10
Exude Professionalism
If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.
Thomas Edison
Sarah stared at the raindrops trickling down her windshield, not trusting herself to drive yet. Wow, she hadn’t seen this one coming. Her job had been eliminated. Eliminated! As if the work was going to go away. The merger had occurred almost a year ago, and many employees were let go soon after. She thought her job was safe. Then again, if she was absolutely honest, there were little signs: her move to a different office, being removed from the Thursday morning planning meeting, changed assignments. Yeah, there were signs, and she had a gut feeling for a while.
She was 54 and had planned to stay with this company until she retired. She’d dedicated her life to it. Now what? Well, there was her severance pay. That would get her through a few months. Wait! What’s that blue envelope on the dash? That’s right, Derrick, her friend from HR, had been waiting at her cubicle and helped her pack up her things. Of course, there wasn’t much to pack, since the company had gone to the open seating arrangement. He must have known this was going to happen. Well, of course he did; he’s in HR.
Sarah opened the envelope and saw a quickly scribbled note saying, “I’ll miss bumping into you in the breakroom. I have an idea. Call me at home tonight.” Behind the card were pages he’d copied out of a book, “Competencies to Boost Your Consulting Success” from The New Business of Consulting. Hmm, he thinks I should be a consultant, Sarah thought. I wonder what he’s plotting.
She scanned the list of eight competencies and the self-assessment: professional standards and awareness, business development, mindset. Yes, this could be interesting, she thought. There would be so much to learn. How would I find clients? Who would pay me? Can I do this? Can I reach professional consulting status? She put the article back in the envelope.
Ah, the sun is peeking out. Oh, and there is a tiny rainbow. That’s a good sign. I think it’s safe to drive now. I’ll stop at Starbucks for a chai latte on my way home and complete this self-assessment. At least I have something to think about and a conversation with Derrick to look forward to tonight.
■ ■ ■
What does it take to be a true model of success and professionalism in the consulting world? Most likely the same things required to be a professional in any vocation, whether it’s ballet, football, chemistry, landscaping, teaching, or writing. I once read that most people achieve only a third of their potential. Successful professionals in any position achieve much more than a third of their potential because they work at it.
Most people achieve only a third of their potential.
What It Means to Be a Professional
Professionals often have a reputation to grow into and live up to. Can you think of examples when you did each of these?
- Professionals assess where they are compared with where they want to be or where their customers expect them to be.
- Professionals continue to learn. They realize the value of expanding their knowledge and skills to develop and evolve the expertise expected of them.
- Professionals improve their processes continuously. They deliver services and products to their customers that are always on the cutting edge of industry trends.
- Professionals balance their lives and their businesses. They know the value of rejuvenation and renewal. They make conscious choices about how to spend their lives.
- Professionals manage their time. They are busy people who have learned ways to invest their time in the things that count.
- Professionals motivate and inspire others. Their authenticity paired with their enthusiasm sparks excitement and encourages others to aspire to a higher level of expertise.
- Professionals give back. No one “makes it” without the help and support of many others. True professionals give back to the profession, the community, their families, and their colleagues.
Competencies to Boost Your Consulting Success
Successful professionals step back and take stock of where they are and where they want to be. They determine some measure of success, drive a stake in the ground, and head for it. But what skills will be required? I often see articles such as “25 Qualities of a Rock Star Consultant,” “Seven Essential Entrepreneurial Skills,” or “A Dozen Attributes of a Successful Consultant.” I started to collate several of the lists and found that almost none had the same skills. This told me that a successful consultant needs to be everything! Well, that’s not helpful! Instead, I’ll present the competencies that I share with those who are exploring or expanding their consulting roles.
The next few paragraphs will help you assess where you are as a consultant. Many ways exist for you to measure how well you are doing. I’ve coached a couple hundred consultants in getting started—some formally, other informally. The consultant competencies we are about to discuss are the things that most new consultants frequently skim over when they start. They are often in such a hurry to get a client, to sign a deal, or to determine how much they will charge that they skip some of the basics.
Who can blame them? Consulting is an exciting profession and a quick start will get them to results faster. There is another side, however, and that is laying the groundwork for a solid foundation. If these competencies are given little attention at the start, they may come back to bite you down the road. The sooner you start thinking about what you stand for as a consultant, where you are, and where you want to be, the more solid your foundation. Think about these eight competencies. Consider them guides to reaching much more than a third of your potential.
Competency 1: Professional Standards
Establish standards for yourself that are high enough to keep you on your consulting toes; position a bar that encourages continual reaching.
Establish standards for yourself that are high enough to keep you on your consulting toes.
