Tilting At Windmills

Remember Don Quixote? He was busy attacking windmills while imagining himself fighting giants. He believed he was achieving a grand and glorious vision as he ignored reality.

It’s a risk we all run when we’re trying to stake our territory in a fast moving, challenging economy. Instead, ask yourself some key questions.

Who am I competing against? Is it really competitor A, B or C? Or is doing nothing your real competition? Let’s face it. For lots of services, inertia is a powerful thing: financial advisors, accountants, actuaries, estate planners. Why should your client make a change? Maybe the real fight is getting them to know they must act.

What is your financial truth? I spoke with someone recently who was consumed with determining his ideal billing rate. The problem? He had no idea where his next project was coming from. The issue wasn’t his billing rate, but his pipeline. Focusing on rates gives him something to obsess about while he busily ignores the elephant in the room.

What’s your sweet spot? Which clients and what work best suit your talents and passions? How front and center are they in your daily interactions? Beware of defaulting to what comes to you. You may quickly find yourself getting wrapped into elaborate time-sucks outside of your sweet spot. Before you know it, your productivity is down and your fun evaporates.

Tilting at windmills didn’t serve Don Quixote. Don’t let it seduce you.

Ready. Fire. Aim

Gen. Stanley McChrystal. BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward. They have sparked some spirited discussions with crisis communications and leadership experts. How could savvy, high-visibility pros go so wrong?

Clearly, they both would have benefitted from a little more aiming and a lot less firing. But it would be a shame if our only lesson from their stunning blunders is to be afraid to take a risk.

Professional advisors are by nature risk-averse. Most of us were trained analytically. We want predictable, accurate results most of the time. It’s what clients pay us for.

But what if what we really need to do—sometimes—is to fire first? Interpreting a highly technical IRS guideline might not be the place to experiment. But choosing to stop working on—or delegating—a predictable (yet mind-numbing) revenue stream to create white space could be just the ticket.

Forging new territory never comes with a money-back guarantee. So yes, learn from the gaffes made by the warrior and the CEO. But don’t let it rob you of the courage to take a calculated risk.

Ready. Fire. Aim. It doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

Summer Solstice: Rejuvenate Your Practice

June 21. The start of summer and the longest day of the year. The perfect turning point—solstice—to assess your 2010 progress. Maybe give yourself a kick in the pants since the year is about half over. Well, there is that.

But it’s a great excuse to see the flip side. You’ve been working hard to make your practice sizzle and grow. How much fun are you having? Are you enjoying yourself and those you love? Do you come to work feeling alive and refreshed? I thought so.

Time to throw some summer in your solstice. Here are three easy ideas to create your own summer solstice time outs.

Time Out #1: Grab your child (or borrow one) and let them set your agenda for an afternoon. Do whatever, wherever, whenever. Repeat as often as necessary to remember what joy looks like.

Time Out #2: Spend a day indulging in your favorite pastime—no excuses permitted. A juicy novel in the hammock? Check. A day tinkering on your ‘68 Mustang? Check. An outing at the beach, complete with a tailgate barbeque? Check.

Time Out #3: Give something to someone who needs you. Visit your grandmother. Serve in a homeless shelter. Surprise your mate with their perfect date—just the two of you.

Indulge a little. Come back renewed and sassy. Repeat.

Growing Your Practice: Hitting Your Sweet Spot

Sweet spot: Where your story (and marketing) meets a rigorous business model and a winning (not whining) mindset.

Outrageously successful consultants, advisors and coaches spend a lot of time in their sweet spot. Why? Life is better there. It’s dramatically easier to draw the RIGHT clients, prospects and referral sources to you.

Ready to spend more time in your sweet spot? Consider these essentials:

Your story: What’s your bankable value? Do you have a clear, compelling story that draws clients, prospects and referral sources to you? Is your marketing aligning your unique talents and passions with what your clients need most? Are you engaging with the right people?

Your business model: Have you created the ideal business model that optimizes your revenue and growth opportunities? Have you fully leveraged your intellectual property? Do you have administrative systems in place so you can spend your time where it matters?

Your mindset and actions: Do you maintain a winning mindset or are you making excuses for why you can’t make a sales call? Are you taking the consistent, daily actions needed to build the enterprise you envision-–even when it’s hard?

