Assessing Consulting Engagements Both For Financial And Psychological Satisfaction

I don't know if you've ever thought about it, but, in a way, traditional consulting requires the mentality of a bomber pilot: Fly in, release bomb and quickly get out.

It sounds like a great example as I'm listening to the first song, Night Witches, on the new Sabaton CD (Heroes).

It's a tribute to the all female 588th Night Bomber Regiment of the Soviet Air Forces, formed by Colonel Marina Raskova and led by Major Yevdokia Bershanskaya.

Their approach describes traditional consulting quite well. Fly in very high, turn engines off, freefall to low altitudes, release bomb, start engine and fly out.

For that they used very light double-winged planes, left behind from the first world war, made of wood and canvass. In consulting, senior consultant flies in to close the deal, then an army of freshly-minted MBAs "freefall" on the unsuspecting client.

And the senior consultant can't be reached ever again. They do whatever they do and then vanish, leaving dubious improvements and astronomical bills behind.

Yes, it is always a great feeling for consultants to complete their engagements and moving on, but there is one more thing is left to do.

Sadly, most consultants miss this element of their projects. It is a sort of after action review, when we actually summarise what we have achieved.

Unfortunately, in traditional task-based consulting, this is irrelevant anyway for the emphasis is on going through the motions (of performing certain rigidly pre-defined tasks) and piling up as much stuff (deliverables) as humanly possible in order to "deserve" payment.

So, this is what we discuss this year-opening episode of Commando Consulting, entitled, Assessing Consulting Engagements Both For Financial And Psychological Satisfaction.

Enjoy!

11 Silly Direct Mail Blunders Even Smart Boutique Consultancies Make

Well, we’ve all heard that the best way to distinguish between a real Rolex and a Chinese knock-off Rolex is to see if the watch ticks or sweeps. The fake Rolexes tick but the real Rolexes sweep.

But do you know that even the real Rolexes tick, but while fake Rolexes tick in 1 second increments, real Rolexes tick in 0.1 second increments, so to the naked eye, the second hand’s movement seems to be smooth as a baby’s arse? But in reality it’s still ticking. It’s just ticking in very tiny increments.

When done correctly, direct mail is an excellent way of both lead generation to replenish your funnel and lead nurturing to keep prospects moving inside the funnel.

We just have to make sure that we don’t suffer from Fake Rolex syndrome, and don’t try to move prospects forward in too large increments.

It usually happens to commissioned salespeople who want to close sales as soon as possible and then move on to the next opportunities.

And it’s the art and science of moving prospects forward in the sales funnel that we discuss this month’s inconspicuously inspiring episode of Commando Consulting, entitled, 11 Silly Direct Mail Blunders Even Smart Boutique Consultancies Make.

Enjoy!

14 Ways Consulting Firms Waste Their Marketing Budgets Part 2

Marketing consulting services is quite significantly different from marketing things. Yet, far too many consulting firms waste their marketing budgets on practices that are used to market things or simple transactional services, like plumbing or appliance repair.

As a result, the market positions many consulting firms as if they were plumbers or other transactional service professionals working for competitive(ly low) wage. And this is what we discuss this month's brain-fryingly exciting episode of Commando Consulting, entitled, “14 Ways Consulting Firms Waste Their Marketing Budgets Part 2”.

How Perfect Clients Can Elevate Your Consulting Firm's Success

New client acquisition should be a top priority for all consulting firms, but it seems many firms accept clients solely on a monetary basis. There is no screening for character match. Anyone with a budget and pulse can become a client.

And when the shit hits the fan and projects start go sour one after the other, those same consulting firms get haunted by the spectres of their bad clients for years to come.

Think of the Enron Arthur Anderson fiasco. Enron had been a fundamentally rotten company and as a result of becoming Andersen's clients, Andersen started rotting to Enron's level.

And now all the former Anderson associates are busy covering up their pasts with their dirty employer.

It's not only the company that suffers but employees to who had nothing to do with the corruption.

All this headache and aggravation can be avoided by accepting only perfect clients in your consulting firm. Potential clients should be sifted, sorted and screened. Then accept the best and unceremoniously dump the rest.

How, how to recognise perfect client materials? Well...

This is what we discuss this month's mind-witheringly electrifying episode of Commando Consulting, entitled, "How Perfect Clients Can Elevate Your Consulting Firm's Success".