Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants

CEOs Sweating Bullets Too

You're not the only one who's concerned about the state of the economy. In a global survey of CEOs by PricewaterhouseCoopers, only 21 percent of CEOs are very confident about the growth prospects for their companies in 2009.

In response to the weakening economy, look for CEOs to hunker down by attempting to maximize returns from existing markets, rather than expanding into new ones. In the short-term, CEOs are working to maintain sources of credit, preserve revenue, use working capital more effectively, and manage costs. Translation: Expect more layoffs to roll through the economy.

On a separate note, a survey of public opinion by PR firm, Edelman, shows that statements by corporate chiefs concerning their businesses are considered to be extremely or very credible by only 17 percent of respondents, a six-year low. It was hard to believe that anyone would spend more than $87,000 on an office area rug, as the former CEO of Merrill Lynch reportedly did.

Top Consulting Firms to Work For

When Fortune magazine released its annual report of the "100 Best Companies to Work For," consulting firms were featured prominently among the best of the best companies.

 

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) claimed the number three spot on the list, edging out contenders like Google and Cisco. The most common job at BCG is consultant, and the average salary for that role tops $140,000.

 

Accountants and consultants at Plante & Moran appeared on the list for the 11th consecutive year at the 42nd spot, followed by Ernst & Young (51), Booz Allen Hamilton (52), and KPMG (56).

 

In a year of turmoil for many firms, executives at KPMG doled out bonuses totaling more than $100 million. And Dennis Nally, audit firm chairman at PricewaterhouseCoopers (58), told employees, "We have no plans to downsize, rightsize, or reduce our staffing levels."

 

What these firms understand is that in a time of economic stress, retention of people remains a strategic priority. Instead of simply slashing payroll, they look for other ways to tighten their belts. And that behavior will serve these firms well once the economy turns around.

What Are You Here to Do?

It's always useful for clients to let people know why they have hired you, especially when you need cooperation to get the job done. But some introductions work better than others.

Have a look at this excerpt from a memo to the company from Jerry Yang, former CEO of Yahoo!, about his decision to hire a consulting firm:

"As we look ahead and to position us for success in 2009, we're continuing the work already underway to get fit as an organization: actively looking for ways to make process and structural changes to our business that will allow us to work more efficiently, with more scale. We've enlisted the help of Bain & Company to work with the leadership team on identifying ways to leverage our strengths, and to improve and accelerate our performance."

When people read euphemisms like "get fit," "structural changes," and "work more efficiently, with more scale," they think layoffs. Most consultants know that working in a tough environment is part of the job. But sometimes it's better for the client to say nothing at all than to send an evasive, jargon-laden message that raises more questions than it answers.

What's worse is that this type of introduction sets the consultant up as the bad guy when executives make the hard decision to downsize the company.

Not long after the above memo went out, Yang announced, "We anticipate we will reduce headcount by at least 10 percent" by the end of the year. Yang was later replaced as the Yahoo CEO.

Whenever possible, make a substantive contribution to the message your client uses to introduce you or your firm. Emphasize clarity over corporate-speak and brevity over bloviation.

If your firm's introduction has the client team members scratching their heads in confusion or stifling laughter, be ready for a slow start to your project.

The Myth of Merit-Based Pay

At some time or another, you've probably been through a performance review at work. Hopefully, you got a well-deserved salary bump based on that assessment.

For decades, employers have sorted employees into various segments to recognize different levels of performance and to hand out "merit" pay increases. If they're honest about it, most managers will admit that they would rather clean the office refrigerator than conduct another performance review. And that aversion isn't always because they dislike the task, but because the process is broken in most companies.

Some academicians are now suggesting that merit-based pay programs don't improve employee or organizational performance. My reaction to this finding can be summed up in one word: Duh! You'd have to be living in a cave not to know that the paltry merit increases many organizations mete out won't sustain a person's motivation to go all out for any job.

Plus, in organizations that rely on pure merit increases, some people inevitably exhibit behavior that's beneficial to them, but detrimental to the team. What is interesting, though, are the ideas floating around to deal with the issue.

Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, suggests that group bonuses, profit sharing plans, and other gain-sharing arrangements are more effective than the traditional merit pay strategy.