Getting to your sweet spot can take some hard thinking and thoughtful insight. But there’s a reason we call it sweet.

Consulting Math: When 1 > 1

When times are tough, consultants—big-firm senior practitioners to soloists—tend to hold on tightly to every billable hour. You stop delegating because your instinct is to hunker down and protect what you have. It’s perfectly understandable (lizard brain anyone?) but counter-productive in the long run.

Since the economy is perking up a bit, it’s a good time to think about some consulting math. For example:

1 x 1 = 4 Choose high potential junior consultants in your firm (or trusted outside contractors) who will do a knock out job. Give them some challenging work to do with your clients. Stretch them, excite them and mentor them. Who knows? You’ll free up some time and you could create new synergies with your clients and for your practice.

1 + 1 = 3 Create a dynamic partnership with your administrative guru. Let them do what they do best—get you organized and free to focus on developing new relationships, thought leadership and revenue. Don’t have one? Investigate virtual options to help you grow.

1 - 1 = 2 Invest in yourself with the time you’ve freed up. Try something new or dig deeper into an idea that inspires you. Start building some new relationships. Take a risk. In the short run, you might take a revenue or bonus hit. But in the long run? Master territory.

Consulting math: where 1 can be greater than 1.

Growing Your Practice: The Rule of 5

Consultants and advisors are a bit schizophrenic when it comes to focus. We’re hard-wired to deal with client deadlines and address problems as they crop up. But focus on the non-urgent spadework of building our practice? Not so much.

Making a call to a long-term prospect. Having lunch with a future alliance partner. Delegating administration so you can spend more time doing the work you love. How are you supposed to fit these into an already jam-packed schedule?

Try the “Rule of 5”. Every day, do 1 thing that will advance your business in 5 weeks, 5 months or 5 years. Crazy busy? Then do 2 the next day--hold yourself accountable. The important thing is to start.

5 weeks: This is referral territory. These are the calls, the meetings, the posts that get you connected to referral sources and prospective clients. It’s responding to those who ask for referrals to your network. Making time to help someone else is just good business for advisors.

5 months: We’re talking about the time it often takes to turn a warm, connected prospect into a client. Forward an idea, continue the conversation, do a favor, stay connected. Help your contacts with their job searches. Building these relationships takes consistent effort.

5 years: Here is where you dedicate time to learning, writing and long-term relationship and brand building. That book may not pay for itself in the first year or two, but by year 5 it could well be your primary calling card. Ditto that client relationship that was slow to start but is now at the core of your practice. Are you investing enough in your future?

The Rule of 5. Try it. Master it. Pass it on.

Consulting Toolkit: Stamina

Sometimes, it’s not what you do or even how you do it, but how long you can keep at it. Case in point: Sunday night’s NCAA Women’s Final Four.

Baylor made an intense, no-holds barred 3rd quarter attempt to break UConn‘s 76 game winning streak. They thrilled the home field fans with their underdog heart and passion—until they hit the wall in the 4th quarter. Out of steam, they were no match for the Huskies' relentless energy.

Stamina. It’s not just for sports. It’s the fuel that drives you to keep at that client problem till you know it’s solved. To make sure the proposal is exactly right. To attend yet another industry event to connect with future clients. To blog and tweet and Facebook when you’d rather go to the beach.

Need more fuel? It starts with doing work you love that matters. But that won’t do it alone. Take a break for a run, a bike ride or a yoga class. Savor healthy food that keeps you alert (yes, pizza can be on the menu). Seek out your personal brand of inspiration. Enjoy vibrant connections to your loved ones.

Stamina. The difference between good and great.

Where's The Brand Love?

Brand love is that passion we hold for brands near and dear to our heart. We plan our trips for years (Disney), pay more for beautiful design (Apple) and cross the country for a burger (In-N-Out). It’s more than loyalty—it’s love.

We don’t usually associate love with consultants and advisors--when was the last time you heard someone wax poetic about their accountant? But it does exist: Seth Godin, for example. Yes, a little brand love can make your days happier, your selling easier and your bottom line fatter.

