Institute of Management Consultants USA - Promoting Excellence and Ethics in Management Consulting

November/December 2007 Connector

Letter from the Chair: Consultants as Leaders

As we enter the national election cycle, we hear a lot about leadership. Seemingly more than experience or intellectual qualifications, voters are looking for someone they can trust to lead the country forward. Candidates are touting their leadership skills, ability to manage change, being “tested” in leadership situations.

We look for candidates who have a track record of making decisions grounded in thoughtfulness rather than political expedience or self interest. We look for a person with a keen intellect who can make sense of and lead us through complex situations, even if he or she has not faced this specific circumstance before. Finally, we need to feel that the person in whom we put our trust will give their best efforts and assemble a committed and competent team to carry out their responsibilities.

Sounds a lot like how clients pick consultants. We should see ourselves from our client’s perspective to best position ourselves as “candidates.” This means showing our leadership capabilities.

As consultants, with expertise in our technical disciplines or industry, we try to sell our services based on our competence. However, clients are buying confidence. No offense, but there are lots of individuals and companies with technical skills and, for the most part, a client could pick any of our colleagues. However, relatively few have the confidence building skill that makes the decision easy to invest in a particular consultant.

Your value as a trusted advisor (given your technical capabilities) is to understand the political, economic, social, technological and legal environment. It is to bring your consulting ethics “A-game.” It is to assume and exhibit appropriate leadership from within the client organization related to your project. It is to bring ideas that could take your client’s organization beyond the scope of the immediate engagement. It is to understand and exhibit consulting behaviors in personal interaction, analytical thinking, and recommendation delivery. Finally, but not least, it is to apply your expertise and knowledge to achieve sustainable results.

Sounds a lot like a Certified Management Consultant. A commitment to professionalism, to leadership as well as competence, to augmenting a client’s leadership with your own, and to instilling confidence in your value to a client. So, before you “run for office” with a client, be sure you can prove your leadership skills that will give the client confidence that they are making the right decision.

Sincerely,

Mark R. Haas CMC
Chair, Board of Directors
mhaas@imcusa.org

Wake up and Log on to IMC Radio
IMC Radio launched in June 2007 at ConsultingWorld in Florida to bring you insights from conference speakers and/or Certified Management Consultants (CMCs).

To listen go to http://www.imcusaradio.com/, then press the "Members Register" button and register (this is a members-only site). Use the code "IMC" to register. Registering grants you access to the archives and allows you to listen live to radio shows..

IMC Radio is brought to you by MentorU eBroadcast Systems, the people who bring you eBay Radio and Business Best Practices Radio.

Here’s just a sample of of the shows aired by IMC USA.

Mary Adams, CMC, New England Chapter President, discusses how consultants and their clients who want to grow their businesses in today’s economy must learn how to make the intangible tangible.
Bob Brown, a recognized authority on consultants and the consulting industry discusses the intelligent consulting management approach and how organizations can get the best results from their consultants.
Linda Hanson, CMC, discusses workforce productivity via e-mail and the Internet.
David Norman, CMC, CBM, MBA, Carolinas Chapter President, shares with us more lasting team-building activities than rope courses, canoeing, and group hugs – via a process called "building transformational teams.
Bette Price, CMC reveals five fatal flaws that can lead to a slowdown of growth.
Peter Jay Sorensen, IMC USA Board Member, talks more about how “interlocking webs of intangible assets” are the greatest leverage for producing tangible impact and value in organizations.

Members on the Move
Terri Kabachnick CSP, CEO & Founder of The Kabachnick Group, and her book, “I Quit, But Forgot to Tell you” was recently picked as a SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) top HR book pick for 2007!

Raymond Urgo was honored with the Distinguished Service Award by the Society for Technical Communication for his dedicated leadership and service in founding and growing the Policies & Procedures professional interest group. Under his leadership, this group grew to 1,200 members in 24 nations and is the world's only non-profit group of professionals dedicated to policies and procedures communication. Additionally, he was an invited guest speaker at the 2 nd annual Los Angeles "Records and Information Management Conference," which addressed going beyond compliance to improved organizational effectiveness.

Consultant Tip on Testimonials
Q. How do I get testimonials from clients?
A. Start with a few people you know really well. They don’t even have to be a consulting client. Perhaps someone you spoke for, worked for, served with, wrote for, etc. Once you have two or three of these you can use them in a letter to a client (either completed or in progress) and enclose them with a covering letter saying “Mike, Reputation and references are important in the consulting profession. When you are comfortable I would really appreciate a reference from you. I have enclosed a few samples to guide you.”

Tip : Ask for what you want, explain why, provide guidance.

Work Side-by-Side With Your Client – Electronically!
By Baldwin H. Tom CMC
Past Chair, IMC USA 2004-2006

Phone and e-mail are not replacements for a face-to-face with a client. However, with the use of a Web-based process, such as GoToMeeting offered by IMC USA’s partner, Citrix (and at a discount!), we have provided our clients a near face-to-face experience. If you have not checked this out, it is a Web-based site that allows participants (up to 11 on a personal account and 25 on a corporate one) to participate at the same time in reviewing and editing documents in real time. You can use your own conference call number or use Citrix's service to complete what we are calling “a WebCall.” The phone call is independent of the Web site. By the way, I am not a sales person for Citrix, nor gain anything for raving about this! It's just really cool!

