Consulting Zen

Okay today is a consulting zen day. 

I read a little quote this morning. I modified it a little bit to fit. If you are like me, which may be a bigger issue, you spend more time thinking about the future.

Keep this in mind for the remainder of the week:

If you think about what might have been,

or what might be,

you ignore what is.

And all there truly is - is what is. There is now. And then it's gone. Now. And then that's gone.

Nothing wrong with planning. It's when you are so busy living in the future you forget that the only thing you can control is you in the present or now. You (no one else and nothing else) and now (not yesterday, not tomorrow).

Take your eye off the now, go into the future or the past in your mind instead of just being and doing in the now, and you split yourself. This splitting of yourself, causes a lot of stress on your body. It ages you. It gives you ulcers. It raises your blood pressure. It makes you sick.

Stay in the moment. Focus and concentrate on the task in front of you. Let go of the outcome. And life becomes, frankly, better.  I am not sure how it works. I know it just does.

As professionals we are split. Living in the past: "I wish I would have . . . " Or "I can't believe that happened . . . " Or split living in the future: "When I get this, then I will take a vacation (be happy)."  Or: "I hope this happens (or doesn't happen)." 

Do you do this?  You are splitting yourself.

Our society, our work ethic says, do more, have more, then be. Focus on the outcome, the result, the end.  However, be now. Do now. Focus on the task in front of you like a mountain climber watching where he places his feet, looking up now and then, to see if he is still aimed at the right summit.

Keep your attention and focus in the present moment. That is
all there truly is. Where are you? Are you split in the future,
the past, and sometimes in the present? Talk about stress . . .

When you are too focused with eyes on the summit, you take your eyes off where you are (your footing), and you loose your balance as you lose your hold on where you are today. And you stumble. Perhaps even fall.

This practice is probably one of the hardest to teach and harder to absorb and make part of our daily regimen.

Try it by practicing it.

You Cost Too Much. Really? Differentiate or Die.

When working with clients, depending on who you are talking to and at what level, you can see them turn pale when you tell them your rate.

The Org Chart - similar to the food chain -
but by no means inferring someone is a snake or rat! The point
is to know where you are in the decision-making food chain! 

The story will go like this:

Customer: "So, tell me your hourly rate."
You (consultant): "I don't have an hourly rate."

Customer: "Well, how do we know how much you cost?"
You: "It depends on the project."

Customer: "Well, it will be a short project."
You: "How short?"

Customer: "Real short."
You: "My price will be probably be real low."

Customer: "How low?"
You: "About as low as the project is short."

Sound familiar?  Sounds like a little bit of Dilbert here.  Clients at the lower levels of the organization want to know your hourly rate. They also want to know how you will do it. They will dig and dig to find out the hourly rate in an attempt to save money. 

However, clients who are at the upper deck of the food chain want to know that you can solve the problem and how soon. This is how that conversation goes:

Client: "Can you solve my problem?"
You: "Yes."

Client: "How long will it take to get done?"
You: "About six weeks.  However, there are some people from your staff that need to be available. If they aren't available for information, then it could take longer."

Client: "I'll make sure everyone is available."
You: "Great."

Client: "When can you start?"
You: "As soon as I wrap up this other project, I can probably start the preliminary work next week and be full time on this the following week.  Will that work for you?"

Client: "Yes."
You: "Let me get the paperwork in order and I will send it over to you by noon tomorrow."

Client: "Great"
You: "Okay, thanks for your time."

Client: "Oh yes before I forget. What are the costs for this project?"
You: "It's a flat fee of approximately $35,000.  I will run the final numbers tonight and have that to you as part of the paperwork."

Now, life doesn't always go according to plan. And these conversations don't always go like this. But the people in the upper decks of the client's organization are more concerned with a few things:

1. Can you get the results?
2. How soon?
3. When can you start?

Often, in these cases price is hardly part of the decision equation. It's about the result: can you get it done and how soon.

In the lower decks of the organization the things that matter most are these concerns:

1. What is your hourly rate?
2. What if my colleagues think I should be able to do this and can't?
3. Is there anyone else who is cheaper?
4. Should I get two or three more companies in here for quotes just to be safe?
5. Do you have references and can I talk to them?
6. Have you worked in the same environment with the same technologies in the same vertical industry?

