Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Answer You - Eight Skills of Highly Successful Consultants
Starting a new business is one thing, actually getting paying clients is another. Clients won't know you're starting a new business unless you tell them. So you have to start telling people right away.Here are some tips for getting the word out:You should have at least 50 people on your contact list. These are the people you are going to let know that you are starting a new business.Start with family members outside of your immediate family - brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, nephews, in-laws, cousin in-laws, sister-in-laws.The next set of people who should know you are starting a new business are your immediate circle of friends - friends, neighbors, the parents of your kids’ friends, your parent’s friends.Now think about where you spend your money. The people you do business with should know you are
Separating Process from Content
It is so important to maintain perspective while in the client organization. Clients will focus on the content (of a meeting, the product, the outputs from your study, or whatever), but if the process matters aren’t attended to, outcomes can be compromised.
Working on your ability to step back and recognize what is happening at the group dynamics and interpersonal level will improve your success. Clients don’t always know that they need this, but
As a company grows and expands into new markets, it may be necessary to establish branches with some degree of autonomy in order to provide a better service to clients. The degree of autonomy granted to the managers of such branches by the head office and the accounting records maintained by these branches, differ considerably from one enterprise to the next.The accounting system used to record branch transactions can also vary considerably from the centralised accounting system, where processing is done entirely by head office, to a basically decentralised accounting system, where most of the processing of the branch transactions is done by the branch itself. In other cases the accounting function can be shared, some of the data may be collected and processed by the branch while, other information is maintained by the head office. Whatever system is chosen, it
One way to look at your total skill set as a consultant (internal or external), is to consider your relative strengths in the three major portions of our work: designing “it”, delivering “it”, and selling “it”. These three skills represent the complete package for a consultant, regardless of what your expertise (your “it”) is.
The Complete Package:
Designing “It”
This is our technical expertise. This is the “stuff” we learn in classes and through experience and practice. It is the front end of our work in most cases. While we cannot underestimate the importance of these skills (and the need to continue to upgrade them), we also can’t be content if these skills are top-notch. They are not enough.
Delivering “It”
This is the other mega-skill that many of us are very comfortable with. Once we’ve designed our “product”, we have to be able to deliver it. This is the skill set that is often most evident to our clients, or is what we tell people we do when they ask us our profession. Again, this skill set is critical, but alone it isn’t enough.
Selling “It”
This skill, in my experience, is the one most often in need of improvement. While many books have been written about this skill set, there is one key, which by itself will improve your success in selling your work. If you will always focus on client/customer benefits, rather than product/process features, you will improve your success immediately. Features are components of your product or service. Examples include:
• Size
• Length
• Speed
• Number of modules
• Your Experience
People don’t buy features they buy benefits. All of us know this at some level, but seldom focus on turning the important features of our offerings into true benefits. To assume that your client/customer will figure out the benefit, is to lower your chance of selling your potential product or
idea.
Some Specific Skills to Consider:
Contracting
This is another skill that requires a book to discuss well and which requires planning and practice to improve. Getting clear agreements with clients up front about what the work is, what the desired outcomes are, and what your role is, is what contracting is all about.
Relationship Building
Building relationships are important in all three of the major skill areas. In designing, you need to build relationships in order to gain the organizational information you need to design effectively. In delivering you need to be able to have good relationships with those involved, to lead to a more successful outcome. In selling, it’s important to remember that selling is a relationship process. People buy other people and believe in their ability to deliver.
Having a focus on relationships is more than building rapport, which can happen quite rapidly. Building relationships is long term focused and requires considerable commitment.
Warning
Building relationships with individuals is important, but recognize that if your focus is on only one person in an organization, when they are gone (get promoted, get a new job, are downsized out, or whatever) you have lost your leverage to help the organization. So, remember to build a network of relationships within your client organizations.
Separating Process from Content
It is so important to maintain perspective while in the client organization. Clients will focus on the content (of a meeting, the product, the outputs from your study, or whatever), but if the process matters aren’t attended to, outcomes can be compromised.
Working on your ability to step back and recognize what is happening at the group dynamics and interpersonal level will improve your success. Clients don’t always know that they need this, but
In general gifts are given in business to promote goodwill and foster good relationships. They are also given to show appreciation. How do you know what is a proper gift?First off, if you are dealing in international trade you should make yourself knowledgeable about the customs of those you would like to gift. For example if you are dealing with oil barons or emirates from the Middle East you wouldn’t want to give them a gift of wood no matter how intricate. The reason is that they perceive would to be of very low value, not making any brownie points there.Another big consideration is to give a gift that you know the recipient will appreciate. Do a little research; find out what their interests and hobbies are. They will be very impressed that you took the time to discover what they like and will feel comfortable in knowing that this wasn’t just some anony
Delivering “It”
This is the other mega-skill that many of us are very comfortable with. Once we’ve designed our “product”, we have to be able to deliver it. This is the skill set that is often most evident to our clients, or is what we tell people we do when they ask us our profession. Again, this skill set is critical, but alone it isn’t enough.