Guarantee that your services will be the highest quality your clients have ever experienced. If you have employees, help them understand how important quality is to your business reputation. Put quality and your clients ahead of everything else—including profitability. What kind of a remark is that? Especially from someone who has just written a book telling you how to run a financially sound business!
It may very well be one of the best pieces of business advice in this book. The project will end; your relationship will not. You will learn from pricing mistakes and you will not make them again. Poor-quality service mistakes will follow you and your reputation for life. A project that goes in the red is a small price to pay for a lifetime reputation. You are only as good as your last client says you are. Set your standards high and never compromise them. Our standard is “Quality: first, last, and everything in between.”
During your start-up:
- Create your company’s guiding principles. What do you want your company to be known for?
- Think of a company that you respect and interact with. What does it do that keeps you coming back? How can you build those standards into your business?
Competency 2: Professional Awareness
Stay on top of the profession by having a clear understanding of consulting, its practices, and where it’s going. This includes knowledge of state-of-the-art practices as well as the fads of the day; knowledge of the industry and consulting gurus as well as their philosophies; and knowledge of the professional organizations, journals, and newsletters that can help you stay abreast of the field.
One of the best ways to stay in touch with the field is to be an active member of your professional association. I often hear consultants say they “can’t afford the dues.” They have it all wrong. They “can’t afford not to pay the dues”! Your ability to keep up with the profession is dependent on staying in touch. It is an investment in you. If you won’t invest in you, who will?
It is an investment in you. If you won’t invest in you, who will?
Whether you have chosen the Institute of Management Consultants, the Association of Talent Development, or the ISA—The Association of Learning Providers, do more than just write the check for your annual dues. At a minimum, attend the organization’s annual conference. Volunteering for a committee is also a great way to stay in touch with the profession. You will be involved in the work of the profession, communicating with other professionals, and working with colleagues in your profession. It’s an enjoyable way to stay up to speed!
During your start-up:
- Meet with two consultants you admire and respect. Ask them how they stay up to speed with the changes within the profession and what they see on the horizon. Ask them what they are reading and who they follow on TED Talks or LinkedIn.
- Identify several blogs written by other consultants you can follow. Select a couple that seem to keep you abreast of topics that resonate with you and changes in the industry that are important to you and follow them. To start, I’d recommend Andrew Sobel.
Competency 3: Consulting Skills
Your ability to do the work is a basic requirement. A professional consultant knows the basics of the consulting process: defining a business need, clarifying expectations and reaching agreement (contracting), gathering data, recommending options, and implementing change. Continue to learn techniques and strategies that move you from being an apprentice toward being a master consultant.
Tip: Read another book.
This book isn’t about how to consult; it’s about how to run your consulting business so that you stay in business. Two books about how to consult that I recommend are Flawless Consulting by Peter Block and Humble Consulting by Edgar Schein.
In addition to becoming an expert at the consulting process, you will need other skills such as problem solving, managing meetings, designing surveys and materials, team building, and facilitating.
Certification or accreditation is available in many fields as a way of learning and achieving a professional standing in your profession. The accreditation could be related to your profession, such as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or a Certified Electrical Engineer (CEE). It could also relate to your specific consulting area, such as a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP), a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), International Coach Federation (ICF) Credential, a Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF), a Registered Organizational Development Consultant (RODC), or a Certified Management Consultant (CMC).
Tip: Certify your smarts.
Check some of these websites for certification. Go to www.nsaspeaker.org for a CSP; www.coachfederation.org for an ICF credential; www.imcusa.org for a CMC; www.iaf-world.org for a CPF; or www.td.org/certification-institute for ATD’s CPLP.
During your start-up:
- Volunteer to help another consultant—without pay, if you need to. This will give you an opportunity to view an expert in action. It also gives you a chance to build a relationship with someone to share ideas with in the future.
- Learn the right questions to ask. Sobel and Panas’s Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence Others is high on my list of resources.
Competency 4: Communication Skills
The skill that goes awry the most often in any situation is communication. Therefore, you are probably not surprised to see communication skills listed as a critical competency. Your abilities to listen, observe, identify, summarize, and report objective information are important for a productive working relationship with your client. Equally important are your abilities to persuade, offer empathy, solve problems, and coach others.
Authentic communication, or stating what you are experiencing in the moment, is, in Peter Block’s (2011) words, “the most powerful thing you can do to have the leverage you are looking for and to build client commitment.” This statement indicates how important authenticity is to the client relationship. Authenticity means that you are able to express who you are and what you are feeling clearly without being inappropriately influenced by those around you. It is honesty, candor, and clarity, combined with sensitivity to others.
