#NPCons

Get a room full of consultants together to talk about the business of consulting, and regardless of what they consult about or who they consult to, eventually someone will pipe up and confess, “I hate the sales part of this work.”

So many consultants are brilliant at what they do, but they don’t like being self-promotional. They don’t like negotiating. In fact, many consultants don’t like anything about the sales process.

In his ground-breaking book Million Dollar Consulting, even Alan Weiss confesses that his impetus for inventing a better way to bring in work was his disdain for sales as it is typically done.

Promoting and selling our services can be a necessary evil. Or it can be a joyful way of engaging people. So then, what does it take to move away from the “fear and loathing” and step towards a better relationship with the dreaded “s” word?

What would it take to actually fall in love with the sales process?

Let’s find out together at the next #NPCons Twitter chat – next Tuesday, January 17th at 1pm US Pacific time. See you there!

At year-end, the media bombard us with “Best of” lists of movies and news stories and music videos and – well, a lot of silly lists to fill air time. So let’s turn that silliness into something useful – a list of “bests” that can actually move us all forward. As our holiday gift to [...]

I was excited to have the opportunity to be the facilitator for our upcoming #NPCons while Hildy takes a much deserved vacation. As I thought about topics, one of the recurring themes in my life and work of late is collaboration. “How can we bring more organizations together?” was the discussion this week amongst the [...]

Whenever I post a query to Twitter, asking for topics for the monthly #NPCons chat, someone asks a variation on the question, “How can we get clients to do what we know is in their best interests?” Here are some examples: • How can we get orgs to adopt social media? • How can we get [...]

Several things converged in the past few days, so that this month’s chat topic virtually came together on its own. First, along with the +2 dozen other books I’ve been reading during a 6 week writing sabbatical, I’ve been intrigued with the concepts behind Keith Ferrazzi’s book, Who’s Got Your Back.  The book focuses on [...]

I have a friend whose family business is a marketing firm. They’ve been in business for 20 years, and for all that time, they have never had a marketing plan for themselves. When my friend raises it to her family, they all insist, “Our business is different. You can’t plan for what we do…” If [...]

We live in a world that values “doing” over “thinking” and “being.” We have graphic expressions for the “doing” side of life – from those who are “running around with their hair on fire” to the one that seems to resonate with audiences when I speak – “not having time to pee.” Our clients lament [...]

Last month we talked about what it would take to Live the Consulting Dream. In announcing the topic on Twitter, @MariaGajewski sent this response: Can we have a question about “When the Dream Turns Into a Nightmare?” I’m having one of those weeks. #NPCons We’ve all had weeks like Maria’s – client stuff that arises [...]

When we asked for topics for this month’s #NPCons chat, the responses varied widely at first glance – ranging from “expanding our client base” (thanks @ActiveKate!)  to the more nebulous “having it not be so hard.” (You know who you are, and I’m grateful for your openness in our conversation.) Stepping back to consider those [...]

This month’s #NPCons chat topic was suggested by Cheryl Hall-Russell (aka @Challruss), and wow did it resonate – so first a hearty thank you to Cheryl! Here is what Cheryl suggested: “I’ve seen boards panicking because of $ issues and taking desperate measures.” The effect of fear upon a board obviously extends beyond just a [...]