Your Network Is The Key To Success. It has become increasingly apparent to me over the years that a successful business consulting or coaching business is not driven by your academic qualifications, your knowledge or your skills, but by your access to a network of people whom you know and whom are willing to recommend you to others. I would [...]
What is the Biggest Bottleneck in your Business Consulting Practice? If you work in a large business consulting practice, chances are that you have a team supporting what you do, and you don’t really get caught up in day-to-day administration, chasing the next assignment, or typing up your conclusions and recommendations. You probably don’t have to worry too much about [...]
The Challenges Faced By Small Consulting Practices – Part 3. Last week and the week before, I introduced some of the challenges faced by solo-consultants and small consulting firms and provided some recommendations about how consultants may address them. The first post introduced the first 6 challenges consultants must deal with, and last week’s post dealt with another 6 challenges. [...]
Understanding The Value Proposition. One of the biggest challenges for independent business consultants is to get potential clients to recognize the value of what they can deliver - the value proposition. More often than not, the potential client is focusing on cost and not value. So how can we move the needle so that the value of what we deliver [...]
Having The Right Conversation With Prospective Clients. Are you still having the same tired conversations with prospective clients or are you having the right conversations? Do you still go to networking events and try to work the room but achieve mediocre results? Are your conversations about you and what you can do? Even more importantly, is your conversion rate from [...]
How Company Culture Impacts Consulting Assignments. Company culture comes in many different flavors. For this reason, business consultants need to have awareness of the flavors on offer before commencing each assignment. Why is this, you might ask? The answer is that the company culture will actually determine if your assignment will be a success or not. Here are some of [...]
Role for Politics In Small and Medium Businesses. This week I decided to publish a video I shot a couple of years ago on the topic of the role for politics in small and medium businesses. It features my own experience of political maneuvering in the corporate world as well as some of my views on how appropriate politicking is [...]
The Perils of Using LinkedIn Groups As Part Of Your Marketing Strategy. LinkedIn is the biggest business-to-business social media platform right now. It has a unique appeal because of its large global membership. Even as a non-premium member, you get to build your online profile, as well as to participate in a diverse range of groups with whom you can [...]
Helping Our Clients Succeed – The Ultimate Measure of What We Do. Management consultants only exist to serve the needs of clients. Without clients, we would have to get proper corporate type jobs, or start real businesses for ourselves. Okay, I agree that this is somewhat tongue in cheek, but it is a reminder that we are indeed here to [...]
What To Do If You Are Just Starting As A Management Consultant. If you have a lot of business experience and want to use your skills and knowledge to help other businesses, you might decide that it’s a good idea to become a management consultant. But what exactly does a management consultant do and how does he go about it? [...]
The Experts Need to Keep Learning From the Experts. Some of us involved in the business consulting industry are doing it a long time, while others are just starting out. The range of experience and expertise we bring to our clients varies widely. There is, however, a common theme we all share and that is the need to continuously upgrade [...]
How to Help Entrepreneurial Businesses to Scale. Some entrepreneurial businesses have a vision to scale. However, as we all know, statistics say that 80 to 90% of all start-up businesses fail. There is a common thread here and by far the most frequent reason for failure is poor management, representing about 42% of business failures. The next most frequently seen [...]
How to Avoid Working With Consulting Clients From Hell. Those of us working as business advisors, management consultants or business coaches, need to exercise care when selecting clients to work with. It is not always easy at the pre-engagement stage, to spot clients that don’t fit with your style, your business ethics, or your way of working. This often results [...]
