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So your client wants to sleep with you- a consultant’s dilemma

by admin on March 25, 2012

…is that a bad thing?  Well, getting all professional and uppity, I guess that yes, it probably is a bad thing and although we do suggest some strange practices on “pitchingforbusiness.com” you probably shouldn’t try and win work via your undoubted excellent bedroom talents.  Too complicated. However, extending the analogy, developing your clients as “bolleveninde” [...]

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Myths about selling from Geoffrey James

by admin on March 2, 2012

Here’s a great read about common myths that people realtively new to selling professional services have. Top 5 myths about selling at Inc.com.  It’s a great article and it reminds me of my 2 key tips for consultants- The customer is sometimes right- and always deserves our respect but see point 2 The customer often [...]

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What’s the point of every proposal we write? The money honey!

February 14, 2012
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I was working with clients from a major UK insurance company last week. They are intelligent technical experts working as high end internal consultants looking to deliver real, tangible results through, process, technology and operational improvement. We were looking at the kinds of pitches that they do when asking for funds to deliver these amazing projects. [...]

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5- step proposal process- now add a prologue to grab their attention

February 13, 2012
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In the last post we talked about the simple 5 step structure we follow to write engaging, persuasive proposals for our clients.  For the important concept stuff look here too.  In this piece we’ll talk about ‘gilding the lily’.  Adding a high impact start and end to the piece that will grab the attention of [...]

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5-step business proposals- steps 1-5

February 13, 2012
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In an earlier post we talked about the importance of client focused, value driven written proposals- Well here’s our method- Remember that you’re having a conversation with the client in writing.  And the story structure you’ll follow is like this- Step 1- “We understand your requirements inside out” The first thing you absolutely must show [...]

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Value Proposition Osmosis- where business and biology meet

February 13, 2012
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Osmosis – such a lovely word. It is one of my favourite words, I like the idea of ‘osmosing’ and although the word doesn’t exist in the English language, it should! As the poor sod responsible for driving sales in my business, I have often talked (much to the amusement of the Oxbridge smartasses in [...]

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Successful Business proposals- 5 steps to business

February 13, 2012
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In an earlier post, Phil talks about ‘Value Propositions’ and ‘VP osmosis’ as a must for people leading sales teams in the consulting world. The effective written proposal is the first test of a consultant’s understanding of value from the clients’ perspective. A successful business proposal, like a successful story of any kind, begins with [...]

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Value Propositions- more marketing bullshit?

February 13, 2012

Oh crumbs – “Value Propositions”, we could write a book about that (in fact we have, available soon on this website) but how do we condense that into a 200 word blog? If you think it’s a good idea for your business to know what it does and, much more importantly, how what it does [...]

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Why does pole-dancing pay more than consulting? Easy

February 5, 2012
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Nigel had never imagined being called to the bar could be sooo much fun I had a great chat with a colleague today.  She’s an ex-investment banker.  One of the UK’s ’40 people in investment banking under 40 to watch out for in 2011′. She’s smart, funny and worth listening to. As we chatted about [...]

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A consulting miracle- the grumpy old git wins employee of the month

January 31, 2012
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In a previous post, here we talked about the conundrum of “Grumpy Joe”.  The long-serving, client averse, deeply unhelpful consultant who does good work in spite of all the ‘high maintenance’ bullshit he  or she demands. How do you get the wisened whinger to ‘employee of the month’ status? OK, maybe you don’t, he’s surly, [...]

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