by CarbonNYC

Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants: Breakthrough Tactics for Winning Profitable Clients is a book by Jay Conrad Levinson and Michael W. McLaughlin I’d recommend anyone, not only consultants.

My biggest takeaways from the  book is a marketing mindset I should have as a consultant and also the prescriptive guidance on how to build my marketing strategy.

Here is my distillation. Read on…

Consultant’s Marketing Mindset

The authors of the book provide an attributes of guerilla marketing for consultants. These attributes helped me to get into the mindset of eternal demand creation for my services I offer as a consultant. And that’s the essence of any marketing – creating the demand.

• [Marketing]Is the business. This attribute reminds me that I am in constant contact with a customer which is just perfect situation to market my service, and that’s not by running the halls yelling “me! me!! me!!!”  rather by delivering first class services. Quietly. Results speak louder than blah blah blah.
• Focused message. This attribute reminds me I should be delivering narrow range of services . I deliver performance and security services. I am a SME [subject matter expert], not a generalist.
• Insight-based. This attribute reminds me that I must not keep IP [intellectual property] to myself rather readily share it with a customer [unless there is a violation of some policy or law]. Telling a customer “I will tell you how to do it after you sign a contract” is wrong. Better off to share the overall approach of the solution to customer’s problem generating demand for more detailed engagement.
• Build intellectual assets. This attribute reminds me to keep sharing the knowledge via my professional blog. This is the best investment I have made when it comes to marketing to customers, my managers, and potential employers.
• Build client relationships. This attribute reminds me to not only strive to full engagement with a customers but also to cherish the connections. These connections serve me well when it comes to market research, leads, and referrals.  Or a friendship.
• Enhance profit. This attribute reminds me that marketing is done to enhance my profits, not the philanthropy [at least at this stage of my career]. It helps me targeting my efforts to niches with more pain. The more pain, the more demand for SME’s.
• Reveal reality. This attribute reminds me I should share what I have witnessed – without beautifying or hiding parts of the reality. Clients are smart beasts, they spot fake in no time.
• Listen and serve. This attribute reminds me that marketing does not end by throwing stuff in the air – it reminds me I need to listen to reactions and act when there is a demand, even when no budget is allocated for it.
• One size fits none. This attribute reminds me that marketing, like life, is ongoing experiment – there is no rules. The only rule is “do what works, if it does not work – stop doing it.”
• Create markets. This attribute reminds me to be an entrepreneur, or inntrapreneur, or event soloreneur. It reminds me I cannot totally depend on someone else to create a market for my services.

Consultant Marketing Vision

The authors of the book offer extremely dense and prescriptive guidance on how to build a marketing strategy. I used it with my managers to get my message across. I think it clicked. Here is the guidance:

1. Sentence one explains the purpose of your marketing.
2. Sentence two explains how you achieve that purpose by describing the substantive benefits you provide to clients.
3. Sentence three describes your target markets(s).
4. Sentence four describes your niche.
5. Sentence five outlines the marketing weapons you will use.
6. Sentence six reveals the identity of your business.
7. Sentence seven provides your marketing budgets

Write your answers and see if your strategy sticks.

Practice This – Get Results

• Get Consultant’s Marketing mindset – focus your marketing efforts on high impact stuff.
• Follow 7 steps to build your marketing vision – if it sticks you’ll be just fine. If not, refine until it does.
• Read Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants: Breakthrough Tactics for Winning Profitable Clients – it’s loaded with insights from the guys who got results, not fluff.

My Related Posts

• Remarkable Marketing By Seth Godin
• From Part Time Aspiring Blogger To Marketing Top Gun
• Basic Instincts And Marketing

by mollypop

What does it take to change the world? What does it take to change self? What does it take to make others change?  These questions seem completely different. Aren’t they? At first they might. But not after reading the book Influencer: The Power to Change Anything.

In the book  I learned practical and simple pattern of making change, be it little or global.