During your start-up:
- Tap into your knowledge of communication styles. If you have never completed an assessment to determine yours, do it today. The DiSC® is a good place to start. But don’t just learn about your style; learn how to approach and sell to other styles as well, because it is unlikely that you will sell only to clients with a style similar to yours. You need to internalize the content existing in communication styles.
- Review your last 360-degree assessment. Look for clues that will help you be a better communicator in your new role as a consultant.
Competency 5: Mindset Success
Carol Dweck (2016) has given credence to the concept of mindset. Her research provides proof that what we think becomes reality—especially about our talents and abilities. How does this affect a professional consultant? Dweck’s research wasn’t available when I started consulting. The best that I had was the value of positive thinking—and I practiced it religiously.
When making the decision to leave my comfortable job and become an independent consultant, I remember thinking, “I can’t not succeed!” I realize there’s a double negative in that statement but it demonstrates where I started—not succeeding—so the words are meaningful to me. I was in my car driving from Madison, Wisconsin, on I90–94 when it all came together. Soon after, I discovered that a number of books had been written about positive thinking and I read all I could.
Your mindset and attitude are elusive. They cannot be measured or clearly defined, but we all know they are there. A professional maintains a positive attitude under all circumstances, asking, “What’s good about it?” when something goes wrong. As a consultant, you’ll need to be self-confident, cope with rejection, be open-minded and flexible, and believe in people. Professionals take responsibility for their actions and are accountable to their clients.
Your mindset about consulting will permeate everything you do. If you love the work, enjoy helping your clients, get a high from the challenge of difficult projects, and find consulting to be a rewarding outlet for you as a person, you have probably found your purpose in life. In The Consultant’s Calling, Geoffrey M. Bellman (2002) suggests that you “Pursue this work as a personal calling, bringing who you are to what you do.” Appreciate the value and benefits you bring to your clients and you will experience an increase in your confidence to win new client work.
Love what you do. I am delighted that I stumbled into the consulting field almost 40 years ago. I love the work and it shows. Don’t get up and go to work every morning; get up and go to play. I am fortunate because I am allowed to play every day—and in the process make a good living. Consulting offers a good income, but if you are only in it for the money, you may not succeed.
Don’t get up and go to work every morning; get up and go to play.
During your start-up:
- Check your mindset. What kind of self-talk are you practicing? A proper mindset allows you to address unplanned setbacks as learning opportunities. Although sometimes I do wonder how many more “learning opportunities” I can handle. You need to believe in your business and that you will be successful. Certainly, working on your business is important, too. Chapter Three opens with the quote “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” The combination of a positive mindset and doing what you need to do will lead to success.
- Find your positive corps. No, that’s not a typo for core. I do mean corps—the group of people you will hang around with who help you maintain your positivity. Meet with them when you are unsure. Celebrate with them when you are successful. And between times, enjoy their presence.
Competency 6: Business Development
Generating work provides the steady flow of projects essential to stay in business. You must know enough about sales and marketing to be able to analyze your present situation, clarify a marketing strategy, set measurable goals, and select marketing tactics to accomplish those goals.
You’ll need to know how to develop an annual marketing planning calendar and how to monitor your results. You will want to determine how to even out your workload and income. Your ability to sell yourself and your services is the competency that keeps you in business. Return to Chapters Five and Seven for reminders. One last thing that we sometimes forget: Be sure clients are aware of your talents and expertise.
During your start-up:
- Take advantage of your time. You will never have the luxury of so much time for developing business as you do when you start your business. Use that time wisely. Identify the client problems you will solve, ask friends and colleagues for referrals, send personalized letters and emails to potential clients, add testimonials to your website, determine the best way to get your name out there, and finally, revisit (or create) your annual marketing plan and calendar from Chapter Five. Now is the best time to warm up your cold calls, following the process in Chapter Five. Again, use your time wisely.
- Meet with someone who is a friend—but could be a potential client. Review your business development plans with this person and ask for honest, candid feedback. Take good notes. Do not make excuses. And say “thank you very much” at the end.
Competency 7: Business Management
Staying in business is less dependent on how good a consultant you are than on how well you run your business. To stay focused, refer to your business plan on a regular basis.
Take care of the details of managing your business. Selecting a team of professionals to assist you (banker, accountant, attorney); tracking expenses and projecting income; invoicing in a timely manner; studying your data to learn how well you are doing; developing contracts and proposals; understanding office technology, systems, and equipment; dealing with suppliers; managing your money; scheduling, informing, and tracking clients and projects; and a myriad of other details are required to run a business. You will need to attend to these details to stay in business.
