I have two big theories.

One is that nobody can be good at everything, and you — and those around you, need to get over what you’re lousy at, and make the best of what you’re good at, and be done with it.  This idea of constant and broad self-improvement is overrated.

Two, is that most successful people fail at what they set out to do much of the time.  Sometimes it works out anyway, and sometimes it doesn’t.  Successful folks just jettison whatever mess they’ve made, scrape it off their shoes, and move on.  If you aren’t willing to step in a lot of shit, I don’t think you get very far.

Or as the more politely phrased cliche goes, even a turtle has to stick his neck out to get anywhere…

<continued…>

Being a consultant also means having the means to go out and get more clients. This allows you to accrue even more experience…so that you can become an even better advisor. If you have a client base of one or two, a consultant you are not. You have nothing new to bring to your client’s table. Call yourself a contractor.

You also have to ‘keep your game up’ by staying abreast of developments in your field. It’s not easy. In my mind its part of the tacit agreement you make with your clients. Otherwise, once again, you are a contractor.

And finally – your clients should not be aware of your professional or personal problems. They don’t care (they don’t!). And they shouldn’t. I have gotten divorced, gone through surgeries, and had other family issues. I have never, ever discussed any of this with my clients. It is NOT the relationship they want with you. My unstated rule is to be friendly, but not friends. There is this and there is that.

Over time with some clients there is a professional intimacy that happens. I have this with quite a number of people, and when it happens it is very nice. Usually you have been through a few professional wars together and a closeness develops. But, in my opinion, there should always be a little reserve – similar to being a parent. I have never been friends with my children – their friends are their friends. Your kids want you to be their parent – and your clients want you to be their consultant.

<continued…>

But let’s say hypothetically that you know something and that what you know is needed in the market.

Now back to Grace’s question to me: What does being a consultant mean? There are a lot of jokes out there about consultants…one that comes to mind is the cartoon of the homeless man standing on a corner with a sign that says, “Will Consult for Food”.

My model or template, which has evolved through the years, is that of a straight-shooting parent. Parental in that I feel the need to take care of my clients – to not let them do things that are not in their best interests. Keep in mind that a large core of our business is helping clients migrate from one software platform to another. This is a difficult and stressful endeavor for our clients – some of them ‘freak’. I must not. Thus, the parental model – for me.

The straight shooter portion is partly due to my genetic disposition. Can’t help it – to be any other way doesn’t make sense to me. But also, clients appreciate the truth, even if it is hard to hear. It can be delivered gently, but it still needs to be the truth (and must be done). It also means leading our clients and doing what is in their best interests which is not the same as doing what they ask you to do. Sometimes they are one and the same, but not always.

An example of this: On more than one occasion, during the discovery portion of a software implementation I’ve been told that the implementation has to be done by ‘X’ date. I usually ask why that date. The answer (reason) given back to me is either a good one or a bad one. If it is a bad reason then I do not necessarily create their implementation materials to coincide with their date if I think their date is not in their best interests (meaning a lousy and more-painful-than-necessary software implementation). When it is time to present the implementation approach, I demonstrate the approach that I feel is in their interests, and why. Confrontational? Yes. Difficult? Yes. Parental? Yes. In Their Best Interests? Usually.

<to be continued…>

I was having lunch with a client last month and she asked me “What does being a consultant mean?” I thought she was busting my chops until I looked at her face and realized that she really wanted to know. (And as I found out – she wants to become one – thus her interest…)

Here was my indirect answer to her:

First question should have been – Who can be a consultant? Who qualifies? If you know something and there is a market need for what you know, then you can be a consultant.

If you know something, but there’s no market for what you know, then you cannot be a consultant.

However, if you know of a market need, and you know people who have the expertise to satisfy that market (and these people don’t know how to see a market, or are unwilling to see…), then you can own a consulting company.

There are two key phrases in all of this – knowing something (or knowing somebody who knows something), and a market need for what you know. Then, and only then, can you be a (successful) consultant.

Since everybody knows something then owning, and growing, a consulting company comes down to a market need for services. The “If I Build It, They Will Come” strategy doesn’t work (trust me!) unless you are a very proficient marketer.

<To be Continued…>

Long ago, when sailing ships ruled the waves, a captain and his crew were in danger of being boarded by a pirate ship. As the crew became frantic, the captain bellowed to his First Mate, “Bring me my red shirt!” The First Mate quickly retrieved the captain’s red shirt, which the captain put on and lead the crew to battle the pirate boarding party. Although some casualties occurred among the crew, the pirates were repelled.

Later that day, the lookout screamed that there were two pirate vessels sending boarding parties. The crew cowered in fear, but the captain calm as ever bellowed, “Bring me my red shirt!”. The battle was on, and once again the Captain and his crew repelled both boarding parties, although this time more casualties occurred.

Weary from the battles, the men sat around on deck that night recounting the day’s occurrences when an ensign looked to the Captain and asked, “Sir, why did you call for your red shirt before the battle?” The Captain, giving the ensign a look that only a captain can give, exhorted, “If I am wounded in battle, the red shirt does not show the wound and thus, you men will continue to fight unafraid“. The men sat in silence marveling at the courage of such a man.

