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Casual Articles - Are You Running a Dodo Consultancy?
Franchising research is a dangerous business for potential Franchisees. The Franchisor can hold all the cards….unless you see the relationship for what it is!I’ve set out below 4 rules that I go into in more depth in my book. Ignore these at your peril, but take them into account and you and the Franchisor can have discussions with the deck not stacked against you.1) The Franchisor is wishing to enter into a contract with you that will enable him to grow his business. The relationship that you develop is based around MUTUAL benefit. In the light of this, there is no need to feel that you have to impress the Franchisor or that when you meet with them you are applying for a job.2) The purchase price of the Franchise should be in proportion to the rewards that are realistically on offer.
“We need you to fill out these forms to get you in our system” is a ME led process not YOU driven process “Please press 1 to wait a long time, press 2 to wait longer and press 3 to be left in oblivion” are not customer friendly and customer wowing processes!
Processes that put barriers between you and your customer or you and effective delivery for your customers are dodo processes.
5. Imitation not Innovation
Copying your competitors, benchmarking the best and improving what’s already being done are strategies that many consultants adopt and for a time and for a few, they might work. Consultants who really want to stand out, wow their niche and set their customers juices flowing innovate rather than imitate
“Simple logic suggests that if you do what everyone else does, you'll get pretty much the same results. But great successes -- and spectacular failures, to be sure -- come from daring to be different… Being different often means coming up with the obvious insights t
Successful networking requires the understanding from the get-go that it is
about what we can do for each other. Networking requires time, patience, and
a commitment to helping others. Honest networking is not just meeting as
many people as you can with the intent of citing a "mini-commercial" about
what you need. No room for selfishness here; networking requires showing an
interest in others that will help build credibility and trust -- establishing a real
relationship."Drive-by" networking is often perceived as selling; this is unfortunately the
kind of networking that many people experience. The Insights For Women
series supports the kind of networking that results in new friendships and
mutually beneficial relationships. Networking is NOT the same as canvassing
for sales
As soon as humans inhabited Mauritius, the dodo's fate was inevitable. Dodos had few defences and proved to be easy prey for humans and their imported livestock. By late @17the century dodos were extinct. They had not known predators, had not been able to defend themselves and had therefore not survived. They couldn’t adapt because they didn’t see the threat to doing what they had always done.
I hear from and speak to many independent consultants and small consultancy owners who struggle with how to get in front of the right type of people, how to make their consultancy stand out and how to balance getting business with doing business. In short, they struggle with working on versus working in their business.
As more and more disillusioned, corporate workers make the break for the freedom of running their own consultancy, the need for consultants to get the balance right between working and in and working on will grow.
* Why then, in a growing market, do many new and for that matter, established consultants act like aspiring dodos – waddling towards extinction?
* Why then in a world where the customer’s expectations are widened by choice and availability are many consultants taking a “same as”, “me too” unimaginative, safe and generalist stance?
* Why then in a competitive environment where the landscape and inhabitants are constantly evolving, do new and established consultants not recognise the need to compete on new or different terms?
Now you may say that’s a bit harsh and yet the evidence is all too apparent, at the many online and offline networking clubs, events and forums. Consultants are struggling and yet they still perpetuate dodo tendencies.
So what can be done?
Well firstly recognise the signs. Here are 5 signs that you may go the way of the dodo!
1. A Brand That Bores
Everything from business cards to brochures to your website is an access point for your potential customers. If it doesn’t attract them, you’ve lost them. If it doesn’t “speak” to them you’ve lost them. If it doesn’t differentiate you, you’ve lost them. If you’ve lost them beware the dodo.
2. A Confusing or Fluffy Proposition
Specific, clear and focused is the future for consultancy. Generalist, fluffy catchall propositions do not help potential customers make a buying choice. Have a niche, understand their problems, needs and desires and develop products and services, which address them.
Consultants that convey they can do everything for everyone are demonstrating dodo tendencies.