One group of people is concerned with results. The other group is concerned with lower level needs: security/self-esteem, failure, and looking bad.

It pays to deal with people higher up in the food chain.

Increasing Professionalism - Trusted Advisor? Part 1

If you are in sales or delivery, you know that the relationship with the client - when you really have a relationship that is - is very much like a patient-doctor relationship (except you don't keep the patient waiting in a white barren room without any clothes for 20 minutes).

When you have a high value relationship, it is the highest form of professional interactions that can take place.  In fact, the relationship involves more trust than the traditional customer-sales representative relationship.

Never Talk Out of School

You are in fact a consultant to the client.  And he (or she) respects and regards your opinion and solutions highly.

In order to be a client, the client decision-maker must have a high degree of confidence that they can place confidential and proprietary information into your hands.

I have been in situations where the consultant (the seller or seller's team) would receive information that was proprietary or confidential and the information would leak out.  I have had consultants work with me and say "Everything we say here is between the two of us" and then a week later the President of the Company call to ask me about the exact situation that I described to the consultant.  Obviously, this only has to happen once before one shuts down and never tell information to the consultant again.

If you want to be valued, to be part of the team, you should be very careful with what you do with ANY information someone tells you. If the information is vital, if it is critical to the company, you have some moral and ethical obligations to consider regarding whether you raise them up the organization's hierarchy or not.  However, you are a "trusted" advisor.  Yes, we have all heard the term, a lot, and who doesn't consider themselves a "trusted" advisor?  But it is not you who gets to decide whether you are a trusted advisor or not. It is decided by the client.

In order to move a one-time customer to a life-long client,  be professional, be discreet, and be, frankly trustworthy by not talking out of school.

Increasing your professionalism is critical to your success whether you are a consultant, contractor, in delivery, in sales, or management. And that goes for whether you are dealing internally with your firm or externally with the client.

Be someone others can count on not to gossip or talk out of school.

Increasing The Personalization of Consultative Selling - Part II

This is Part II in the series.  This section is called . . .

Increasing the Personalization of Consultative Selling

Central Role of the Seller
The key and central component to the selling process is the seller of consulting services.  This goes for any service (IT, accounting, consulting, management, etc).  The seller is the irreplaceable operating element in the process.  Please note the term "selling process." Selling process is about the client experience which ultimately defines the level of confidence the client has about the firm itself.

The consultative seller exerts control over the selling process, bringing the right people into the sales process at the right moment.  He or she facilitates, guides and leads the process. The consultative seller becomes the focal point for all client interaction.  The more complex the sale is or the more value in terms of the sale, the consultative seller's role becomes that much more important to the relationships with the people in the client organization.  The role takes on a personalization element between the client and the firm - managed and led by the consultative salesperson. 

In other words, the seller becomes the leader of the sales process because of the control he or she must bring in order to move the process along to closure and implementation.

Pressures to Perform
The seller of these services has an extraordinary amount of pressure to meet both the client's expectations and the need of the firm that he or she represents.  For the most part, the pressure usually stems from the firm, not the client, surprisingly, and these pressures determine the success of the sale.  The pressures can be numerous, as cited below;

1. Right Support Staff - does the seller's firm have the right support staff to match the client's needs (technologies, operations, etc) and match the client's personalities and culture?
2. Leadership control - is the seller continuously second guessed or is the organization supportive in making the transaction happen?  Is the support team (from management to contracts to technology to delivery) truly a support team and cooperative or combative?
3. Communication vehicles - are there easy methods to communicate the client's situation, updates, needs etc or are they cumbersome, internally focused creating a burden on the seller?
4. Competing Priorities - is the staff facing competing priorities?  And of course they are, but how is this managed and by whom is this managed? By the seller?
5. Quarterly revenue and profit objectives and related pressures.
6. Contract Language Acceptance and Reviews
7. Project/Product Pressures for time, cost, staffing, and scheduling

Of course the client is unaware of all these internal pressures, and yet still the seller needs to be the outward, calm, Rock of Gibraltar - the leader in the sales process.

