Jan Richards, Women in Consulting’s (WIC) strategic initiatives director, took advantage of the WIC Off-Topic List to ask everyone: “Is there a simple pleasure that you’ve rediscovered during these recessionary times?”

She then decided to share the responses on her blog, Fresh Eyes.

I hope you enjoy reading the list as much as I did. I know I’m making a point of “giggling about silly stuff” with my daughter today!

Read “Simple Pleasures Discovered Once More”

In any economy – whether up or down – consultants need to differentiate themselves from their competition. And in these challenging times it’s business-savy to sharpen your differentiators.

I find Jay Levinson and Michael McLaughlin’s discussion of differentiators in their book Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants thought-provoking.  I’ve made my own list below — leveraging some of Levinson and McLaughlin’s list (marked “L&M”), adding my own, and categorizing the differentiators.

Your Outcomes

• Results — what quantifiable results have your services delivered to a client? More customers? Significant savings? Etc.

• Testimonials (L&M) — Levinson and McLaughlin recommend getting testimonials from a respected university, think tank, or other institution. I would add getting endorsements from past clients.

Your Services

• Expertise (L&M call this differentiator “category authority”) — what is your specialty? How relevant is it to the client’s needs?Levinson and McLaughlin define a separate differentiator, “Giving Something Away.” This means that you can showcase your expertise when you are in the early stage of a relationship with a new client. For example, giving the client “a complementary seminar, a telephone briefing, or a research report that could benefit a client.” However, you should never discount your services

• Track Record — Is there something in your background and experience that differentiates you? Its breadth? Its depth? Its focus on an industry? Etc.

• Thought Leadership – Are you recognized leader in your field? This can be evidenced in a presentation or a seminar you gave at a conference in your field, or a course you’re teaching at a local university or college, or a book or article that you’ve authored.

• Methods and Approaches — Levinson and McLaughlin put this differentiator on a list of differentiators that do not work because clients expect a consultant to have the right toolkit.However, If you have a unique methodology or approach that produces outstanding results, I would include it as a differentiator. If this methodology or approach has been reused effectively, I think a client would be impressed that the delivery of your service is tested and proven – and also predictable.

Your Personality Traits

• Integrity (L&M call this “honesty”) — they say that clients are turned off by “overblown claims about results.” I would extend this by saying that integrity needs to be reflected in all your marketing and delivery efforts.

What other types of differentiators do you think are significant?

How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?

Many people think of WIC for our renowned email list and our monthly meetings (third Thursday of the month, 6pm, alternating between Menlo Park and Mountain View).

But consultants from all over the Bay Area are discovering another side of WIC–our regional satellite meetings. These meetings are held regularly in the South Bay (Los Gatos), the East Bay (Walnut Creek), San Francisco, and the Peninsula (Belmont). They’re less formal than our full monthly meetings and many people find both the locations and the alternate hours a convenient way to stay connected with WIC members.

Here’s a short summary of each:

• South  Bay – Lunch meetings, held on the second Mon. of each month (except July) at the Los Gatos Lodge. These usually feature a short presentation by a guest speaker, but have also included best practices discussions and networking events. The holiday lunch is not to be missed!
• East Bay - Lunch meetings, held on the second Wed. of each month at the Pyramid Ale House in Walnut Creek. Meetings feature a short presentation by a guest speaker or networking discussions.
• San Francisco – Evening meetings, held on the fourth Wed. of each month at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. These include appetizers, networking and a guest speaker.
• Peninsula – Quarterly lunch meetings, held on the first Tuesday of the third month of the quarter at Caprino’s in Belmont. No speakers–this is strictly a relaxed networking get together.

And, coming in 2009…we’re hoping to launch a North Bay/Marin satellite. If you’re north of the Golden Gate and would like to participate in this group, please contact Suzanne Syklara, North Bay Satellite coordinator, or Ann Evers, our Satellite Chairperson.

Here’s the best part about satellites–you don’t have to “belong” to one to attend (though WIC members receive discounted rates for all satellite events). You are welcome to attend any or all of our satellite meetings. So if you find yourself in the East Bay on the second Wed. of the month, come on down and join us–our East Bay team will be glad to have you.

Linda

Want to get found on LinkedIn – by both potential clients and people who place consultants? To identify good matches for those needs, there are 3 basic paths that are used, depending on the particular needs.

I’ll speak first to the search path itself, and how we as consultants can influence being found. Think of this blog as the beginning of applying some SEO elements to your LinkedIn profile (although LinkedIn’s search functionality is not at the level of Google’s).

