Flickr photo by RoadsidepicturesLocation, location, location is the mantra of Real Estate Agents.
PowerPoint, PowerPoint, PowerPoint is the Consultants mantra.
Unlike Real Estate Agents though, the product, or house is ultimately what sells the client. If only consultants output was as concrete.
According to Forbes:"Finding consultants who can add real value is not easy. Even consultants know that. Consulting Magazine recently found that only 55% of the consultants at the highly regarded Boston Consulting Group felt their reports always had a positive effect for their clients."
Why do consultants often have such a bad name? Perhaps because they think they are cool and try to run meetings like Google? Perhaps because they put signs up like this in conference rooms?
Source: ginatrapani
Problem:
Perhaps they, like many others are just a little out of touch.
Solutions:
No, not mind reading, but a little bit of listening.
+ Be like a cookbook. A listening cookbook. There are so many types of styles of food, for the first time, there is one that listens and prints exactly the best of what the customer wants. The collection of excellent chefs are listening to what their customers are eating and saying about their food and reflecting it immediately in their cooking. You can do this on a regular basis with your customers too. Read the article on Techcrunch.
+ Technology can help you. Check out Crowd Science- they track the attitudes of your audience.
+ Keep track of time. Consultant or not, if you begin and end on time, it makes a statement to everyone. Instead of taking notes on your laptop, fill the screen with an online stop-watch.