3. Lone Ranger Leadership
Working on a business is the area many consultants and small business owners struggle with the most. One of the main reasons is that their lone ranger alter ego gets in the way. The need to control, be in control and do everything themselves means “doing” gets in the way of leading. By this I mean lone rangers focus on getting clients, delivering for clients AND doing all the other “stuff” as well. This leaves little time for thinking reflecting, planning, reviewing and innovating; important leadership work and ON the business activity.
Why do some people do this? Because
* They are control freaks
* They think they have to
* They think they can’t afford or trust anyone else to do it for them
* They think “how” instead of “who”
* They don’t know there is another way
* They don’t know they are acting like dodos!
4. Busyness Not A Business
Processes, systems and structure are the foundation of any business. Without them busyness drives activity because there is no frame of reference or context for decision-making and prioritisation of activity.
Finance, marketing, sales, service delivery, operations etc as functional aspects of a business need structure and processes that support the delivery of your brand for your customers – whether you are a global corporation or a sole trader.
How your business does business can now be a real differentiator in many markets and therefore, you need to make it easy for your current and potential customers to do business with you.
“We need you to fill out these forms to get you in our system” is a ME led process not YOU driven process “Please press 1 to wait a long time, press 2 to wait longer and press 3 to be left in oblivion” are not customer friendly and customer wowing processes!
Processes that put barriers between you and your customer or you and effective delivery for your customers are dodo processes.
5. Imitation not Innovation
Copying your competitors, benchmarking the best and improving what’s already being done are strategies that many consultants adopt and for a time and for a few, they might work. Consultants who really want to stand out, wow their niche and set their customers juices flowing innovate rather than imitate
“Simple logic suggests that if you do what everyone else does, you'll get pretty much the same results. But great successes -- and spectacular failures, to be sure -- come from daring to be different… Being different often means coming up with the obvious insights th
You must determine quickly which of your new subordinates will be valuable to you and which will work towards their own goals. Set them to work immediately on various tasks that will help you but are not vital to your success. Make them earn their stripes. Perform constant spot checks on their progress to see who is working. Many will assume that once employed they have no need to work anymore and can now goof off. Disabuse them of this notion immediately and give them the worst of the work that needs doing. Inform them that if they finish this filthy work they will be given better jobs in the future.Never trust the subordinates that want power for power's sake. These will use the power you give them to attack you. Watch them closely and follow the old Mafia maxim of "keep your friends close but you
* Why then, in a growing market, do many new and for that matter, established consultants act like aspiring dodos – waddling towards extinction?
* Why then in a world where the customer’s expectations are widened by choice and availability are many consultants taking a “same as”, “me too” unimaginative, safe and generalist stance?
* Why then in a competitive environment where the landscape and inhabitants are constantly evolving, do new and established consultants not recognise the need to compete on new or different terms?
Now you may say that’s a bit harsh and yet the evidence is all too apparent, at the many online and offline networking clubs, events and forums. Consultants are struggling and yet they still perpetuate dodo tendencies.
So what can be done?
Well firstly recognise the signs. Here are 5 signs that you may go the way of the dodo!
1. A Brand That Bores
Everything from business cards to brochures to your website is an access point for your potential customers. If it doesn’t attract them, you’ve lost them. If it doesn’t “speak” to them you’ve lost them. If it doesn’t differentiate you, you’ve lost them. If you’ve lost them beware the dodo.
2. A Confusing or Fluffy Proposition
Specific, clear and focused is the future for consultancy. Generalist, fluffy catchall propositions do not help potential customers make a buying choice. Have a niche, understand their problems, needs and desires and develop products and services, which address them.
Consultants that convey they can do everything for everyone are demonstrating dodo tendencies.
3. Lone Ranger Leadership
Working on a business is the area many consultants and small business owners struggle with the most. One of the main reasons is that their lone ranger alter ego gets in the way. The need to control, be in control and do everything themselves means “doing” gets in the way of leading. By this I mean lone rangers focus on getting clients, delivering for clients AND doing all the other “stuff” as well. This leaves little time for thinking reflecting, planning, reviewing and innovating; important leadership work and ON the business activity.
Why do some people do this? Because
* They are control freaks
* They think they have to
* They think they can’t afford or trust anyone else to do it for them
* They think “how” instead of “who”
* They don’t know there is another way
* They don’t know they are acting like dodos!
