jacket on reports you print and publish and so on. These recommendations, if collected correctly, are gold. They are referrals from trusted sources and they add a lot to your ability to engender a willingness to trust in your prospects. 

• Put your LinkedIn profile link into your email. Always helps. 

• Make sure your blog is listed in the LinkedIn profile. (The vanity page) 

• Be welcoming. When somebody joins your group send them a personal email. Not a cut and pasted one but a real one. Welcome them, offer them your blog and newsletter as additional resources for them. And just generally be nice. treat them as you would like to be treated. LinkedIn has become too much of a meat market, old values still hold.
  

5. Use it!

• Connect with people who use the medium. And who are likely to be connected to other people you might share mutual interests with. 

• Do people searches for roles, people and companies in your network. 

• Send InMails to people asking if you can contact them. Note - not asking for permission to connect with them on the network, but if you can get in contact with them in the physical world. 

• Always be humble. The network does help you to get an answer. But you are still sending an email to somebody relatively powerful, and it was unexpected. So be humble, make sure to ask if this is appropriate or not. (You get the picture)
  

This is all pretty straight forward and common sense stuff I think. I am sure there are others out there who have success stories and other hints and tips that would be worthwhile. 

I hope you will post your experiences, success stories and additional tips in teh comments below. Good luck, and I wish you powerful networking!

Can you compete?

In an industry that is quickly becoming filled by commodity players there is a need for you to separate yourself from the competition. Seeking, developing and marketing your difference, or your competitive advantages, is not something you dedicate time to each week - it is the hallmark of how you operate.

In a world where literally everything is bought and sold online, Amazon.com uses extraordinary customer service and accurate deliveries - globally - as a differentiator between them and their competitors.

Insurance is a commodity industry. Policies are all the same and pricing is easily comparable. There is almost nothing to distinguish any insurance company's policies from that of their competitors.

Yet Warren Buffet has built a franchise business (Geico, GenRE) out of financial discipline, the ability to pay - no matter what the price, and a willingness to not deal at any price.

Accenture distinguishes itself by an incredible depth both vertically and horizontally in the fields related to corporate change, and Alan Weiss has done so through providing thought leadership in a range of consulting related areas.

The difference between a commodity and a franchise is that a commodity competes on price. Whereas a franchise can raise prices without suffering any losses in either clients or the amount of work they charge for.

Here's how I would deal with this. What are you scarce capabilities? A skill, combination of skills or experiences that, while not unique, are hard to come by.

It might be a particularly large and arduous project, a rare combination of niche knowledge with a mainstream discipline, (Like probabilistic analysis and (say) Succession planning, there must be something in that...) or it could even be the depth that you are able to offer that no others in your area can.

Whatever it is you need to discover it, sharpen it up, market it, and then add to it.

In a game like ours, with more and more people streaming into it every day, competing is not a percentage of your week - it's your life. Fun isn't it !!

Memorable presentations and the art of storytelling

The world is filled with free or cheap information these days. You can find statistics on most things that you could want to know. And if you have to pay for it the likelihood is that it won’t cost too much.

This means that facts are becoming devalued. Actually, what I am finding is that people are more likely to question the facts, to question their origins and to look deeper at the intentions of where they came from. And I think that’s a good thing.

So if you are going to do a presentation, then you have two options.

• You can torture them to death with page after page of statistics and facts.

• Or you can put those facts into the context of a story or parable.
  

Stories get remembered; facts get questioned. Stories are entertaining; facts are dull and often unbearable. Stories tap into our emotional instincts; facts tap into our logic centers.

And we don’t just make decisions based on logic. In fact, we are more likely to make decisions based on emotion.

There are several classic story structures. Try this one on for you and see how it goes.

The Beginning: A problem emerges. A company, person or team is faced with insurmountable odds, a nearly indescribable challenge, and certain doom. Some ideas are floated, but they are quickly rejected by naysayers. (The bad guys)

The Journey: Through blood, sweat and tears our hero(s) fight against the unbeatable odds to achieve incredible results; often without acknowledgement or reward. But their determination and clarity of vision allows them to pull through.

The Result: The reward, the successful homecoming after a hard won battle. The implications on a wider scale, and what is going to be required if this is going to continue.

Don’t make it up. Stories shouldn’t be aside from the facts; they are just a great vessel for your fact to have a greater impact.

Want to practice a little bit? Write a mini-saga…

Mini-sagas  are a great idea. They began with the Daily Telegraph in the UK and I learned about them from Dan Pink in his great book A Whole new Mind .

The idea is to try to write a dramatic tale in just 50 words. Not one word more or less, but 50 exactly. Since discovering this it has given me a great mental exercise for how to tell stories.

