Details
The Ultimate Consultant--the first book in a series written for experienced practitioners--is filled with helpful interviews and vignettes from an array of successful consultants from around the world, and offers the templates, examples, information, and tools you need to transform your business.
This essential, hands-on resource includes:
* Forty tips that can increase your fees--tomorrow
* Ten tested techniques for springboarding to potential clients
* Information on how you can make money while you sleep with newsletters, audio and video, commercial and self-publishing
* Ten-criteria to test peer-level collaborators
* The simplest, most effective time management tool ever
* 50 techniques to enhance life balance
With this indispensable resource as your guide you can learn how to become an ultimate consultant and take your business to new heights!
Introduction.
Acknowledgments.
Chapter 1. Acquiring Fortune 1000 Clients: Why Size Doesn't Matter.
Establishing Relationships with Major Buyers: Rainmaking.
Ten Techniques to Build High-Level Buyer Relationships: Making Rain.
Why Size Doesn't Matter.
Using the Springboard to Other Potential Clients.
Ten Techniques for Springboard Marketing.
The Ultimate Rules.
Chapter 2. Value-Based Fees: If You're Charging by the Hour or Day, You're an Amateur.
The Concept of Value-Based Fees.
The Key to High Fees Is Not to Mention Fees.
Thirty-Eight Ways to Increase Your Fees, Beginning Tomorrow.
The Ultimate Rules.
Chapter 3. Marketing and Publicity: Creating Gravitational Pull.
Creating a Strong Gravitational Field.
Pro Bono Work.
Commercial Publishing.
Position Papers.
Radio and Television Interviews.
Advertising and Passive Listings.
Speaking Engagements.
Websites and Electronic Newsletters.
Word of Mouth, Referrals, and Third-Party Endorsements.
Trade Association Leadership.
Classroom Teaching.
Alliances and Networking.
The Ultimate Rules.
Chapter 4. Branding and Celebrity: A Brand in the Hand Beats Feet on the Street.
What Is a Brand and Why Do It?
How Do You Attain a Brand Without Pulling a Muscle?
The Fine Art of Contrarianism.
Capitalizing on Your Brand.
Testing and Protecting Your Brand.
Obtaining Celebrity Status.
Ten Ways to Promote Celebrity.
The Ultimate Rules.
Chapter 5. Passive Income: Making Money While You Sleep.
Commercial Publishing.
Self-Publishing.
Audio and Video.
Newsletters.
Offsite Advice.
Transitioning to Softer Landings.
The Ultimate Rules.
Chapter 6. Joint Ventures: When 1 + 1 = 64.
Forming Partnerships with Colleagues.
Forming Alliances with Larger Entities.
And Now a Word from Our Sponsor.
The Blight of Brokers.
The Ultimate Rules.
Chapter 7. International Business: The Peripatetic Consultant.
Ten Reasons Why You Should Get Out of Town.
Approaching and Exploiting U.S. Multi-Nationals.
Working with Foreign-Based Firms.
Overseas Alliances.
Ten Ways to Establish an International Presence.
Protecting Yourself as an Internationalist.
The Ultimate Rules.
Chapter 8 Managing Time: Or How to Be at the Pool by Two in the Afternoon.
Avoiding Scope Creep.
Minimizing Labor-Intensive Requirements.
Utilizing Client Resources.
Managing Concurrent Projects.
Ten Techniques to Always Squeeze in More Business.
The Simplest, Most Effective Time Management Tool Ever Created.
Tips for the Truly Time-Challenged.
The Ultimate Rules.
Chapter 9. Working with Family-Owned and Smaller Businesses: What to Do When You're Competing with the Mortgage Payments.
The Large and the Small of the Small Business Market.
Competing with the Rent Money.
Managing the Owner's Emotions and Expectations.
Special Section: Accepting Equity for Your Services.
Ten Ways to Avoid the Perils of Consulting with Smaller Businesses.
The Ultimate Rules.
Chapter 10. Avoiding the Success Traps: Creating New Approaches and Taking Prudent Risks.
Signs of the Success Trap.
Using New Technologies.
Creating Proprietary Models and Techniques.
The Consultant as Entrepreneur.
Things to Come.
The Ultimate Rules.
Chapter 11. Life Balance: The Ultimate Outlook.
Working Less and Living More.
The Future of the Business.
Ultimate Rewards.
The Ultimate Rules.
Appendix A: Questions to Ask for Objectives, Measures, and Value.
Appendix B: Components of a Sample Book Treatment.
Appendix C: Sources for Media and Advertising "Experts".
Index.
ALAN WEISS consultant, speaker, and author-is the founder and CEO of Summit Consulting Group, Inc. His clients have included Merck, Hewlett-Packard, State Street Corp., Fleet Bank, Coldwell Banker, and Merrill Lynch. He is adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Rhode Island where he teaches a course on advanced consulting skills.