The first path is a generalist route, the second completely detailed and specific. The third path is one of referral, and I’ll speak to that last as it is one most of us could construct on our own.

Generalist

In this case they are looking for a general area match. Experience in the same or a similar company, similar job title held in the past, participation in the same trade shows, even graduating from the same MBA program would be examples of using this generalist approach. Typically one of these factors is used – not all.

This search path is often influenced by past experience – such as “I had a good experience in the past with hiring someone from that company” or “I want to find a consultant with an educational background like my own”.

In the generalist case, the potential client is not looking at 3 to 7 key performance factors that are most often used to identify what it takes to be successful in a role as you would in hiring an employee.

So how can you make your profile more appealing for this generalist search? Use phrases that show broad skills, ROI and programmatic results and overviews. While you want to demonstrate the size and scope of your work, you’re not going for the details. In marketing for instance, rather than listing all of the roles you’ve had, you might want to list a generalist title, note that it was in a consumer or enterprise product space, and note major results. You will also want to include the buzzwords used in the space (three letter acronyms are often effective here as well – I search for TLA’s a lot in my business).

Specialist

In this case one is looking for a detailed and specific match for a consultant. Experience in specific prior projects with the same kind of time constraints, working with specific channels and partners to accomplish a similar task at the same stage of business or launching a new product are examples of the specific matches someone might look for. Typically, the specialist search includes multiple specifics such as three specific companies one might want experience from (all three) as well as details about the product or service.

This search path often includes multiple iterations – take a large pool, narrow it with one set of spec’s, and then narrow it further with a second set of spec’s. Here the person is looking to exclude people, not to include them – they want to look at one or two people who meet all of the criteria. I’m not able to provide the level of detail on this path because it is so specific to the particular assignment. It is clear however that the potential client has an extended list of “must haves” – up to 10-15 specifics they are looking for. The other factor to bear in mind here is that the lack of one of those 10-15 elements will disqualify you. They are looking for exact matches, sometimes to bring in a skillset or experience they don’t have. Your profile to meet these criteria is going to look more like a detailed resume. The challenge here is to include relevant detail that people will actually read.

Referral

This path is the one that LinkedIn is built on – the principle that a large number of weak ties will get you in front of the right people through the network you build. To ensure this happens, you want to include people in your network that :

• Know you well
• Can speak/vouch effectively for your skills
• Are connected to potential clients for you
• Have similar standards in hiring consultants
• Do spot-on recommendations for you

Recommendations are often a way that people locate you on LinkedIn. Ensure that you are recommended for the right skills and accomplishments by people you have worked closely with. Generic recommendations are fine for other purposes, but don’t work in the referral search path.

LinkedIn does not yet have postings for consulting opportunities – I expect this is in their roadmap for future development. They started posting employment opportunities in 2008 and many recruiters now look to this site as an exclusive source  for narrowcasting opportunities to a pool of well-qualified candidates.

So, let’s all get busy and revisit our LinkedIn profiles with these factors in mind. Try these ideas out on your own profile , and let me know what the results are. Feel free to comment with your own tips. Let’s keep the conversation going – if you don’t want to do it on the blog, send private comments to Deb@BroadBandHR.com

Join me at Keypoint Credit Union in Santa Clara on Wednesday evening Februrary 25th from 6 – 8pm for a free seminar about how nonprofits can use marketing to promote and grow their organizations.

In this tight economy, all the concerns of nonprofits — recruiting volunteers, fundraising, building awareness and delivering programs to key constituents — become just that much more complicated.

We’ll be sharing proven marketing and branidng techniques that can be applied to any nonprofit — big or small.

This seminar is being held in conjunction with the American Enterprise class project at Homestead High School in Cupertino, CA.

There’s no charge, but reservations are required. More information.

Check out the latest article by Women In Consulting (WIC) member, Erin Ferree of elf-design, inc.:

“Building a Website Is Like Building a Custom Home: Here’s How to Make Yours Structurally Sound”

I just read a great little article on Social Media Explorer by David Finch, “The Social Media Trap: What’s the Next Big Thing?” It’s great, because it reminds us to focus on what’s currently there and how we can maximize what we’re doing versus looking to the “next big thing.” And as consultants wearing many hats, a little guidance on where to spend our time is always a good thing.

