Here's the latest Edition of 'The Authority', helping consultants grow their revenue by sharing intriguing educational stories.
It’s my ultimate aspiration to create a bubble of calmness with this bi-weekly ‘think piece’, a place of stillness in the face of everyday stress. A chance to reflect on what really matters in your consulting work.
The Big Question
Questions I get from consultants. And my answers.
Question #19: I received this question from a reader (thanks!):
'Luk, you are talking a lot about moving away from 'doing activities' for our clients to selling 'a client transformation'. Could you elaborate on that? How can we best approach such a change?'
Most of the consulting work falls into one of these two categories:
1. Downstream day-to-day execution/implementation work with relatively low impact 2. Upstream high-level strategic/diagnostic advisory with relatively big impact
I encourage my readers – fellow consultants – to transition from the first category into the second category. Let’s take a closer look at ‘doing activities’ vs selling ‘a client transformation’ in my sketch below, inspired by awesome authors David C. Baker (upstream/downstream) and Jonathan Stark (altitude of involvement).
Doing downstream activities at low altitude
Doing ACTIVITIES for our clients usually means day-to-day execution and implementation/maintenance work. You quickly get drawn into, what I call THE DEFAULT CONSULTING MODEL (see the next reader question for more details):
● sending a fully customized proposal (and days of free preparation work) ● suffering from demoralizing pricing discussions (and a discount as a result, thanks to our procurement friends) ● waiting to death to get a confirmation (clients can be perversely disrespectful) ● suffering from a vicious scope creep (the result of YOUR choice to customize) ● getting drawn (again and again) into a wicked invoicing process (with scandalous payment waiting times) ● finally ending up being afraid to ask for a reference because of the relationship contamination that happens time and time again in this depriving default model...
I can feel your stomach turning upside down, right? I’ve been there in my early consulting years, I know how bad it feels.
And I haven’t even talked about all the other project proceedings and the hundred emails with various team members (the ultimate scope creep). This type of downstream work will eat up most of the time you’d need to develop your consulting business (big or small). The Vicious Loop To Hell...
Doing upstream client transformation at high altitude
If any output of my client training I’d like to deliver time and time again: a successful switch to an upstream ‘client transformation’ consulting approach.
It is THE #1 pillar of success in consulting – the type of success where you are in control of your time, when you comfortably and organically grow your business, when you pick which projects you work on (and say NO to any project outside of your focus zone), where your marketing is inbound, where (in a consultancy firm or boutique) you can be the door opener (the Troyan Horse). Your team can do the revenue-building implementation work.
As a subject matter expert, you should aim to polish your skills in a narrow field to the extent where you can offer high-level advisory and diagnostic work. You are not concerned with day-to-day execution and management. Your job, as an authority, is to look at the status quo of your client and present this client with a roadmap that will take the organization from its current pain-ridden state to the ‘promised land’.
This roadmap is the client transformation that you are selling. That’s the value that you are offering. It’s this type of work that expert consultants get paid at a premium. It’s this kind of work that will allow you to work fewer hours and invest time in business development (at least 30%).
Let me end with the questions you will need to be able to answer yourself as an upstream advisor
● Do I have a laser-sharp focus area? ● Does this translate into the narrowest possible definition of my target audience? ● Do I fully grasp the prototypical pains of this audience? (expensive pains!) ● Can I clearly describe in 30” what value I can bring to solve these prototypical pains? ● Can I picture ‘the promised land’, the transformation, the final output, the result, the impact of my intervention? ● Can I describe how they can get to the promised land? ● What process do I advise to use? What’s my ‘vehicle’ that brings them from pain to gain? ● How do I organize a transformation ‘home run’? ● How will I ensure full client buy-in and commitment?
The Next Big Question: I did several consultancy virtual workshops the past weeks. Each time we got into a lively discussion about - what I call - the contaminated ‘Default Consultancy Model’ (see above in the downstream activities text). As this is an extremely important component of transforming a consultant into an authority, I will spend some time explaining my take on this in my next newsletter.
Would you like to send a question for one of the following newsletter editions?Please send it to me here.
The Disturbing Truth
Unsettling revelations from experts I admire. And from myself.
Every Monday morning, I am sharing a consulting-related advice on Linkedin to start the new week.
These advices reflect years of my passionate thinking about the consulting profession and span one year of writing. I've mixed my own quotes with carefully selected quotes from experts I admire and you may never have heard of.
Here are the quotes from the past 2 weeks. Let the inspiration be with you (if you let it).
Topic 22-2-2021: Do you know the ‘VICIOUS-LOOP-TO-HELL-TAX’?
The VLTH Tax? It's the cost of NOT focusing on the GROWTH/SCALING tasks for your consulting business! I’ve seen many consultants FEAR to say NO to ill-suited opportunities in order to please a client and/or earn an income/revenue.
THE VLTH TAX: by saying YES TO EVERYTHING out of fear of missing out (FOMO), you will compromise your market credibility and ultimately seriously compromising your future consulting growth AND personal wellbeing.
Many years ago, I told myself: “Luk, you either specialize and stand out in the very crowded consulting market or you’d better start looking for a regular job”.
The Jack of all trades in consulting has a dark future! (and your competitor is only 1 click away!) (and client loyalty is at an all-time low) (Luk Smeyers)
Topic 1-3-2021: Getting back in control!
We must simply choose to take control, first by specializing and shifting the power back from the client toward us, and then we can begin to shape our future as consultants. (Blair Enns)
The Irresistible Content
I write a lot. Here's the update from the past 2 weeks.
