2018

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4 Steps to Scale Your Consulting Business

Consulting Success

Let’s look at how you can scale your consulting business. You’re in the position where you want to grow your consulting business. You want to create a lot more leverage. More freedom. More flexibility. So much so that your business can run to without your direct day-to-day involvement. Most consultants find they hold on to the stuff that they don’t need to be doing for far too long because they think that they can do.

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Consulting's Secret Club

Successful Independent Consulting

· ID 70396708 © Anastasiia Bobko | Dreamstime.com. Last August I wrote a blog post about how labels matter , specifically that you should make more money by calling yourself a consultant instead of a contractor. But it’s not just about labels and language. It’s not enough to simply replace contractor with consultant on your résumé and LinkedIn profile. I’ve been studying the LinkedIn profiles of various contractors and consultants I know and reflecting on how they usually get their work.

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7 Assumptions that Might Be Sabotaging Your Consulting Firm

David A Fields

You know the old adages about assumptions: “Assume makes an ass out of you and me,” and “Assume I’ll want chocolate when I visit, and you’ll be right,” and, of course, “Assume spelled sideways is almost masseuse.” Assumptions alleviate the strain on your brain. You needn’t ponder the melting point of olive oil because you … Continued. The post 7 Assumptions that Might Be Sabotaging Your Consulting Firm appeared first on David A. Fields. All Articles Consulting Consultants

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How Do Consultants Handle Situations With Clients Who May “Laugh” at Them Relative to Projections and Opportunity Outcomes?

Steve Shu Consulting

Here are some thoughts on how consultants prepare for and handle these types of situations: Projections may be initially tested in safer settings. If projections end up being perceived as too wild or aggressive, it is better for this to happen in a working meeting or separate session before a “final” presentation is made. Following an iterative process and managing client expectations reduces risk for the consulting team.

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The ABM Benchmark Survey

ABM gets better with age — but unfortunately, marketers don't have the luxury of pouring it into an oak barrel for a couple decades to let it mature. It’s clear there’s a maturity gap in ABM strategies, so how can marketers start closing it?

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How and When to Raise Your Consulting Rate

Successful Independent Consulting

The easiest time to raise your rate is on the cusp of something new — a new year, a new project, a new client. With the new year just a few weeks away, now might be the time. This article offers ideas of how to do this, as well as some sample language to use when notifying your clients. How to determine your new rate Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all formula. Instead, I suggest triangulating on a rate that seems fair. Look at several different numbers and then decide.

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3 Reasons Consulting Proposals Fail

Consulting Success

Transcript: Today I’m going to talk about proposals, and three reasons as to why proposals are often not accepted, or why people encounter clients delaying on proposals, or deciding just not to move forward on them. There’s three reasons that are quite common, and we’re going to look at those here today. The first reason is that you’re not having a deep and meaningful consulting sales conversation.

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5 Essential Competencies for Executive Leadership

Consulting Matters

It’s a common career trajectory: An employee becomes a front-line supervisor, then a manager, then a leader of leaders and then eventually an executive over a department or an even broader entity. From that perspective, leadership is leadership and executives merely have a larger scope and span of control. Despite common perception - executives are not simply managers with a broader scope and span of control.

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Why I Was Wrong About 2 Second Lean

Markovitz Consulting

It’s time to admit that one of my consulting approaches has failed. I’m a huge fan of Paul Akers’ 2 Second Lean philosophy. It’s simple, easy to understand, and has an intrinsic appeal: “fix what bugs you.” Figure out how to do your job two seconds faster each day.” Who wouldn’t sign on to a lean program that promotes that mindset?

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2018 Management Consulting Salaries for Undergraduates, MBAs/PhDs, & Interns

Management Consulted

Happy 2018! Welcome to a year that contains the Winter Olympics happening in South Korea, the FIFA World Cup taking place in Russia, Mars’ close approach to earth, and the next royal wedding. Despite these historic events, we’re most excited … Continued. The post 2018 Management Consulting Salaries for Undergraduates, MBAs/PhDs, & Interns appeared first on Management Consulted. consulting jobs consulting salaries

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Marketing-Led COVID-19 Growth Strategies: 2022 and Beyond

More than two years in, COVID-19 is far from over. Businesses are tasked with beating pre-COVID numbers, making marketing crucial. This is your time to create brand awareness, bring in the best leads, and play a vital role in new and existing profit.