I also like the mantra “people first, tools second.” After all, any communication is about reaching out to people and conveying a message. So much so, that I’d put that as # 1 vs. # 5. If you keep that tip in mind, the others naturally follow. Here are David’s other tips for avoiding the social media trap:

• Engage in conversations within the communities you are currently a part of.
• Revisit social networks that you already have a profile in and see if the community has evolved or grown since you last visited.
• Don’t run after the “next thing.” If it’s big you’ll find out about it, believe me.
• Think execution before activation.
• Simplify and go back to the basics of social media: people first, tools second.
• See if you can unplug and connect with others face-to-face.
• Add to your social media toolbox not what everyone has, but only what you will use

On a side note: I found this article via SmartBrief on Social Media. You can receive daily news briefs on a wide range of topics; and thus far, I’ve been very happy with the one on social media.

Our WIC community now numbers over 400 consultants, stretching beyond the Bay Area to locations all around the US.

Some of our members and affiliates are very effective at leveraging the power of WIC to build and grow their businesses. I’d like to share a few observations regarding those that are most successful.

Many people come to WIC because of the incredible power of the WIC community list. At least several times a day someone posts a question to one of our lists and receives numerous replies with suggestions and ideas in response.

How can you best use the WIC lists?

• Be aware of the rules and regulations regarding the lists. These are posted on our website and a reminder email is sent to community members each month. To summarize, no back-and-forth discussions, no self-promotion, no reply-to-all, no off-topic discussions (except on the off topic list, of course), and above all no discussion of pricing or rates.
  
• Be aware that we police all of our lists all of the time. Any time one of our rules is violated, a private email is sent to the poster. We know people are busy and everyone makes mistakes, however we also know that all the people reading the list expect that we run a tight ship. We’ll warn you once, reprimand you the next time, then remove you from the list for a third violation. Caveat posters.
• Keep your question simple and succinct. The shorter your email the more likely it will be read and responded to.
• If you’re the questioner, you’re expected to summarize and post the responses received in a timely fashion. Include the names of the people who made the referrals, *unless* they’ve specifically asked you not to do so.
• If you’re responding to a post, you’re expected to only refer people or firms you would feel comfortable using yourself in a similiar situation.
• Those who respond to an inquiry are expected to follow WIC’s rules about responding to the poster with input rather than forward the post to other lists.
• When making a referral, include either email or phone contact information, or both if possible.
• If you are referring a friend or colleague, please make sure they are aware of our list policies and respect them as well.
• Be aware that the number of responses to a posting can be quite lengthy and it may not be possible for the poster to respond to all of them. Don’t take this personally!
• Read the post carefully to see what is actually being asked for. At times the poster will tell you they are posting on behalf of a colleague which means they likely don’t have additional details about the situation. They certainly won’t appreciate being contacted multiple times by individuals trying to sell their services to the poster, or calling to find out when they should expect to hear back if they will be hired for this opportunity. (Both these situations actually happened to me recently.)

Following these suggestions will make the list posting experience more positive for everyone involved.

Look for other tips on how to get the most out of WIC in future posts.

Linda

As consultants, we’re leaders and influencers.

And we help our clients, as leaders, to be at their best.

What, then, is the best leadership style?

It depends.

Leadership, to be great, must be right for the time, the goals of the team or organization, the resources that can be rounded up for the cause, and for the followers. And, of course, the leadership style that’s effective must work for the leader, him or herself.

Sometimes a forceful, directive leadership style works best.

Sometimes a calming presence is the strongest way to lead a team or organization, especially one that’s under great duress.

At other times, a coaching style, or a collaborative style is most right for the times an organization is moving through to reach something better than the times they’re in.

Think back on your own leadership experiences:

- When have you been most effective as a leader?
- What leadership style did you use at that time, in that place, with that group?
- What made your style effective, in that case?
- Is the leadership style you used the style you planned to use, or did something in that experience force you to change your style in order for you to be successful leading that team?
- What did you learn from that experience?
- How did you use what you learned to improve your leadership, or your advice to a client in future circumstances?

Here’s another great little article on Twitter by Aliza Sherman on Web Worker Daily. I like that it gives equal time to both the productivity benefits of Twitter as well as the time drains. It provides some useful tips (like Twilert) and confirms some of the things I find annoying about some social media tools (the mindless chatter, the compulsion, and the hate).

A bit about “the hate”: it’s not the “thrust into the nonproductive realm of crisis communications” that I find annoying. Heck, I’d rather no sooner rather than later before it’s out of control. Nor is it even the fact that there is negative feedback. It’s better to know, so you can fix it. It’s just the manner in which the negativity is presented that annoys me.

Twitter: Productivity Tool or Time Waster?