As dawn came the next morning, the lookout screamed that there were pirate ships, 10 of them, all with boarding parties on their way. The men became silent and looked to their Captain for his usual command.

The Captain, calm as ever, bellowed, “Bring me my brown pants!”

The term ‘Business to Business’ is misleading; businesses buy nothing. Only people buy. And the CEO in the boardroom buys for the exact same motivations and in the same ‘style’ as he does when he is at home in his kitchen; he buys a one million dollar software system the same way he buys a $30,000 car, a $3,000 home entertainment system or a $300 membership at the gym. He buys as much or more by personal self-interest (than corporate interest); driven by emotions, not logic. One of the best things the B2B’ers can do is understand the specific human who he is selling to, and what his ‘emotional life in his business role’ is all about – for example: internal competition with peers for recognition and advancement? Resentment of bigger, better financed competitors on the street? Fear – of being too late, too slow, left behind, too dumb, embarrassed, missing yet another big opportunity, making a costly or even career-ending mistake?

Strategy: Always make it personal.

We’ve worked on a couple of software evaluation projects this year – and have had to wrestle with all 4 clients on this one topic:  Don’t ask questions to software vendors if you don’t know what you are going to do with the answer.

For example, a couple of my clients were requesting 5 (five!) years of financial statements.  My questions to them:  What are you looking for – low debt, liquidity, earnings - what?  What constitutes a healthy financial statement?  I get a lot of blank stares, and at times, anger.  If you had to focus on one thing in the evaluation of a software company (not the product, the company)…my recommendation would be to look at the health and breadth of their prospect pipeline.  More on this another day.

Just finished reading the book “Distracted:  The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age” by Maggie Jackson, in which she warns of  “an institutionalized culture of interruption, when your time is taken by a never-ending stream of phone calls, e-mails, instant messages, text messages, and tweets.” — rendering the afflicted incapable of deep thought, creativity or peace of mind…

People have given up their souls to this stuff (just saw in a news article where a high school teen said:  I would DIE if I had to go to school without my cell phone), as if, because you own a car, you must be in it driving somewhere 24/7, non-stop, endlessly.  Or because you own a toaster you must stand there making toast every minute you are awake…

If you can make the time, it’s a good read…David

In my bathroom at home, I have posted a quotation by William Locke. Its there so I can remind myself of it every morning as I start the day:

I believe that half

the unhappiness in life

comes from people

being afraid to go

straight at things.

Find something you have been avoiding. A creditor to communicate with. A relative to make an apology to. A person at work you’ve been moaning to have a heart to heart meeting with. Then do it. Go straight at it! Jump into the deep river like Butch and Sundance, without a huge amount of worrying ahead of time. After you’ve felt the joy that comes with action, vow to go straight at something else tomorrow. Soon you’ll come to enjoy and respect the life you are inventing.

When writing the book, “Software and Vendors and Requirements, Oh My!” (http://www.lupinepartners.com/books.html), I interviewed a dozen or so software sales professionals.

I thought you might find their thoughts on references interesting. I agree with some of their comments but not all. More quotes in later blogs…David

On evaluating the vendor…

“References can be very deceiving. In the product areas that I work in, people are currently using six different versions of our product. So when you talk to a customer and that customer says, ‘Oh we hate software company X,’ well they may be on a release that is six years old and they haven’t upgraded. Or if you talk to a client that is like, ‘We love it,’ well it turns out that their accounting staff has the latest and greatest version. And so I think you have to be very careful about using references because the value is limited at best and my opinion it really doesn’t gain you very much.”

“I think a lot of our prospects fail to ask for the current product notes because current release notes will tell you what enhancements have been fixed, what workarounds are there, and what currently doesn’t work in that release of the product. Everybody knows it exists, everybody does. If you own software today, you know it is out there. But what they want to see if this future product that we keep striving to hit, and we never hit it.”

“If I was buying software from our company I would tell my sales rep, ‘I am going to make the decision on your currently released product and I want to get as many report books, manuals and release notes as possible. I don’t care about your future releases because hopefully you are going to be moving in the same direction as me, but I need to find a product that I can implement today.’”

“Be very careful about asking for references. And also be very careful about asking the users of the software how it works. I’ve had mixed results with this. A lot of times as a salesperson you never really know what a customer is going to give you as a reference. So in our market—this may not be true in all industries—my experience is that everyone pretty much knows everyone else. There are exclusive and very private companies that don’t share and don’t associate with association meetings but in general, we all know our competitors.”

“You are very much buying a relationship with the vendor. You are very much buying a relationship with the software company. The software could be great, but also evaluate the software company for who we are, the kind of people we send out, the way we talk to you and treat you on the telephone, both pre-sales and post-sales. And that should be a part of the questioning when you call my references. How do you feel that they value you? Is it just the dollar they value? Did they love you before the sale and after the sale you are just a number? And this does matter?”