During your start-up:
- Focus on your less-than-stellar skills. Yes, you are brilliant at what you do—but can you run a business? Return to the entrepreneur assessment in Chapter Two to determine what you can improve.
- Get your numbers in order. Review the accounting/bookkeeping process you have chosen. Even if you don’t have a dime to post, be ready when your first $10k contract arrives. If you are just starting up, you’ll want to focus on how to bring money in and how to prevent it from going out. How can you conserve cash?
Competency 8: Building Relationships
Whether you are with clients, other consultants, or your employees, your success as a consultant is directly related to your ability to build and maintain relationships.
As a consultant, you do not have a tangible product that delights your customer. You have a service—one that may at times be difficult to define. Your service is invisible to the human eye; if you are truly doing your job, someone else may actually take credit for what you do. This helps to explain why building relationships is imperative.
During your start-up:
- Make lists of people and places where you can begin to build relationships. We’ve addressed building relationships with your clients, but you also need to build relationships with other consultants, experts, influencers, community leaders, or others. In every case, you might be able to help them now and call upon them as clients at a later time.
- Begin to build trust everywhere. Don’t do this as a gimmick to use in the future. Do it because it is the right thing to do. It builds collaboration and inclusiveness. Think about what you do every day to demonstrate honesty, reliability, consistency, integrity, and discretion. Pass it on.
Your Competency Level
You may wish to assess yourself on each competency. Go back to each preceding competency and rate yourself on a 10-point scale. Think of a 1 as representing a beginner level and a 10 as representing a master level. You will find the eight competencies and the improvement suggestions in Exhibit 10.1. Decide what you could do during your start-up to improve your chances of success. Even better, print the document and use it during your start-up as a reminder of what you need to improve.
Exhibit 10.1 Competency Improvement Ideas
Set time aside each year to assess how you are doing as a professional consultant. Your future success is dependent on how well you are doing today. Exhibit 10.2 is a professional checkup to determine how you are doing; head to www.wiley.com/go/newconsultingbiech to check it out and download or print a copy.
It is likely that you will be high in some areas and lower in others. It is also likely that you may have been higher in some areas in the past than you are today. After you have completed your self-assessment, you will want to create a professional-developmental plan. The next section will help you with that planning.
Continuing to Learn
You have an obligation to your clients to improve your knowledge and skills continually. The rapid changes in the world today can turn today’s expert into tomorrow’s dolt if the person fails to keep up. The professional identifies a developmental plan for continued growth. Let’s consider several strategies.
Attend Learning Events
At a minimum, attend your professional organization’s annual conference. It may be expensive, but you owe it to your clients to invest in yourself. I can think of no more enjoyable way to learn than to go to a great location, meet new people, renew past acquaintances, and attend sessions in which presenters discuss new ideas and approaches. To top it off, you may very likely go home with a fistful of business cards belonging to potential clients.
You have an obligation to your clients to improve your knowledge and skills continually.
To get the most out of your attendance, be sure to network. Don’t sit on the sidelines or retreat to your room during breaks. You will not gain all the value that you can. Instead, go where the action is. Be the first to say hello. Introduce yourself to others and be interested in who they are. Identify common interests and experiences. Trade business cards. If the person has asked you for something or if you want to follow up after the conference, jot a note on the back of the business card as a reminder. I learned early on that if I did not make a note to myself I would get to my office the next week without a clue about who each card matched and what we had in common.
Attend virtual learning events. My email box is filled with offers to attend webinars, teleconferences, and webcasts. Many are free; the rest have a small price tag. All will stimulate learning, produce knowledge, and encourage thinking.
Go back to school. You may not need an MBA, but courses at the graduate level are critical. Take courses in finance, marketing, human performance technology, or organizational change. Take a class to bring yourself up to speed in the area of technology.
Ask Others
Ask for feedback from others on a regular basis. Ask for it from friends, colleagues, and clients. I usually conduct an exit interview to ask clients what they liked about my work on the project and what they wish I had done differently. Ask clients about their most pressing concerns. Although this is not related to your growth, learning something from them may be fascinating, and this will enhance your relationship and your value.
Join an Association or Group
Affiliation with a national or international professional association or group is critical to maintain your professional awareness. Through the group, you will be kept informed of learning events.
Sometimes a professional organization will provide a networking list, designed to provide you with contacts in your geographic location. If not, form your own network. Networking is one of the best ways to continue to learn or, at the very least, to learn what you ought to learn!
Study on Your Own
Reading is one of my favorite methods of learning. The suggested reading list at the back of this book is a place to begin if you are interested in learning more about the business of consulting. If you have not yet read the two books I have referred to several times, you must put them on your immediate to-do list: Flawless Consulting by Peter Block and The Consultant’s Calling by Geoffrey M. Bellman.