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Managing Overwhelm

Jacq Hackett Consulting

There are days as a consultant when things are going wonderfully. You’ve got a lot of work in the pipeline. Your current projects are going well. And you pat yourself on the back for making such a smart decision by making the move to consultancy. And then a few things go wrong: A project has been delayed due to an issue at the client end and now it looks like you have a clash of timeframes with another project. Someone has alerted you to a problem with your website.

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Need Help with the Fit Interview?

Tom Spencer

When it comes to consulting interviews, most people are fixated on the case interview. Which makes sense, given the amount of practice that’s required to ace the case. But, as an aspiring consultant, don’t forget that you will also face the Fit Interview! Fit Interviews can be very tricky because they require you to talk about yourself and your past experiences in a way that portrays you in the best possible light.

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Why Our Brains Fall for False Expertise, and How to Stop It

Strategy+Business

Left to their own devices, our brains are often drawn to decision-making shortcuts, such as turning to the loudest or tallest person in the room. Over time, letting false expertise run the show can have negative side effects, including unintended biases. Here's how to fix that

Strategy 144
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November 2018 Newsletter

IMC USA

Message from the Chair/CEO, Juan - Communicating our Consulting Value. Before becoming IMC USA’s Chair, one of my commitments was to visit every chapter.So far, I have been to five. Moreover, in July a personal trip to Russia gave me the opportunity to meet with four IMC members from that country. In early October in San Diego at our conference we celebrated IMC USA’s 50 th anniversary.

Ethics 100
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7 Ways to Supercharge Your ABM Strategy with Real-Time Intent

Streaming real-time intent is a homerun for marketing and sales’ account-based marketing (ABM) strategies. With real-time buyer insights, you can be first-in-line to provide solutions and lead better, hyper-personalized conversations.

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When Implementing Behavioral Science, What Is the Role of a Choice Architect?

Steve Shu Consulting

This post is based on an answer I wrote in response to a question posed to me on Quora, “What do choice architects do?” ” I wanted to repost my answer here because I still feel there is a lack of understanding about what it means to implement nudging and behavioral science within companies, and the role of choice architects are key.

Ethics 276
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Website or No Website? Answers and Help for Independent Consultants

Successful Independent Consulting

As a self-employed consultant do you really need a website? I’m asked this a lot, particularly if a consultant gets most business from referrals or they contract through agencies or boutique firms. Besides, it’s highly unlikely that a prospective client is going to stumble upon your website and decide to hire you. Surely creating a website is a waste of time and money, right?

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10 Ways to Have Fun in Consulting

David A Fields

You probably spend more time working as a consultant than you spend in any other role in your life right now. Holey shmoley. Can that be true? Before and after your work day, you may focus on excelling as a partner, spouse, parent, friend, hockey coach, volunteer, or civic leader; however, roughly half your … Continued. The post 10 Ways to Have Fun in Consulting appeared first on David A. Fields. All Articles Consulting Consultants

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Start a Consulting Business: A Proven and Practical Guide

Consulting Success

If you’ve looked into how to start a consulting business, there’s no doubt you’ve come across countless articles or videos that make it look like a no-brainer to “get rich quick.” Make six figures your first month!” “You You don’t need any experience to be successful” There’s a lot of misinformation out there. In today’s digital age, it’s relatively easy for anyone to write an article or record a video on starting your own consulting business.

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Digitizing Logistics: Harness the Power of Data in 4 Steps

Entering a new demand gen position in a volatile market is nerve-wracking. In demand generation, data is essential for knowing who you should target and how. In this eBook, you’ll learn how to identify and target your ideal prospects using different types of data.

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Why Your Client Doesn't Care How Smart You Are (And What They Really Want to Know)

Consulting Matters

The number one way that really smart consultants get in the way of their own success is struggling with the fear that that they don't have what it takes. Despite years of education and experience they stay up at night wondering what is the best way to let their future clients know about how much they know and what they can bring to the table. They pursue certification after certification hoping that one of them will be the silver bullet that will make them irresistible in the marketplace.