4. Busyness Not A Business
Processes, systems and structure are the foundation of any business. Without them busyness drives activity because there is no frame of reference or context for decision-making and prioritisation of activity.
Finance, marketing, sales, service delivery, operations etc as functional aspects of a business need structure and processes that support the delivery of your brand for your customers – whether you are a global corporation or a sole trader.
How your business does business can now be a real differentiator in many markets and therefore, you need to make it easy for your current and potential customers to do business with you.
“We need you to fill out these forms to get you in our system” is a ME led process not YOU driven process “Please press 1 to wait a long time, press 2 to wait longer and press 3 to be left in oblivion” are not customer friendly and customer wowing processes!
Processes that put barriers between you and your customer or you and effective delivery for your customers are dodo processes.
5. Imitation not Innovation
Copying your competitors, benchmarking the best and improving what’s already being done are strategies that many consultants adopt and for a time and for a few, they might work. Consultants who really want to stand out, wow their niche and set their customers juices flowing innovate rather than imitate
“Simple logic suggests that if you do what everyone else does, you'll get pretty much the same results. But great successes -- and spectacular failures, to be sure -- come from daring to be different… Being different often means coming up with the obvious insights t
Poems and stories can provide powerful metaphors in training, particularly when you are trying to get a motivational point across. If you think about the things you remember from your past education, you will probably note that most of them have come from rhymes or stories of some kind. I mean how did you learn to say your A,B,C's? I bet you're even saying the rhyme in your head right now!I find that participants respond extremely well when you sum up a topic with a rhyme that fits the occasion and there are so many wonderful examples to be taken from past literature that it really doesn't have to take too much time looking for them either. An example of this for me was the subject of 'procrastination'. I really struggled to get the point across to learners when approaching what is a pretty dry topi
Everything from business cards to brochures to your website is an access point for your potential customers. If it doesn’t attract them, you’ve lost them. If it doesn’t “speak” to them you’ve lost them. If it doesn’t differentiate you, you’ve lost them. If you’ve lost them beware the dodo.
2. A Confusing or Fluffy Proposition
Specific, clear and focused is the future for consultancy. Generalist, fluffy catchall propositions do not help potential customers make a buying choice. Have a niche, understand their problems, needs and desires and develop products and services, which address them.
Consultants that convey they can do everything for everyone are demonstrating dodo tendencies.
3. Lone Ranger Leadership
Working on a business is the area many consultants and small business owners struggle with the most. One of the main reasons is that their lone ranger alter ego gets in the way. The need to control, be in control and do everything themselves means “doing” gets in the way of leading. By this I mean lone rangers focus on getting clients, delivering for clients AND doing all the other “stuff” as well. This leaves little time for thinking reflecting, planning, reviewing and innovating; important leadership work and ON the business activity.
Why do some people do this? Because
* They are control freaks
* They think they have to
* They think they can’t afford or trust anyone else to do it for them
* They think “how” instead of “who”
* They don’t know there is another way
* They don’t know they are acting like dodos!
4. Busyness Not A Business
Processes, systems and structure are the foundation of any business. Without them busyness drives activity because there is no frame of reference or context for decision-making and prioritisation of activity.
Finance, marketing, sales, service delivery, operations etc as functional aspects of a business need structure and processes that support the delivery of your brand for your customers – whether you are a global corporation or a sole trader.
How your business does business can now be a real differentiator in many markets and therefore, you need to make it easy for your current and potential customers to do business with you.
“We need you to fill out these forms to get you in our system” is a ME led process not YOU driven process “Please press 1 to wait a long time, press 2 to wait longer and press 3 to be left in oblivion” are not customer friendly and customer wowing processes!
Processes that put barriers between you and your customer or you and effective delivery for your customers are dodo processes.
