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| Welcome |
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Over the past several months, the consulting industry
has been picking up steam. Reports from most parts of
the world indicate that demand is strong, rates are
good, and the scramble to find great people is at a
fevered pitch.
With
all that activity, it seems like a great time to discuss
two important topics: How are consultants planning for
the future? And, what sales strategies are most effective
in these heady times? This month’s guests—Jeff
Thull and Tim Berry—will shed light on those very
questions.
Enjoy
the newsletter and, if you have any comments, please
send me an email.
Mike
McLaughlin
Editor, Management Consulting News
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| Interview:
Jeffrey Thull |
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Jeff Thull, author of The
Prime Solution, suggests that most
consultants’ approach to business development
is like doctors requiring patients to diagnose
their ailments.
Part
of the problem is an overdose of “solution-based”
selling, which Thull believes is a losing approach to
differentiation.
Thull
has an antidote for this problem, and he shares it with
us in this month’s interview.
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| Business
Planning |
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 Business
Planning, Consultants, and Cobblers' Children, by Tim
Berry
"Do
you have a business plan? Or are you one of the multitudes
of consultants who talk about planning, recommend planning,
facilitate plans, but don’t have one?
An
amusing irony is how few consultants manage their businesses
with a good plan. Like the cobblers children with no
shoes, consultants fail to plan."
Tim
Berry knows about business planning. He is the author
of three books, including Hurdle:
The Book on Business Planning, which
you can read at no cost. You can also browse some examples
of consulting business plans at www.bplans.com.
Read
the article by Tim Berry 
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| What Client Execs Care About |
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Bermuda-based consulting giant Accenture has released
its survey of 425 senior executives at the world's largest
companies in all major industries and geographies.
It’s clear from the results that the war for
talent is in high gear. What’s noticeably absent
from the top issues for the world’s execs is strengthening
innovation.
| Top Issues for Senior Executives
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| |
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| 1. |
Attracting and retaining skilled staff |
35% |
| 2. |
Changing organizational culture
and employee attitudes |
33% |
| 3. |
Acquiring new customers |
32% |
| 4. |
Developing new processes and products to stay
ahead of the competition |
29% |
| 5. |
Increasing customer loyalty and retention |
29% |
| 6. |
Managing risk |
29% |
| 7. |
Improving workforce performance |
28% |
| 8. |
Increasing shareholder value |
27% |
| 9. |
Using IT to reduce costs and create value |
27% |
| 10. |
Being flexible and adaptable to rapidly changing
market conditions |
26% |
| 11. |
Developing employees into capable leaders |
26% |
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| Measuring
the Culture of Consulting |
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Consulting
industry veterans Fiona Czerniawska and Sarah Taylor
would like your help—just for a few minutes.
They’re
conducting a survey on “Culture and Methodology
in Consulting,” which will look at how culture
and the use of specific tools impact the industry. In
return for your completion of this confidential survey,
your name will be entered in a drawing which will award
books on consulting to five lucky winners. You will
also be able to view the results and receive a summary
report.
Take
the survey and enter the book drawing.
About the survey authors
Fiona
Czerniawska is the Director of the Think Tank of
Management Consultancies Association (MCA). She is also
Founder and Managing Director of Arkimeda, which specializes
in research and consulting for consulting firms. She
teaches at the London Business School, the Kingston
Business School in London, and the Haarlem School of
Advanced Management Studies in Holland. She is the author
of numerous books, including Business Consulting,
Management Consulting in Practice,
The Intelligent Client, Value
Based Consulting, and Management
Consultancy in the 21st Century.
Sarah
Taylor is Director of the MCA and has been actively
involved in the management and promotion of both industry
organizations and consulting firms.
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| Beat
the Blogging Blues |
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“Trouble on my worried mind,
When you see me laughin’
I’m laughin’ just to keep from cryin’.”
- Song lyric from “Trouble in Mind”
Consultants who have embraced blogging should beware
of the onset of an insidious affliction known as “Blog
Depression.”
As a public service, writers at www.thenonist.com
are helping depressed bloggers push through the darkness
with a pamphlet entitled What
Everyone Should Know About Blog Depression.
Have a look at the PDF if you or someone you know is
suffering from this perilous scourge.
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| Upcoming
Events |
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Prime
Resource Group Fall 2005 Seminar Series: “Mastering
the Complex Sale,” various dates
October-December 2005 in six US cities. Seminars are
based on Jeff Thull’s bestselling book, Mastering
the Complex Sale.
Top-Consultant/Management
Consultancies Association Careers Fair,
Friday, October 7, 2005, in London. 350 recruiters and
company representatives will participate in the Fair.
Australian
Marketing Institute 2005 National Conference: “What
Value Marketing?” will be October
13-14, 2005, in Sydney.
Institute
of Management Consultants Confab 2005:
“Be Ready for What’s Next” October
23-25, 2005, Reno, Nevada. Join Michael McLaughlin on
Monday, October 24, as he leads a session on “The
Art of Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants.”
National
Speakers Association 2006 Educational Retreat
will be January 5-8, 2006, in Tucson, Arizona.
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| Coming
Attractions |
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Our
guests next month will be Don Peppers and Martha Rogers,
founders of the Peppers & Rogers Group. They are
the coauthors of seven books, including Managing
Customer Relationships, The
One to One Future, Enterprise
One to One, and their most recent,
Return
on Customer.
They
present a new and innovative way to measure the long-
and short-term value of a company’s most important
asset—its customers. MCNews will ask Peppers and
Rogers how consultants can use this powerful technique
to help clients maximize their return on customers.
Look
for the next issue of Management Consulting
News on October 4, 2005
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