Personally Involved in the Sales Process to the Client
The client only cares about getting the project complete and meeting the objectives in a timely and cost efficient manner. And the client only sees the seller as the leader is the seller meets the following four conditions:

1. The seller must become personally involved in the client's current operations and future desired state and help determine how the solution will help the client bridge the gap.
2. The seller must become involved personally in preparing and presenting the client solution, defining solution objectives and if possible, measurable business results. The client must sense the seller's confidence in the solution being proposed.
3. The seller must act like he or she "owns" the process. This means the client expects the seller to actively manage the selling phases and has the responsibility for getting the tasks complete.
4. The seller must "express measured confidence" in the solution - which is different from the extreme of; "exuding enthusiasm" and on the opposite side of the spectrum "cautious yet guarded hopefulness."

The personalization of the seller's role plays an important part in selling complex high value consultative sales.

Next - Part III

OK - For the Self Esteem Deprived - Here's Something for YOU to Consider . . .

Just what the doctor ordered . . .

Moving From Product Selling to Consultative Selling

Article #1.  Read this first before moving to Article #2
Going From Product Selling to Consultative Selling
In this post I will begin to outline what it takes to move from product selling to a more consultative approach.

Taking a Consultative Approach
A consultative selling approach is about how you sell a solution.   This is really about how you provide service to the decision-maker once you understand there is a need or a problem you can help the decision-maker solve.

Let's first define "solution." If a client has a problem or a need, your recommendation is the solution. Let's not overly complicate anything at this stage.  I realize this might be a little simplistic, but for now let's leave it a that.

This goes for providing a person (called contract staffing) to providing a specific piece of hardware or software or a combination of all of these.

Solutions become more complex as one adds more of these (people, hardware, and software) to meet the client needs. As you add more of these component, by the very nature of adding more, the more customization is taking place.  The complexity of the solution has variables including not only price, but also time to purchase (decision-making time), number of people in the decision-making process, the time to implement the solution, the number of staff required to implement the solution, number of hardware and software components, the Measurable Business Results (cost saving, revenue generation), and the risk (what if something goes wrong, how hard is it to fix)?

Transition From Product Selling to Consultative Selling - Three Attributes
In order to make the transition (in some cases it would be a transformation) from a product-centered sales person to a consultative-oriented sales person there are essentially three key core attributes that need to be developed.

These three core attributes will affect the seller's relationship with the decision-maker in terms of what is sold, the type of relationship that get cultivated with the decision-maker, with the value that is received and perceived in the relationship from the decision-maker's viewpoint.

This transition will also affect future purchases by the customer and how he or she interacts with the seller's company as well as the seller.  The net result is that the purchase will be made more on the sales process rather than on the product itself.  The selling is based on how the seller manages the sales process and helps lead the customer to a decision.

By using the sales process, there are many benefits. One that I will jump right into is that the customer moves to a more loyalty based decision. That is future purchases will become more preferentially- based, rather than shopping around.  The process becomes a buying/decision-making experience. It become "experiential" much like some commodity companies have packaged their commodity goods.  In this case think Starbuck's.  You are not just buying the coffee, you are buying the experience as well. From the music they play, to the greeters, to the ability to sit and plug-in your laptop to coffee variations. 

Here the relationship moves from customer - someone buying a one-time product based on price - to a client - someone buying because they feel the seller has their best interests at heart and will protect them from failing.  Note the words "protect them from failing" which may seem pretty strong, but I assure you they are not.

Three Relationship Attribute Changes - An Overview
Here are the three attributes of the changing relationship with the client from product to consultative;

1. Increased Personalization of the Relationship. Product sales are based on the performance and price of the product only. Consultative selling is based on the performance of the seller during the decision making process and the seller's ability to control or at least influence and participate in the steps of the process.
2. Increased Decision Maker Participation in the Relationship.  The word that comes up is collaboration.  When the seller just provides the specs and the price of the product and walks away - this is the old model of selling.  And the customer has expended a minimal amount of time in the process before getting a solution.  But in a consultative approach, the more participation from the decision-maker(s), the better informed the seller is about what the decision-maker is looking for and the decision-maker is buying into the end solution that is being proposed.
3. Increased Professionalism of the Relationship.  Product sales are based on the older traditional model buyer-seller relationship.  This is where the buyer is on the opposite side of the table.  And "all buyers are liars" adversarial point of view.  The newer more is the client sees the seller as a consultant, and the seller sees the consultant as looking out for his best interests and protection.  The word that comes up - is trust.