In this new blog post, I outline the principles that you, as a consultant, can use as the starting point for what your content strategy should be based on, the type of content you should aim to develop as a consultant, what image you should strive to transition towards, what qualities make a consultant stand out as a thought leader, what your targets should be, and, of course, what you are doing all of this for (the end goal).
The books I'm recommending in this list have helped me expand my mind, look at my business (and life) from a new perspective, and feel more confident about how to approach new challenges. I believe every consultant could benefit from this selection of books, so if you only read 10-15 books in 2021, I strongly recommend to add these to your list.
When I launched my newsletter mid-2020, Mark Schaefer's book – Known – was the book I recommended in the very first edition. I now would like to introduce my subscribers and readers to another book by Schaefer – Cumulative Advantage – that is just as brilliant and full of fantastic insights and case studies.
The book explains how the world is stacked against us in significant ways and small. When marketing our services, our goal is to be heard, to be known, to have our message resonate with the right audience.
This is where Schaefer’s book comes in. It’s about building the unstoppable momentum needed to rise above competitive barricades in business, in our careers, and in our lives. From identifying the initial advantage, to creating a vast awareness about your projects, to nurturing powerful connections – this book is as practical as it is inspiring.
1. How to stand out from the crowd? It’s a discussion I am having with all my clients, of course. Schaefer says: ‘Doing business today is about answering one question: how can we be heard? A big chunk of what he talks about is the path to adding meaningful value for a specific audience. Great stuff to read!
2. The source of cumulative advantage. Although we all invest a lot of effort into our content, our social media and other marketing strategies, we still need ‘something extra’ - says Schaefer - to build momentum in our businesses. It’s excellent how Schaefer applies some of the research to ‘normal people’ like us. In his inspiring case studies and life stories, he shows how ‘real people’ go from zero to hero in a practical, actionable way.
3. Finding the right blend. I do spend a lot of time with my clients to help them understand their ideal blend between their market credentials, the people they like to work with (or not at all) and the audience's pains they can solve. Schaefer uses the Ikigai framework to do such analysis (I am not a big fan of the model, it's not actionable enough to me), but I like the fact he uses research and science to help us find our ideal blend.
My favorite quotes:
Quote 1: The most accepted description of the ‘cumulative advantage idea’ is that the advantage of one individual or group over another grows over time, which means that the inequality of this advantage grows, too.
Quote 2: When something in your life or business doesn’t make sense, dig deeper. There’s a spark to be discovered.
The Inconvenient Number
Evidence-based learning for consultants.
In talking to more than 100 consultants in 2020, I found that consulting clients are less inclined to search for brand new consultants to solve their problems. Corona has created more pressure, less patience, less risk-taking behaviors in the selection of advisors.
- 29% of executives are now zeroed in on the next 3 months
- 49% have their sights on the 3-12 month period.
This has inevitably led to:
● Clients seem to stick more to their existing consultants if these consultants have a solid track record as their in-house trusted advisors for quite some time already (no risk, fast project onboarding)
● Shorter selection lead time for new consultants (less patience) in combination with a much stronger focus on selecting visible experts with a well-established social proof in their market or industry
I am 100% sure this new client mindset and/or behavior will remain unchanged in 2021, if not getting (much) stronger.
A sneak peek behind the curtains of my business. Luk's lab.
How to maximize your reach
It took a few months of producing content and developing my readership before I finally felt like it was the right time to launch my newsletter. I had accumulated quite a few subscribers and I felt like I’ve done enough research to create something that speaks directly to my target audience and addresses their pain points.
My newsletter has an open rate of over 60%! Time and time again. Yes! This is a dream-come-true for any marketer. Do you know what the average for the consulting industry is? 20,13%, according to Mailchimp’s Benchmarks Report.
Here’s one of my secrets (apart from striving for high-quality content, of course): I send my newsletter twice.
I first send it on Wednesdays (every other Wednesday, to be more precise). I then re-send it on Sunday morning the same week to those who haven’t opened the newsletter on Wednesday. With an automated workflow, of course.
This is a strategy I implement quite a bit in my content promotion efforts. I can’t assume that my readers are sitting there, anxiously waiting for my newsletter to arrive, dropping everything the minute it does. We all have our busy lives, and it is my job to catch my readers’ attention. I maximize my chances of doing it by putting my content in front of them a couple of times per week.
As a result, about 20% of my open rate comes from the second – reminder – email that I send.
I’ve learned this technique from fellow expert Josh Spector. In fact, I’d like to point you to this article of his, where he explains how he built up a subscriber-base of 25,000 people.
Of course, for this technique to work as well as it does for me, you should have 1) a clean list of subscribers that 2) you continuously engage through relevant, high-quality content.
The Inevitable Learning
The programs I am teaching. To become a better consultant.
🅾️ My first brand new free webinar: Fire your clients: you can't grow unless you specialize as a consultant.
What you will learn in the webinar on March 10 at 2 pm CET:
● The Vicious-Loop-To-Hell-Tax you'll pay if you fear to say NO to non-ideal clients
● The top 5 reasons why you should specialize as a consultant
● It's all in the mind, why consultants are afraid to focus or specialize
● Moving from generic to specific, using lean principles to transform yourself
🅾️ My private training program, limited slots for 2021
I have A LIMITED NUMBER OF SLOTS in 2021 for senior consultants eager to attract their ideal customers and grow their consulting business consistently.
This individual training program starts with a full audit of your market positioning and covers the necessary advice for long-term improvements and quick wins. The number of participants for this 1-2-1 virtual training is limited. Access on a first-come-first-served basis.
