by Mel DePaoli

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Businesses are always told ‘to do their research’ and ‘to make sure they really know their market.’ They often tell you that they do know their market and then proceed to describe them, (usually) in such general terms that might as well be anyone, someone, or even anybody—just as long as they breathe and have money. Sound familiar? No need to worry. We all do this at some point or another. The key is to recognize we are doing it (before it becomes a problem) and that it is okay to ask for help or say we do not know.

I have spent a good portion of the last year and a half doing research to find out if connecting a company’s culture with their branding was viable and determining the market and appeal. Overall, I think I have found some amazing results. I say found because what I thought going in was not entirely what I discovered to be true. I have been able to identify a unique niche that no one has and now I have the knowledge to fulfill it as well.

Because of the challenge of explaining an intangible, I have had a lot of opportunity to practice and get it wrong. It is still not perfect, but I describe it MUCH better today than I did a year ago! I also took to the opportunity to do some casual market research, once I was able to identify what I needed to clarify! That is the key; market research for research sake will tell you nothing. Research with a purpose will produce interesting results – often not what you expect.

I noticed that people kept associating what I did with a business coach, a marketing consultant or an executive coach. (For this, the terms coach and consultant are used interchangeably.) To me, the three are distinctly different and do not describe the services I offer. I will agree there is some overlap with all of them and the services I offer but, I do not describe the services I offer as any of those.

So, I designed a quick survey whose goal was to find out how people perceived the services offered by business, marketing and executive coaches (keeping in mind that coach and consultant are assumed to mean the same thing). While I did accomplish this goal, if I were to distribute the survey over again, I would add a few clarifying questions to make the results more accurate and more specific. I was so focused on finding out about the perception of the services offered that I forgot to ask who was taking the survey. Where they coaches or consultants themselves that were telling me about the services they offered? Or, were they people that had hired a coach? Having that information would have helped me target my market better and explain to other consultants how we could work together instead of view the other as competition. (Which I do not believe in, but that is a topic for another article.)

I found the results to be very interesting. Some of the results proved what I suspected, while others I found to be a surprise. In short, the survey proved that those are generic terms that really do not mean much of anything. While I am sure I will upset a few with that statement, it is not about what YOU say about your business, it is about how OTHERS perceive you. By using a generic term, you are confusing your prospects and doing yourself a disservice.

All of this information is interesting, but what does it mean?

For companies that offer these consulting services, I recommend they reevaluate how they talk about and promote their business. Yes, the general terms are easy for a quick conversation but they can devalue the services you offer making you a commodity. You cannot charge a premium price for a product or service that the client can get anywhere. Also, by being a commodity it means you have to do more work, more advertising and more marketing to show prospects why they should choose you over the consultant sitting next to you.

For my business, it confirms that I am not a business, marketing, or executive coach in a literal sense even though my services overlap some of the general perceptions. It also confirms that I do need to continue to refine the explanation of my services to prevent being pigeon-holed. Perhaps the most value I received from the survey was it gave me a better understanding of the top of mind reasons people reach out for help. It also showed that in a pinch, I can say I am an executive consultant. This is where the difference of a coach and consultant come into play. My services are more closely aligned with a consultant than a coach.

So, what do you do?

Please feel free to see the results for yourself at: Survey Results  

Mel DePaoli is the president and founder of Omicle located in Seattle, WA. She is also interviewing companies for her upcoming book series Brand or Culture: Which Comes First. Please visit www.omicle.com for more information about how Omicle can become your Catalyst for Discovery and www.brandorculture.com to get involved in the Brand or Culture Debate! Ms. DePaoli can be reached at mel@omicle.com.

by Bruce Newman

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

It has almost always been the accepted norm that the most important characteristic when hiring consultants was their knowledge. This was certainly true in the 1970’s through early 2000 when the key characteristic of most candidates was their knowledge and experience.  Other aspects of a candidate were often deemed secondary.

In a recent survey by The Productivity Institute, respondents were asked to select the three characteristics they deemed most important when hiring a consultant. Surprisingly, the most important deciding characteristic that over 53% of the respondents selected was excellent communication skills, surpassing such traditionally predictable areas as honesty and technical knowledge.  Other characteristics in the PI survey included: professionalism, knowledge, integrity, availability, reliability and several others.  Yet, communication skills easily outdistanced them.  This is very significant. 

Selecting and hiring a consultant is not an easy process or decision; yet, it is crucial for companies to make wise choices, particularly when a consultant can have a direct impact on a company’s productivity.  It is for this reason that The Productivity Institute, LLC, assists organizations in locating and retaining outstanding consultants whose skills and results are excellent.

The ability to work with others was the second most important consulting characteristic, having been selected by 45% of the respondents.  The ability to work with others and good communication skills go hand in hand and allows consultants to fully understand a project’s scope and goals while keeping all project stakeholders appraised of the project’s progress.

These two characteristics surpassed the third most important consulting characteristic: experience. Apparently, in this challenging economy, interpersonal and social skills have become every bit as important (if not more so) than technical skills and experience.  Companies have become aware that successful consulting also requires excellent communications.  Just possessing the appropriate knowledge and experience is no longer adequate. This is quite a departure from the 80’s and early 90’s where the importance of social and interpersonal skills were usually minimized in the selection of consultants.

One common aspect of good project management is the ability of all key parties to regularly and effectively communicate with each other. In many cases, it is the critical factor in determining the success or failure of a project.  It is revealing by this survey that this level of importance has been extended to the hiring of consultants.  

In this frightening economy, where consultants are playing a more important and visible role than ever before, the Human Factors have become a more important decision criterion than they ever had been before. The consultants most in demand are those who are skilled listeners, speakers and team players. For businesses to survive and to thrive in this oppressive economic environment, they are looking for consultants who can play more of a coordinating and leadership role. Consultants have become much more than ‘brains for hire’.

Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC, an acknowledged leader in the areas of selecting consultants and improving productivity. He is also the editor of the Productivity Institute Newsletter, a free content-is-king newsletter (circ. 5,400+) and a thought leader.  Follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and the Productivity Institute blog.