If you are working now on a conference paper, a presentation for sales, or a project report back then re-write it as a tale. This is a story of great problems, actions that were above the call of duty, and results worthy of the effort.

Siphoning Revenues

There is a lot to be said for siphoning revenues from market leaders. This is a strategy that has worked remarkably well for a number of consultancies all over the globe and one that each of us should at least consider.

Sapient  is an IT company with fingers in just about every area of the business. But it started out as an SAP service provider. To this day SAP services makes up a large percentage  of their income stream. They earned $565.99 million in revenues during 2007.

Astadia is another company that has grown through the siphoning model. Formed by a merger of two sales focussed companies, Astadia is the #1 , according to their website, partner for Salesforce.com and the dominant player in the world of SaaS VAR's. On October 1 they received $7 million in financing, and continue to grow their practice globally.

In my own history is a company called Mincom, a formerly Australian organization delivering enterprise software to capital intensive industries. They have generated many small to medium sized competitor companies made up of ex-employees or others with experience.

Just in case you think this is all about IT companies - many, many people made money out of Deming's TQM approach. (Or the later TPM approaches) Many people are making money out of Motorola's 6 Sigma. Heck, entire companies and products have been built around the Balanced Scorecard thinking and approach!

Siphoning revenues from existing market leaders is a wise way for a company to establish a beach head in an industry. But it doesn't come without rules and risks of course.

1) The market must be under-serviced. Not a difficult thing to do. Distribution comes at a cost and many, though not all, software companies who are looking to expand need partners to do so cost effectively.

Many clients, with a vendor who does not have the consultants to service them = opportunity!

2) You don't need the vendors permission. The vast majority of consultants out there working on SAP are not officially sanctioned. But they do it anyway, and they are successful at it. Most Oracle consultants are successful at it, though not formerly part of an Oracle network.

3) Be careful of IP laws. If you are going to take on a siphoning model, then be careful. Don't steal anything that doesn't belong to you, use your own stuff. And if possible try first to get permission for things that you are doing. You don't need permission, but things work better when everyone is in a win-win situation.

4) This isn't the only thing you do! Siphoning should not be a business model in itself. Otherwise you are too open to changes in technology, upgrades causing you to be locked out, and restrictions in the knowledge required.

A Siphoning model is a great, and easy, model for establishing a foundation, getting started, and for building the initial revenues to take the company to the next step.

But it is only that - anybody who has achieved long term success in consulting, that started with this model, quickly developed other product and service lines to follow up with.

What should I trust you with?

There is a misconception that people have to like you before they will trust you. I don't agree with this, in fact I trust a great many people that I don't like.

It depends what they want me to trust them for.

Simon Cowell is a case in point. I really dislike the guy. I think he's a bully, he's wrapped up in his own BS and he is far too harsh on young kids in front of a global audience.

But he's right almost always isn't he? If I ever see anybody ask him about somebody's talent or abilities; I listen.

He has proved his abilities to me beyond a shadow of a doubt. I love Il Divo, when I was a kid I was right into the whole Wrestlemania music thing, (Imagine) and I have liked just about every one of the stars that he has put his weight and recommendations behind.

He knows his game, he is good at it, and I trust his judgment fully.

They don't have to like you. Don't waste time trying to get them to like you, and don't waste your energy worrying if they don't like you.

But they have to trust you. They have to know, beyond any possible doubt, that you are the best person in your area for what they need.

How do they know this?

• Through people who will line up to refer you, 

• Through a track record that is bulging with facts and references, 

• Through demonstrated excellence and inspiring work, 

• Through your articles, blog, books or other products,

• and through every fiber of your being and how you conduct yourself.

But they don't have to like you. it does make life easier, it does make it easier to get work, but don't waste life over it. People can smell false sincerity a mile away. And when they do they will run a mile in the other direction.

It all starts with you, not with me or with the clients, but with you.

What is it exactly that you want me to trust you with? And how can you prove it beyond a doubt.

It's not what you know it's who you know

Most consultants are exceptionally proud of what they know. We pride ourselves on getting results, on teaching others how to achieve great things, and on how to navigate thought he hard times that they will encounter on their way to operational nirvana.

We think that's why they hire us. And because of that, we pride ourselves in it even more.

Unfortunately...we're wrong.

They don't hire us just because of what we know. The odds are pretty great that you are not the only person on the planet who has this knowledge.

The main reason they hire us is not because of what we know, but who we know.

How did they hear about you? What do their peers think about you? Can you give them references from within their industry? Or could you provide them with references from people that they know of and trust?