Will will explore these three attributes in greater detail in the next upcoming posts.

Admit When You Are Not the Best Solution for the Client’s Problem

Remember the consultant's creed is much like a doctor's; "Do no harm." So admit when you are not the best solution for the client’s problem.

Your client is not stupid. He or she has been around he block and has seen it all. When you try and fake it the client sees right through your attempts to be all things to all people, he will not be able to tell what really are your stengths.

By admitting to the client that you are probably not the best choice, the client will more than likely be impressed with your candor and honesty that he will remember this and will probably try to find other things he needs done that you can help him with.

The worst thing for you to do is when you try and fake it – that is you try to make your solution fit the client’s problem – you wind up with a client who is harmed by your inability to deliver.

Allow Others To Be Your Teacher

Not Knowing Everything
In our profession, we tend to believe we should have all the answers. While intellectually we know this is impossible, we can get defensive if someone tries to tell us something we are not quite ready to hear.

Defensiveness Harms Us All
It is this same defensiveness others have when we try to "enlighten" them. When we tell others something or try to get others to change, we meet resistance, and we return their defensiveness with our defensiveness.  All of this happens in micro-seconds and often, without our awareness.  But we transmit our feelings with our body movements, microscopically, that the other person picks up subconsciously.  It can be a series of minute body movements of the eye, lips, shoulders, breathing, hands . . .

I have digressed a little - but I know you've read enough about psychology that you know what I am referring to. It's just that we forget these points when we are meeting with clients, peers, manager and even our family members.

Becoming "Enlightened"
We have to become even more "enlightened" in our jobs and roles. The ability to listen is one thing. The ability to suspend judgement is quite another.  The ability to suspend judgement and not leap to labeling this item as good or bad, true or false, expensive or cheap, etc., can be critical to becoming better in our roles and work.

If you can walk away from this with the thought "I will listen deeply and allow new contradictory information to flow into my mind without judgement or evaluation, so I may learn something new" is the critical thought pattern that allows you to go from good to great.

Suspend Judgment
We should allow others to be our teachers.  This doesn't mean that we have to accept everything they say, but it truly is to our advantage to listen to them and see if what they are telling us is important and of value.  And determining if this is important and of value does not have to be decided right then and there in the moment as they are telling us this.

A Side Benefit
A side benefit of listening and suspending judgement other than that of learning something new which in and of itself is of great value is the fact that it makes the other person feel good. Yes. When we listen, the other person's self-esteem goes up. They will want to communicate with us more, they will feel better about themselves and therefore be more confident in their work. And when we listen, the other person tends to listen to us.

Amazing. Can it be that simple? Yes. Most of the time it is that simple.

Allow others to teach you. It is usually when we are in a rush and can't listen that we cause harm. Or it is because our self-esteem is low (permanently or just for that moment) that we refuse to listen and evaluate the information as wrong, bad, incorrect, etc.

I hope you listened and suspended judgement upon reading  this today!

How To Become a Consultant - 50 Things You Do Right Now

Here's the 50 Things List on How to Become a Consultant . . . as I promised!

First and foremost, you are already a consultant.  That's the thinking you need to wrap your mind around - even if you are working for a large company.

I was asked - "So where do I start in becoming a consultant?"

I am going to list out the things - while not totally complete - you need to do to move you toward becoming an independent consultant.  Don't let the length of this list "fool" you. It is not scary. And the things listed out here are things you should be doing ANYWAY to become better in your profession!

The Best Place to Start is Right From Where You Are
This is a list to start with right from where you are.  AND any managers looking at this - do not be afraid to share these with your staff. A good professional and a good consultant have almost exactly the same skills and attributes. Who could argue with these?

