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Meet
the MasterMinds: Sales Strategies of a Rainmaker with
Jeffrey Fox
 "The
Rainmaker does not use the word consultant" says
Jeffrey Fox, consultant, best-selling author and the
founder of Fox
& Company, a marketing consulting firm. His
books include How
to Become a Rainmaker, How
to Become CEO and How
to Become a Marketing Super Star.
Winner of Sales
& Marketing Management magazine's
Outstanding Marketer Award, Fox has worked for
twenty years with clients in more than sixty
industries to help promote new products, raise
marketing productivity and speed the pace of
innovation.
MCNews talked to Fox about his views on how consultants
can become sales and marketing super stars.
Read
the Interview
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What's
a Consultant Worth?
A recent study by Abbott,
Langer & Associates, Inc. will help answer that
question. Now in its eighth year, Compensation
in Consulting Firms reports on national median
total cash compensation for a host of positions within
consulting firms.
| Position |
Median
Income |
| President/Owner/Partner
|
$150,000 (some make
over $1,000,000) |
| Senior or Executive
Vice Presidents |
$144,200 |
| Vice Presidents |
$136,965 |
| Branch Managers |
$129,700 |
| Principal Consultants
|
$98,000 |
| Chief Financial Executives
|
$83,500 |
| Senior Consultants
|
$80,000 |
| Chief Marketing/Sales
Executives |
$71,692 |
| Consultants |
$58,817 |
| Junior Consultants
|
$48,248 |
For consultants, the highest compensation is earned in
executive search, systems development and integration,
financial strategy, management and mergers/acquisitions
consulting firms. Compensation is lowest in government,
marketing, employee compensation/benefits and health care
consulting firms.
The 157-page report can be purchased from
Abbott, Langer & Associates, Inc.
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Meet
the MasterMinds: Al Ries on The Immutable Laws of Branding
a Consultancy
 Al
Ries is a consultant, best-selling author and chairman
of Ries & Ries,
a marketing firm that specializes in branding strategy.
Along with his partner, Laura Ries, Al Ries has consulted
with hundreds of companies around the world on key branding
issues. His client list includes AT&T, IBM, Intel,
Merck, Silicon Graphics, Green Giant and self-help guru
Tony Robbins.
He is the author or co-author of nine books, including
The
Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, The
22 Immutable Laws of Branding, Positioning:
The Battle for Your Mind, Focus:
The Future of Your Company Depends on It and
The
22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.
MCNews asked Ries how consultants could brand their
practices in today's crowded marketplace.
MCNews: What is your view of the state of marketing
and branding among professional service providers, particularly
consultants?
Ries: I think that most professional service
providers are good at selling, but not at branding.
In other words, they do a very good job of rounding
up prospects and making presentations to sell their
services. On the other hand, they do a lousy job
of branding.
To build a brand, you have to stand for something in
the mind. BMW stands for "driving," Volvo
stands for "safety," Mercedes-Benz stands
for "prestige."
But what does the average professional service firm
stand for? Nothing. Take the accounting firms: what's
the difference between PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG,
Ernst & Young and Deloitte & Touche? I don't
know, and I'll bet most of their prospects have no idea
either. They just hire the accounting firm that puts
the best team on their accounts.
MCNews: Many consulting firms use advertising to
build their brands. Is advertising an effective tool
for this? If not, what other branding strategies should
consultants consider?
Ries: It can be effective, but not unless it
says something that "positions" the firm.
PR is generally a more effective branding strategy to
establish a position in the mind. After that position
is established, then you can switch to advertising to
maintain the position.
Safety advertising is effective for Volvo because everybody
perceives Volvo to be the safe car. Advertising doesn't
have the credibility to put a new idea into the mind.
If your advertising says that you are a "terrific
consulting firm," who is going to believe it? Everybody
says that.
MCNews: What are the two or three keys to success
in using public relations to build a brand?
Reis: You need an idea to start with. You need
a unique position that you can use to try to get into
a prospect's mind. You might, for example, pick out
a segment of the market that you are the leader in and
then position yourself as the leader in that category.
If you are not the leader in any category, you can
try to establish yourself as the "alternative,"
or the No. 2 brand in the category--as Pepsi-Cola is
to Coca-Cola. How do you do that? You ask yourself "what
is the leader's position?" and then you become
the opposite. Coca-Cola is "the real thing."
It's the original cola as a result of its introduction
more than a hundred years ago. So Pepsi became the opposite
with its strategy to go after teenagers. "The Pepsi
Generation."
You need a spokesperson. The best spokesperson is almost
always the chief executive. We recommend that the chief
executive of any major corporation spend at least half
or more of his or her time on outside public relations
activities.
MCNews: Some people suggest that publicity is free.
Do you agree? If not, what are the major cost categories
of a successful public relations program?
Ries: Nothing in life is free. Good publicity
requires a lot of time on the part of internal people
and sometimes the hiring of expensive PR firms.