Subscribe to and read your professional journals. Read general business magazines such as Fortune, BusinessWeek, or the Harvard Business Review. Read the same publications your clients read to keep yourself informed about the industry. Read cutting-edge journals such as Fast Company and Wired. Consulting professionals are voracious readers.
Read your junk mail from your mailbox and your inbox. You will learn what your competition is doing, how to write more effective marketing letters, and how to design brochures. Realize that you will observe and learn from both good and bad examples! Listen to podcasts or audiobooks while driving longer distances.
Identify Resources
Visit your local technology training organization. Check out the classes they offer and other available resources they can lend you. Visit your local bookstore. Browse the shelves looking for trends in the industries you serve and business in general. Thumb through all new books about consulting to determine whether they should be on your bookshelf.
Co-Consult or Train with Others
Consulting with a colleague is a unique way to learn from someone else in the profession. It allows you to observe someone else, elicit feedback, and learn from the experience of working together. Invite colleagues to observe you during a consulting or training situation. Ask them to observe specific things. Sit down afterward and listen to everything your colleagues say. Ask for improvement suggestions.
Create Mentoring Opportunities
Meet with other professionals to discuss trends in the consulting profession. Some consultants form small groups that meet on a regular basis to share ideas, discuss trends, and help one another. Identify someone in the consulting field whom you would like as a mentor. Then ask the person if that would be possible. My mentor and I meet for breakfast four to six times each year. I pay for our meals. This has become the best $20 investment I’ve ever made. I’m investing in myself.
Develop coaches in your key client industries. This requires effort on your part, because you may not cross paths with these folks on a regular basis. For example, several years ago I found myself working with several utility regulatory bodies. I remembered that my cousin had a friend who held a management position in the same industry. I called my cousin and set up a meeting with her friend so that I could learn more. He became a good friend as well as a resource, and now he calls me for coaching!
Identify where the experts hang out. Then go there. Sometimes this is a related association or an informal group. More seasoned people and those with different experiences can offer you priceless advice.
Aspire to the Best of Your Knowledge
Your clients expect you to be on the leading edge, regardless of your field. You have an obligation to them and to yourself to learn and grow. Learning is an ongoing process, even if you are at the top of your profession. Often it is what you learn after you know it all that counts!
Often it is what you learn after you know it all that counts!
Balancing Your Life and Your Business
Many people I meet think of consulting as an exciting, high-powered career: flying from coast to coast, meeting with publishers in San Francisco and executives in New York City, staying at the Madison in Washington or the Ritz Carlton in Dallas, eating at a bistro in Manhattan or a coffee shop in Seattle. I am paid well, dress well, land large contracts, hobnob with the influential and famous. But that’s only the first layer.
My friends know what my life is really like: up at 4 a.m. to catch a flight for a noon meeting, spending six hours in an airport because of delayed flights, calling to cancel dinner plans, and finally arriving home after midnight. It is also about eating poorly prepared restaurant food, writing proposals until the wee hours of the morning, and losing a contract due to a technicality. Most of all it is about long hours.
Although you have the freedom to set your own schedule, the truth is that the hours are long. Projects demand your immediate and sustained attention. When you are putting food on the table, you may find it easier to stay glued to the project than to break away. In today’s fast-paced world, no one finds balance an easy task. It becomes even more difficult when you are dependent on the success of the project your family now expects you to hold at bay while you attend the annual family picnic in Pauquette Park.
Although you have the freedom to set your own schedule, the truth is that the hours are long.
One of the most challenging issues facing consultants today is achieving a balance between the competing priorities of balancing their lives and their businesses; balancing their families and their work. There’s a line that says, “In consulting, you will always have perfect work-life balance. Your work will be your life and your life will be your work. Perfectly balanced.” Although it is supposed to be a joke, consultants do need to make an effort to take care of themselves. In most cases, the hours will be long, but you can establish your own guidelines to make a difference.
How can you achieve balance? What can you do?
Identify the Imbalance
Geoff Bellman leads an exercise in which he asks you to identify the three things you value most in life. Write them down. Now scan your checkbook and calendar. Do your choices match the three things you value the most?
Next ask your spouse, a colleague, or friend what he or she believes you value the most. Did that person choose the three things you chose?
Now begin to make real choices. What do you need to do to demonstrate the value you place on the three things you chose?
Make Your Own Rules
You started your consulting business so that you could be your own boss. You can begin by telling yourself what your hours will be. A business takes creativity and energy, so draining yourself becomes counterproductive. Of course, sometimes you stay late or work a weekend simply to meet a deadline, but do not make that your standard way of working. Make up a rule that helps to put your business in perspective. Tell yourself, for example, “If it’s not done by 6 p.m., it will wait until tomorrow.”
