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.
Got this question from a reader (great question, thanks!):
“Luk, what do you think of doing free tryout consulting work to get access to a prospect or new client with the objective to demonstrate my expertise and to hopefully get more work from this client.”
This question comes up a lot in my discussions with consultants. And I always have one BIG, FIRM, UNMISTAKABLE AND INDISPUTABLE answer: you DON’T DO free consulting work for your prospects. Never. Ever. Not even with the promise, you will get new work from that prospect/client once you’ve ‘proven yourself’.
It’s the biggest devaluation of your expertise and reputation as a consultant you could ever think of. It will kill your authority for the long haul with that prospect or client and you will never get it back. And if they would give you more work after your free stint, you will never get upstream (strategic, high-impact, transformational) kind of work again. Because they won’t perceive you anymore as an expert, you will have lost all your expert credibility.
Yes, you might get a few downstream (operational, low-impact, employee-like tasks) for a disrespectful hourly rate (and all the other torments of the vicious default consulting model) but you will have disqualified yourself for ‘the big jobs’ forever (at that client). Clients don’t value consultants they get for free, even if they have asked you to ‘prove yourself’ for free (which is a silly, bad-mannered ‘invitation’ anyhow).
Let me be straightforward with you: if you get asked to ‘prove yourself’ for free, you are not an expert yet, you are not considered to be able to add value, to be able to help transform the problem of that prospect/client. You have a bit of deepening work ahead of you.
I got a few of such questions at the very beginning of my consulting career but once I had established my visibility as a subject matter expert in my markets, nobody asked it again. From what I was writing and sharing, prospects knew who I was, what I could do for them and it was - apparently - quite clear they would never get me for free. My content (e.g. the case studies I wrote) and my visibility were my organic disqualifiers of such ill-mannered ‘working-for-free’ inquiries.
Consultants ask me often how I would react when I’d get such a ‘working-for-free’ request? I’d look for another prospect!
There are 2 exceptions, at least for me
1. Doing service validation pilots
To validate radically new consulting services I always advise my consulting clients to test and validate such new services for free (or at cost). To me, validating and testing a new service is absolutely critical to the long-term success of any consulting value proposition. If you don’t test, you risk living in uncertainty for a long period: is this specific service an answer to a specific pain of my specific audience? I’ve done this quite a few times (and learned a lot) and I will continue to do it. In a future article, I will write about doing such pilots. Stay tuned.
2. Pro-bono mentorship
Every year I offer a pro-bono full-year mentorship to a young entrepreneur. This year I am helping an (under 30) brilliant founder of a promising HR Tech startup. The founder and the management team can get my free advice anytime and they can ask me anything. Why don’t you think of such a pro-bono mentorship yourself? It’s a delightful and fulfilling experience. And it keeps me/you young :-).
It is a mindset challenge
Maybe readers could reflect for a few minutes: how would you react to a request for free work? Why the heck would you wanna work for such a client? Where does that come from? Out of greed to get access? Out of desperation? Or (too) strong pleasing behavior? Afraid of saying no? Afraid of missing out? Imposter?
I encourage you to reflect on that and determine if it would be a service or boundary-related challenge or is it going any deeper, e.g. fear or guilt-based? If it’s fear or guilt-based, your circumstances are not likely to change until you are able to reframe the way you look at such a client request: you have gathered a lot of experience all those years and you don’t give away the value it represents. Never. Period.
Next Big Q: A summary of my feedback to a client following my audit of their thought leadership strategy.
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 31-5-2021: Saying no as a consultant requires courage.
What consultants need is the confidence that "the void" that is created by saying no, becomes an opportunity to do things that bring them further and closer to what they want to do. And with that comes the confidence that something else will come along, because they're worth it. (David Ducheyne, founder of Otolith Consulting)
Topic 7-6-2021: The biggest temptation? Keeping all options open.
Every consultant I talk to has some kind of ambition to be recognized as an expert. But by keeping their options open all the time (out of fear of missing out), they won’t be able to look back in 10 years from now and feel the kind of satisfaction that comes from focus and true dedication.
The Irresistible Content
I write a lot. Here's the update from the past 2 weeks.
I regularly update this page with the recording and numerous other resources that I share with the participants. If you haven't had a chance to attend one of my webinars yet, make sure to check it out. Latest addition: The Most Important, Life-Changing Skills to Master as a Consultant (Webinar Summary May 2021)
Read my new article on the COMATCH blog. Digital platforms such as COMATCH demonstrate that the professional world is becoming ‘smaller'. Therefore, the likelihood buyers will go online to look for specialist consultants is growing.
Sometimes I come across awesome books. Little treasures to read. This is such a (brand new) book.
We are stuck in “Infinite Browsing Mode,” explains Pete Davis in this brilliant book. We have cultivated and are a part of the culture of indecisiveness. Whether it’s browsing through Netflix options for hours, trying to figure out what to watch, or jumping from one opportunity to another, we are restless. He breaks down the paradox of our modern culture. We want to keep our options open, yet we want the feeling of purpose, of community, of belonging. A very difficult equation, also for consultants.
This book is ‘the extension’ of Davis' awesome 2018 Harvard graduation speech, which I strongly recommend watching. It’s a deeply inspiring 9 minutes video, you should go there if you are also struggling to narrow the focus of your consulting work.
