Top 10 Post-Internet Sales Trends For Boutique Consultancies

Have you ever considered that potatoes belong to the same family as the deadly nightshade?
But while the former can feed you (although not exactly healthy), the latter can kill you.
Roughly this is the difference between selling consulting services and selling things.
But this is also something that gets ignored.
Many boutique consultancies hire salespeople with impressive histories in selling things, and when they fail to perform, firm leaders feel those salespeople have deceived them into believing how good they are.
But they are good. Very good. But at a different kind of selling. They are good at bludgeoning people until they give in and buy something.
And then upsell them and dump more unwanted and unneeded crap on them for good money.
Based on my long observation, I can safely conclude that many boutique consulting firms fail to change as the world of sales has been changing around them.
Or more correctly, they change. They enlarge their tactical capabilities but fail to grow their strategic capabilities.
My difference is that "enlarge" is merely doing more of the same at a tactical level, whereas "grow" is doing things differently.
Instead of effectiveness (doing the right things), the focus on efficiency (doing - often the wrong - things right, very, very streamlined)
That is, they hire more and more junior associates to perform low-level commodity-grade manual labour that shouldn't be performed at all.
They spend a small fortune on things that can be easily changed but requires no change in associates' mindsets at all.
People keep their old beliefs and start frantically changing on the outside.
And doing more of the same, they expect different results.
A while ago, CRMGuru, Selling Power Magazine and Search CRM did a survey and identified the top ten sales trends that can also impact boutique consulting firms, and this is what we try to discuss in this euphorically electrifying episode of Commando Consulting, fiendishly entitled, Top 10 Post-Internet Sales Trends For Boutique Consultancies
Enjoy!

14 Ways Consulting Firms Waste Their Marketing Budgets Part 1

Do you know that centipedes have odd number of pairs of legs? And the number varies between 51 and 191 pairs. Although it seems that, through genetic mutation, some species of centipedes have developed even number of pair of legs.

This is what then University of Edinburgh ecology doctoral student, today Chris Kettle Ph.D. presented in 1999, at the 11th International Myriapodology Congress, in Bialowieza, Poland.

So, while in the centipedes’ case, it was genetic mutation, consulting firms too have to go through some kind of mutation to spend their marketing dollars on marketing tactics that work and bring in new clients.

And consultants can achieve that without fiddling around with centipedes or even attending myriapodology conferences.

All they have to do is to see how buyers’ processes to buy consulting services have changed over the years, and adjust their marketing and selling processes accordingly.

And this is what we discuss this month's brain cell-barbecuingly interesting episode of Commando Consulting, entitled, “14 Ways Consulting Firms Waste Their Marketing Budgets Part 1”.

So, be brave and read it.

Enjoy!