Change – The Master Plan

The authors of the book offer simple scheme for making change happen:

	Motivation	Ability
Personal	Make the undesirable desirable	Surpass your limits
Social	Harness peers pressure	Find strength in number
Structural	Design rewards and accountability	Change the Environment

I like the breakdown and it seems very reasonable and common sense to me.  Here is my interpretation of this scheme:

• Personal: Want to surpass your limits? – Make the undesirable desirable
• Social: Want to multiply your strength? – Harness peers peers pressure.
• Structural: Want to make the change? – design reward and accountability.

Sounds good to me, the question is How?

J.D. helped me with his distillation from the book and related training:

• Six Sources of Influence
• Influencer Training Day 1.
• Influencer Training Day 2.

Make My Teammates Want Blogging Plan

Publishing on corporate blog should help market our services we sell. As a consultant I have sympathy to this, nothing more. I am technical consultant – not a marketing guy. So in fact I do not really care about it. If marketing guys suck then fire them and hire better ones, right? No!

On other hand blogging became a serious marketing weapon lately. It’s power lays in offering value, not marketing high level stuff. It’s hard for me to imagine a marketing guy blogs about how to solve specific problem – something consultant lives and breathes. Are we in the dead end? Not sure.

How do you motivate a consultant to start blogging? WIIFM [What’s In It For Me], right? What’s in corporate blogging for a consultant? Nothing, unless it helps him grow personally. And if it helps him grow personally efficiently he is hooked, right?

My plan is simple – motivate consultant to surpass his limits by helping him to unleash a blogger inside. If I help a consultant to deal efficiently with the following issues I think there is a chance.

• How to find time for blogging?
• How to quickly find the topic to blog about
• How to quickly write the post?
• How to quickly weed out less important stuff and leave only the meat?
• How to write scannable posts that people like reading/scanning/bookmarking?
• How to enjoy from blogging?

What’s your take?

Practice This – Get Results

• Connect on personal level, identify WIIFM – motivate, do not dictate
• Offer value – it’s the currency of Influence Without Authority
• Share efficient techniques – everyone loves getting more with less.

My Related Posts

• Single Step Toward A Journey Of Thousand Blog Posts
• Check Point For Aspiring Blogger
• From Part Time Aspiring Blogger To Marketing Top Gun
• From Flash Fiction To Flash Blogging

by katiebate

"The basic difference between an argument and a fight: an argument, done skillfully, gets people to want to do what you want. You fight to win; you argue to achieve agreement."

Win Customers – Argue, Don’t Fight Consulting is all about conflict. Consultant’s goal is to either solve the problems or reveal latent ones. Problems are usually no fun for customers. Problems create tension that often leads to conflict. Consultant is always in epicenter of the conflict. Otherwise why call the consultant in first place? The basic question consultant should ask himself is "What do I want? Do I want to win or do I want to win a customer?". My answer is "Win a customer". To win a customer I follow another pattern presented in the book – virtue, practical wisdom, selflessness. More on the approach read What Aristotle Could Teach You About Consulting Win Managers – Argue, Don’t Fight Fighting your boss would be a …ehm serious career limiting move. I have done it – take my word for granted, it never works. Worse, it creates the atmosphere that is much less than inspiring (in case you stay with the position and not get fired). What worked for me is arguing. Not always. At least I had a chance to present my take without major emotional losses and avoiding making more enemies. By "arguing" I mean applying the same basic principles of persuasion – virtue, practical wisdom, selflessness. If you hit the case of being saddled with a bad boss I suggest you go over this great article – How to Handle a Bad Boss. What worked especially great is "Don’t Act Immediately" and "Play the Game". Playing the game not only helped me to stay in the game but also persuade in some cases. Good stuff. Win Kids – Argue, Don’t Fight Kids are stubborn. Kids might sometimes drive you just nuts. They try out the boundaries, they try to take you over it. The natural reaction is "Stop doing it!", "No!", "Don’t!" in other words the natural reaction is fighting them. It is effective and it works but it leaves very bad taste in my mouth and it does not add to the kid’s self esteem. It also misses the great opportunity to teach and learn. What worked for me is arguing. Really. First I let my kids win a little by initially agreeing but then I develop an conversation trying to argue with her. Giving examples from previous experiences or making it up on the go. Hey! Aristotle could teach me a lot about how to be a good parent, eh? Practice This – Get Results Want to win but lose the game? – Fight. Want to win and stay in the game? – Argue. Master your arguing skills – read Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion My Related Posts Consultant Speaks Language Everyone Understands Consultant "Kills" With A Borrowed Knife Manage Your Manager For Fun And For Profit Effective Techniques To Handle Your Kid’s Temper Tantrum

