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title: My bi-weekly 'think piece' for consultants
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reader, how to answer the prospect's question of why they should hire you as a consultant? Read it in 'The Readers' Question' in my newsletter.

| View in browser Luk’s Bi-Weekly 'Think Piece' For Consultants       Edition #39 - December 8, 2021        Dear reader,  Here's the latest Edition of 'The Authority', helping consultants grow their revenue by sharing intriguing educational stories.   It’s my ultimate aspiration to create a bubble of calmness with this bi-weekly ‘think piece’, a place of stillness in the face of everyday stress. A chance to reflect on what really matters in your consulting work. The Big Question Questions I get from consultants. And my answers. I received a great question from a medium-sized consultancy asking for advice on best to reply to the typical prospect’s question: “Why should we hire you as a consultant”? Let me warm you up a bit.   Ordinary consultants get asked: why should we hire you as a consultant. Authorities get invited to solve a problem. They don’t get that question.   Consulting is a credence business   Prospects need to find, like, and trust us before they buy. Research says that 80-90% of the ‘homework’ is done before prospects contact consultants to discuss support.   A recent Source Global Research (specialized in researching professional services) study mentions that less than half of all consulting engagements seem to create a value that exceeds the fees paid. Wow, what a surprisingly low score!    See this recent HBR article (‘How to tell if hiring a consultant will be worth the investment’).   So, no wonder prospects will assess you: can this consultant or consultancy deliver value to us? It’s not a nasty, evil question at all. Getting the why-should-we-hire you question is a symptom of a lack of trust in you or your consultancy (or in consultants in general).   Don’t start arguing with the prospect   I’ve seen it way too often; most consultants’ mindsets switch into defense mode by getting the why question. They feel the need to justify, convince, and claim to have the expertise. Deep inside, they feel mistreated, misunderstood.   Unfortunately, you can rarely win by defending the why question because you might have lost the game already. And if you are trying to persuade the prospect, you will come across as either weak, desperate, arrogant, or maybe even a bullshitter. It’s a harsh statement, I know.    What should be your answer?   I learned this many years ago from the ‘Win Without Pitching Manifesto’ book and the articles of Blair Enns. Here’s what I learned to say: “I appreciate the question but I don’t consider it as my job to talk you into hiring me/us so why don’t I tell you why our clients typically hire me/us”.   Inevitably, that requires the immediate availability, top of mind, of transformative client cases or client feedback you can explain. And, of course, those cases should fit into the prospect’s ballgame. Hard-core social proof is the only way to address the why question hopefully. That’s why I’ve invested 80% of my writing time in the past in writing compelling, transformative case studies. Write or die.   Don’t (only) look at your competitors   When we lose a pitch, we tend to look at the competition. That’s OK. We should be fully aware of our competitors and why they win pitches. However, competition in consulting is not always what you think. What I’ve learned, more often than we assume, it’s about the buyer who’s not willing to change to you. Why? Because of a too low trust level and/or lack of transformative case studies from other clients in similar shoes. It’s about you. It's not (always) about the competition.   The ugly stuff: why did you get invited?   70-80% of the buyer’s homework is done before you get invited. So why did they invite you and ask you the why question? Poor homework? Not at all.   Here are some brutal consulting realities: ● you probably are #3 in the pitch (‘the benchmark candidate’); ● the prospect is ghosting you to get some free advice; ● the prospect is exploiting your (desperate) lower rates to negotiate with ‘the others’; ● the prospect invited you because they need 3 proposals to remain compliant.   The main takeaway   In general, the why-question is a symptom of a lack of trust in your expertise. If you get asked that question as a consultant more often, you are not an authority yet. The why-should-we-hire-you question is a measure of authority. Would you like to send a question for one of the following newsletter editions? Please send it to me here.    The Disturbing Truth Unsettling revelations from experts I admire. And from myself. Every Monday morning, I share consulting-related advice on Linkedin to start the new week. Here are the quotes from the past two weeks. Let the inspiration be with you (if you let it).    Topic 29-11-2021: Stop your inside thinking, consultants!   It's not about what you think you are (inside view), but about what transformational impact for the client you can have (outside view).   You explain: "We are passionate, we are award-winning, we are result-oriented or we are client-centered".   They think: "Can you solve our problem, everybody says they are passionate and result-oriented".   Stop your inside thinking as a consultant! It’s not what it IS but what it DOES...   Topic 6-12-2021: How do potential clients perceive you?   Ordinary consultants are requested to send a proposal. Authorities get invited to solve a problem.     The Irresistible Content I write a lot. Here's the update from the past 2 weeks.   🅾️ Webinar resources: All resources for the free webinars I hosted in 2021 🅾️ TVA blog: Why You Should Reverse-Engineer Your Consulting Service Offering Does your small consultancy frequently get asked by buyers whether you have enough capacity – people and/or expertise – to deliver? I know this is probably totally unthinkable for many consultants, but if you get this question, RUN !!! This is the wrong client. You might get in trouble if you continue.   The fact that you get this question will - in 90% of the cases - result in a weakened client relationship from the start. The buyer doesn’t trust you enough. Otherwise, you wouldn’t get that ugly capacity question.   