How I Work And Collaborate With Clients

In this section you can read some guidelines on how we can work together, so by the time you contact me, you have a better understanding of what to expect.

For a start, I work only with service businesses and people who fit into...

...My Basic Philosophy

If success is not to be pursued but attracted by the person we become, increasing sales is not about chasing more people all over hell's half acre and pulling manipulative sales spiels on them, but about creating marketing gravity to attract prospects who are ready, willing and able to hire you at your premium fees. And the more of the process you can automate, the more sales you can achieve with fewer staff and less time and effort.

Other considerations are...

...The Size of Project Team

I usually work with the executives responsible for marketing and selling the company's services. It's vital that my clients get proactively involved in projects, so they can better learn what needs to be learnt and then sustain the improvement after my disengagement. The ideal size of the project team is between four and eight, but it also depends on the size of your company. They key is that you provide a team, so they can learn the whole process, so the new knowledge stays within your company.

...The Role of the Client's Staff

We work in a fully collaborative fashion, which means that you appoint your own project team and I work with your people to develop and implement your custom-tailored business development system, while sharing my knowledge with your people to the point when I can leave, and your people can safely continue the process. It is important that we have team members both from marketing, sales and client service. After all, business development is an integrated process of lead generation, lead conversion and client fulfilment or value delivery, and must be treated in a holistic manner.

...Project Time Frames

I work at a pretty high intensity (Intensity defined as effort, focus, commitment, level of challenge, efficient use of resources, level of energy, responsiveness, level of access, interest), NOT number of hours of manual labour or poundage of deliverables. I know my clients want to see improvements as soon as possible, yet it takes some time to create something worthwhile. However, by focusing on intensity instead of meaningless number of hours and braindead deliverables, we can end up working hard and long hours going nowhere. After all, what the use of running fast in the wrong direction?

...Skill Building for Your Staff

I provide the necessary skill transfer during our collaboration. When repeated learning is needed, I help the appropriate manager to create the curriculum and the whole programme, but I prefer the managers to do the teaching, while I can sit in the shadows, observing the event and providing feedback. Later we debrief and polish the quality of both the programme itself and the delivery. It is vitally important that affinity builds between your managers and their people. After all, I am an outsider. Insiders must have develop relationships based on trust and respect.

...Managing Engagements

I believe that your people are the most qualified to implement your projects because they know the most about your business, your market and the way you conduct your business. Therefore the project team leader is always one of your people, and I'm a sort of advisor to the project leader, providing support, unbiased feedback and suggestions for improvement. But it is crucial that one of your people leads the project team, so after my disengagement the same person can take charge of further improvements without ever depending on me again.

...Reporting and Communication Methods

We keep this very simple. Reporting is non-existent. Subordinates report to their superiors. Peers and collaborators, brainstorm, compare notes and suggest approaches. As for communication, we communicate as often as needed and clear up issues as fast as possible. Everyone is expected to bring issues "above the table", and together we decide what to do next. Absolutely and positively no small prints and hidden agendas.

...Compensation Methods

Just as any and every business out there, I too thrive to make a good profit on my work. I am one of the less than 10% of management consultants who practises the value pricing fee-structure, the only ethical fee-setting method that actually aligns the client's and the practitioner's interests, and allows clients to pay what they perceive to receive through the services they retain me for. This approach also allows clients to better manage their budgets for the project. They receive a fixed amount to invest upfront without extra costs hidden in small prints. Contrary to conventinoal wisdom, the amount of time I take to solve a problem has no correlations to the value my clients receive.

In value-pricing your investment is basically the function of your expected return. Small investment for a doghouse, and larger investment for a palace. Small investment for carbonated horse piss, and larger investment for vintage Dom Periginon. My clients sell premium services, so they are not cheapstakes with Wal-Mart mentality looking business development help for low low prices".

...Deliverables My Clients Receive

• Strategic insight


• Innovative instinct


• Pragmatic flair


• Imagination, creativity and innovation


• New perspective and frame of reference


• Best practices brought in from other industries


• Improved clarity


• Different validation on your ideas


• Ignorance (clean slate-thinking, no preconceived notions)


• Jointly created game plan


• Feedback


• Resources


• New skills


• Several new options


• Challenge to raise the bar

Why are these important? Let's do this little exercise. Draw a square and connect all corners. Now you have 6 connections. We know that creativity, innovation and overall efficiency is the function of the total number of connections between brain cells. For the sake of simplicity, let's say we have 4 brain cells each. So, your 4 cells have 6 connections and my 4 cells have 6 connections. But together, our joint 8 brain cells have (8 cells connected to the other seven) 28 connections. This is an almost 5-fold increase from what you can achieve by yourself.

The greatest value I can offer you is not my muscle power of "doing" something for you. Using Socrates' words, "I can't teach you anything. I can only make you think." We can only produce different results when you, as the business owner, start thinking differently. But, as stated in Newtonian physics, you can't think differently, until and unless an external force, like a book, a seminar or even a consultant with a different perspective, triggers your mind to do so.

As the saying goes, "The way things change when you look at them depends on the way you look at them. Putting it even more simply, you can't study flying by watching and analysing how things fall."

All in all, working with me is both challenging and rewarding.

So, now you know a bit more about how I work. Now you can go and read about my services.

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