5. Imitation not Innovation
Copying your competitors, benchmarking the best and improving what’s already being done are strategies that many consultants adopt and for a time and for a few, they might work. Consultants who really want to stand out, wow their niche and set their customers juices flowing innovate rather than imitate
“Simple logic suggests that if you do what everyone else does, you'll get pretty much the same results. But great successes -- and spectacular failures, to be sure -- come from daring to be different… Being different often means coming up with the obvious insights t Why do some people do this? Because * They are control freaks * They think they have to * They think they can’t afford or trust anyone else to do it for them * They think “how” instead of “who” * They don’t know there is another way * They don’t know they are acting like dodos! 4. Busyness Not A Business Processes, systems and structure are the foundation of any business. Without them busyness drives activity because there is no frame of reference or context for decision-making and prioritisation of activity. Finance, marketing, sales, service delivery, operations etc as functional aspects of a business need structure and processes that support the delivery of your brand for your customers – whether you are a global corporation or a sole trader. How your business does business can now be a real differentiator in many markets and therefore, you need to make it easy for your current and potential customers to do business with you. “We need you to fill out these forms to get you in our system” is a ME led process not YOU driven process
“Please press 1 to wait a long time, press 2 to wait longer and press 3 to be left in oblivion” are not customer friendly and customer wowing processes! Processes that put barriers between you and your customer or you and effective delivery for your customers are dodo processes. 5. Imitation not Innovation Copying your competitors, benchmarking the best and improving what’s already being done are strategies that many consultants adopt and for a time and for a few, they might work. Consultants who really want to stand out, wow their niche and set their customers juices flowing innovate rather than imitate “Simple logic suggests that if you do what everyone else does, you'll get pretty much the same results. But great successes -- and spectacular failures, to be sure -- come from daring to be different… Being different often means coming up with the obvious insights t “We need you to fill out these forms to get you in our system” is a ME led process not YOU driven process
“Please press 1 to wait a long time, press 2 to wait longer and press 3 to be left in oblivion” are not customer friendly and customer wowing processes! Processes that put barriers between you and your customer or you and effective delivery for your customers are dodo processes. 5. Imitation not Innovation Copying your competitors, benchmarking the best and improving what’s already being done are strategies that many consultants adopt and for a time and for a few, they might work. Consultants who really want to stand out, wow their niche and set their customers juices flowing innovate rather than imitate “Simple logic suggests that if you do what everyone else does, you'll get pretty much the same results. But great successes -- and spectacular failures, to be sure -- come from daring to be different… Being different often means coming up with the obvious insights that turn industries upside down and create the competitive edge that others toil for decades trying to copy." Jeffrey Pfeffer Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University Innovation doesn’t need to be radical, (although it could be) outrageous, (although it could be) or provocative (although it could be), yet what if? and what next? are questions or perspectives that will keep the dodo alive. Change for change sake or new for new sake is not the point. A mindset that balances evolution and revolution is. Consultancy is a growing profession with a less than glowing history. There are many consultants who didn’t really think about their business, who didn’t question and challenge their brand proposition and who didn’t interact with a niche, who subsequently went the way of the dodo. Will that be you? ©Beverley Hamilton August 2006
Whether you are new to your job or a veteran, it’s always the right time to look at ways to boost your work performance, so your boss and co-workers wonder how they ever got along without you!1. Nail Down the Fundamentals.Whether you are new to your job, or have been in the chaos for a long time, you might find yourself wondering at times, what’s important and what’s not?! If you are feeling overwhelmed, or like you are never going to catch-on, take a moment to regroup. It’s imperative to take some time to get clear on the baseline for what is expected of your position. Only then can you make realistic choices about how you are going to enhance your performance in a way that works for you and your employer both.
The ‘book of lists’ published every year in America, has accumulated and ranked a dazzling assortment of fascinating topics. Amongst them is the list of ‘mankind’s worst fears’Do you think that ‘death’ is our greatest fear? - No that’s tied for sixth place with ‘sickness’In fifth place is our fear of ‘deep water’In fourth place comes our fear of ‘financial problems’In third our fear of ‘insects and bugs’In second place is our fear of ‘heights’So what do you think ranks as our worst fear?It is in fact, the prospect of having to stand up in front of an audience and make a speech or give a presentation.Interestingly, the most common problem among inexperienced presenters is the ‘fear of fear’ the feeling that they will be unable to overcome this nervousn
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