Enjoy the Doing
Don’t hurry through each project just to get to the next one. If you love what you do, you may be missing some of the fun! Much of the pleasure may be in the doing. I know this may not curb the hours, but it will make them more enjoyable!
Take Time Off
It is very important to take a break from your business. Go on vacation, even if you just spend a week at home. Invigorate your mind, rejuvenate your body, sleep late, relax, and read something that has nothing to do with work. And it doesn’t have to be planned ahead: I love to walk on the beach, so when I finish with a client early or my plane lands in the middle of the day, I might just head to the beach at 2:00 in the afternoon to enjoy the reason I’m doing what I do.
Identify Other Interests
Join a book club. Learn golf. Try embroidery. Fly a kite. Collect something. Visit an antique store. Try hiking. Shop Etsy. Solve a Sudoku. Learn to paint. Take a cooking class. Write poetry. Work crossword puzzles. Refurbish a classic car. Study your heritage. Go for walks. Take an online course. Develop your family tree. Write a letter. Plan a trip. Do it with your spouse, your children, or a friend.
Take Advantage of Being at Home
If you work from your home, find ways and times to get away from it all. Go for a walk at noon. Visit the gym a couple of times each week. Read the morning paper in your kitchen or eat lunch on the deck.
Issues of balance become more acute during transitions. Therefore, if you are planning to transition to consulting, plan the entire transition. Focus on all the important areas of your life: social, family, spiritual, business, education. Identify how the balance might shift initially, and determine how you want it to change and how soon.
To some extent, the issue of balance in life is really one of time management. Don’t mistake busy-ness for business. You must prioritize deliberately, based on what you want out of life. Add a few of the following consultant time-management tips to those you already use.
Don’t mistake busy-ness for business.
Managing Your Time
Time is the one thing we all have access to equally. We all have exactly 24 hours in every day and 525,600 minutes in every year. The truth is that we cannot save time. Time continues to march on no matter what you insist. You cannot save time, but you can shave time—shave time from some of the less enjoyable things you must do. As a consultant, you can shave time in two primary areas—running your business and planning your travel. Try some of the following to shave time from each of these areas.
Business Time Savers
Here are some of the ways I’ve found for saving some time for myself and for managing my business.
The Big Jobs.
Work on several large projects rather than dozens of small projects. You invest a great deal of time moving from one client to another, getting up to speed, flying from one coast to the other, reminding yourself of all the personalities, and remembering names. This is why repeat business with the same client is good. I sometimes have two or three projects with the same client at the same time. If I travel to the client’s location, I can spend some time on each.
Prevent Scope Creep.
Scope creep occurs when a project slowly grows larger than the original intent. This is certainly one of the greatest ways consultants misuse time. Unless you are paid by the hour, scope creep will erode your profits and consume your time. Prevent scope creep with clear, measurable objectives and specific, identifiable timelines and deliverables. Then stick to them.
Tip: Use a survey tool.
If you need to conduct surveys for your clients, subscribe to one of the online survey tools. Several to consider include www.confirmit.com, which offers an industrial strength tool; www.zoomerang.com which costs under $500 for a one-year subscription; or www.sensorpro.net and www.surveymonkey.com might meet your needs. Online surveys will save you time conducting and compiling surveys.
End-of-the-Year Tickler File.
I keep an end-of-the-year tickler file for my accountant. It’s labeled “Take to Stephanie” and reminds me of all the things that have occurred during the year that I need to remember for tax purposes, legal responsibilities, and personal desires. When something happens, I write a quick note or copy the necessary document and slip it into the file. It’s a guaranteed method to ensure that I have everything I need when tax time comes and that I am not at the last minute rummaging through stacks of paper trying to locate an Internal Revenue Service notice or a question from my attorney. You can certainly do that with your mobile phone as well. In my case I have office staff that also add to the file. So a paper file works best. We spend no time trying to organize it until about December 1.
Invoice Ease.
Keep an invoice template on your computer for clients who will incur repeat billings. When it’s time to bill them, just pull it up, fill in a new date and numbers, and print it. Your accounting system should format it this way, too. When I can accurately predict the billing date and amount, I complete the invoices when I initially schedule on-site dates. Early on in my career, I could return to my office, add a stamp to the envelope, and mail the invoice. Now I email my staff upon completion and they mail (or email) the invoice immediately.
Tip: E-pay!