The Consulting Starting Point List

1. As you are working for a company - think - I deliver value to the client (end-user, my manager, my division, my company - YES - all of these entities).
2. What is the VALUE I do bring? Is it programming, or Business Analysis, or Reengineering, or WHAT?  Define it.
3. Translate that VALUE into Money Savings, Money/Revenue Generated, Time to Market - something.  If you cannot - keep this in your mind.
4. What do I know? What have I accumulated in the way of knowledge or a process or a program or a product - that says I am a little better, a little different, that can be leveraged (used) in other jobs or projects?
5. What is my knowledge in the industry or sub-segment of the industry? How is my knowledge different or better or more than others I know?
6. What is my knowledge in my area of expertise - as it lays against my industry? Am I a strong accountant in the Health Care Industry that understands Patient P&L and Health Care Profitability? Or something along a similar vein?  Do I know iPhone Application Development in the Banking industry?
7. Can I write? Can I build proposals?
8. Can  I develop strong, short PowerPoint Presentations that encapsulate what I am recommending? And what I have done? Can I incorporate diagrams that denote what I am trying to convey?
9. Can I speak publicly?  Have you gone regularly to Toastmasters, or Dale Carnegie or a Public Speaking course?  Can I present and get my points, my facts, and my opinion across?
10. How do I look? Do I dress professionally appropriate? Am I uncomfortable with stepping up my appearance? Am I willing to work on how I look?
11. Can I run and facilitate a meeting? Do I capture notes well and am I willing to incorporate them into a document and share these publicly in a Word doc or an email?
12. Do I work hard? Am I willing to get up early and stay later?
13. Am I a proficient Time Management person? Do dwaddle? Or do I work from a list that is prioritized - every single day?
14. Do I read and study my field? Am I trying to become an expert on the things here listed out?
15. Have I created a Blog and do I write regularly?
16. Am I concerned with perfection on things that don't need to be perfect and therefore this keeps me from trying in the first place?
17. Do I know how to get and keep clients?  Have I done any type of business development in the past? Can I transfer to a group that is more front line facing to learn how to win business?
18. Can I write on a whiteboard and explain my thoughts in a diagram?  Can I capture the thoughts of the group on a whiteboard?
19. Do I know how to run and participate in a meeting?
20. Can I talk without rambling? Can I get to the point and not waste managers time?
21. Do I and can I - ask powerful questions when meeting with a user or client?
22. Do people go away from meeting with me and say "That was a worthwhile meeting?"
23. Can I translate what the client issue is into root causes?
24. Can I translate what the client issue is into ancillary problems?
25. Do I recognize when I talk to the client and gather information that I need to go out and survey others and verify issues and then clarify issues to make sure we are addressing the true issues and get the desired results?
26. Do I have confidence but not arrogance?
27. Can I run a project?
28. Can I create project status sheets, identify risks, identify best practices, build a project plan, identify interdependencies, get the right people on the team, create communication plans, etc etc etc?
29. Do I understand - it's about delivering results.
30. Am I likable to some degree?  I am not talking about becoming a beauty  pageant queen or king. And I am not talking about being a sycophant or lapdog or Ms Popularity 2012. But do you have a good demeanor? Do you smile often? Care about people? Do you have an understanding of what I am talking about here?
31. Are you PASSIONATE about what you are doing?
32. Are you PASSIONATE about YOU?
33. Are you a complainer? Not a good thing by the way.
34. Are you a leader? Can the client (your manager, end-user, etc) depend on you?
35. Are you RELIABLE?  Do you do what you say you will do?
36. If something goes wrong - will you state "I was responsible and here is what I am doing to correct the matter?"
37. If something goes wrong - do you learn a lesson and incorporate it into the project or your repertoire?
38. Breath. Stop. And just relax here. It seems like a lot - but these items can be incorporated into your slowly and surely . . .
39. Are you building a roll-a-dex of people you know in the industry? What is a roll-a-dex?  Jeez - okay, all I am talking about here is capturing names and contact info, as well as likes and dislikes.
40. Are you looking to network with peers in other companies and ancillary companies or industries?
41. Are you looking for opportunities to publish your findings internally and externally?
42. Are you continuing any sort of education? You don't need an MBA or PhD. Sometimes it helps. But it is not required.
43. Are you positive or negative? Are you looking for what's right or what's wrong? A good consultant looks for what might go wrong and this is very important. However, they have a positive positive, can-do attitude.  By the way - it is stupid to be positive about jumping out of an airplane with no parachute. So, if you have a project assignment that you feel is impossible, this is tough love stuff, get it out on the table with your client. Don't wait to go splat on the concrete by being positive and jumping out of an airplane.
44. Back to 43 above.  Can you identify the risks and build out risk mitigation plans.
45. Can you bring a team together?  Can you rally a team and not rail at them?
46. Can you identify the different types of personalities in the room or project team or your clients and communicate in the manner they need to be communicated with? In other words, a CFO is going to want to be factual and analytical. She will want fact based information with stats or numbers. An HR EVP will want facts but will probably by more concerned with the morale of the group, department and corporation. A division head if they originated from sales will have a little bit of both but will lean toward the future and sales growth and needed processes and staff.
47. When things go wrong (and they always will) can you keep your head?
48. Can you eliminate defensiveness? Can you eliminate anger?  Can you keep your mouth closed at the appropriate times? Sometimes our passion and desire to do well - gets a little misguided and comes up as anger and defensiveness. It's a thing to keep in check. It's too much PASSION misguided and misdirected.
49. Do you volunteer for tough assignments? Are you willing to continually stretch yourself?
50. Will you set a goal today? To do one or two of the things on the list? And start?