You will most likely try to twist your answers way too much to convince the client to defend yourself. Or you will try to prove you can deliver by all means. In most cases, it will result in either a substantial negotiation loss of power at your end or in an over-serviced and under-charged project profile. Say NO! 🅾️ Other content from the past weeks:   TVA blog: Why You Should Shamelessly Self-Promote as a Consultant LinkedIn post: Consultants, please REMOVE the #OpenToWork badge from Linkedin! LinkedIn post: “Consultants just copy what they did with previous clients” LinkedIn post: 98% of all consultants NEVER share anything valuable on Linkedin! LinkedIn post: Being an expert in consultancy, it's such a wonderful craft LinkedIn post: My #1 biggest learning from 2021? The Authority, previous edition: Edition #38    The Inspiring ‘Others’ I read/listen a lot. Here's what I am reading right now. ‘Power, for All’ by Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro “Everyone has a resource to offer, so everyone can have access to power,” write brilliant researchers and professors Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro.   In their book, they explain that the word ‘Power’ is often perceived as a dirty word, something used to manipulate others. However, refusing to attain power means we’re simply giving it up for others to have.   Furthermore, power is something that can be attained by anyone. It’s not about wealth, connections, or professional standing. It’s about strategically developing “the ability to influence another’s behavior.”   Battilana and Casciaro reveal how those with less power can challenge established structures to make them more balanced, to create real change. This is the type of knowledge that us, as consultants, should be tapping into. Whether it’s in the context of client relations, creating a certain culture in our organizations, or changing the existing culture in large firms, knowing how to aggregate and use power is a valuable skill that can help both in our day-to-day operations and in achieving long-term goals.   The Inconvenient Number Evidence-based learning for consultants.   Sales is NOT beneath you, dear consultant   In one of my earlier articles, I explained why I never had to sell or persuade to grow my business. My regular readers know my approach to sales and marketing: as a consultant, you are not above either function; however, if you do it right, you will never feel the burden.   Here’s the thing. If you expect your sales or marketing team to bring you clients, don’t. Their conversion rate will be incomparable to what you, the actual expert, can bring to your business.   In B2B, only 32% of people describe sales as a “trustworthy” profession; yet, 88% buy only when they see ‘a salesperson’ (YOU!) as a “trusted advisor”.   Doing sales is about knowing how to identify the right audience, understanding their pain points, and skillfully demonstrating your superior ability to resolve them. It’s not about making hundreds of cold calls and sending follow-up emails until you’re blue in the face.   Consistently showcasing your expertise in a niche area and setting up automated systems to capture interest – this is where you start your sales and marketing journey. It’s about YOU. Your expertise IS YOUR PRODUCT.   Source: LinkedIn’s Global State of Sales 2020 report   The Secret Backstage A sneak peek behind the curtains of my business. Luk's lab.   Sharing the trends in your industry   As most of my subscribers know, I’ve always been obsessed with studying and researching what my prospects and clients: - are reading from me - how much time do they invest in reading my stuff - what exactly do they focus on when reading - how often do they come back to read - how long they stay on my blog - what their click-thru and conversion (to subscribers) behaviors are, etc. It's a crucial research database to understand the interests and behaviors of your prospects and clients. I couldn't have been successful in the past without these data, you bet. I keep advising my clients to consistently share all their learnings, challenges, new research findings, trends in the industry. I am currently preparing my new ‘2022 Trends in consulting’. I keep track of all the trends during the whole year, the google doc is six pages already. Here’s my question to you   Are you also sharing the trends in your industry with your prospective clients, your ex-client, and your current clients?   It was my #1 article on my website in 2021. It gets hundreds of organic clicks, I got >100 new subscribers from it, and it got shared all over the world, increasing my visibility big time. And by the way, researching the trends in your expertise domain is your most important learning space! If you don’t obsessively gather all new trends in your specialization, you should change that in 2022.     The Inevitable Learning The programs I am teaching. To become a better consultant.   🅾️ Free webinar: WEDNESDAY, January 12 at 2:00 PM CET  My Learnings from 2021 On January 12, I will take you through all my learnings from 2021 in an exclusive, 90-minute webinar. I will look back but also forward, explaining what's going on in the consulting space. See you in the webinar and have a great 2022 start! Here is what you will learn: ● My biggest learnings from 2021 in the world of consulting ● Top 5 challenges consultants had to overcome in 2021 ● The key lessons to take away for 2022 ● Predictions for consulting trends in 2022   You can find out more and register here.   🅾️ My private training program, NEW slots for 2022 I have opened new slots for 2022 for senior consultants eager to attract ideal customers and grow a consulting business consistently. This individual training program starts with a full audit of your market positioning and covers the necessary advice for long-term improvements and quick wins. If you are interested, hurry up because access is on a first-come-first-served basis and my pricing will increase in 2022. Here's the link to the info page with the program content. You can book a call on this info page to discuss your participation.        Not yet subscribed to 'The Authority'? Subscribe here. Previous 'The Authority' edition: Edition #38 Wanna send The Authority to friends or colleagues? It lives here TheVisibleAuthority.com, Bondgenotenlaan 169, 3000, Leuven, Belgium Unsubscribe Manage preferences |
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