| As
firms court their newest consultants, smart firm owners
will aggressively “re-recruit” their top
talent. When hiring escalates, it’s not unusual
for experienced consultants to end up earning less than
their newly hired colleagues. That inequity sows the
seeds of discontent, leading to a potential exodus of
highly skilled practitioners.
As recruiting heats up, look carefully at the compensation
of your existing practitioners so the recent spike in
hiring doesn’t result in unplanned turnover among
your stars.
A New Look Is Coming
Over the next couple of months, we’ll be sprucing
up MCNews and the Web site. The current design is approaching
its third anniversary, and it is time for a facelift.
If any of you have ideas on what you’d like to
see, either in design or content, please let me know.
As always, if you have comments, just send me an email.
Mike McLaughlin
Editor
"We don't see things as they are.
We see them as we are." - Anais
Nin
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Meet
the MasterMinds: Jerry Wind Reveals The Power of
Impossible Thinking
 When
I first saw Jerry Wind’s latest book, The
Power of Impossible Thinking, I bought
it immediately. Consultants’ ability to stretch
their thinking to meet unexpected challenges, or create
new approaches to old problems, is worth more than currency.
Wind’s book will help you flex your mental muscles.
Wind is the Lauder Professor and Professor of Marketing
at the Wharton School, and a world-renowned author and
marketing expert. Wind's twenty books include Convergence
Marketing and Driving Change.
In this interview, Wind says the way we think about
the world often limits what we can see and do, and he
sets forth a unique strategy to harness the power of
impossible thinking.
Read
the interview with Jerry Wind.
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Data
Mining – Competitively Smart, or Not Worth the
Effort? by Suzanne Lowe
 Most
marketers pore over their data bases of business intelligence
to discern customer buying patterns, price effectiveness,
and to make decisions about which products to push and
which ones to put out to pasture.
Professional service firms are the exception.
In this article, consultant and author, Suzanne Lowe,
discusses why data mining is so underused by professional
service firms, even though research shows that firms
using data mining are two to three times more likely
to report improvements in attracting and retaining clients
than those who don’t.
Read
Data Mining – Competitively
Smart, or Not Worth the Effort?
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New
and Notable Books
Generally, I’m not a fan of business
books that promise overnight riches for consultants,
those based on fables, or social networking books. I’m
making an exception this month—for a networking
book.
Never
Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi
What caught my attention about Never Eat
Alone is Ferrazzi’s view that there’s
a difference between genuine relationship-building and
the superficial back-slapping that usually masquerades
as “networking.”
For Ferrazzi, “It’s never simply about
getting what you want. It’s about getting what
you want and making sure that the people who are important
to you get what they want, too.”
Ferrazzi’s Web site (www.ferrazzigreenlight.com)
offers his recent articles, a book excerpt and more.
Beyond
Bullet Points, by Cliff Atkinson
In his forthcoming book, Beyond Bullet
Points, Cliff Atkinson tells us to dump
the typical sleep-inducing PowerPoint presentations.
Instead, Atkinson presents a 3-step process for putting
the power back into PowerPoint. The book lays out how
to combine the principles of classic storytelling with
the power of projected media to bring your ideas to
life.
You’ll find a sample chapter of the book and
other helpful resources at Atkinson’s Web
site and in his blog.
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Blogging 101
The hype machine is in high gear on the subject of
Blogs. Fortune magazine estimates
the number of blogs at over 5 million—and growing
fast. A Pew Internet study estimates that almost 50
million Internet users are regular blog readers.
If you’re considering adding a blog to your practice
but don’t know exactly where to start, here are
two resources that will help.
Guide to Corporate Blogging
You’ll get a great overview on business blogging
and find answers to what, why, and how at www.corporateblogging.info.
The site includes a downloadable guide to business blogging.
Beginner’s Guide to Business Blogging
Debbie Weil, aka the Mona
Lisa of Blogging, is offering MCNews
readers her primer on business blogging. She covers
the subject in a clear, concise, and entertaining way.
Her downloadable guide is available at Beginners
Guide to Business Blogging.
You might also want to read Weil’s guest
post about blogs on the Guerrilla Consulting blog.
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Consultants'
Market Watch
What’s IT Done for Us?
A recent report by Accenture tells us that, after years
of heavy investment in IT, companies are still struggling
with fundamental questions about what they have gotten
for their money.