]]> http://practicethis.com/2009/04/08/want-to-win-argue-do-not-fight/feed/ 20 http://practicethis.com/2009/03/31/improve-your-outcomes-by-changing-your-responses/ http://practicethis.com/2009/03/31/improve-your-outcomes-by-changing-your-responses/#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:32:12 +0000 alik levin http://practicethis.com/2009/03/31/improve-your-outcomes-by-changing-your-responses/

Are you satisfied with you outcomes? If you are not you better grab Jack Canfield’s book The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. Canfield shares many simple yet practical methods for improving your personal performance.

For example::

If you do not like your outcomes, change your responses.

This advice can sound too obvious, but how many times you witnessed people change their approaches? How many times you changed yours?…

Change Response To Failures What’s the usual response to a failure? Regret, anger, emptiness. None of these help to succeed next time. Worse, it consumes your energy for nothing draining your personal power. Change response to a failure! Ask yourself questions. Admit. Say it – “I failed”. Stop lying to yourself. Reflect. Where did I go wrong? Refocus. Adjust yourself. Set yourself for success with realistic goals. Plan. What do I need to do to make it successful next time? Reward yourself. Even when failed reward yourself. “No matter what, I gave it a try!”, “Now I know better!”, “Hey, I am still alive and kicking!”. “I have not failed. I have just found ten thousand ways that won’t work” – Thomas A. Edison. Change Response To Customers In consulting your ultimate goal is making your customer happy. It is not about proving you are right. It is not uncommon customers treat you the way that is far from what you’d expect it to be. What can you do? Explain customer he is wrong? Prove you are right?  Your goal is to keep the customer happy while keeping the profitability of the gig. Arguing and creating conflict situation is a surest path to lose the customer. Adopt a “hero” mindset. Tell the customer – “It was pleasure serving your”. Tell yourself – “I did the right thing”. Smile. Change Response To Managers The simplest yet effective change of mindset I have made was moving focus from “How can I excel?” to “What’s your biggest problem?”. The meaning is the same but the perception is… everything. It is easier for manager to spit out his challenges off top of his head vs. trying to deeply understand you so that he can pave your path to the excellence. You become low maintenance employee, the one who gets desired results with minimum investment. Managers appreciate it. Change Response To Kids You are your kids leader. One of my favorite leadership lessons from John Wooden is “Call Yourself A Teacher“. Not a preacher. Stop preaching, start teaching, start leading. Lead by example. My Related Posts 3 Easy Steps To Become A Superhero Consultants, Beware Of Procrastinators, Disengaged, And Distracters! Effective Techniques To Handle Your Kid’s Temper Tantrum John Wooden’s 12 Lessons In Leadership [For Kids]

]]> http://practicethis.com/2009/03/31/improve-your-outcomes-by-changing-your-responses/feed/ 17 http://practicethis.com/2009/03/02/use-wordle-to-conduct-online-research-on-who-does-what-including-yourself/ http://practicethis.com/2009/03/02/use-wordle-to-conduct-online-research-on-who-does-what-including-yourself/#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:51:30 +0000 alik levin http://practicethis.com/2009/03/02/use-wordle-to-conduct-online-research-on-who-does-what-including-yourself/ “What do you do?” is becoming an obsolete question and soon it’ll be completely removed from the day-to-day use. The reason is that everyone has online presence – either minimal membership on a social web site like Facebook or a full blown web blog.
by http://www.wordle.net 

I like this transparency (despite my software security background). I actually massively use it when I research others. I also use it when doing research on myself.

