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| Confidence |
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Some consultants feel under siege about now. Sales cycles are lengthening; clients are putting some projects on hold, and only approving the must-have ones. For many, the market is just plain tough.
You have two choices. Make a bad situation worse by wallowing in the misery of a slow market. Or refuse to be drawn into the victim mentality that so often accompanies a bad market.
So, maybe you've lost a project or two, or the sales leads aren't rolling in like they were a year ago. That does not mean it's time to panic. You are as good today as you were last year, or maybe better.
What you need most is the confidence that you'll push through this rough patch, potentially ending up with a better practice than when this whole mess started. I'm not talking about wishful thinking, but the confidence that reflects your talent, skills, and past experiences.
Your confidence--not to be mistaken for arrogance--is contagious. It can encourage people to follow you, invest in you, and buy from you. Your client's perception of your skills and experience will always play the biggest role in closing a sale; but that client's assessment of your confidence can make or break any deal.
This is not the time to play the victim. Be confident of your offering, pricing, and delivery strategies. Resist the urge to cut prices or offer special deals to land work. If clients really understand your value and sense your confidence, you'll trump the price-cutters every time.
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
P.S. If you're consulting to the Life Sciences Industry, don't miss Marc Shiller's complimentary webinar, "Surprising Secrets for Igniting Sales to Life Sciences Companies" on Thursday, March 5, 2:00-3:00 pm EST. Click for details and to register.
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| MCNews 12 Index of Professional Services |
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US Economic News |
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McNews 12 Index |
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"If actions taken by the administration, the Congress and the Federal Reserve are successful in restoring some measure of financial stability--and only if that is the case, in my view--there is a reasonable prospect that the current recession will end in 2009 and that 2010 will be a year of recovery" --Ben Bernanke, Chairman, US Federal Reserve
Finally, there may be some relief in sight.
But, the awful news kept pouring in last month. Consumer confidence and real estate prices in the US sank to new lows, which has led economists to wonder if anyone has any confidence in the economy. Plus, you know things are really miserable when Warren Buffet reports more than $10 billion in losses in 2008.
The MCNews 12 also continued to fall in February, losing about 5 percent from its previous low in January. The Index is off almost 11 percent for the first two months of 2009, while the S+P 500 has shed more than 18 percent for the year.
In the midst of the carnage, HR firms Watson Wyatt and Hewitt are defying market forces. Hewitt's share price is up almost 4 percent for the year, and Watson Wyatt's is up 3 percent. What's even more impressive is how these two firms have managed through the trials of the past year or so. Both firms' share prices are trading above 2007 levels.
With the MCNews 12 Index off almost 40 percent since its inception more than two years ago, we can hope that we've either reached, or are close to, the bottom of this painful cycle.
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MCNews 12 Index |
YTD
Change |
S+P 500 YTD Change |
| Feb 2009 |
608 |
-5.1% |
-18.6% |
| Jan 2009 |
641 |
N/A |
-8.6% |
| Dec 2008 |
681 |
-24.0% |
-39.0% |
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:
Nick Morgan |
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 "People who want to be better speakers or communicators need to spend as much time and energy on the nonverbal as they do on the content part of their communications. "
Nick Morgan is the Founder of Public Words, Inc., and the author of Give Your Speech, Change the World. One of the top communication coaches, Morgan is a former Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
His latest book is Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma. Morgan says that every communication is two conversations--a verbal one and a nonverbal one. We asked Morgan how we should rethink our communication strategies to align those two conversations so they work together.
Read
our interview with Nick Morgan
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| Marketing in a Down Economy? |
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As the global economy continues its slide, clients and consultant face a similar challenge: How to keep a business on an even keel in a shaky market. So, it can be instructive to consider how some consultants are shifting their marketing messages in this tough economic climate. Here's a quick look at how five professional services firms are responding.
Booz & Company, the strategy and operations firm, stresses the perils managers face in a crisis economy. The firm's web site highlights a recent Booz & Company study reporting that "40 percent of senior managers question the credibility of their company's plans to navigate the crisis--including many who presumably wrote the plans themselves."
The firm then offers its prospective clients insights on managing in this crisis with a complimentary, sixteen-page report on "Recession Response: Why Some Companies Are Making the Wrong Moves."
Marakon, the strategy consulting firm, uses its home page to tell us that "During the past 15 months, the economic landscape has been through a sea change. Managing a company in the next decade will be materially different than managing during the past decade."
Like Booz & Company, Marakon also offers readers a complimentary report titled "Responding to the New Economic Reality."
Not to be outdone, Accenture tells its prospective clients, "Although this is a period of considerable economic turbulence, research shows that the greatest opportunities for competitive repositioning occur at just such times. Swift and insightful decision making, supported by the collective commitment of the entire management team, can position an organization for high performance. Executing the right core strategy is key."
It should be no surprise that Accenture encourages readers to learn more by downloading a ten-page report called "Managing in Extraordinary Times: New Choices for New Challenges."
IBM executives use their site to pose a question: "The global financial crisis has reverberated across all industries. Everyone is affected by this crisis--some businesses will diminish and others will gain strength and enhance their competitiveness. Which will you be?"