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A Better Way to Visualize Hoshin Plans

Markovitz Consulting

The hoshin kanri X-matrix makes my head hurt. I mean, kudos to the person who invented it for creating something so incredibly compact and information-dense. But I’m not sure it’s the easiest way to convey the information in the hoshin plan. Small dots in three locations on a spreadsheet with text running in two directions isn’t a recipe for easy digestion. image via kanbanize.com. (I I was gratified to learn from Katie Anderson that Toyota doesn’t use the X-matrix.

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The Pyramid Principle

Management Consulted

Communication, Presentation, and Persuasion – Using The Pyramid Principle to drive action What if we told you that there’s a better way to create and present your decks? One that will drive action and get you to the most important … Continued. The post The Pyramid Principle appeared first on Management Consulted. management consulting

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Managing Overwhelm

Jacq Hackett Consulting

Running a business as a solo consultant can be daunting in the early days. And even when you've been at it for a while, there are times when things threaten to go south, and you start to feel overwhelmed. But there are a few basic, practical things you can put in place that will help.

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16 Go-to-Market Plays for Your Entire Sales Funnel

After gathering some of the best go-to-market plays from our own B2B sales and marketing pros, we've package them here for you. Try one of these 16 plays in your next salesflow or as inspiration for your next winning sales engagement strategy.

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Book Review – “How the mighty fall” by Jim Collins

Tom Spencer

Introduction. Jack Welch, ex-Chairman and ex-CEO of General Electric once said, “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete”. While this quote makes sense, organizations can always strive for opportunities to build new competitive advantage by investing passion, right strategic thinking, perseverance, and determination. However, while gaining competitive advantage is one thing, sustaining the advantage is quite another.

Airlines 101
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Personalization: The Next Big eLearning Trend?

Clarity Consultants

Personalization has been making waves in the marketing and sales realm for many years. But it's now also hugely influential in the world of eLearning. Any Learning and Development expert will tell you that a more personalized experience will lead to greater success rates and learning outcomes. This new trend is an important one to consider because it is exactly so powerful in generating high-quality learning experiences.

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Staffing and Certified Management Consultant Wayne Outlaw Receives Service Award

IMC USA

Fort Lauderdale, Florida — October 12, 2018. The Institute of Management Consultants USA (IMC USA, www.imcusa.org ) is pleased to announce that Wayne Outlaw CMC® is a recipient of its prestigious Distinguished Service award for continued service and demonstration of strong, long-term support of IMC USA. Mr. Outlaw is the President of Outlaw Group, Inc., in Mt Pleasant, South Carolina.

Journal 100
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Is Behavioral Economics Used in Business?

Steve Shu Consulting

This post is reproduced from an answer that I wrote on Quora to the question posed to me, “Is Behavioral Economics Actually Used in Business?” ” Broad conscious, concerted efforts to apply behavioral economics probably did not begin until sometime after 2008 with the release of Thaler and Sunstein’s book, Nudge. And then when new applications of behavioral economics started, they seemed to be mostly applied in the government space.

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The 5 Stages of Account-Based Marketing — and How to Win Them All

Successfully complete the five stages of ABM: define, identify, engage, convert, and connect. We’ll show you how to create a unified system with your sales team to help them land more qualified opportunities and connect with prospects like never before.

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How to Figure Out Your Consulting Bill Rate

Successful Independent Consulting

Dear Liz, I have a quick question. I know a consultant who is going to do some work designing a company’s program for high-potential employees. The consultant has talent but not much experience. What hourly rate would you consider low, fair, too high? Can you ballpark this for me? Louis Although the question is brief, a helpful answer is not. Pricing consulting services is notoriously difficult, particularly for self-employed consultants.

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The 10 Greatest Questions to Ask Consulting Prospects

David A Fields

You’re a consultant. You solve problems and give advice. Your wisdom and sagacity determine your to clients, and you are literally paid to announce your well-reasoned thoughts. And yet, in the pursuit of new clients, your most profitable course is to learn rather than to inform. Your genius is revealed by your questions, not your [ ] Consultants Consulting

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Our 10 Guiding Principles: Inside Our Consulting Business And Life

Consulting Success

Looking into what we really think, how we make decisions, and what gets us to act keep us in check. This is very crucial to know because what drives us as individuals is indicative of what is important to us and the direction that we want to take our business. This could also help you really focus on the few things that matter instead of focusing on everything and anything that’s out there, and working.