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Luk’s Bi-Weekly 'Think Piece' For Consultants

Edition #57 - August 24, 2022

Dear reader,

I'm bringing you the 57th edition of my newsletter from the vibrant, and just a tad crowded, city of New York. Despite jet lag, I'm loving my client trip so far – lots of knowledge to share, many new lessons for me to learn, and definitely a ton of inspiration.

Take a moment to read my newest experiences and short stories.

As always, I hope I can 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.

Enjoy reading,

Luk

Client discussions

Client questions and case studies from the consulting frontline.

Do not outsource your thought leadership responsibility to marketing as a consulting leader.

“Luk, as a Practice Lead, I oversee a team of 25 consultants across four countries. I don’t have time anymore for marketing and business development. Besides, that’s what I have my marketing team for.”

This stance stood out to me on a call I had the other day with a Regional Practice Lead of a large consultancy.

He wanted to explore the possibility of hiring me to run a workshop for consultants in his practice on how to establish and expand their reputational footprint.

I have calls like this regularly – at least 3-4 per month. And a common theme has been emerging, highlighted perfectly in this conversation I had.

Now, this Practice Lead strongly believes in the power of expertise-driven education to grow a consulting business. He used to spend at least a couple of hours each week sharing his latest experiences.

However, as he grew professionally and became a consulting leader, he found himself with less time and, frankly, interest in continuing to put in as much effort.

And that’s a big no-no in my book! As your consultancy grows or you get promoted to a leadership position or grow your practice, you can’t diminish your commitment to sharing your expertise as a thought leader. In fact, that’s when you exponentially increase your leading thought output.

Read in detail why your career growth as a consultant must be accompanied by growth in audience education.

Would you like to send a question for one of the following newsletter editions? Please send it to me here.

The Irresistible Content

I write a lot. Here's the update from the past 2 weeks.

The latest blog article: Why Do So Many Consultancies Neglect Former and Existing Clients? That’s Where the Money Is!

past and current clients in consulting business development

It is exponentially more expensive to acquire a new client than retain or upsell an existing one. This is a simple data-backed rule in sales and marketing. It makes sense. Your past and current clients know your capabilities and the types of results you can deliver, and they tell their network.

But then why do so many consulting firms put all their focus into acquiring new clients? As soon as they finish a project, that client gets dropped. Many consulting firms talk about new business and lead gen, but hardly ever about structurally maintaining their existing relationships with current and former clients.

My opinion? New business development pipelines can be slow, expensive, and unreliable compared to generating work from past and current clients.

My other content from the past 2 weeks

TVA blog: The Best Way To Grow A Consulting Firm? Educate Your Audience!

LinkedIn post: Consultancy leader: “Luk, why should we share all our expertise?”

LinkedIn post: You are at a conference and a prospect asks you what your consultancy does.

LinkedIn post: Poorly positioned consulting firms have no choice but to compete on pricing.

LinkedIn post: Do you want to build a repeatable business development capacity as a consulting firm?

LinkedIn post: I see a lot of consultancies hungry for new clients.

LinkedIn post: Creating a laser-sharp positioning might be the most crucial decision consulting leaders must make (and maintain).

The Authority, previous edition: Edition #56

The Inconvenient Number

Evidence-based learning for consultants.

Your prospects want to see the evidence.

'Thought leadership' is often thrown left and right to describe semi-original content. That’s not what this term means. Not every piece of article is thought-leadership material. Not every LinkedIn post is a groundbreaking thought.

B2B decision makers know that. This is why they have particular criteria by which they evaluate the quality of content and whether it can indeed be deemed to be thought leadership.

● Evidence that the solution to a problem has worked – i.e., case studies – is the #1 most important criteria in thought leadership for B2B decision makers.

● Depth of knowledge about the problem and how to solve it is the #2 most important criteria in thought leadership for B2B decision makers.

Now look, not every post you make on social media needs to aspire to be of thought-leadership level. It’s fine to do compilation articles every now and then – a roundup of statistics or a roundup of interesting articles – to engage your audience. But unless your body of work has true leading thinking at its core, you will not be able to make an impression on your prospects.

Source: Profiting from Thought Leadership

Here's How I Can Help

Better consultancy firms, better consultants.

🅾️ Assessing the Consulting Firm's Market Positioning

Many consulting firms 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. 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.

Interested? Here's a detailed info page.

🅾️ In-company business development workshops for consultancies

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.

Everything is possible.

Interested? Here is further information.

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Previous 'The Authority' edition: Edition #56

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