Of course, if you want to understand more about paring IT costs in a challenging market, you can download IBM's eight-page report, "Weathering the storm: IT challenges and opportunities amidst economic uncertainty."
Finally, HR consultancy, Hewitt, lays the blame for the economic crisis on poor leadership and offers its own solution. The firm's version of the medicine clients need to restore growth is a report called "Leading in an Economic Downturn."
 Maybe recession is the reality, but hope sells. |
As usual, the marketing messages of these firms (and others) follow a familiar pattern: The messages echo one another, and some border on being cliché instead of insightful. Consulting firms are famous for copying each other's marketing messages and this latest iteration proves the point.
When there's this much similarity in marketing messages, it's time to look for another strategy--especially if you want clients to notice you. Enlightened marketers will acknowledge the current slump, but point their messaging to the better future that surely lies ahead.
Remember, no crisis lasts forever and, eventually, your clients will want to focus on leading the recovery, not slogging through the doldrums. Maybe recession is the reality, but hope sells.
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| Where Your Thought Leadership Should Lead |
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Look at most consulting firms' marketing strategies and you'll find that thought leadership is often integral to the program. Firms crank out books, articles, white papers, podcasts, and the like to create a space for themselves and their offerings in the minds of busy clients.
To say the least, generating original content for the market is labor-intensive, so firms must be certain that their work is high quality and of substantial interest to clients. If it's not, why bother creating it?
Marketing consultants at The Bloom Group have a practical guide for generating compelling intellectual capital. In their article, "Competing on Thought Leadership: The Seven Hallmarks of Compelling Intellectual Capital," the authors suggest seven criteria for evaluating your thought leadership pieces:
Focus--Have a single message Novelty--Come up with a unique diagnosis of the problem Relevance--Meet a critical and specific market need Validity--Prove your solution is effective Practicality--Demonstrate your solution can be implemented Rigor--Have tight, consistent logic Clarity--Make a clear, easy-to-understand argument.
Use the link above to read the full article by The Bloom Group. The insights can help you develop new content or to evaluate your existing work. It's well worth the few minutes it takes to read through the piece.
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Are Company Layoffs Over? |
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 Even though the current economic recession continues, many executives believe they have already made most of their sweeping changes, like layoffs, according to a recent study by Watson Wyatt consultants.
"Many companies are putting the drastic cuts behind them and are now focusing on smaller, more sustainable cost-cutting actions," said Laura Sejen, global director of strategic rewards consulting at Watson Wyatt.
According to the survey of 245 large US employers, 52 percent have done layoffs, up from 39 percent two months ago. However, the number of companies planning layoffs has fallen 10 percentage points from 23 percent to 13 percent. Additionally, 56 percent now have a hiring freeze in effect.
For consultants, this means that many clients have done the obvious, though painful, work to rationalize their cost structures. Now, expect organizations to turn their attention to other, more complex decisions like rationalizing product offerings, rethinking new initiatives, and optimizing their sales strategies.
| As in any downturn, companies cannot cut their way to success. |
As in any downturn, companies cannot cut their way to success. Even though cash is tight, many organizations will find this to be an optimal time to invest in new ventures. Now is a great time to think about your clients' businesses and ask yourself, what are the two or three near-term growth opportunities my clients should pursue?
When everyone else is slashing, be there with ideas about growth. You'll catch your client's attention, and probably win some work too.
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| From the Bookshelf |
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 With so many books hitting the market, it's easy to miss some of the keepers. Here are three recently-released books that you should check out.
The Organization of the Future 2: Visions, Strategies, and Insights on Managing in a New Era, edited by Frances Hesselbein and Marshall Goldsmith
This book picks up where the earlier edition left off--showing leaders how the future is likely to unfold and the implications of that future for organizations and leaders. The book offers twenty-six essays by authors such as James Champy, James Kouzes, Barry Posner, Charles Handy, Noel Tichy, Dave Ulrich, and others.
It's Not What You Sell, It's What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business is Driven By Purpose, by Roy Spence and Haley Rushing
Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great, calls Roy Spence "A brilliant, sparkling gem. Dedicated to the idea that true greatness comes in direct proportion to passionate pursuit of a purpose beyond money, he has inspired and changed leaders in every sector." In his new book, Spence lays out the principles he used to build his own business and those of his clients. We'll be featuring Spence in an upcoming interview.
Tools for Project Management, Workshops and Consulting: A Must Have Compendium of Essential Tools and Techniques, by Nicolai Andler
Andler has assembled a practical field guide with more than 100 tools and techniques any consultant can use to conduct an engagement or run a workshop. The book is well-organized, concise, and thorough. Few volumes offer as many tools for a practitioner to use immediately.
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| Coming
Attractions |
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 "The only thing that matters is performance, and performance comes down to the actions of people."
Next month, we’ll talk with Steve Zaffron, CEO of the Vanto Group and author of The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life. Zaffron and his co-author, Dave Logan, say that breakthrough performance is possible when you apply their three laws of performance.
We’ll ask Zaffron about those laws and how to use them in our consulting practices and our lives.
Look for the next issue of Management Consulting News on April 7, 2009.
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