Recently I discovered www.wordle.net that helps analyzing words on the web sites. It creates word clouds. A  word cloud is a great way to visually demonstrate the focus of the web site, it also helps demonstrating the lack of focus…

PracticeThis.com

I have ran it on this blog – www.PracticeThis.com. It’s clear I have been focused on Consulting recently:

I thought this is a good time to step back and reflect on what I publish here. It’s time to reflect on my main categories which are:

• Blogging
• Career
• Consulting
• Entrepreneurship
• Influence Without Authority
• Leadership
• Motivation
• Parenting
• Physical
• Time Management

I’ve tried this technique on blogs I like reading with the following results:

SourcesOfInsight.com

JD at www.SourcesOfInsight.com is focused on Problems solving. He seem to be in the Know about getting Results, and that is by asking the right Questions:

JD, was I right?

Jimmy, Editor In Chief

My good friend, Jimmy (Aspiring Geek), who’s also contributing his effort as an editor for www.PracticeThis.com is crazy about Performance for SQL Server. he is a fan of Incremental Results and he preaches Improvement Engineering Practices over mere Perception.

WritingForward.com

Melissa at www.WritingForwaard.com does lots of Exercises in Fiction Writing focusing on Character.

Melissa, what do you say?

DreamBuilders.com.au

Liara at blog.dreambuilders.com.au is here for Spiritual Presence, her Experiences open the Door to People Awareness and Beyond.

Liara, was I right?

ImperfectAction.com

Giovanna at www.imperfectaction.com seems to be a huge fan of Warren Buffet. Giovanna likes taking Action, sometimes Imperfect, to make Better Connections with People.

Giovanna, how’s the analysis?

MarkSalinas.com

Mark at blog.marksalinas.com likes Juice and he does Exercises like Jumping for Strengthening his Back and his Knees.

Enduringwanderlust.com

Gennaro at http://www.enduringwanderlust.com/ is in love with Paris, he is about Travel, and he relates to Buddhist[sm]

Gennaro, I usually refrain from discussing politics and religion .

Summary

I guess you got the idea.

I apologize if I have not included your blog – nothing personal, I love reading your blog.

I am curious about your techniques for online research?

My Related Posts

• Check Point For Aspiring Blogger
• From Part Time Aspiring Blogger To Marketing Top Gun
• From Flash Fiction To Flash Blogging

Editor in chief – Jimmy May

and credibility when I was teaching Web Development classes during the early 2000’s.

Hello Students!

If you teach classes of any kind you must know how hard it is – much harder than it might look. Beside remembering the material and keeping the pace and flow, one needs to control the class and its attention level. As a student I know the best teachers are those who establish authority first – either through power or credibility.

When I was hired to teach Web Development I had zero power and even less credibility. I needed to control a class of 30 students with high energy and even higher expectations. Technically I was OK, but how could I control them?

The answer came from a world record holder for remembering stuff (how ironic, I cannot remember his name…). He was in town and I attended the session. As an appetizer the guy demonstrated how he can remember tens of words written on white board after staring at it for only a few seconds. The audience was completely amazed. Then he said that by the end of the session everyone in the room would do just the same. The audience was flipping on the floor laughing at the joke.

…By the end of the session about a hundred folks were doing the very same trick the guy showed in the beginning. He delivered on his initial promise.

How?

The trick is simple, similar to the one described in the book. And it can be found online here. Free. Look at Remember Ten Things To Bring and Visit The Hotel Dominic.

From Zero To Hero Using Mind Hacks

I like putting things into practice. I decided to impress my students by remembering their names immediately upon meeting them. I was hoping that would create wow! effect and add credibility.

I arrived at the new class and as usual it was very loud. It took me awhile to get the students’ attention. Then I asked each student to present himself, all 30 of them. While they were introducing themselves I was creating mental images. When the last of them finished I had a series of episodes in my head. I simply replayed them, pointing to each student and calling his name. The class was astonished…

I was never interrupted when teaching my materials. The rest of the class went almost too smoothly.

I earned my credibility using a simple mind hacks. You can do the same thing.

“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.”

Practice This – Get Results

• Train your mind to remember more – avoid embarrassments when with customers. Remember important information like names, goals, critical past and future events.
• Do not memorize mechanical stuff, like checklists – remember to write it down and have it handy.

