are you a good partner?

David made a good point about partnering with other professions (and consultants) in his comment on my blog about business advice. Which got me thinking about the debate we had a while ago about specialists versus generalists. One of the issues to bear in mind is that if you appear to be the sort of person who 'does everything' then other professionals may be wary of working with you in case you try to take over the whole job.

If you can articulate clearly the things you do best it becomes easier for both clients and potential partners to see where you fit in their business.

Partnering is a very effective way to get business, people regularly post joint bid requests on Skillfair and report that this is a good way to win bigger contracts than they would normally go for. So why not think about what kind of business or profession is likely to know people you could help?

Some of the more obvious examples include;

IT providers working with accountants
graphic designers, marketeers and web designers working together
Lawyers passing work to HR professionals and vice versa
Engineers helping out patent & IPR specialists

As a starting point, try thinking about your last few clients, what problem they were trying to solve and who else they might have gone to for help if they hadn't found you.

opportunity for business advisors?

I've just read an interesting article on FTOnline that talks about the recession and the impact that and the proliferation of new support schemes is having on the RDA s and Business Links. I wanted to comment on the FT- but you can't - so thought I say my piece here.

I know quite a few of our members work through Business Links, but I think there's a real opportunity here for independent Business Advisors to create their own relationships with the small business community and avoid all the bureacracy that goes with the BL approach. There are a lot of people currently thinking about starting up a business and they almost all need advice of some kind - and while BL is a useful source of basic advice they are very stretched. So how do you find the startups that will pay for and thrive on your advice and input?

These are just a few suggestions, feel free to add your own!

• Get to know your local accountants and solicitors - almost everyone knows they'll need an accountant when they start up so these can be a good source of client contacts
• Set up a local networking group - just invite a few contacts to meet for coffee at a local pub/hotel and get them to bring a Guest. Doesn't need to be a formal group but you may be surprised at how a group with the right atmosphere snowballs.
• Run a workshop or seminar on starting a business - don't make it free but don't expect to make a profit! The more people you can get to come along the more chance you have of making contact with some new clients. Publicise through networking groups, local paper, blogs websites/email

How to get the best from a consultant or consultancy

I had a fascinating insight into the client's perspective on consultants this week as I went to a meeting of IBC's Consultancy Purchasing Steering Group. The aim of the evening was to talk through the risks and benefits of consultancy assignments from both sides of the fence, culminating in a discussion of a draft set of guidelines for the 'consultancy sales process'.


The audience was a mixture of purchasers and consultants - which had the benefit of making sure both sides had to take a conciliatory approach rather than just complaining about each other. There were plenty of good points made, but I was struck by how concerned people from the purchasing community were about the behaviour of consultants once they're 'inside' the organisation. Unexpected changes in personnel, surprise additions to the bill for 'account management' and hunting out or creating extra work were just some of the examples quoted.


I think part of the reason was that many of the purchasers involved work mainly with very large consultancies who have large numbers of staff and very sophisticated sales and account management skills. The positive message that came through is that if clients ensure that they are an important account for the consultancy then they can ensure the best service. Key points to help with this are;

• Choose a consultancy for whom your assignment will be a significant but not overwhelming project


• Find a consultancy with the right skills but an interest in growing into your sector


• If there's likely to be follow on work make sure the consultancy realises that


• Be a 'good' client, give them a clear brief and monitor progress regular

If you have any tips for other people on how to get the best out of a consultant then feel free to add a comment.

What do you want to see on Skillfair's Conference agenda?

We've been working on the agenda for this year's conference almost since the last one finished and are getting to the stage now where all the pieces are starting to come together. We are currently planning to run the conference on 18th November in Manchester, although we've yet to settle on a firm venue.



While the feedback from last year was very positive, a number of people commented that there were rather too many presentations and that it was difficult to go into any depth or have detailed discussions in the time available.