Most companies use electronic payment systems. Check on it when you land your first job with a new client. You may be able to invoice electronically, and the company may deposit your payment electronically. In some instances (for example, with some federal government agencies), you may also be able to track the progress or identify a payment date. This process eliminates concern that your invoice made it to the right place, removes worry about “lost in the mail” issues, eases cash flow concerns, and, most important, saves time.
Card Contact.
I keep a bundle of greeting cards in my briefcase. When I am on a plane, stuck in a waiting room, or have a canceled appointment, I pull them out to stay in touch with friends, colleagues, and clients. You can certainly text and email from your mobile phone, but there is some added fun receiving an actual paper card with a friend’s or colleague’s written note.
File Tips.
Develop a system that works for you. You must keep up on the filing so you can move through your office, but you also want to find what you filed! We use different colored files to distinguish what’s inside: blue for project files, yellow for office files, red for client resources, orange for originals, green for volunteer activities, and so on. We have separate cabinets to separate resources from client work.
Make smart choices for filing your work electronically as well. Establish a system as soon as you can. Think about the best way to file your documents so that you can find them. This works for us. We have five large categories: client work, proposals, accounting, books, and miscellaneous. Client work is all filed by topic area first, then client name, and finally date. We file this way because, when I have a new “cultural change” project, all the files for that topic are together. We keep proposals separate from the client work. When I am ready to compose a new proposal, I do not want to sort through content to find them. This may not work for you. You need to be logical about it and determine what will save you the most time.
Tip: Proposal smarts.
If you have one or two key areas, you could develop a proposal shell that includes all the basics and is set up to include all your key materials, such as executive summary, deliverables, timeline, investment, your bio, and so forth. Then when you start writing a new proposal you will already have repeated content in the proposal. It’s a good time saver.
Protect Your Time.
Calls can interrupt your concentration. If you want to stay focused, accept or return phone calls at a specific time. If you have a number of calls to make, make them in sequence. If the person is not there, leave a time when you can be reached, “I’ll be available from 10:00 to 12:00 today.”
Follow the same general thinking with email. Select certain times during the day when you will check and respond to emails to avoid being interrupted every few minutes. I like to clear the deck early in the morning and then check email again mid-afternoon. You will save lots of time by addressing all your messages in a focused timeframe.
Travel Time Savers
Travel can be hectic, but I have developed some ways to reduce the hassle and gain time for other activities.
Cash Stash.
I have become almost entirely dependent on my credit card. However, there are still some times when I need cash. I keep $42 in the side pocket of my briefcase. If I’m traveling and do not have enough cash in my wallet, this amount will allow me to take a cab, buy a snack from a street vendor, or buy almost anything else that I cannot purchase with a credit card. Two dollars in quarters is handy for plugging a parking meter or a vending machine.
One Travel Agent.
Yes, almost everyone goes online to purchase airline tickets. But have you clocked your time? My last purchase took almost an hour. When we travel, we use one travel agent. We get fabulous service from Ginger and her gang. They know our preferences for services and carriers. We email information about our trips to them, identifying times, destinations, and anything special. They email an itinerary back for our approval. They have all of our frequent traveler numbers and enter that information as well. For special itineraries or international travel, they deliver documents to our door. You cannot beat service like that!
Double Up Trips.
Use a trip to work with one client and visit another potential client. Add a mini vacation to a special location when working with a client. In this case you will, of course, pick up all additional expenses.
Your Travel Bag.
If you travel a great deal, keep the basics packed. I have two of everything: curling iron, hair dryer, makeup kit, toothbrush, and so on. When I return from a trip I replenish anything that I used or emptied, such as toothpaste, underwear, deodorant, or whatever. This ensures that I never forget any of the basics and makes packing for the next trip a breeze.
You will never find time for anything; if you want time, you must make it. The list in the sidbar is a reminder of time-management tips you probably already know, but may not be practicing. Try them. They work.
You will never find time for anything; if you want time you must make it.
Classic Time-Management Tips
Be sure you are doing these at the minimum to manage your time:
- Set your priorities first thing in the morning or the last thing at night for the next day.
- Do your top priorities first.
- Tackle large projects in stages.
- Identify your “best” times—that is, your best time for writing, best time to make telephone calls.
- Use your waiting and travel time productively: make lists, listen to podcasts, answer an email, balance your checkbook.
- Use the notes app on your mobile phone. Select one that is easy to set up and use. High marks are often awarded to Bear, Zoho Notebook, and Simplenote. Some have free versions.
- Carry 3 × 5 cards or a small notebook to write down ideas or reminders. Looking at your phone while in a meeting can make it appear that you are not paying attention—even if you are taking notes.
- Use an action item catcher, one place where you keep a list of all your actions—even those you’ll probably remember—and at some point add a due date, what must precede it, and what resources you may need.