The stakes in how organizations handle merit pay are huge. Human resources executives help manage the $4.5 trillion that US companies spent on wages and salaries in 2008. And, they'll also have a say in how to divide up the $200 billion increase in wage and salary spending for 2009.

For most people, gain-sharing approaches to compensation seems obvious, but many organizations are stuck firmly in the past. Consultants have an opportunity to help clients see the benefits of alternative compensation approaches and the potential productivity gains that can result.

Dubious Cures for Jet-Lagged Road Warriors

Jet lag is a familiar malady to most anyone who flies across time zones. And it's been studied by scientists for years. The first study on the effects of jet lag, which the FAA conducted in 1965, found that all test subjects felt fatigue and experienced significant impairment of "psychological performance."

Over the past few decades, researchers have completed dozens of studies, using humans and lab animals as test subjects, without much luck in finding a cure. One such study found that jet lag in hamsters was reduced when they ingested small doses of a well-known erectile medication. For humans, that treatment has obvious drawbacks. Who comes up with these ideas anyway?

One study, published in the May 2008 issue of the journal Science, reported that fasting for sixteen hours before a long-distance flight might enable travelers to better resist jet lag. The theory is that fasting can reset the brain's internal "clock," helping it adjust faster to a new time zone.

I'm sure most flight crews would dread any flight carrying large numbers of passengers who were starving before they even boarded the aircraft.

So if you have your own method for overcoming jet lag, stick with it for now. Science isn't ready to help out the road warrior yet.

The Silicon Ceiling?

According to a report by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology at Stanford University, almost one-third of women in high-tech careers plan to leave their current positions and look for other options because of frustration about barriers to their advancement.

The report also said that men are nearly three times more likely than women to attain high-level technical positions. Also, women make up an "increasingly smaller proportion of the workforce at every level" in technology firms.

It's not like women haven't been trying to make their marks in IT organizations. More than two-thirds of the women surveyed reported that they deliberately put off having children to pursue their careers. The result: Women in IT are skeptical that employers fairly reward work based on merit, and they believe that employers view them as "less technically competent" than their male counterparts.

You'd think IT executives would get a clue that they need to do a better job of keeping good people, especially women. Women make up 46 percent of the US workforce, and that number is growing. If you have IT clients with a talent shortage--or one looming on the horizon--take a look at how your clients help their professionals manage their careers.

And don't just stop once you learn about the "extensive retention" program most organizations claim to have. Those programs may look good on paper, but this problem is likely rooted in corporate culture and subtle behaviors that an HR mentoring program can't change. Organizations that address this issue will find themselves with one less strategic problem on their hands. But hard work lies ahead to get it done.

The Top Ways Clients Buy

For most clients, finding the right consultant is a three-step process: Identify potential firms, assess the choices, and decide who to hire. An online survey of 220 professional services buyers conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit reveals how clients are using a combination of referrals, online resources, and one-on-one interactions to help decide which provider they want.

The top three ways clients find service providers are: Peer and colleague recommendations (65 percent); existing contacts at professional firms (43 percent); and search engine inquiries (38 percent).

When clients need help, 67 percent of them consider the providers they've worked with in the past, but they also conduct research on others who may have the services and skills they need. As clients conduct that research, their opinions on providers are most influenced by one-on-one meetings (74 percent), provider web sites (41 percent), and case studies and white papers (39 percent).

For the majority of buyers, once they've narrowed their list to the finalists, the decision comes down to competence and expertise. For professional services providers, the news is good. Clients are actively engaging with online content and using search engines to find appropriate firms.

Keep your practice well-placed in the search rankings to give you the visibility you need to grab the attention of potential clients. But if you do attract them to your site, be sure your content supports your claims to competence or you'll lose those potential clients before you even have a chance to talk to them. Download the complete report for no charge.

How Many Ways Can You Ask How?

Once you have a sales lead, it's easy to get swept up in the thrill of the moment. Even the most veteran consultants get excited when the chance for a new project or a new client presents itself.

As you proceed through the sales process, you'll find that one simple question, asked at just the right time, can open up your sales conversations and lead to new insights on the issue the client is facing.

That one question is the topic of this month's newsletter.

Enjoy the article, and let me know what you think.