The “secret” is simple in concept, although devilish to execute:

Say no to any project that doesn’t stir your deep interest. The best love is mutual and you need to enter into it with excitement and purpose.

Assume your clients will be with you for life. Continually investing in your relationships creates ideal conditions for love to flourish.

Get comfortable with being direct AND empathetic. The advisor who can tell the truth with integrity and consideration is highly valued.

Why settle for a good project reference? Go for the love.

Consulting Toolkit: Courage

It’s easy to think small right now. The economy isn’t pretty: clients say no or wait weeks and months getting to yes. Salaried consulting jobs have disappeared, perhaps forever. Personal assets? We’re in nosedive territory. Being conservative and cautious is an understandable by-product.

It doesn’t however, lead to making great leaps with your consulting practice.

The solution is courage. The courage to trust yourself (and your team) to continually develop your practice to suit your talents. The courage to care about your clients and bettering their condition. The courage to act while your competition is blinded by indecision and fear.

Clients still have work they need done right now—and the best opportunities will go to those who have the courage to:

Exquisitely focus on the results you uniquely deliver. Verbalize your niche, your “white space” and cast a tight net to those who most need what you have to offer.

Just say no. When a project—however enticing financially or to your ego—isn’t right for your talents, refer it to someone else. Your job is to spend your time where you can have the highest, best impact. Don’t waste it on work that someone less seasoned would do well.

When you say yes, mean it. Once you’ve agreed to a pivotal project, pour your head, heart and soul into it. Yes, it may mean some sleepless nights, some conflict over new directions and some worry over your bank account. But do it anyway.

If you need a visual, remember Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette’s emotional performances that brought her to the Olympic medals platform.

Real winners put it all on the line.

Consulting 2010: Think Hollywood

The latest recession has changed the consulting business model profoundly. It goes beyond slashing revenues. Deep staff reductions have created an unprecedented talent pool of freelancers and contractors. Meanwhile, those who are still employed (or busy as soloists) struggle to staff critical projects. Do you go with your in-house team to keep your numbers up or reach further—inside or outside your firm—to get the pivotal resource that will push the envelope in delivering great client work?

Two words: Think Hollywood. Daniel Pink, in “Free Agent Nation”, writes persuasively about the shift from the organization man (or woman) to free agent. And what better example than Hollywood? I propose it’s time to borrow a bit of their business model.

When Spielberg (or Eastwood or Scorsese) makes a movie, he starts with a key partner(s), usually a producer who manages the money and the business end so he can focus on his vision for the project. The next step is to assemble the key leads. Of course, he wants exactly the right talent for the roles. And while he may have some favorites, the cast never looks exactly the same twice. It can’t—every project is unique.

It’s not just those in front of the screen (client-facing) that matter to a great director. He will choose the cinematographer whose lighting best brings the story to life. The assistant director who creates the atmosphere that engages the full talents of the cast. The crew who can turn a foul day on set into a fun and successful shoot.

What would happen if you staffed every consulting project by only choosing the team that will produce the best possible result? Might you deliver the best, most fun work you’ve ever done? Might it open the door for more of the same? Would you make less money? Or more? Would you produce mediocre work or your best ever? Isn’t it worth it to find out?

Conversations That Matter

Professionals trying to grow their business often view “selling” as a necessary evil, a fact of life. But what if you could spend less time persuading (and writing proposals that go nowhere) and more time engaging with the right people?

The key is to focus on real conversations that add value and insight to your clients, your prospects and your referral sources--conversations that matter.

Looking to enrich yours? Try this:

Be real. Don’t waste your time trying to be all things to all people. Being clear about who you are and what you uniquely do (and don’t do) is essential. Aligning your stories, actions, and visuals with your sweet spot demonstrates the real you.

Listen exquisitely. Think about it—what happens when someone truly listens to you? You engage. It changes your interaction immediately. Give it a try next time you want to grow a relationship: make your only goal to understand their needs and wants.

Invest in the good. Once you connect with good people (clients, advisors, friends), invest in them and your relationship. If it helps, think of relationships as your assets--invest based on your risk tolerance and for short and long-term growth. Sometimes you sell and sometimes you buy more. But you’re always invested.

Conversations that matter produce client engagements that matter.

