The Big Question
Questions I get from consultants. And my answers.
I’ve been finetuning my positioning the past months. My new positioning is: ‘Authority-Led Business Development In Consulting.’ I immediately received a few questions to explain this finetuning: “Luk, what exactly is Authority-Led bizdev in consulting”? Thanks a lot for the questions! Let me explain.
Let me be very candid with you: without visible authority in your consulting market, you will sit on the second (or third?) row to win new business! And without strong authority, you will most likely need to compete on price if you get the chance to pitch. And competing on price is not a great place to be in consulting.
There’s a tremendous business opportunity in almost every market. Consulting is still growing in most expertise domains and industries. However, if you’d like to earn a piece of that growing cake (with a fast-growing number of new consultancies), I cannot stress enough: the way you develop business in consulting has changed forever.
Four reasons why consulting business development has changed forever
1. Pre-buying research: buyers do their homework before getting in touch. Recent studies state that 70-80% of the decision-making process happens during this homework phase! They have access to a plethora of information that empowers them to manage most of the pre-buying research on their own.
2. Purchasing with a click: buyers of professional services have been ‘trained’ by B2C for ‘purchasing with a click’ & those expectations have blended into the consulting buying mindset. Buyers are inclined towards easy-to-find, 5-star Amazon-like-reviewed consulting resources. All your ‘trust stuff’ should be easy to find/navigate.
3. Social media impact: we're in the social era where your buyers discover & evaluate professional services and consultants through their social network: analyst reviews, social media, peer-based word of mouth, content platforms, etc.
4. Covid tax: consulting is a trust-based business. A recent study by Source Global Research concluded that 87% of professional service buyers feel that trust has become a more important part of their purchasing decisions due to COVID. Buyers need to trust you before getting in touch after ‘the homework’.
So, if your potential buyer starts doing the homework and you are nowhere on the radar with ‘your trust stuff’, off- or online, you will be in deep trouble. And nobody is coming to rescue you. It’s as blunt as it can be.
Without a visible body of work demonstrating your expertise (which requires focus and specialization), you’ll struggle to win in a crowded, highly competitive consulting market with risk-avoiding buyers. These impatient buyers can find anything in seconds.
Solo consultant, a boutique consultancy, or a big consultancy firm? There’s no difference!
The Authority-Led Quadrant
The best way to understand ‘Authority-Led’? Study my quadrant, see the visual below. In the quadrant, I am explaining the 4 ‘spaces’ you will need to integrate in your Authority-Led business development approach (in this order!):
1. Positioning, the genesis of your success as a consultant
● Narrow focus, deep expertise (with an outrageous pattern recognition grit)
● Specific target audience with specific, prototypical pains
● Client-specific value proposition with a distinct problem-resolution process
2. Visibility, getting on the radar screen of the buyer
● Develop a trust-building body of work to demonstrate your expertise
● Develop a signature voice: consistently sharing your bold point of view about the value proposition and pain points
● Grow your external eminence to get more visibility: write, speak, podcast, teach
Improve your social media presence with valuable content
3. Social Proof, your trust engine
● Consistently develop transformational case studies
● Transformational recommendations ‚by design‘
4. Network & Relationships, the reward of your authority
● Having a strong network is the outcome of doing quadrants 1, 2, and 3 extremely well. It’s not the starting point of business development (an evil consulting myth)!
● Reduce your network dependency (it’s a side-effect of strong authority and visibility)
● Make sure you ‘systematize’ the network, get them in your all-mighty email system (fast call-to-arms)
● Never-ever stop nurturing: see my recent article about my nurturing obsession
Your authority-led business development goal for 2022: widen the green circle, reduce the red square (toxic) dependency!
The ultimate dream scenario (been there, I am privileged): prospects contact you!