To change the balance we're planning to split this year's event into a mix of very short 20 minute presentations and longer workshops that will last 1.5 hours. The workshops will be able to cater for a maximum of about 20 people each so it's obviously important that we pick the right ones to run.



So that we can make sure we get the right mix of talks and workshops I'd really appreciate it if you could take a few mmoments to look at the topics available and let us know what you think - just click here to have your say about the content of the agenda.

Easy way to check your profile

I stumbled across this rather useful web site yeterday - called the gobbledygook grader it looks at a piece of text and counts how many over used or essentially meaningless words have crept in. It also gives you a very visual representation of which words have been used most.

Not surprising that when I ran it for a few of my newsletters the word 'consultant' loomed rather large then! But I've tried out on a few consultant profiles with varying results - be worth taking a few minutes to run your profile through and see what it shows.

NB you need to untick the 'send me newsletters' link if you don't want to get emails from the website owner.

experts or generalists?

Richard Horswell brought up a subject which is dear to my heart yesterday. On receiving his weekly alert of people who have joined or renewed Skillfair he wrote in saying

"I'm wondering whether I would be better off not receiving these, and I'll tell you why. Firstly it worries me how many multi-talented people we have on the panel ! Seriously, I ask myself how some individuals can have so many specialisms....If I look below for people with Market Research skills (my specialism) I find experts in utilities, police, IT, performance reviews, OR, budget management, website design, banking, campaign planning and much more. And this is just a small sample of members. Perhaps MR is not really a specialism at all, but something lots of people feel they can handle...."

My answer to him was that I find people generally will look at the skills lists as things they can do or have done in the past whereas I firmly believe that we should choose these skills judiciously. Only choosing those that we want to receive alerts of projects and tenders of. Background skills and what we have done in the past that gives us the gravitas to complete our current tasks can be explained in the profile summary. Doing this will take out the element of consultants looking like "jacks of all trades" and keeping us all as experts rather than generalists.

There are those who genuinely do have all these multi faceted skills available but they tend to be consultants who represent associates so obviously their needs will be wider, but again an explanation in the profile summary that they are one of three / twenty / a hundred will be helpful to clients searching for the right person for their needs.

Of coourse Richard can simply unsubscribe from the alerts but then he would be missing out on hearing about people that he may benefit from knowing about. As to Market Research not being a specialism I think it definitely is and isn't to be devalued.

Skillfair Draft Code of Conduct

As an internet based service, Skillfair operates in an environment where it can be difficult for people to trust each other. The prevalence of spam emails, internet scams, phishing, identity theft and so on makes us all a little wary of information coming to us via the web – but at the same time it is an invaluable tool for building and developing business relationships in a way that would have been next to impossible with only a telephone and telex machine.

This code of conduct is not intended to replace or supersede the many excellent documents and codes of practice already in existence and which many people will already have signed up to on joining a professional body or trade association. Its purpose is to try to remind all of us of the key principles we should adhere to when working through the internet so that everyone we deal with feels they have been treated fairly, professionally and courteously.

I’ve divided the code into separate sections for Project Owners and Consultants but they mirror each other in many aspects – in fact I think the overriding principle to keep in mind is to ‘Do as you would be done by’ at all times and whatever the role that you are taking in a business relationship.

Project Owners

As a project owner, you have access to something that many consultants and advisors are interested in – that is an opportunity for work. You may be concerned that you will get far too many responses to deal with – or that you won’t be able to find the precise specialist skills you need. Whatever your exact requirements our experience is that following these simple points will lead to a smoother and ultimately more successful search.

• Be as clear and detailed as you can about the nature, duration and location of the assignment, even if you have to qualify the information. On the whole it’s better to say ‘we think it will take 10 days but that may change’ than to say nothing at all about how long the assignment may last.

• Be specific about the skills and experience you are looking for. If there are certifications or other requirements (such as location, PI insurance etc) that are non-negotiable then make this clear.

• If at all possible include some information on budgets, you can quote a range of rates or a cost for the whole project to protect your negotiating position, but giving an initial idea will help consultants to determine whether or not they should apply.