Tribal Power

Real change (and thriving businesses) doesn’t happen because someone at the top says it must. It happens when a tribe of like-minded people decide it’s time.

A powerful tribal movement starts with a real idea that generates some sparks. Selling books on-line. Giving away a pair of shoes for every one you sell. Saving children from drowning. Free speech. Health care for all.

The leader(s) tells a compelling story to the right people and things start to happen.

Need some tribal power? Connect the right people. Consider:

Who loves you? Who believes in you and your idea? Make a list and keep it in front of you every day. Your job is to deepen your connections with these folks. They are already believers—make them an essential part of your tribe.

Who are you stirring up? Let’s face it, if you’re not upsetting someone, your idea isn’t tribe-worthy. Who does your service model, your pricing, your technology, your essence--upset? Build on that—and unite your tribe.

How are you connecting people? A powerful tribal leader is a connector around their central theme. Are you telling people about your idea or truly engaging them with what matters to your community? Big difference.

Just remember, courtesy of Margaret Mead, “A small group of thoughtful people can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

The Reluctant Consultant

You know one. Maybe you are one. You can’t find the work you really want in Corporate-land and so have hung out your shingle. Buyers are often wary of reluctant consultants—and with good reason. They don’t want you to bail mid-project when a “real” job beckons. So, if you are hoping to launch a successful, perhaps even long-term practice, consider some tips:

Create a clear, compelling niche that aligns with your proven strengths. This is not the time to try something completely different—your experience needs to tell a relevant story and prove you can create real results.

Ditch the brochure. Instead, focus on the results you can deliver to your targeted clients. Keep it simple. Can you describe it in a sentence? Then keep working on it.

Deepen and expand your relationships. Every day. When you’re running a corporate function, people come to you. They call, they email, they ask to see you. But when you’re the one selling? Not so much.

The trick is simple: dedicate yourself to getting better with every single interaction. Who knows? Perhaps you’ll kiss “reluctant” goodbye.

2010: Not For Sissies

Have you felt it? That collective sigh of relief that 2009 is behind us and a brand spanking new decade awaits.

Now the trick is transforming survival activity into long-term prosperity in a “reset” economy. Clients (like consumers) are buying value, simplicity and results. Is your practice ready for 2010? Ask yourself some key questions:

How deep are my relationships? How likely are your clients, prospects and referral sources to turn to you for help? Need a deeper bench? Start now—relationships are organic and take time to nurture. And don’t restrict yourself to those in your town, area or industry. That’s short-term thinking.

How easy is it to find and know me? Are you leveraging social media effectively for your client/referral base? Are you using the right web tools for your business model? Beware of poo-pooing new technology—you’ll come across as a dinosaur.

What are key clients and prospects saying about us? Do they see you as a key leader navigating a new decade or mired in old paradigms? Ask questions. Find out what’s important and create new ways to work that align your talents with what they need.

Now is the time to act…while your competitors are busy congratulating themselves on survival.

To Niche or Not To Niche?

That is the question many consultants and professional advisors wrestle with. Truly it’s an easy answer—to rise above everyone else, you MUST have a niche.

Take this example from a recent event where I met two tax attorneys. One introduced himself with “I’m a tax attorney” while the second countered with “I’m an ex-IRS attorney who founded a firm of former IRS attorneys. We help people solve big IRS issues.” Who do you think I remembered longer?

Ready to make yourself unforgettable? Some tips:

➢ Define yourself uniquely based on who you are and how you serve clients. Be specific, real and memorable.

➢ Don’t make it all about you or your process—make it about results. Real, measurable outcomes. Tell stories that show how you’ve helped others in similar situations. Clients love stories when they are short, on-point and compelling.

➢ Clients choose their advisors because they like them. So don’t waste time with people who don’t seem to resonate with you—they won’t hire or refer you and you’ll waste valuable time.

➢ With those who do strike a chord, be the first to give. Helping someone get what they want makes them want to know you and work with you. It also let’s them see you in action, in service mode.

➢ Align the externals—your website, blog, social media pages, leave-behinds, even your person—with your overall message, your niche.

In the end, it’s all about being real and naturally drawing the right clients, prospects and referral sources to you.