Here is how it works. The organizer sets up the site and controls the documents that will be reviewed. This means all participants logging on see the organizer's screen. The beauty of the system is that the organizer can release control of the mouse to any of the other callers to have them actually edit the document on the organizer's screen. Importantly, if one of the callers has a document that they want the group to see, the organizer can move the entire control (mouse and screen) to the participant's computer to show the new document. It's really very easy, very fast to use and takes one minute to get online.

I have a client that is distributed nationally that has a goal to establish a network across the states, so they can share best practices and lessons learned. They were dissatisfied with the lack of participation during traditional conference calls, so I suggested the WebCall with GoToMeeting. It took me five minutes to set up the specifics on the GoToMeeting site. After I filled out the information for the meeting, the site automatically sent an announcement e-mail to each attendee with the Web link and the call in number, as well as the meeting number.

Result? By the second WebCall, all participants were engaged and providing input. Our clients are now advocates for WebCall.

We believe that the ability to view work on a screen in real time provides a true feeling of looking over each other's shoulder in getting a document reviewed or edited. This feeling is enhanced when another participant can make edits or provide additional documents for review. It's really like working side-by-side with the client.

Y2K All Over Again
By Cal Harrison, MBA

Have you ever met a potential client that recognized their need to engage a consultant – but never did? What they lacked was either a budget, or a triggering event, or both. This article explores a huge triggering event presenting a significant opportunity for management consultants in the United States and Canada.

New competitors ( China), new legislation (Sarbanes Oxley), new technologies (high-speed networks) and new threats (Y2K) are triggering events that we’ve seen in the recent past.

They are the events that force potential clients to move from a state of inaction (not hiring a consultant), into a state of action (hiring a consultant).

The optimal triggering event from a consulting sales perspective is a huge external force, bound by a time limitation, that cannot be ignored and that creates a need for business to make immediate change. A massive currency reversal fits this description perfectly.

Not since Y2K have we seen a triggering event as deep and as broad as the change between the Canadian and US dollars. Although it doesn’t have the same pin-point accurate deadline for action as Y2K, it definitely has a time limit for action because those that don’t act soon will lose the opportunity to act, and possibly their business.

It is forcing North American businesses to rethink their operations and go looking for expert assistance to survive – or to exploit emerging opportunities. Every sector from tourism to manufacturing, in Canada and the United States is affected. This has governments and business worried.

As a recent example, Jean-Rene Halde, President of the Business Development Bank of Canada ( a financial institution wholly owned by the government of Canada that delivers financial, investment and consulting services to Canadian small and medium-sized businesses) told Canadian business what they’ve known – and what many have ignored – for years. They need to make changes very quickly if they want to survive the rising Canadian dollar.

But this time the speech is not about some potential threat. It’s about a “clear and present danger.” This time, more businesses will act when they hear the strategies offered in speeches like Halde’s.

For many Canadian and American businesses, this is going to mean a frantic period of change.

Can your consulting expertise help Canadian and American businesses to adapt to this new currency reality? If so, you need to make sure potential clients know that.

Beyond Referrals provides practice specific services for management consultants, to implement better business development processes that reduce selling costs and increase profit margin and revenue. Beyond Referrals has been selected by the Institute of Management Consultants USA as an “IMC Recommended” professional development program. To read some of our previous articles visit www.beyondreferrals.com.

Copyright Beyond Referrals, 2007.

Critical Success Factors for an IMC Chapter
By Michael E. Cohen CMC, President Emeritus, IMC National Capital Region Chapter

Chapter officers best serve the interests and needs of their members and, at the same time, develop their own skills and networks, by doing the following:

Focus outward, not inward. Serve the needs of your members.
Engage the membership. Talk to people, go to their Web sites and do things for others with a personal touch.
Always be recruiting (ABR). Develop relationships and gain the confidence of people so they understand how joining the Chapter Board and serving the Chapter will help them.
Always strive for excellence. Establish stretch, but achievable goals.
Nurture your stars.

Chapter News
IMC-AZ kicked off a new initiative this fall – Mastermind Groups – where the objective is to create small groups of members who meet monthly as a type of advisory board to each other in order to share ideas, discuss issues and opportunities, and provide support to one another. We sent out an e-mail to solicit participants and 17 members responded. (Chapter membership is ~70.) We divided the participants into three groups, based on geography. Each group has a volunteer coordinator who helps with logistics in addition to being a member of the group. Groups meet either in person or via phone.

With the Arizona chapter vision to be a “community of consultants,” all initiatives are based on providing a forum for consultants to share, contribute and learn from each other. To that end, the chapter instituted a chapter blog, one-on-one board advisory services, mastermind groups, "session-after-the-session" discussions following presentations, and reinstated the chapter holiday party.

