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| Positioning |
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Last month, Capgemini's full-page ad in Fortune magazine featured a cartoon of two men wearing space suits--complete with helmets. They're sitting in bright red living room chairs, talking about something, on the surface of the moon.
The caption below the cartoon was: Together. Free your energies.
Following that tag line were six, content-free sentences singing the praises of the one firm that will "Find the best answer for you." Capgemini's marketing executives threw the firm's hard-earned money at a high-priced, glossy ad to send that message to prospective clients?
Fly ME to the moon.
If you look at the marketing communication of many consultants, you'll find similarly empty language and meaningless imagery. Instead of cloning an expensive mistake, why not tell your clients, in unambiguous terms, what you do? Why do so many firms feel compelled to lard up their communications with undecipherable prose and vague claims?
As you pull together your marketing communication, answer two questions about it before you spring it on the public: Is it clear what the firm does? And what action do I want my readers to take? If you find yourself creating a scene of talking astronauts, head back to the drawing board.
Enjoy this month's issue.
And send me an email if you have comments.
Mike
McLaughlin
Editor
Management Consulting News is a publication of MindShare
Consulting.
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| MCNews 12 Index of Professional Services |
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Are Outsourcers on the Ropes?
The S+P 500 staged a modest December rally in an otherwise unsettled year. As the year drew to a close, the index returned 4.38%, which is a long way from the 8.4% return it reached earlier in the year.
Stocks in the MCNews 12 Index followed the broader market and pulled out of a four-month funk to close the year at 1011. However, the anemic 1.11% annual return obscures the bullish returns for most of the firms in the index.
BearingPoint executives watched their stock price fall off the cliff and lose 62% of its value in the past twelve months. And the outsourcers also got hammered. Wipro, Infosys, and EDS saw double-digit declines in their share prices. Remove these laggards from the MCNews 12 Index and the annual return tops 16%, which is roughly four times the annual return on the S+P 500.
Investors are punishing the Indian outsourcers' stock prices in spite of their strong profit per employee, an important measure of performance for professional services firms. Infosys and Wipro generate some of the highest profit-per-employee numbers in the industry. But that strong performance failed to find its way to the stock price.
Some analysts argue that outsourcing firms offer a high-risk, commodity service, which may explain investor reaction to the stock. Interestingly, Forbes.com recently reported that Wipro executives were pondering a bid to buy some or all of Capgemini, the French IT and management consulting business. A merger of these two firms would diversify Wipro's service offerings and open new market opportunities.
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MCNews 12 Index |
YTD
Change |
S+P 500
YTD Change |
| December |
1011 |
1.11% |
4.38% |
| November |
965 |
-3.53% |
1.30% |
| October |
1007 |
.71% |
6.59% |
| Jan to Sept |
979 |
-2.13% |
7.28% |
The MCNews 12 Index reflects general investor sentiment about the state of the global professional services industry.
The twelve publicly-traded companies included in the MCNews 12 Index account for roughly $80 billion in combined annual revenue, and serve clients around the world.
Learn more about the MCNews 12 Index 
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| Interview:
David Maister |
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 "The necessary outcome of strategic planning is not analytical insight but resolve."
David Maister, one of the world's leading thinkers on the issues professional services firms face, believes that many firms know exactly what they need to do to succeed--and how to do it. But they get often get tripped up when executing their plans.
We discuss this issue, and others, in the context of Maister's new book, Strategy and the Fat Smoker.
Read
our interview with David Maister
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| Flying Solo, by Alan Weiss |
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 You Have Nothing to Fear but the Mirror
At various times in my career I've worked with the largest consulting firms to help some of their varied practices, and also with mid-sized and boutique firms to help transition to value-based approaches.
These have been wonderful assignments, and the fee is only a part of it.
Read
the article
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| Can Your Business Come Out and Play? |
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by Michael Katz
 Over the summer, my wife Linda and I moved our family across town. We moved for one, and only one, reason: To get our kids into a neighborhood.
Our previous house was terrific, with lots of land, plenty of privacy, and close proximity to two major highways. But it was also isolated. So much so that on the rare occasions when the doorbell rang unexpectedly, we'd all drop everything and come running from every direction. It was like a scene out of Bonanza, with people climbing out of the bath or running in from the fields to see who had made the journey.
Read
the article
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| Quick Look: Third-Party Consultant Brokers |
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Even when a prospective client has a solid referral for a project, it's natural for that client to wonder if there's another firm or individual in the market who is equally capable, or better. But to complete a market scan of consultants, a prospective buyer can waste lots of time with little result.
Several entrepreneurs are hoping to fill this gap with Internet-based directories of consultants that clients can use to find the right talent for their needs. The promise of these services is alluring--clients get access to information on top talent in the industry and consultants get valuable exposure to clients they may not otherwise meet.
We chose four of these third-party brokers for a quick look at how well they work--or don’t.
Source for Consulting
www.SourceforConsulting.com
The Promise: Source for Consulting is a new, interactive online database which aims to help organizations make more and better use of management consultants. It will do this by acting as an arm's length marketing channel, posting case studies of successful projects online and thought leadership from consulting firms.
The Reality: This UK-based organization, supported by the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), is just getting started. Its ambition is to create the world's best source of information on the consulting industry.
Fiona Czerniawska, one of the keenest observers and writers on the industry, is leading the development effort. At this point, it's too soon to tell, but given its carefully considered goal, leadership team, and MCA's standing in the industry, I'd guess that this venture will launch successfully.
More Billable
http://morebillable.com/
The Promise: More Billable helps consultants and other professional service providers make referrals and staff client engagements.
The Reality: The site is well designed and easy to navigate, but it's showing some early growing pains. The existing directory is sparse, the current referral opportunities are stale, and the blog hasn't been updated in months. If this site is active, it's not obvious.
The Consultants Index
www.consultantsindex.com
The Promise: Provides independent recommendations about consultants directly from clients and highlights those who deliver the highest quality of service in the UK consulting industry.
The Reality: The site is easy to follow and registration is simple. However, it's difficult to determine if there's life behind the site, as the visitor gets little sense of any activity. And, given the lack of an "About" page, it's unclear who operates the site.
This service is likely struggling to gain market acceptance, but small improvements could help it to make a bigger impact in the UK consulting market.
The Consultants Link
www.consultantslink.com/mc/page.do
The Promise: As the premiere online resource for consulting services and specialized solutions, Consultants Link is a virtual community of established professionals and outsourcing companies. With resources to support both sides of the consulting relationship, Consultants Link has established a reputation for excellence in the international business community.
The Reality: This directory appears to be focused on consultants in Southern California. The site contains placeholders for bulletin boards and other features, which appear to be lightly used. The last blog post for the site is months old, and two of the links to sign up as a member failed to operate. It's not clear if this site is working as planned.
Quick Look: These and other, similar sites have worthwhile goals and could provide real value by connecting buyers and sellers of consulting services. However, they all face the chicken-egg challenge: without buyers, they can't attract sellers and vice versa. The key lies in giving a site enough regular attention to build that critical mass.
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| Coming
Attractions |
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 "People tend to be better copers than influencers."
Almost any consultant can pull together a recommendation for change, but the best ones excel at influencing events to bring about lasting, positive change.
Next month, we'll talk with the authors of the New York Times bestseller, Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. We'll ask about the strategies anyone can use to help clients achieve the results they expect.
This team of authors—Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler—also wrote the bestselling books, Crucial Conversations and Crucial Confrontations, which broke new ground on how to negotiate and communicate effectively when the stakes are high.
Look for the next issue of Management Consulting News on February 5, 2008.
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