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Quickstart - X Factor Consulting
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Quickstart
Grow a Profitable Consultancy and Still Have Time for a Life
In this issue
Note from Beverley - Blast From The Past
One Step Further - X Factor Consulting
Personal Reflections - Go On Then Try and Sell Me Something
Note from Beverley
The X Factor - a UK "talent" contest starts again this coming Saturday on TV, so I thought I would revamp and reissue an article I wrote last year to get you thinking about the talent you have or might develop in your consultancy.
Have a good week.
Beverley
bev@onestepfurther.co.uk
www.onestepfurther.co.uk
+44 (0)1258 817647
One Step Further
Talent, image, presence, belief and that something extra. These are the 5 elements, which determine whether you have or haven’t got the X factor.
As a consultant, how do you measure up?
1. TALENT
They say talent isn't necessary to be successful in the music industry; the Cheeky girls, and the "rapping Granny" (a finalist on America's Got Talent) are evidence of that!
However, if, as a consultant, you have no talent you will soon be caught out even if you have the other 4 elements.
So what talents do you need to be a successful consultant?
Before addressing that, I should like to define talent as distinct from skills or knowledge I defer to Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman authors of First Break All The Rules for their definition
Skills - are the "how to's". They are capabilities that can be transferred from one person to another”
Knowledge - "what you are aware of". There are two kinds of knowledge: factual knowledge - things you know and experiential knowledge - understanding you have picked up along the way"
Talents - "...recurring patterns of thought feeling and behaviour"
There are 3 basic skills and 3 key talents necessary for any successful consultant.
Skills
1. Questioning and Listening (OK that's two yet one without the other is not much use!)
2. Relationship building
3. Proposal writing (combining needs analysis, needs definition, defining relevant solutions and communicating that in a way which creates value for a client)
Talents
1. Perseverance
2. Proactivity
3. Curiosity
2. IMAGE
Madonna is constantly changing hers. Elvis'’s was instantly recognisable and Elton John's has mellowed - well some what!
In business the rise of personal branding and creating and optimising who you are, what you stand for and therefore how you are perceived is now critical as individuals seek to differentiate themselves from their peers and competition.
Consultants are everywhere, no matter which field you look at and with the trend to more flexible working, portfolio careers and achievement of better work life balance, consultancy is on the increase.
More people are taking their valuable skills and experience gained in the corporate world and establishing their own consultancies. With this rise in competition, image becomes even more important. Being able to differentiate yourself by having clarity of who you are, what you do and whom you serve is only the start. All of your marketing needs to align with your image, your messages need to support your image and you need to live and breathe that which you want the world to recognise you by.
3. PRESENCE
Robbie Williams owns the stage. Meat Loaf is "in your face" and even Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand and Tom Jones draw thousands of people to every performance after years in the business.
They sing and their fans listen; they perform and their fans are captivated.
Presence is all about captivating your audience: attracting their support and holding their attention.
As a consultant, your presence will be what attracts certain people and combined with your image will help you focus on your ideal clients. Those clients that "tune in" to your voice, your message and your style will be easier to attract and hold. Of course your presence, like your image needs to "say something".
Do you exude enthusiasm and energy or structure and logic? Do you present warmth and caring or keep your distance? Neither is right nor wrong they are just different and will appeal to different clients. Just like pop stars, tastes differ.
4. BELIEF
Charlotte Church moved from being the "voice of an angel" as a classical singer to a pop star, to a TV chat show host (although the jury is out on that one!) because that's what she wanted to do and she believed in herself enough to take the chance. She has taken risks completely changed her image and had success all over again in a completely different genre of entertainment.
Showing you have belief in what you do and what results you can achieve for clients is a real attractor. Knowing in your heart that you are good at what you do and demonstrating the passion you have for really helping your clients achieve what they want to achieve makes people want to be around you. Believing that you are different from other consultants will give you an edge over the self-doubters, the "flashy sales types" and the over promise/under deliverers.
Genuine belief in your uniqueness to deliver for your clients is something to be proud of and flaunted.
5. THAT SOMETHING EXTRA
That je ne sais quoi, X factor or something special is what all successful pop stars have. Just being musically gifted, looking good or excelling at self promotion are not always enough. Most truly successful, long reigning pop stars have that X factor. A sparkle, a "way" or even an endearing quality that makes them AAA list.
You too need to find your X factor that will give you AAA list status.
It may be in what you deliver
It may be in how you deliver it
It may be in who you are
It must certainly be in the results you achieve for your clients
Value above that communicated
Service above what is expected
Delivery of the "little" extras that make you stand out and above the rest
It doesn't need to be and shouldn't be flashy, gimmicky or "loud". It does need to be authentic, from the heart and you.
The first 4 elements in combination will help you get on the A list. The X factor will lift you up to the AAA list.
Are you talented, likeable with that magic sparkle?
Find and become known for your sparkle and you have the X factor.
Personal Reflections
I was with a prospective Total Flow client last week. I had been referred to him by another client and this was an introductory conversation for me to understand his business and to see if and how we might be able to work together.
For the first 30 minutes he talked about the challenges in his business and I asked appropriate questions so that I got a clear picture of where he was and what he was trying to achieve.
He then said, albeit in a semi jokey way, go on then try and sell me something.
I paused took a breath and said, I'm not here to sell you something, we don't do that.
He smiled and said I didn't think you would, I just wanted to see your reaction!
Now you may be saying, why just have a conversation? You're in business surely you should take every opportunity to sell.
Well not me, it's not my way and I'm not very good at it. I prefer to
* Have an interesting conversation
* Decide whether we can offer any help at any level
* Have more interesting conversations about what we do and how we do it
* Present some options
* Let the client decide
I NEVER sell; I create situations for attraction to generate revenue.
Semantics? maybe. But having a "we don't sell" mindset creates a different environment in which to enable a prospective client to feel free to say no as well as yes. It works for me and so I'm told, doesn't put that "I feel pressured" feeling onto the client.
So simply, attract, let go of the need to sell and give a client the space to say yes when they are ready. In saying that you do need to know when the cut off point is so that you don't just have conversations that waste your time and theirs and are unlikely to lead to value for them or revenue for you.
So what was the outcome of my conversation? A follow up meeting in a couple of months to get into some details about a longer term project. For me that'’s success.
Best Regards
Bev
bev@onestepfurther.co.uk
www.onestepfurther.co.uk
+44 (0)1258 817647 |
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