Selling “It”
This skill, in my experience, is the one most often in need of improvement. While many books have been written about this skill set, there is one key, which by itself will improve your success in selling your work. If you will always focus on client/customer benefits, rather than product/process features, you will improve your success immediately. Features are components of your product or service. Examples include:
• Size
• Length
• Speed
• Number of modules
• Your Experience
People don’t buy features they buy benefits. All of us know this at some level, but seldom focus on turning the important features of our offerings into true benefits. To assume that your client/customer will figure out the benefit, is to lower your chance of selling your potential product or
idea.
Some Specific Skills to Consider:
Contracting
This is another skill that requires a book to discuss well and which requires planning and practice to improve. Getting clear agreements with clients up front about what the work is, what the desired outcomes are, and what your role is, is what contracting is all about.
Relationship Building
Building relationships are important in all three of the major skill areas. In designing, you need to build relationships in order to gain the organizational information you need to design effectively. In delivering you need to be able to have good relationships with those involved, to lead to a more successful outcome. In selling, it’s important to remember that selling is a relationship process. People buy other people and believe in their ability to deliver.
Having a focus on relationships is more than building rapport, which can happen quite rapidly. Building relationships is long term focused and requires considerable commitment.
Warning
Building relationships with individuals is important, but recognize that if your focus is on only one person in an organization, when they are gone (get promoted, get a new job, are downsized out, or whatever) you have lost your leverage to help the organization. So, remember to build a network of relationships within your client organizations.
Separating Process from Content
It is so important to maintain perspective while in the client organization. Clients will focus on the content (of a meeting, the product, the outputs from your study, or whatever), but if the process matters aren’t attended to, outcomes can be compromised.
Working on your ability to step back and recognize what is happening at the group dynamics and interpersonal level will improve your success. Clients don’t always know that they need this, but
Incorporating in Connecticut is an easy procedure if you know how to do it, if you hire a good experienced attorney, or if you hire the services of the numerous online firms that offer to help you incorporate in any of the states.Connecticut Incorporating Information: It is necessary to have decided on the kind of corporation you are going to form and to take the required steps to form a legal entity. This will be much easier if you have the help of a lawyer. Deciding and registering a name for your entity is another important step. Care should be taken to see that the names is not a copy of any other registered business in Connecticut or that it is not in the reserved list either and must be formed in compliance with the applicable laws of the state. The name must end in the words or abbreviations of the words “Incorporated,” “Corporation,” “Limited,” “Company,
• Size
• Length
• Speed
• Number of modules
• Your Experience
People don’t buy features they buy benefits. All of us know this at some level, but seldom focus on turning the important features of our offerings into true benefits. To assume that your client/customer will figure out the benefit, is to lower your chance of selling your potential product or
idea.
Some Specific Skills to Consider:
Contracting
This is another skill that requires a book to discuss well and which requires planning and practice to improve. Getting clear agreements with clients up front about what the work is, what the desired outcomes are, and what your role is, is what contracting is all about.
Relationship Building
Building relationships are important in all three of the major skill areas. In designing, you need to build relationships in order to gain the organizational information you need to design effectively. In delivering you need to be able to have good relationships with those involved, to lead to a more successful outcome. In selling, it’s important to remember that selling is a relationship process. People buy other people and believe in their ability to deliver.
Having a focus on relationships is more than building rapport, which can happen quite rapidly. Building relationships is long term focused and requires considerable commitment.
Warning
Building relationships with individuals is important, but recognize that if your focus is on only one person in an organization, when they are gone (get promoted, get a new job, are downsized out, or whatever) you have lost your leverage to help the organization. So, remember to build a network of relationships within your client organizations.
Separating Process from Content
It is so important to maintain perspective while in the client organization. Clients will focus on the content (of a meeting, the product, the outputs from your study, or whatever), but if the process matters aren’t attended to, outcomes can be compromised.