Business executives have doubts about the relationship
between IT investment and business value, and they believe
that IT is under-delivering relative to what is being
spent. As you’d expect, IT executives have the
opposite point of view.
Consultants who end up in the middle of this debate
should advise their clients to consider three steps:
- Insist on fact, not fiction in every IT
business case. Too many IT business cases
rely on gross assumptions, not rigorous analysis,
to define project benefits and proposed cost reductions.
Most importantly, very few companies put cost-reduction
and benefit tracking mechanisms in place to measure
the outcome of projects. Without a fact-based business
case, the value of every IT project is subject to
criticism.
- Fix accountability for IT results squarely
with business owners. Most requests for IT
systems originate within business units, not IT. Sure,
there are exceptions. But if IT is supporting the
business, it’s the IT project’s sponsoring
business executive who must assume the lion’s
share of responsibility for project success. The days
of IT lobbing new software over the transom are over—at
least for enlightened organizations.
- Confirm IT project alignment with business
strategy. IT value results when projects
are aligned with the company’s strategy; it’s
not enough to just aim at putting out the latest fire.
Implementing project portfolio practices can help
executives decide which projects to approve and which
to put on the shelf. Many tough decisions must be
made in this process, but the business will benefit
as a result.
An unfortunate disconnect exists between IT and business
executives in many organizations, and that limits opportunities
for improving customer value and business performance.
These simple steps are a start. You can probably think
of many others.
Is Direct Mail Dead?
Consultants argue over the value of using direct mail
as a lead generation tool. My view is that direct mail
can be helpful, but only in very special situations.
The Wellesley Hills Group, a firm that helps service
and technology firms grow their revenue and client bases,
has another perspective on the use of direct mail. Read
their view.
The Pending IT Labor Shortage
The Gartner Group is raising the red flag on IT worker
availability—seven years in advance. The report
claims that there will be 21 million new IT jobs in
2012, but only 17 million people to fill them. The aging
U.S. population and the reduced number of people studying
IT will contribute to the shortfall.
It’s hard to quibble with the need for long-range
planning, and spot shortages of talent have plagued
the IT industry in the past. But I think the dynamics
of the IT employment marketplace will remain vibrant,
leading to a far less dire situation than predicted
by Gartner.
Of course, I could be wrong. Check back with me in seven
years.
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Mark Your
Calendar
If you are going to be in, or near, London
on April 22, 2005, have a look at the seminar, The
5 Key Steps to Winning More Consulting Fees in Less
Time, being hosted by Top-Consultant on that
date.
The seminar focuses on how consultants
can enhance profitability by:
- Changing how you price services
- Changing how you find new clients
- Refining your understanding of why clients buy
- Understanding the art of negotiation
- Adopting new ways of doing business, including
establishing alliances with other consultants.
More
information on the consulting seminar.
Two No-Cost Webinars with Jeff Thull
Selling, Delivering and Measuring Customer
Value
Wednesday, March 9, 2005, 12:00-1:00PM Eastern/9:00-10:00AM
Pacific Time.
Join Jeff Thull, President and CEO of Prime Resource
Group and author of The Prime Solution,
and David Stein, President of The Stein Advantage and
author of How Winners Sell,
to explore why sellers are unable to clarify the value
they provide, struggle to deliver the value they promise,
and pay a high cost in terms of business performance
and profitability. You can sign up at Selling,
Delivering and Measuring Customer Value.
Close the Value Gap - Executive Level Selling
Tuesday, March 15, 2005, 1:00-2:00PM Eastern/10:00-11:00AM
Pacific Time
The “Value Gap” is the high-cost breach
between the value promised and the value that customers
recognize, are willing to pay for, and can achieve.
In this Webinar, Thull addresses one of the key factors
in the Value Gap equation: the seller's inability to
gain access, establish credibility, and interact effectively
at the executive level. Sign up at Close
the Value Gap - Executive Level Selling.
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Coming
Attractions
 Next
month our guest will be Michael Gerber, author of the
best-selling book, The
E-Myth Revisited. We’ll talk
to Gerber about how his business development principles,
practices, and systems can improve the performance of
a consultant’s practice.
The next issue of MCNews will be published on April
5, 2005.
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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 is located at 410 Pine Street, Mill Valley, Ca. 94941
Michael McLaughlin
Editor
Management Consulting News ISSN 1539-2481, Washington, DC, USA
Copyright © 2005 Management Consulting News All rights reserved
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