Last - take this list - place it in a spreadsheet (why do we love spreadsheets?) and give yourself a rating. Go to your boss and give the list to him and ask him to give you a rating. And go to a client (not a friend for Pete's sake! (who is Pete and why do care about his sake?)) and ask him or her to rate you.  On a scale of 1 to 5 or I prefer the big numbers 1 to 10.  You can get some feedback as to where you are and what areas you need to work on.

By the way - start now and 12 months from now you will not realize what has happened.

There are a host of other things that are not listed like Negotiating. I know this.

I will make it a list of a 100 soon. I told you I was not done :-)

 

You Shouldn't Bid or Propose on All Work That Comes Your Way

As a professional consultant there is a great temptation to bid and propose on any and all work  you hear about.  You must become very disciplined as to what you are bidding and proposing and why you are doing so.

Everyone likes to be busy in consulting, contracting and providing professional services. We must be billable in order to be making money.  And this sometimes translates into a bad practice where you bid and propose on things you have no business bidding on.

Wasted Energy, Time, Money and False Hopes
I have seen small companies make proposals and large companies make proposals on things they should not even engage themselves with because they are not a fit. But the mere act of proposing makes one feel like they are working.  A manager once said, "It feels like work, but it's not work."  Don't get caught up in this whirlwind.  You can spend a lot of money and especially time and get no results.  And worse, dilution in the marketplace what you do perform well by the mere act of bidding and proposing on everything.

Two Principles To Ask Yourself Before Proposing
There are really just two principles to follow along these lines. Have you met with the client and his or her staff regarding their needs?  And have you done this type of work before?  If you can answer "Yes" to at least one of these questions you may want to propose.  Of course there are a host of other questions to ask yourself once this is established, such as; "Is this what we want to be known for?" And "Is there follow on work?"  And so on.

So with these two questions, you can quickly surmise that the two ingredients needed for a success proposal come down to "Can you address the client's needs and does the client recognize this?"

Here are the two ingredients:

1. A relationship with the buyers of the services. Is there one? Have you met with each one of he decision makers and influencers who are going to be evaluating your proposal? And I mean relationship where they really understand your capabilities and you have a viable solution for them. Sometimes you have to ask them straight out these questions.  No use proposing if they are mealy mouthed about the answer.
2. Have you "Been there, done that" before?  In other words, do you have the qualifications? This means do you have the ability to get this project complete without risk to the client?  Or, and this is the 800 pound gorilla in the market question; Do they know you and your firm, so well that they know you can deliver? Are you that well-known? Of course this is what branding does for you if you are meticulous on what you are working on, so that you are well known in the market that people call you! And this is really tied into NOT trying to win projects you have no business trying to win.

Learn to say "No."
Learn to tell the client "No" and then explain why your firm does not have the right experience or expertise needed to help them. You will be one of a handful of people willing to tell the client this by the way and this will make you stand out.

And beware, sometimes clients want 30 or 40 bidders so they can say they did their due diligence. It sounds far better to say, "We had 30 proposals" than to say "We had only two proposals."  The immediate thought on the second response is: "What did you do wrong that you only had two firms responding. This is known as becoming "cannon fodder."

The second area to beware of - is that some clients send out RFIs and RFPs and RFQs to do market research.  They may not want to have a firm come in to do something and are looking for reasons why something should not be done.  We see this in outsourcing a lot.  Also they may be just getting information together to figure out how they can do the work internally.  I am not saying this always happens, but yes it does occur. So beware!