What to Call Your Practice
Perhaps more than any other kind of organization, consulting firms suffer from an inability to describe themselves well through their name, and therefore settle for variations on two cliches:
- Unbelievably broad and impossible to remember generic facades, such as Business Solutions, Management Resources or Strategic Decisions.
- [Fill in Your Name] & Associates, Partners, Group, etc.
Today, the phrase "I'm doing a little consulting" is ominous, leaving the distinct impression that the speaker is a "re org" victim, logging heavy time in front of daytime reruns of "The Great Chefs of New Orleans" on the Discovery Channel. Hence, if you've actually chosen consulting as a business, you need a company name that implies what you do without actually spelling it out.
Since the essence of consulting is to first listen, then consider and finally respond, a most accurate name for a concern engaged in that process might be Hmm Communications. Muttered by a medical doctor, spin doctor or doctor of mixology, the sound "hmm" implies the nodding, serious consideration given weighty matters worthy of sage revelation. But you can't call your business Hmm even though it would be a great way for a consulting group to answer its phone. "Communications," on the other hand, is the most wonderful word in the classic pantheon of vague small business names. All it needs are introductory initials a spouse's, the children's, a favorite ballplayer's and your firm has a handle. And if your favorite ballplayer was Heinie Manush, so much the better.
In other words, don't be too cute, too generic or too grandiose. Ideally, you can capture the nature of your service in no more than three truly descriptive words: Family Business Strategies. Unfortunately, the next best thing is to use cliche number two: Your name in a dignified way. If you settle for this, add a subtitle: Travis and Co., executive search consultants.
How to Propose
While there's no guarantee every client will fall in love with you, there's plenty you can do at the proposal stage to make that more likely. Most of all, it has to do with putting yourself in your client's position and developing the kind of proposal you'd respond to if you were that person.
In Writing Winning Business Proposals (New York: McGraw Hill, 1995), consultants Richard Freed, Shervin Freed and Joseph Romano describe in detail the sophisticated models of logic that are at work whenever a buyer and seller of professional services begin to talk. I encourage you to explore resources such as this, to make sure your pitch is hitting all the right notes.
But even more important than using logic to win engagements is to understand the feelings of clients as they embark on a relationship with you, the consultant. Freed, Freed and Romano note that clients often feel:
- Worried, because the changes you propose may not reflect well on them;
- Threatened that they'll lose control to you and become vulnerable;
- Impatient, because the problem at hand is a pain;
- Suspicious, because they've been burned before.
What Else Does It Take?
Consultants were born with a magic marker in one hand and a flip chart in the other. Many can't even tell a joke without these props (Some can't tell a joke with them!). But consultants who can truly communicate at the conference table give added value to all the hours of work that lead up these client presentations. Marya Holcombe of Strategic Communications in New Haven, CT, has this advice to consultants:
- Tell a story. Crisp and complete as your research may be, it will be hard to digest unless you can present it as illustrations along a journey that reaches a meaningful conclusion. Draw analogies to give your facts impact.
- Present only what the client needs to make a decision. Don't tell them everything you know. Tell them every thing they need to know. Get your findings on the table concisely enough so that decisions about next steps are based on central issues unfettered with details.
- Be flexible. No matter how carefully you've trimmed your message, be prepared to speed up if interest flags or the client is ready for closure. Adjusting in mid stream proves you're responsive as well as confident.
- Never overestimate eyesight. Slides aren't the full message; they're highlights that support the message. If they can't be read or if they're so wordy your audience is spending more time reading than listening to you you've defeated your purpose.
- Don't tell what it is; show what it means. Graphs and charts show information visually. Don't get trapped explaining how the graph was built. Instead, use headings to tell what's being measured and reinforce the visual by explaining what it means.
- Deliver, don't read. You may very well have a written version of your presentation to leave with your client, but don't waste their time reading it aloud. Become confident enough of the content of your presentation to deliver it without verbatim notes.
- Look and listen. Most of the content of any communication is nonverbal. Body language, facial expressions and tone of voice may reveal far more than the client's actual words. When you sense hesitancy, probe until you know what's on the client's mind and have responded. Too often we are so busy talking we take the absence of outright hostility as acceptance.
- Act like a professional. Watch your body language: up posture, open hands, solid eye contact, enthusiastic facial expressions.
- Be a person. Get out of your robot gear and let your personality, including your sense of humor, shine through. Smile. Engage the group in conversation, even as you control it.
- Plan ahead. Consider whether one additional day of analysis is worth the potentially devastating impact of sloppy slides and uncoordinated delivery. This can result from handling the transparencies warm from the copying machine on the way to the airport, then discussing who will play what role in the presentation while in the taxi on the way to the client's office. You'll do a lot better if you're relaxed, so meet production deadlines and give yourself time to be yourself at show time.
