Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants

Implementation

A recent issue of the Consultant's Tip of the Day, published by IMC USA, contained this opinion:

"The dominant value of management consulting services is in diagnosis, not necessarily in implementation services."

Given that most of us begin projects with some form of diagnosis, that perspective sounds reasonable. Whatever the assignment, it's unlikely that you would launch a project without uncovering the underlying reasons for the initiative.

But it's tough to create insightful diagnoses without a deep understanding of the problem, which usually comes from our past implementation experience. That experience sharpens our ability to diagnose problems, and I think the two must go hand in hand.

I've met strategy-focused consultants who have only an intellectual grasp of the complexities of implementing a strategic plan. Often, the result is strategic plans that take longer to create than anticipated and are more difficult to implement.

I find it troubling that some clients don't demand proof that their consultants' diagnostic skills reflect current knowledge about how things work--in the real world.

Anyone can put together a presentation deck and make recommendations. But we must ask two questions: Will those recommendations really work? And, how do we know?

The answers to those questions come from our depth of implementation experience.

P.S. You can sign up for the Consultant's Tip of the Day by visiting http://www.imcusa.org.

Stop Airline Colds

If you think you caught your last cold on an airplane, it turns out you could be right.

According to a study in the Journal of Environmental Health Research, you may be 100 times more likely to catch a cold on a plane than you are in your everyday activities.

Among the many ways that people get colds while flying, the study zeroed in on the extremely low cabin humidity of most airplanes. That's because low humidity compromises the body's first line of defense against harmful germs and bacteria.

You can protect yourself against airline bugs by staying hydrated, keeping your hands clean, gargling with disinfectant mouthwash during a flight, and taking a multivitamin on a regular basis.

It all sounds like advice you'd get from your mother. But following that advice just may help you fight off a vicious head cold or a nasty flu bug.

If Marketing Met Sales

Researchers at The Bloom Group found that less than one-third of the professional service providers surveyed had high or very high success creating awareness about their services and expertise.

Most reported only moderate traction in creating market awareness among their targeted clients. When asked about their efforts to generate new relationships with prospective clients, survey respondents indicated equally disappointing results.

Bloom's researchers found something that most everyone understands, but consistently ignores: Effective coordination of firm marketing and business development leads to more client awareness, more opportunities for relationship building, and more sales leads.

Too often, firm leaders let marketers and business development managers pursue independent paths to the same targeted clients. The predictable result is overlapping efforts and a poor use of resources.

If, for example, you have boxes of unused article reprints or special reports stacked in a closet, that's not a good sign. The easiest way to get your marketing and business development teams pulling in the same directions is to get them together to discuss the matter.

After all, both teams have similar objectives, and the power of integration should be obvious. Imagine if you could boost your success in establishing new relationships, even just a little.

Source: The Bloom Group

Should You Blog?

Many consultants ask if they should jump into blogging to add power to their market presence. Blogs certainly are pervasive. In fact, if you listen to the experts, you get the impression that everyone should be blogging.

In this month's issue of the Guerrilla Consultant, we talk about how you can decide if blogging is right for your business.

Read the article.

Goodbye Booz Allen Hamilton

After months of anticipation, Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) recently announced that it would sell its US government consulting practice to The Carlyle Group for $2.54 billion, which is roughly two times the revenue for that BAH practice.

BAH is retaining its commercial practice, and rebranding it as Booz and Company. Ads in the New York Times have been hailing the new firm.

Paul Collins, consulting sector M&A expert from Equiteq, says that the transaction demonstrates "the difficulty that Management Consulting firms have managing pure consulting and general business services under the same roof."

It took BAH a number of years to build a profitable business services practice to serve the US government. That practice, Collins points out, has a very different "staff profile, culture, and competitive market than the original BAH firm."

Only time will tell if this transaction is good for BAH clients, partners, and employees. Collins estimates that the 3,300 professionals remaining in the new Booz and Company must produce conservatively at least $1 billion in revenue to keep pace with past performance.

Practitioners in the government practice face an even greater revenue challenge. But they can look forward to a potential IPO in the future.

As Booz and Company reinvents itself, the consulting industry's future is morphing before our eyes.

Every person who helped build that storied firm to its place of prominence will mourn the loss. Then, they can move on to the next chapter in building two new firms.

CEO = Career Ending Opportunity?

CEOs bolted from their companies in record numbers in 2007. Top executives at 81 of the world's 500 largest companies zoomed off in their limos to 'pursue other opportunities.' In North American companies, CEO turnover jumped 50 percent from 2006, with the US credit crisis, mergers, and buyouts fueling the exodus.

In almost a third of the cases, though, the company booted the CEO, which is also up from previous years. Perhaps shareholder pressure to align pay with performance reached the boardrooms of major organizations last year.

Whatever the cause of the turnover, newly appointed CEOs weren't necessarily recruited from outside of the organization. In almost 70 percent of the cases, companies plucked new CEOs from within their own ranks.

Even if the new CEO is a veteran of the organization, consultants can help that individual get off to a fast start. Many consultants routinely prepare an organization assessment for new executive teams that highlights emerging opportunities and high priority issues.

Don't expect to use such an assessment to sell work, but to build relationships. If your assessment is useful, it will pave the way for future business.

Data Source: Weber Shandwick

The Power of Firm Branding

Few would argue against the point that personal relationships fuel sales success in the consulting business. But some firm leaders remain wary of the ROI of branding programs.

In their recent study, Fees and Pricing Benchmark Report: Consulting Industry 2008, RainToday.com researchers uncovered compelling arguments for branding the professional services firm.

Firms with strong brands in their markets experience better fee realization, stronger growth rates, and higher profitability than lesser known firms. Granted, many factors contribute to the performance of consulting firms, but with this extensive survey of almost 700 respondents, the case for branding gains strength.

The report offers analyses of current pricing challenges, strategies, and tactics used by every size of consulting firm.

The sections on fee structures, discounting, and pricing models will give most any consultant an excellent benchmark for making strategic pricing decisions.

This report is the best one yet from RainToday.

Prospecting by Email

Every week or so, I receive an unsolicited email like this one:

I just wanted to drop a quick email to you and see if we could assist with any of your current openings? We work on contract AND full-time positions and I am confident that we can find candidates for any of your hard-to-fill openings.

Please advise at your earliest and I look forward to hearing from you shortly. Thanks!

Name Withheld
Account Executive

On more than one occasion, I've gone to the sender's Web site to see for myself who is condoning such a silly approach to business development.

It's frightening to think how much time and money organizations squander by allowing their people to blast emails out there that have no relevance for the recipient.

Many companies fail to use the power of email marketing. According to Jupiter Research, only 4 percent of marketers use some form of personalization in email campaigns.

If you plan to launch an email campaign--and they can be quite successful--be sure your message is targeted to those who will benefit from your message.

Compose an issue-based communication that addresses a known or forecasted problem your prospective client cares about. And make an offer of value. You may have some market intelligence, a report, or white paper, for instance, that clients want to read.

And if you ever discover that anyone in your organization is sending email like the one above, show that person to the door immediately.