Working on your ability to step back and recognize what is happening at the group dynamics and interpersonal level will improve your success. Clients don’t always know that they need this, but
Helping people realize their potential as leaders means clearing a path for them to grow, but it also means identifying what they need to work on in the current job. This is where leadership gets very personal. There's no substitute for ongoing face-to-face dialogue with people about what's going well and what isn't. You can't let fear of their response undermine your know-how in helping leaders grow and improve.Stuart, the CEO of a global manufacturing and services company, found a simple way to save Kate, who had the potential to be a great CFO but was having trouble adapting to the company's Midwestern culture. Kate was hired for her tremendous talent in finance, and she made contributions in her first year by surfacing important issues and having the tenacity to keep them on the table. But others on the executive team complained regularly that she was too gruf
Relationship Building
Building relationships are important in all three of the major skill areas. In designing, you need to build relationships in order to gain the organizational information you need to design effectively. In delivering you need to be able to have good relationships with those involved, to lead to a more successful outcome. In selling, it’s important to remember that selling is a relationship process. People buy other people and believe in their ability to deliver.
Having a focus on relationships is more than building rapport, which can happen quite rapidly. Building relationships is long term focused and requires considerable commitment.
Warning
Building relationships with individuals is important, but recognize that if your focus is on only one person in an organization, when they are gone (get promoted, get a new job, are downsized out, or whatever) you have lost your leverage to help the organization. So, remember to build a network of relationships within your client organizations.
Separating Process from Content
It is so important to maintain perspective while in the client organization. Clients will focus on the content (of a meeting, the product, the outputs from your study, or whatever), but if the process matters aren’t attended to, outcomes can be compromised.
Working on your ability to step back and recognize what is happening at the group dynamics and interpersonal level will improve your success. Clients don’t always know that they need this, but
A business broker network is basically a group that has a number of independent business brokers or brokerage firms. These firms could be based in different countries. Such network groups offer a much wider range of business opportunities to their clients. The network groups are able to offer more businesses for sale or purchase. So if you want to buy, sell or start a new business, you could give one such network group a try.There are several network groups in existence. Some of them specialize in creating business opportunities in certain geographical areas. But many of them are not region-specific, as their network has firms from various parts of the world.The members of a business broker network readily share their databases with investors, corporate entities seeking mergers and acquisitions, and individuals who could be helpful in creating a business op
Separating Process from Content
It is so important to maintain perspective while in the client organization. Clients will focus on the content (of a meeting, the product, the outputs from your study, or whatever), but if the process matters aren’t attended to, outcomes can be compromised.
Working on your ability to step back and recognize what is happening at the group dynamics and interpersonal level will improve your success. Clients don’t always know that they need this, but they will almost always recognize that you “did something” to make things go better when you can point to, and improve the process, while sharing the content of your work. This skill is often the key to additional work or referrals.
Socratic Questioning
Socrates is immortalized at least in part for his teaching approach of asking a line of questions that leads the student to discover answers for themselves.
When you clients discover answers to their problems, rather than simply hear them from you, they will own the answers. Their ability to hold onto the concepts, apply them, and improve their situation will skyrocket. Improving your ability to help them discover (through the use of Socratic questioning), is a critical, though often overlooked skill.
Using more questions will cause you to lose the feeling of power that you are providing the “right” answer. But the client gains far more than you lose. While you may feel like you are losing emotionally, you win with the client, and probably strengthen your relationship with them too.
Saying “No!”
Most of us need to improve our ability to say this. Of course we can physically say it, (OK, just for practice, say it three times right now - out loud!) but we all know we don’t always say it when we wish we had!
Improving your judgment on when to use this word will help you in three important ways, time management, happiness level, and client success.
Time Management
Many of your time management problems stem from trying to do too much. When people (clients, peers, anyone) ask you to do something that you don’t feel you are best suited for, or don’t really want to do, use your word!
Happiness Level
When we focus our energy on the things we really want to or need to be doing (rather than just the things people ask us to do or we feel we should do), we will be happier! Say it to help you preserve and honor your priorities.
Client Success
There are times that a client may ask you for something (“We just need this [you fill in the blank]”) that you know, or strongly believe is the wrong thing. These are the times to step back and be genuine. Help them understand your perspective, and focus them on the outcome, not the suggested solution. In these cases, you might not be saying “no”, exactly, but it is what you really mean!
If you feel a team is ready for such a discussion, pull out this list of attributes and have a team discussion on how well people feel their team is doing on each of these dimensions, the discussion can be enlightening and help the team move its performance to even higher levels.
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.answeryou.net/article/24824/answeryou-Eight-Skills-of-Highly-Successful-Consultants.html">Eight Skills of Highly Successful Consultants</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.answeryou.net/article/24824/answeryou-Eight-Skills-of-Highly-Successful-Consultants.html]Eight Skills of Highly Successful Consultants[/url]
Related Articles:
Why Avoiding Human Resources is the Only Way to Land a Pharmaceutical Sales Job
Networking Mistakes and How You Can Avoid Them
Bookmark it:
|