- Handle each piece of paper once. Handle each email once.
- Have a place for everything.
- Set deadlines.
- Program phone numbers and other information into your cell phone as soon as you obtain the information.
- Make decisions in a timely way. Indecision is a time thief. Not only does indecision waste time, but it creates worry, which can be so destructive that you may be tired before starting the day!
- Always ask, “Is this the best use of my time right now?”
- Set a schedule. Stick to your schedule.
- Take short breaks often.
- Have something to do when you are on hold or waiting for an appointment.
Exhibit 10.3, which you can find at www.wiley.com/go/newconsultingbiech, is a time-management log. Although keeping the log is not a way to manage your time better, you may want to collect data to find out where you are spending your time. The log is divided into quarter-hour increments. Track your time for two weeks to obtain a good sample. Diligently record what you were doing and for how long. Next, determine your key job categories. You might include marketing, consulting, administration, and professional development. Add a category for personal things. You can use your mobile phone to do the same, but I just find it easier to hash mark the log. In addition, it is a good reminder when it is lying next to me.
After you have the data, determine what percentage of your time you spent in each category over the two-week period. Is that what you expected? Did you spend too much time in some categories? Too little in others? What can you do to change?
Two time-management tools that I cannot live without are my month-at-a-glance calendar and a session planner for each event. The calendar has room for almost everything that I need to keep myself organized. In addition to meetings and appointments, I have room to include telephone numbers, departing and arrival times for my flights, important monthly reminders, and social engagements. I color-code time spent with clients. I need to see the full month to have a feel for how things flow from day to day and week to week.
The session planner in Exhibit 10.4, found at www.wiley.com/go/ newconsultingbiech, has all the planning details for a successful event. I start it the day the project is scheduled. It initially serves as a memory jogger to ask all the right questions. Later it helps our staff to know what needs to be prepared and packed. On-site it provides all the information about where to go for the consultant. It also tells staff how to get in touch with the consultant. Rework the session planner until it works well for you to help you manage your time.
Manage your time well—it is your most valuable resource. Guard it jealously. Once it is gone, you will never get it back.
Manage your time well— it is your most valuable resource.
Giving Back
You have received assistance, advice, and ideas from others as you advanced in your career. Now, you are probably asking for more of the same as you consider a consulting career. You may feel as if you owe many people. How can you pay them back?
Do the same in return. It takes time to invest in others, and you should always be ready to give back—give back to clients, give back to the profession, give back to your community, and give back to individuals.
Try some of these ideas:
- Mentor someone just entering the field.
- Volunteer your services to a social service organization.
- Volunteer services to a civic group.
- Volunteer to help a children’s group.
- Serve on local government or civic boards.
- Provide pro bono work for a local nonprofit organization.
- Send a thank-you card.
- Volunteer to assist inner-city programs during their summer sessions.
- Volunteer to serve on a committee for your professional association.
- Volunteer to speak at your local professional chapter meeting.
- Speak at your local high school’s career day.
- Start a scholarship fund.
A Personal Checkup
Earlier in this chapter you conducted a professional checkup. You have read additional thoughts that are more personal, including managing time and giving back to the profession. If you are one of the readers who has been in the consulting field for at least a year, you may want to consider the personal checkup in Exhibit 10.5.
Exhibit 10.5 Personal Checkup: How Am I Doing?
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Think about your personal life. As a well-balanced professional:
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If you’re thinking about being a consultant, don’t stop there. Be a respected, knowledgeable, well-balanced consultant! Be a successful consultant. Be a highly professional consultant. Be all the things that you are capable of being. Astound yourself!
For the Consummate Consultant
You are the CEO of your own professional company. How you present yourself, how you stay up to speed, and how you think about your clients all impact your chances to be a stellar consultant who is constantly in demand. Integrating the competencies into your repertoire and continuing to learn will ensure that you will never be without an engagement.
Get a Mentor. Yes, I mentioned this several chapters ago. If you haven’t done it yet, do it now! The sooner the better. Tap someone who is a successful business owner you could easily connect with after work over a beer or coffee.
Share Your Brilliance. Know where your brilliance lies and build your work around it. This will help you zero in on your niche, identify your target audience, create a marketing plan, and save energy by not being all things to all people. What do you do better than anyone?
Play Chess with Your Future. Use your mindset to plan for your future success. You can predict your future by using the same technique excellent chess players use, planning three steps ahead. Start with small things, such as thinking through step-by-step the drive from your office to a new location. Practice planning each step that will occur before you meet with a client. Visualize it. Plan your future out a couple of years. What three steps will you need to take to get there?