The major cost of PR, both internally and externally,
is the cost of the people involved. Most of the other
expenses are relatively minor.
MCNews: Any tips on how a consultant can get started
with a public relations program?
Ries: You need to decide first the scope of
the program. There are probably four levels of activity.
The smaller firm needs to do it themselves. When the
firm gets larger, it can probably afford to hire a freelance
PR person on a part-time basis. When the firm gets even
larger, it can probably afford to hire a full-time PR
person. The next step up the PR ladder is to hire an
outside PR firm.
In all cases, a lot of time needs to be spent internally
on PR activities. Unlike advertising, you can't delegate
all of these activities to an outside agent. The media
wants to talk to the source, not the outside mouthpiece.
MCNews: Some consultants struggle with naming their
consulting practices. Have you got any advice on what
to consider when naming or renaming a consulting business?
Ries: It's a people business, so the first names
to consider are those of the people themselves, especially
if they are still alive. Even dead, a people name is
probably better than any other name. Ernst & Young
is a better name than KPMG.
If you are the CEO and your name is lousy, change it.
Ralph Lifshitz was a designer who wanted to become a
famous designer, so he changed his name to Ralph Lauren.
There are many, many consultants out there with names
as bad as Lifshitz, but in my experience they almost
never change their names. Tragic.
Faith Plotkin wanted to get famous, so she changed
her name to Faith
Popcorn and her books and consulting practice have
made her famous.
Avoid the bombast name. There are a lot of one-person
consultancies out there with names like "Worldwide
Global Marketing, Advertising & Sales Consultants."
In names, bigger is not necessarily better. Bigger
often sounds foolish.
MCNews: If you could give a consultant one piece
of marketing advice, what would it be?
Ries: Focus. Whatever you are doing today, your
business would be stronger and more profitable in the
long run if you concentrated your activities on one
industry, one region, one function, or one problem.
When you try to be all things to all people, you end
up being nothing.
What's a Chevrolet? It's a large, small, cheap, expensive,
car or truck. It's also a brand that used to be the
leader, but has lost its leadership to Ford.
MCNews: Thanks for your time.
Visit www.ries.com to find out more about Ries
& Ries, their books and consulting services.
Market Intelligence: The Ideal Consulting Employer
Last year, Top-Consultant.com
and Prism
Executive Recruitment conducted an intriguing survey
on what consultants and aspirants are looking for in
their ideal employer. The survey attracted 7,100 respondents,
seventy-one percent of whom were consultants. You might
find the results helpful as you plan recruiting strategies.
Clients and Cash Are King
The most important factor for consultants was quality
of work/clients. The report went on to note that most
job seekers were not well informed about the quality
of work and clients at competing firms, suggesting that
more emphasis could be placed on this important topic
during the hiring process.
Salary was rated next in importance, but the importance
of benefits fell almost to the bottom of the list.
Job vs. Career
Respondents rated partnership potential and job security
dead last in importance. In today's market,
it's possible that many consultants view a long-term
career in consulting as unachievable or undesirable.
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Newsletters
We Like: Top-Consultant.com
Top-Consultant.com is a website
devoted to the global consulting sector. To
fast track your career and get immediate access
to the latest news, views, appointments and
trends in the world of consulting click on their
link http://www.top-consultant.com/UK/career/appointments.asp
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This
Month in History
On May 1, 1981, American Airlines began
the first frequent flyer program. Most airlines
now offer such programs, but American's program was
the first and has the most members--forty-five million.
Ironically, these days, forty percent of award miles
are earned on the ground rather than for flying.
May 6, 1994, the "Chunnel" linking England
to France under the English Channel officially
opened. The volume of rubble removed to build
the $15 billion tunnel increased the size of Britain
by ninety acres. The rubble, equivalent to sixty-eight
football fields, was made into a park.
World Turtle
Day is May 23. Turtles have been on the earth
for 200 million years. This day brings attention to
the protection of these reptiles, which have been around
a lot longer than we have.
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Coming
Attractions
"The world is full of boring stuff…that quickly
becomes invisible." -Seth Godin
Seth Godin changed the language and business of marketing
with his best-selling books, Permission
Marketing and Unleashing
the IdeaVirus. Godin joins us next month
to talk about how consultants can transform their practices
by understanding the lessons of the Purple Cow.
Have you ever had a difficult conversation with a client?
Doug Stone, consultant and co-author of Difficult
Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most,
joins us to shed light on strategies for handling any
difficult conversation. Stone is a partner at Triad
Consulting Group and teaches at Harvard Law School.
His articles on negotiation and conflict resolution
have appeared in the New York Times, the
Los Angeles Times and the Boston
Globe.
Look for the next issue of MCNews on June 3, 2003.
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The
End Page
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning
of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
- Winston
Churchill
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Management Consulting News ISSN 1539-2481,
Washington, DC, USA
Copyright © 2003 Management Consulting
News All rights reserved
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