My Related Posts

• Basic Skills For Effective Public Speaking
• Dale Carnegie’s Recipe For Effective Public Speaking
• 3 Most Precious Things In The World Are Free

Editor in chief – Jimmy May

I do not remember it, but my kids constantly remind me of it. It is well known winning stratagem – “Kill with a borrowed knife“:

Attack using the strength of another (in a situation where using one’s own strength is not favourable) – Wikipedia

I use the stratagem very effectively in consulting.

Customer Wins Self

I am using this technique with each and every customer I work with. It works better than any technique I have used.

There are usually two reps I work with -a decision maker and field guy at customer’s. The decision maker sets the goals and the field guy works with me to solve the problem at hand. During the problem resolution I actively engage with the field guy – it helps building trust relationships (both personal and professional). When wrapping up the gig I consult with the field guy about how to better present the findings and recommendations. Then I wrap it up and hand out the report. During the final meeting I get the spotlights and everyone in the room looks at me.

Silence…

“Ehm… Danny [the field guy] and I were working together. We tried to identify the most significant issues under a tight schedule… ehm… Danny, won’t your elaborate what we have found?”… “Sure, no probs”.

I sit quietly and let the guy explain his managers the results of the gig. His is fluent with the report as I was engaging him throughout the whole cycle. No black magic.

Results

• Danny’s managers are more trusting of him than me, so my report is more credible when presented by Danny.
• Management is happy as they see that not only that the issue was resolved but also the knowledge was transferred – next time they can do it themselves, saving on [not] calling me.
• Trust has been established unconsciously. They WILL call me next time. They usually do. They trust their hunches…

“Trust your hunches…. Hunches are usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.” – Dr. Joyce Brothers

Practice This – Get Results

• When with customers, seek allies – build your network to support you when you need it. 
• Build your network. Period.

My Related Posts

• Consultant Besieges Wèi To Rescue Zhào
• Consultant Deceive The Heavens To Cross The Ocean. And Wins.
• Consulting – What’s The Deal?

Editor in chief – Jimmy May

• Deceive the heavens to cross the ocean
• Besiege Wèi to rescue Zhào
• Kill with a borrowed knife
• Substitute leisure for labour
• Loot a burning house
• Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west

All these can be successfully applied in consultancy too.

Deceive the heavens to cross the ocean

This stratagem means that you mask your real goals, thus deceiving even the emperor / heavens itself with a fake goal, until they are confronted with finished facts. – Wikipedia

I found this technique useful only for the case of broken trust. I found that revealing completely my real goals with customers and managers works best. Usually it is something that can be described as win win situation. I understand perfectly that when I am trying to achieve a goal that might potentially pose a risk to either customer or a manager I won’t achieve it easily. What’s even worse is that I won’t have fun and I won’t enjoy achieving it if I will be forced  to use this stratagem.

On other hand, consulting is much about politics. It is extremely rare that all parties have the same goals or at least goals that overlap. Consultant is always involved in some sort of conflict:

• The budget is low but the expectations are high.
• Two customers has urgent issues simultaneously.
• Management makes business decision that is less favorable to the customer the consultant facing.
• The service is paid by one guy (procurement) but it is delivered to other one (actual end user), and there is a disconnect between the two.
• The competition shows better results but the consultant just cannot admit it as it would terminate the gig (which is about another stratagem, defeat stratagem).

How do you win in such situations?

You Deceive the Heavens To Cross The Ocean. You mask your real goals, achieve it and present finished fact. Then, you lead a horse to water.

What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease – Sun Tzu.

The easiest way to win hearts of customers and managers is revealing your real goals up-front. This is possible when your customers or managers are purposeful. If this is not the case – Deceive The Heavens To Cross The Ocean.

Practice This – Get Results

• Is your customer purposeful? – reveal your real goals up-front. 
• Is your manager purposeful? – reveal your real goals up-front. 
• In all other cases – mask your goals.
• Practice Emotional intelligence.
• Deliver value silently, then make them confront with finished fact. No one can argue with facts.

My Related Posts

• Do Not Join Them. Beat Them.
• Consultants, Beware Of Procrastinators, Disengaged, And Distracters!
• Emotional Intelligence – Core Skills

My take is – Flash Blogging.