• If you are acting on behalf of another organisation, as an agency or in some other capacity, then you should state this in your project summary so that consultants are aware that their fees are likely to be subject to commission.

• If your requirement is speculative, such as to form an associate network or a bid team, make sure that you explain this and give some indication of the likelihood of an assignment resulting from the requirement.

• Projects on Skillfair don’t include your contact or company details, this is done to protect your privacy and to allow you to control how you deal with consultants. However, it does mean that consultants don’t know who you are when they apply – you should let them know your name and contact details as soon as possible so that they know who they’re dealing with. You can do this very simply by sending an acknowledgement email via Skillfair.

• Communicate clearly and promptly with all consultants who contact you. No-one likes to send (or receive) a ‘thanks but no thanks’ email but this is always infinitely preferable to not knowing what has happened. If you get far more responses than you expect and simply can’t work through them fast enough please try to send a simple holding email so that consultants know what is going on. This also applies if the project in question simply ‘goes away’ – as professionals we all know that budgets get cut and managers change their minds but being kept in the loop makes things easier.

Consultants

Bidding for work is always a competitive process and whether a project has come directly to Skillfair or is a tender that is publicly available you will probably be competing for the work with many other equally well qualified and personable consultants. This makes the Client's task of selecting a short list and then awarding the contract very difficult and often time-consuming so that anything you can do to make the job easier for the Client will tend to improve your chances of winning the assignment. If you follow these key points you will maximise your chances of winning and also reduce the amount of effort you waste applying for projects that you don’t win.

• Read the details provided by the client carefully, if they have provided a specification document read this as well before you decide to respond. Then draft your response in a word processor before sending it via Skillfair to make sure that you have taken the time to check it against the requirement before you send it.

• If the project requires skills, certificates or other attributes that you don’t have and it’s clear that these are mandatory requirements then you are unlikely to be successful and will be wasting both your time and the client's by responding. Occasionally the skills that a client requires are very rare or unusual and it may be worth ‘giving it a go’ but this is unusual – if the requirement is fairly standard but you don’t fit it then there will be lots of better qualified people responding.

• Always include a covering note explaining exactly why you think you can help the client, this demonstrates that you have read the requirement and that you understand what they need. Sending an empty message with a link to your profile or an obviously standard message doesn’t help the client and won’t help you.

• Make sure before sending your response that the contact details Skillfair holds for you are correct and your email is working. If you are on-site or away make sure you include suitable phone numbers so that the client can get in touch with you easily.

• If you are acting on behalf of another consultant, either an associate or as an agency, then say so in your response. If the client has specified individuals only then you should respect this and not respond unless you intend to do the work yourself.

• Once a client has responded with an acknowledgement you will have their contact details but you should use these with care. It is reasonable to follow up a few days after you’ve responded to see what’s happening but bombarding a client with calls or emails is more likely to annoy the client than win you the assignment.

• When the client does come back to you to ask questions or arrange a meeting you should try to respond as quickly as possible even if you are working on-site, a timely response at this stage is critical to building a good working relationship.

• If at any point you realise that you can’t take the assignment, whether because of a change in the skills required or because of other commitments, you should tell the client immediately. It is always difficult to turn down work but in the longer term this is the only way to maintain your professionalism and level of service.
  

Are things on the up?

I was heartened to read that according to a survey released yesterday, consumer confidence is at its highest level in a year, after recording its third monthly rise - the public's view of the overall state of the economy brightened from -31 to -15 over the past month, and the rating of the state of their own personal finances rose from -6 to -3. Is it the weather, the thought of a summer holiday or an overall perception that 'we've got through the worst of it'?

I'd be interested to hear your views and if this cautious optimism is feeding through to the consulting community?

Daily Rates For Work In High Risk Countries

I wonder if any consultants can offer advice on what addition to daily rates would be appropriate for working in what are considered high risk countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq and the likes?