The book is full of examples from history, modern-day culture, and psychological analysis. Davis studied the “long-haul heroes” – people who committed themselves to a single place, a single profession, or a single cause – and made it to the other side. What an eye-opening read!
What you can learn from this book as a consultant:
1. Understand the infinite browsing mode Pete Davis explains the challenge of our ‘liquid modernity’: we can’t commit because we are afraid of doing that. In my work with consultants, I’ve personally experienced commitment to one expertise area is a difficult move. Davis’ explains the 3 fears this could come from: ● The fear of regret: we worry that if we commit to something, we will later regret having not committed to something else. ● The fear of association: we think that if we commit to something, we will be vulnerable to the chaos that that commitment brings to our identity, our reputation, and our sense of control.
● The fear of missing out (see also my previous book review about FOMO): we feel that if we commit to something, the responsibilities that come with it will prevent us from being everything, everywhere, to everyone
2. The downside of keeping the options open Davis explains that keeping the options open at first, is bringing the joy of new experiences but after a while starts getting us stuck and dissatisfied. It’s something I’ve experienced with so many (unfocused) consultants: they love to keep the options open but get burned out from jumping around and saying yes to almost everything. They all have the ambition to get known as a subject matter expert but they are struggling to commit to the focus it requires. They get stuck in their infinite browsing mode which almost always leads to great despair in the long run. Davis’ book gives us great examples of the downside and provides us with hope and a process to leave our vicious liquid state.
3. The joy of depth
I will never forget the ‘Depth is your superpower’ chapter in the book. Depth has been my way of living as a consultant the past decade and nobody ever described it as beautiful as Pete Davis: DEPTH IS YOUR SUPERPOWER. Wow! When we start going deep in our craft, we gain mastery, says Davis. And the depth that comes from such extended focus on our single craft, is a superpower. Narrowing is difficult (plenty of monsters waiting for us), says Davis, but the more time we add to something, the more beautiful it becomes. He finishes the book stating that depth makes the ordinary extraordinary. What a wonderful closing. He has inspired me tremendously (I listened to his audiobook - with Davis reading it himself - during a 7-hour car drive from Munich to Brussels) and this treasure book will undoubtedly help me inspire my consulting clients to develop their superpowers.
The Inconvenient Number
Evidence-based learning for consultants.
Your digital presence matters. A lot!
What you post online, what your clients post about you – all of these things matter. Your digital presence is how prospective clients make up their mind about your consulting abilities.
88% of business buyers in 2020 said online content plays a major to moderate role in vendor selection. That really is an incredible %, don’t you think?
If you carefully and strategically curate your online presence as a consultant, it will be your most powerful tool to drive your business forward. I’ve done it and I am doing it again. And it works. I will always work. I wrote about the ‘digital chips are down in consulting’ in my Consulting Trends 2021 article.
A sneak peek behind the curtains of my business. Luk's lab.
The current resources I use to further my knowledge (it’s an evolving list, I will republish now & then)
When it comes to sharing my knowledge, I draw my inspiration from the daily work I do with my clients, the types of concerns and needs they communicate, the research I do into my target audience, and, of course, my decades of experience. At the same time, I consider myself an avid student. I strive to always be learning and actively make time for it in my schedule. And, in this edition of the newsletter, I’d like to share with you some of the people and blogs who I turn to on a regular basis to learn new perspectives, acquire new skills, and improve my offering.
●Medium: I am an avid reader on the Medium platform. I’ve learned thousand things from all the writers on the platform, such as Josh Spector, Sergey Faldin, Darius Foroux, Dave Schools, Ryan Holiday, Ev Williams (CEO of Medium), Imogen Roy, Cynthia Marinakos and many more.
● Podcasts: I am listening to podcasts 2-3 hours per week. Here are my current favorites: ○2Bobs with David Baker and Blair Enns (agency-based consulting advice) ○The Business of Expertise with Jonathan Stark and Rachel Moulton (How to manage your expertise-based business) ○What’s Essential with Greg McKeown (to help my clients learning to reduce distraction) ○FOMO Sapiens with Patrick McGinnis (to help my clients dealing with FOMO) ○The James Altucher Show with James Altucher (about entrepreneurship) ○Everyone Hates Marketers with Louis Grenier (about no-BS marketing)
●Seth Godin: you probably know him, not sure how to describe him but I learned a lot about marketing from him. I’ve read 5 books from Seth. His latest book was my new years’ present to my clients: The Practice.
●Neil Patel: I am using his software to measure Google performance and I am reading and listening to his endless video messages about Google, SEO and content production.
●Hubspot: my business runs on the Hubspot platform but it’s also one of the best blogs in the world re digital marketing. Amazing. They have about 1M (yes, 1 million) articles available.
●The Membership Guys (TMG): a few of my consulting clients have membership business models. I learn everything from TMG. Awesome source of information.
The programs I am teaching. To become a better consultant.
🅾️ Free webinar today (June 9) at 2:00 PM CET
Getting visible as a consultant requires a time strategy
In just a few hours, I will be hosting my monthly webinar, focusing this time on the biggest drivers of a better time strategy in consulting. I'll be providing the participants with a practical guide and resources to growing their business, adopting a new mindset and work framework, and succeeding in the hyper-competitive market. You can find out more and register here.
🅾️ 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.
