onestepfurther.co.uk - Quickstart - Signs of a Dodo Consultancy



	Quickstart - Signs of a Dodo Consultancy Please add bev@onestepfurther.co.uk to your address book so your issue of *Quickstart* reaches you each week. MAKE SOMEONE'S DAY! - The *Quickstart* community grows through word of mouth and word of mouse and for that I thank you. Why not pass this copy on to other consultants you know or suggest they go to www.OneStepFurther.co.uk *Quickstart* *Grow a Profitable Consultancy and Still Have Time for a Life* In this issue Note from Beverley - A Consulting Community One Step Further - Signs of a Dodo Consultancy Wanted: Aspiring Geniuses With a Passion for Writing Personal Reflections - Changing Views Note from Beverley Last Friday, I gave a talk on Building Effective Business Systems to one of the Ecademy Clubs I'm a member of called, Consulting Ecademists Network (CEN). If you aren't already a member of Ecademy, the online and offline global community, then go check it out. The CEN meeting was really interesting, useful and I shall be going again. What was particular useful was a section they call virtual tables. In groups of 4-5, each person has @5 minutes to share a challenge with the group and get feedback and suggestions to help them. Well worth the afternoon and I recommend you join and become part of a consulting community - even if you can't attend the meetings. Have a good week. Beverley bev@onestepfurther.co.uk www.onestepfurther.co.uk +44 (0) 1344 625713 Author Take Control of Your Time: 7 Straight Shooter Strategies for Success One Step Further Last week I wrote about how some consultants are acting like aspiring dodos - waddling towards extinction? And asked... Why in a world where the customer's expectations are widened by choice and availability are many consultants taking a "same as", "me too" unimaginative, safe and generalist stance? Why in a competitive environment where the landscape and inhabitants are constantly evolving, do new and established consultants not recognise the need to compete on new or different terms? This week in part 2 I'd like to offer some thoughts on recognising dodo signs. Here are 5 signs that you may go the way of the dodo! 1. A Brand That Bores Everything from business cards to brochures to your website is an access point for your potential customers. If it doesn't attract them, you've lost them. If it doesnt "speak" to them you've lost them. If it doesn't differentiate you, you've lost them. If you've lost them beware the dodo. 2. A Confusing or Fluffy Proposition Specific, clear and focused is the future for consultancy. Generalist, fluffy catchall propositions do not help potential customers make a buying choice. Have a niche, understand their problems, needs and desires and develop products and services, which address them. Consultants that convey they can do everything for everyone are demonstrating dodo tendencies. 3. Lone Ranger Leadership Working on a business is the area many consultants and small business owners struggle with the most. One of the main reasons is that their lone ranger alter ego gets in the way. The need to control, be in control and do everything themselves means "doing" gets in the way of leading. By this I mean lone rangers focus on getting clients, delivering for clients AND doing all the other "stuff" as well. This leaves little time for thinking reflecting, planning, reviewing and innovating; important leadership work and ON the business activity. Why do some people do this? Because... * They are control freaks * They think they have to * They think they can't afford or trust anyone else to do it for them * They think "how" instead of "who" * They don't know there is another way * They don't know they are acting like dodos! 4. A Busyness Not A Business Processes, systems and structure are the foundation of any business. Without them busyness drives activity because there is no frame of reference or context for decision making and prioritisation of activity. Finance, marketing, sales, service delivery, operations etc as functional aspects of a business need structure and processes that support the delivery of your brand for your customers - whether you are a global corporation or a sole trader. How your business does business can now be a real differentiator in many markets and therefore, you need to make it easy for your current and potential customers to do business with you. "We need you to fill out these forms to get you in our system" is a ME led process not a YOU driven process "Please press 1 to wait a long time, press 2 to wait longer and press 3 to be left in oblivion" are not customer friendly and customer wowing processes! Processes that put barriers between you and your customer or you and effective delivery for your customers are dodo processes. 5. Imitation not Innovation Copying your competitors, benchmarking the best and improving what's already being done are strategies that many consultants adopt and for a time and for a few, they might work. Consultants who really want to stand out, wow their niche and set their customers juices flowing innovate rather than imitate Jeffrey Pfeffer Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University Innovation doesn't need to be radical, (although it could be) outrageous, (although it could be) or provocative (although it could be), yet what if? and what next? are questions or perspectives that will keep the dodo alive and help it to evolve and survive. Change for change sake or new for new sake is not the point. A mindset that balances evolution and revolution is. Consultancy is a growing profession with a less than glowing history. There are many consultants who didn't really think about their business, who didn't question and challenge their brand proposition and who didn't interact with a niche, who subsequently went the way of the dodo. Will that be you? WANTED: Aspiring Geniuses With A Passion For Writing I'm working on a new and exciting business venture (which came about over a 30 minute coffee!!) and we are looking for aspiring writers and appassionatos on some key areas we think are critical to developing successful Enterprises. * Do you have a passion, voice and experience in one of the following topics? - Lean Thinking, - Leadership - Change Management - Marketing * Do you have aspirations to write about one of the above subjects? * Do you have a wicked sense of humour which you can portray through stories? * Do you love innovative ideas and creative opportunities? If you are intrigued to know more, please volunteer by sending me a 2 paragraph email to bev@onestepfurther.co.uk enthusing about why this sounds interesting and on which of the above topics you have a burning desire to tell the world about. This is not for you if... * You want to know how much you'll get paid * You want to regurgitate the same old stuff * You haven't got a sense of humour * You have a big ego * You have no creativity and imagination * You struggle with deadlines * You have no experience or opinion in the subject area This is a business opportunity with no limits on possibility. If you fit the above criteria and want to be part of creating value for a soon to be launched brand new business, please get in touch to find out more. We are looking for writers, geniuses and aspiring geniuses, from all continents and so long as you have access to a computer and have email, location or nationality are not a barrier. We're going global!! Personal Reflections One of my favourite sayings is by Dr Wayne Dyer, author of The Power of Intention. "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”" For me this is so true especially with how you look at business. I, like so many people, started out thinking about how I could sell my services to potential clients. I thought about what I offered, why I was worth working with and the benefits of working with me were. I had rarely considered myself "good at selling" but understood that sales and service are what make or break a business. I didn't enjoy the prospect of selling. I certainly didn't enjoy the prospect of cold calling and yet that, to me was "the way" I would get new clients. Two things that changed the way I looked at getting new business helped me make the mind shift I needed. During one of my own coaching sessions my coach said, "well if you don't like cold calling don't do it" and "people don't buy products and services, they buy solutions to problems they have now" Of course, this is so obvious to me now and I may even have known it all along. However, my view of getting business was to focus on selling a service rather than finding a solution to a problem, even though subconsciously I knew something didn't feel right. To be continuously successful identify the clients you want to work with, identify the problems they have now and show up with the solutions you offer. If you do this “selling” is either not needed or becomes much easier. I spend a lot of time working with my clients on this and its amazing the shift they make. What do you need to look at differently? Best Regards Bev bev@onestepfurther.co.uk +44 (0) 1344 625713





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