Part of this is about trust of course. Trust that you have the capabilities and the track record to deliver what they think they need. If you are recommended by people they know, or know of, and trust...then some of that rubs off on you...Trust can be inherited.

But the other part of it relates more to access to knowledge.

Who can you help them to connect to? What is the likelihood that you will have knowledge of best practices from within their industry or discipline?

Who you have access to, how you can help them to leverage that, and what is it about your network that helps you to provide greater value than the next guy to enter the room with a slide deck?

8 tips for getting the message across

Clear communication is dead simple. Yet it drives conflict, consulting failures, and total confusion. Here's a few small tips for getting the point accross.  

1. Tell them what they need to know. Don't tell them everything you know. 

How do you know what they need to know? Listen! 

Ask, clarify, paraphrase, and then answer exactly what they are looking for. 

If there is additional information that can help them, then indicate that. But assess what they need to know for the purpose of this presentation / discussion.

2. Over talking (aka Waffling) is always ego based. Either because you are a show off, or because you are insecure. And it doesn't help in either case!

Don't use ten words where three will do. They won't be impressed, they will be confused or frustrated.

3. If you have a lot of information to relay, don't write it in an email. Walk over, or pick up the phone, and tell them. Discuss the nuances. Emphasise the risks/benefits, and make sure everyone gets it.

Nobody reads the email anyway...

4. Don't say sorry. Ever! Sorry won't fix anything. If you are saying sorry then something has already gone wrong. Try to get to the point where you don't need to say sorry. (Not really getting the message across - more like eliminating the need for the message!)

5. Don't assume, listen. I have taught over 3,000 people in one particular field of reliability engineering and every course somebody asks me something I had never thought of in my life. Try to understand their perspective.

6. Draw. Talk with a pen in your hand. I speak two other languages. When I was learning these I used drawing regularly to indicate concepts, facts and to communicate things I didn't have the words to express verbally.

7. Tell stories. Always tell stories. People have an almost primal reaction to stories. Parrticularly if it references their situation, thoughts and world view. 

8. Just the facts. Ten anecdotes does not data make!! Do not make it up, rely on opinion, use unjustified anecdotes, or baseless statistics. Have the facts at hand in case you need to support what you are saying. 

Go with your gut

Whimsical: determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason; "a capricious refusal";"authoritarian rulers are frequently capricious"; "the victim of whimsical persecutions"

Examples

John made a whimsical decision to change suppliers and incurred a large loss of revenue cost as per the contract.

After a year of poor sales revenues it was clear that the strategy had been decided on a whim without any research.

Sue consulting team was subjected to whimsical changes in direction.

After one telephone call and a meeting you could say McCain made a whimsical choice for the VP slot.

You get the point right.

Ten Anecdotes does not data make. Act fast, be decisive, don't wait. The path to success is filled with cases where massive action has led to extra-ordinary success. But don't be whimsical...

Check the facts, research the situation, work through the scenarios. And do it quickly. Then act.

Peter Petrelli and the Art of Consulting Well

Okay, so I'm a big fan of Heroes. It's part of my generation, we grew up with Marvel comics and the like, so Heroes was a great discovery to make.

When you work as part of a consulting team it is tempting to think that it is like the ensemble from Heroes. Each has their own specific "power" such as speaking publicly, relationship management, technical prowess, sales and so forth. And when we work together we are a formidable team.

But it's not like that is it. If you want to be truly successful as a consultant, then you can't just be one of the team with niche capabilities - you need to be Peter Petrelli!

That means that you need to be able to mimic the "powers" of all other consultants that you meet. 

As a consultant you are the coach, subject matter expert, technical guru, public speaker, sales guy and the marketer. You need to be able to turn your hand to all facets of our discipline at a moments notice - and to be able to do so convincingly. 

This means you need to be able to learn. The ability to find good mentors, copy them, perfect their talents and then add your own specific twist to them is a very understated area of consulting expertise. 

Equally, you need to be able to cover a range of consulting areas. Business Process design is great while there is a demand for it - but if it dries up what are you going to do?

I spent years in asset reliability when it wasn't fashionable, I think the only thing that saved me was the ability to turn my hand to speaking and ERP issues at the same time. 

Their are plenty of people out there telling you that to specialize is wise. And to a degree they are right - you do need a couple of areas of deep capabilities. But if that is all you are able to do then you are only good in a very narrow and niche area. 

Who are your mentors? Are there people near you who have undeniable talents that you could learn from? Can you get onto a couple of the lead sales guys meetings? What about attending a few presentations from the firms leading speakers or trainers?

This is yet another reason why the level of consulting education out there is inadequate, it's far too narrow in most cases.