For more information on the mastermind groups, please contact the “Mastermind Coordinator” Barb Elazari at barb@bebandassociates.com or Chapter President Lisa Koss at lisakoss@intladvantage.com.

Chapter Presidents’ Council Update
At Confab 3.0, which was held October 27-30 in Reno, the CPC met to discuss strategies and tactics to attract and retain members and how to build strong chapter boards. We also heard about the success of the Georgia chapter to revitalize their organization during the past year using grant money from the CPC. New Mexico, a new chapter, completed its first membership event immediately preceding Confab using grant money from the CPC. In 2008, the CPC will continue to award grants to chapters for the purposes of starting or revitalizing the local organization; we will solicit proposals for funding starting on the December CPC call. At the board meeting preceding Confab, the chair of the CPC was appointed as a full voting member of the IMC USA Board of Directors.

Chapter presidents are strongly encouraged to attend the monthly teleconference calls (first Monday, 4:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. PT) and the face-to-face meetings at Confab and ConsultingWorld. Minutes from all of these meetings are posted on http://www.groupmindexpress.com/. Contact Greg Maciog at greg@imcusa.org for your password information.

CPC Objectives
Knowledge transfer + Peer-to-peer support + Member feedback to IMC USA BOD
Increase effectiveness of chapter presidents + Serve as sounding board to IMC USA BOD

Member Benefits of the Month
IMC USA continues to develop relations with organizations that benefit members. We are pleased to have brought benefits from Blue Chip Expert, The Business Source, Citrix, View Assessments, Vistage, HBSP, AMA, GroupMind Express, ASBC, One Page Business Plan, RainToday, and ExpertClick. We have a few more in process to round out our offerings to help members Get Smart, Get Known and Get Business.

This month’s features…

Get Smart by serving in a leadership position in IMC USA. Volunteering for a leadership role will allow you to experience managing a group, working through the challenges and opportunities of leading a group of your peers, and seeing the results of your work by serving your colleagues. Clients will see that you are a professional consultant by your commitment to serve others. Contact your local chapter or IMC USA to see how you can get involved.

Get Known – ExpertClick is the official publisher of the Yearbook of Experts print-based directory, also available online at http://www.expertclick.com/. Journalists and experts count on ExpertClick for interview and news sources, contact information, press release distribution, keynote speaker resources and much more. Mitchell Davis, publisher of the Yearbook of Experts often advises clients on getting maximum return on even a single news release: "Write one release to a prime target, then shop it around. One on-topic, on-target release can go farther then yet another e-mail blast, because journalists always want new exclusive ideas.” IMC USA members save $100 on membership.

Get Business – One-on-one sessions give both new and experienced consultants a great opportunity to share valuable guidance as well as referrals. Consultants Meeting Consultants and Clients (CmCC) has received rave review for providing this interaction:

“Members just have to try this once to experience the value. Absolutely on target!”
“A++ event! I (am) retired and this event reopened my mind back into consulting...Reawakened me back into the real world.”
“Positive event! Encouraging exchange as I launch out on my own."
“Impressed on how the others shared! So, when is the next one?”

The Business of Blogging
Every day, Web users are launching an additional 175,000 new blogs. How do you make your blog stand out from the crowd? Like any other marketing tool, blogs are most effective when used properly.

Here are some suggestions for getting you ready and set to blog.

Identify your audience. A basic principle of any business is just as essential with your blog. It's critical to pinpoint your audience and to decide what you're going to say that will make them read what you write.
Decide how to set up your blog. There are numerous software packages that let you add a blog section to an existing Web site. A more automated and perhaps easier option is a blog hosting site (with a link from your Web site bringing visitors over). Here, the setup is easy, as the site usually provides pre-formatted designs and other bells and whistles you may choose. In particular, watch for features that may be helpful in building traffic, such as trackers that identify recent posts and the most popular message threads. Some of the most common blog hosting sites are http://www.blogspot.com/ and http://www.webpress.com/.
Start blogging. At this point, bringing your blog to life will mean little more than placing your thoughts, observations and insights into the blog for others to read. Your best bet is to aim for a fresh, unique take. Provide a perspective that is heartfelt, compelling, and has the potential to help you market yourself and your business. But don't stray too far from your business or expertise.
Get ready to "cross-blog." Getting regular visitors to your site isn't just a matter of fresh, insightful commentary. Building traffic between blogs is another central element to luring repeat visitors. Here, "cross-blogging" is an effective tool. This, in essence, is a set of links on your blog site that identifies other sites on the Internet – related to your business, industry or expertise – that you find valuable.
Emphasize keywords. Search engine hits are another element of generating traffic. One strategy to attract search engine interest is through careful use of keywords in both your headlines and blog copy.
Keep it fresh. Something that can bring down even the best intentioned of blogs is stale content. Nothing is more discouraging to prospective readers than returning to a blog site to find old or outdated material. So, be prepared to work at keeping your blog as fresh and current as possible.

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