After the celebration of my golden 50th edition a few weeks ago, here's edition 52 already. Time flies.
For those who subscribed to this newsletter in the past, the new editions will continue to be in a slightly new format.
In the new editions, I am reducing the overall reading volume and concentrate more on reader questions and case studies from the consulting trenches. I always get great feedback on these questions and cases, and I will focus a little more on them.
Anyway, my ultimate aspiration remains to create a bubble of calmness with my 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.
On the move to edition 100 in 2024!
Enjoy reading,
Luk
The Big Question Or Case Study
Reader Questions and client case studies from the consulting frontline.
Client case study: the productization dilemma
The past few days, I had another interesting discussion with a client about the topic of productizing an internally developed tool (technical audit) that gets used in the daily consulting work. The tool was developed to improve the quality of the consultancy work. Still, after a while, internal discussions about the productization and the opportunity to start selling licenses for the tool began to take place. This is a regular discussion, and I’d like to give you my point of view.
Consulting firms love to create ‘products’. But most of these consulting firms get it wrong, unfortunately.
I regularly get that question from consulting firms: “How can we turn our self-developed tool into a product that we can sell at scale?” I get that. We are all looking for new revenue sources.
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen that many productization successes in consulting firms. Why is that? Mainly because of these two reasons:
1. Because of the big, fat consulting cannibalization monster
2. Because ‘real productization’ of services requires product development expertise
Demand for consulting in organizations has grown and will continue to grow (says research) due to increasing complexity combined with missing internal expertise. But supply has also grown tremendously.
Lead your business development with your expert voice. Research confirms that 90% of your audience is prepared to pay more for deep, robust expertise linked to their pressing problems. That's a unique opportunity for all of you to grow your consulting business.
Let your reputational footprint do most of the selling.
The pandemic has impacted the world of consulting in a multitude of ways. I discuss many of these changes in my yearly post on trends. Today, I’d like to bring to your attention the following statistic:
63% of buyers report that the pandemic had had the effect of increasing the number of people involved in an average purchasing decision
There are multiple reasons for that. (1) Buyers are more conscientious about their spending – they want to see results that either significantly contribute to their bottom line or help eliminate a significant pain point. (2) With so much work having shifted to work-from-home and digital communication, it’s easier to involve a larger group of people in decision-making.
So what can you do to convince a growing number of people? Sure, you can try and schedule meetings and Zoom calls with each and every stakeholder, repeating the same pitch, following up with and chasing a bunch of people within the same organization. OR, you can let your expertise do the hard work.
When you establish a robust reputational footprint, most stakeholders will checkout the consultancy and the profiles of the key people. They are researching other projects you’ve worked on, your thought leadership (translation: your level of expertise), and your market reputation. Shaping and managing your digital footprint is the only way to keep up with the direction the B2B buying habits.
The services you can book. Better consultancy firms, better consultants.
🅾️ Assessing the Consulting Firm's Market Positioning
Many consultants on the market make the same mistake – rushing to pitch their services without putting enough effort into their positioning.
It always seems so counter-intuitive to me. It makes growing a consulting business so much harder, such a poor positioning.
Without a strong market positioning, you do not have a proper framework to organize your priorities, client work, and business development. Moreover, your target market has no clear idea of what you do, how you do it, and why what you do is of value.
I can help you assess the consulting firm's strengths and the areas for improvement of the consulting firm. So take a piece of paper and a pen and return to the drawing board. Get the foundation right, and the rest will follow.
My assessment takes you through a rigorous process of diagnosing, researching, assessing, and comparing the touchpoints that connect your consultancy with your ideal audience for the years to come.
If you don't assess your positioning every 2 to 3 years, you might have missed a few things on the market.
Are you seeking help to build and grow the foundations for a solid business development footprint in consulting?
I can help with short virtual interventions, 2-hour virtual workshops, half-day or full-day classes (virtual or live in West Europe), or 2-day boot camps in a retreat format?
