The Big Question
Questions I get from consultants. And my answers.
I received this question from a fellow subscriber: “I am interested in how you manage knowledge. In a podcast, you spoke about documenting your projects, your insights and learnings. I am interested in how you do this and recommendations for the type of knowledge management 'platform' to use”.
Thanks for sending the question. My fellow newsletter reader seems to be active in the knowledge management consulting space. Cool!
There are two different ways of looking at knowledge management as a consultant (or in a consultancy):
1. From a technical perspective: the systems to make knowledge management successful (to document knowledge and to create ‘one version of the truth’)
2. From a business development perspective: how to use (well documented) knowledge to build trust in your expertise (big or small, it doesn’t matter)
Of course, I will be looking at it from a business development perspective as I am not a solution/application provider/advisor. And maybe, you’ve never thought about knowledge management from a business development perspective?
Create a vision for knowledge management as a business development approach
For those who’ve been following me, you’ve understood that building trust in your expertise is the foundation of consulting success. Consulting is a ‘credence business’ (says Tom McMakin in his book ‘How Clients Buy’), and potential clients need to trust us before buying. That’s the ultimate starting point of knowledge management: document all your learnings to share them with your prospects and clients.
So, the vision is quite simple: document your knowledge to build trust by sharing and teaching (the best consultants I know are also incredible teachers). Have a look at my blog about ‘why you should share your expertise. I started my new consulting business in early 2020, and I’ve already (fanatically) documented >200 pages of new knowledge.
The four components of BD-driven knowledge management
Remember: the vision is to share and teach to build trust. Here are the four key ingredients of successful knowledge management to inspire your prospects and stand out in your market.
1. Document client objections: I’ve always been extremely eager to understand my clients' objections and (immediately) document them. Right now, I have already documented three pages of objections/questions I’ve received from prospects and clients. Every consultant/consultancy should systematically gather such objections to building a FAQ (e.g., on the website) and to (self)train the instant responses to prospect/client questions. As I always say: to learn your lines!
2. Document client struggles/challenges: as consultants, we need to study the patterns of success and failure and document them. Pattern detection is the foundation of expertise development. If you don’t deliberately document them, you will struggle with growing your expertise (and the trust). It has always been one of the critical success components of winning pitches in the past decade: my ability to explain patterns of success and failure to prospects/clients.
3. Write compelling case studies: I wrote 100 case studies in the past decade, and I openly shared them all the time. It was the #1 driver of organic pipeline growth. Together with your 1) laser-sharp positioning (one audience, one prototypical pain, one value proposition) and your 2) visibility (to build trust), your 3) social proof will be essential to future success. No detailed case studies mean no social proof resulting in a difficult business. Read my intriguing story about meeting with an HR director here.
4. Build your thought leadership: I’ve written a lot about this already in the context of growing your visibility and building trust in your expertise (and I provided lots of data & evidence in my past newsletters). Here’s a short and simple version of the truth: without thought leadership, you won’t be able to stand out in a crowded consulting market (despite lots of opportunities). Everything you document (see above) should ultimately result in sharing ‘pain-resolution advice’ to your network. Consistently.
The biggest challenge? Time!
I already hear you yelling at me: Luk, I don’t have time to do this. My straightforward answer: without knowledge management, expect business development difficulties in the long run! It’s as simple as that.
And, your knowledge management time is no longer about the clock. When you manage your time by the clock, you will never have enough time for knowledge management. You need a 1) process (a playbook) to organize yourself and/or your team and 2) a cross-pollination mindset: the organic integration of work and writing, which I’ve explained in detail in Trend #8 in this blog.
Conclusion
To me, knowledge management is less about documenting as such (using systems/technology) but all about inspiring, teaching, sharing to grow visibility and build trust in your expertise. It’s a very different mindset to start from. Technology is essential, don’t get me wrong. But without creating a vision of business development, knowledge management technology won’t help us grow our consulting business.