In Flash Your Fiction: Writing Exercises, Melissa at Writing Forward shares an interesting writing technique – Flash Fiction. She writes:

…go through the story one last time removing as much as you can without making the piece unintelligible. A traditional example is:

Boy meets girl. Boy gets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy wins girl back.

Of course, this is an oversimplified example, but it certainly gives you an idea of just how much a story can be broken down into its basic movements

That is exactly what I need – adapt Flash Writing to Flash Blogging.

I am using templates when I write my blog posts. It helps me keep my post idea clear and reduce distractions to the minimum.

Boy Meets Girl

When a boy meets a girl it is about excitement. This is how I start my posts – it must be an excitement, a hook. Usually it is a question or a strong statement. My post is the boy and you, the reader, are the girl. What makes you feel the excitement?

• Asking a question. “Have you ever though to quit blogging?” or “Feel exhausted? Drained?” or “Would you like to be an A-List blogger?”.
• Taking a strong position. “Quit blogging now!” or “All bloggers are hard workers, no wonder they are exhausted and drained” or “To become an A-List blogger you must follow these three steps:…”

Boy Gets Girl

Dear reader (the girl), I (the boy) want to win your heart!

After the first line I assume you are hooked. Now I need to connect with you. To do so I answer my question or elaborate a bit on the stand I have taken in the beginning. This should translate the excitement into a connection, preferably an emotional connection. Can you feel the connection between us? Have I got you?

Boy Loses Girl

Now you are mine, I’ve got you. You are excited, connected. You are reading my stuff.

Having fun? NO?!?!??! Am I loosing you? Am I boring you?

To reduce the chance of losing you (the girl) I (the boy) try writing punchy and with less elaboration – straight to the point of the idea I want to convey. I also format my posts with subtitles and bullets to allow you scan my post without even reading it line by line.

In the end of the post when I am sure you are bored and the chance of losing you is the highest, I add some credibility by adding a relevant quote from someone famous. All in the name of love. Our love. But…

There’s more to love than boy meets girl – Jimmy Somerville

Boy Wins Girl Back

Oh… you are back! Happy me !

You came again, you want to read more posts from me? That is huge! You even recommended me to your friends? – Awesome! Seems like the technique works, doesn’t it?

Practice This – Get Results

• Ask question up front or take a stand – hook me up.
• Give me the whole idea of the post in the first two lines – do not make me work hard to fall in love with you. This way you get me quick.
• Elaborate, offer some new techniques that work – do not bore me with just prose.
• Format your posts with subtitles, bullets, and bold type – do not make me work hard to keep loving you.

My Related Posts

• Blog Post Template Plugin For Windows Live Writer
• Boost Your Blogging Productivity With Post Templates

How do you get your kids ready in the morning without influence by authority?

I seem to solve this one – I apply the same technique that gets me results, Kaizen’s “Straighten” rule. Buy yourself a white board, hang it on the door and write checklists for your kids. It’s a game they will love a lot. You will love it too.

Checklists For Grade 4 Kids

What does your kid need to do in the morning? Write it on the white board and let her put checkmarks next to it. You will be amazed how everything gets done in minutes. Here is the checklist for my Grade 4 daughter:

• Cover my bed.
• Brush my teeth.
• Get dressed.
• Finish my breakfast.
• Prepare my backpack.
• Calm my hair.
• Kiss my daddy.

She is eager to put V next to each action item. It’s a game for her so she enjoys it. What do you think what it does to me?

Checklists For Toddlers

My other daughter does not know how to read yet, she is four years old. No checklists? Of course she has it too:

Can you walk through this one? She can. And she does it with pleasure.

“Discipline doesn’t break a child’s spirit half as often as the lack of it breaks a parent’s heart“

Practice This – Get Results

• Write on white board – share your wants with your kids visually.
• Let your kid put a checkmark herself – it is a game. Kids love games, did you know that?
• Reward your kid for tasks being completed – grow her self esteem.

My Related Posts

• John Wooden’s 12 Lessons In Leadership [For Kids]
• Conclude The Day With Positive Reflection