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Changes

By on September 3, 2012 in The Guerrilla Consultant

Countless times, I’ve advised clients to simplify and focus. Now, I’m taking my own advice.

You may already know that I publish two monthly newsletters, Management Consulting News (since 2002) and The Guerrilla Consultant (since 2004), in addition to this blog. Now, I am merging my newsletters into one, using The Guerrilla Consultant title, closing this blog, and starting a new one at www.GuerrillaConsulting.com.

I hope you’ll head over there, take a look, subscribe to my newsletter, grab the RSS feed, or both.

If you’re a subscriber to the Management Consulting News newsletter, and you want to keep receiving my newsletter, please subscribe (and confirm your subscription) to The Guerrilla Consultant by following the link below. If you’re already a subscriber to The Guerrilla Consultant, you don’t need to do anything.

There’s no cost to subscribe. You can learn more about what to expect in The Guerrilla Consultant and subscribe by following the link below.


I hope you’ll stay with me as I simplify and bring more focus to my publications. I’m excited at the prospect of bringing you more ideas and information to help you succeed in this crazy business.

Thanks for your support.

Michael McLaughlin

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Checking the Foundation

By on January 10, 2012 in Managing Your Business, The Guerrilla Consultant

If you’ve ever bought or sold a house, you know that, as part of the deal, a home inspection will have to be done so buyers know what they’re getting into.

The inspector assesses the foundation of the house, the walls, floors, plumbing, and so on. Then, you get a report on ways to shore up the place.

As you kick off the New Year, take some time for a structural inspection of your business. In many cases, you’ll find that the key to better performance is in making small changes to how you do business, not in implementing some grand new strategy.

To find those opportunities, turn your attention to three parts of your business: your intellectual property (or content), your marketing approach, and your service offer.

Read the rest of the article in this month’s issue of The Guerrilla Consultant.

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Breaking Down Relationship Barriers

By on April 11, 2011 in Business Life, The Guerrilla Consultant

michael mclaughlinNot long ago, I talked with a frustrated colleague. He’d been working with a new client for weeks, and everything was going well. But he was having no success meeting others in the client’s organization, even though he was sure he could help in more areas.

I knew exactly how he felt. I’ve been there more than once. Usually, we hit the relationship wall for one of two reasons: either the client intentionally blocks our attempts to branch out, or the client doesn’t know or fully understand what else we can do to help.

Read more…

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5 Sales Challenges You’ll Face (and What to Do about Them)

By on November 10, 2010 in Selling, The Guerrilla Consultant

Once you identify a sales lead, qualify it, and agree to pull together a proposal, you still face many challenges as you navigate the sales process. In a recent interview for her blog, sales strategist Jill Konrath and I talked about some of those challenges.

I thought I’d elaborate on five of the challenges in my latest newsletter. In short, those five challenges are:

  1. Manage Perceived Risk
  2. Respond to New Decision Makers
  3. Craft a Compelling Win Theme
  4. Understand How Clients Use a Sales Proposal
  5. Don’t Shoot Yourself in the Foot

If you want the full story, click over and read the article in this month’s issue of The Guerrilla Consultant.

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Just Say No to RFPs

By on October 11, 2010 in Client Relationships, Managing Your Business, Selling, The Guerrilla Consultant

Recently, I asked some consultants if any of them had found responding to RFPs a productive way to land client work. As I expected, no one raised a hand. When I ask clients if they think RFPs are effective, I get a similar response. If clients and consultants agree that RFPs don’t really work, why are we still using them?

Well, I don’t think we should be, and that’s the subject of this month’s issue of The Guerrilla Consultant.

Read the article.

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Your Perceptions about Clients May Be Wrong

By on August 12, 2010 in Client Relationships, Managing Projects, The Guerrilla Consultant

In working with clients, our actions and decisions are often based on our perceptions about the meaning behind the behavior of others. Because that meaning can be so hard to decipher, you might underestimate or discount the importance of understanding what clients are thinking and why.

Of course, you always have to offer clients a fact-based case for action. But, in doing so, the ability to accurately read the people around you will help you influence change, communicate more effectively, and save you time and trouble.

In this month’s issue of The Guerrilla Consultant, I suggest some ways you can test your perceptions about what is really going on in clients’ heads.

Read this month’s issue.

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Nudging Clients toward Commitment

By on July 22, 2010 in Client Relationships, Selling, The Guerrilla Consultant

We’ve all been involved with sales opportunities that seemed to take forever to close. In spite of our best efforts to move the process along, someone or something conspires against the sale, and it drags on.

While many of the tactics you might use to “speed up the client’s buying cycle” could lead to a win, they could also work against your long-term interests. That’s the subject of this month’s article in The Guerrilla Consultant newsletter. Read the article.

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Why Not You?

By on June 16, 2010 in The Guerrilla Consultant

It’s tough to find any professional who can’t answer the typical client question, “Why you?”

In response, most offer a glowing self-testimonial with a laundry list of relevant qualifications, an accomplished track record, and a string of ardent references.

In this month’s issue of The Guerrilla Consultant, I suggest that you turn that ordinary question around and ask yourself, “Why not you?” Your answers can unlock opportunities for improving your practice that you might otherwise overlook.

Read this month’s issue.

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Experience Required

By on May 11, 2010 in The Guerrilla Consultant

Remember the last time you had a really good experience with someone you did business with? Chances are, you told someone else about it and that you would do business with that person or company again.

Many businesses have figured out how to enrich the customer’s experience. And consultants, who are always searching for new ways to differentiate themselves, should wake up to another way to do that: the client experience.

And that’s the subject of this month’s issue of The Guerrilla Consultant newsletter.

Enjoy the article, and let me know what you think.

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What You Want Your Client to Know

By on February 8, 2010 in Consulting Process, Managing Projects, The Guerrilla Consultant

It’s exhilarating to learn that you’ve won a new project. But that moment is often followed by the sobering realization that you now have to make good on your promises. Or, as one consultant put it, “The good news is that we won the project. The bad news is that we have to do the project.”

In last month’s issue of my newsletter, The Guerrilla Consultant, I wrote an open letter from a client to a consultant that expressed what most clients want to say at the outset of a new project. I got quite a few suggestions to write about the flip side of that–what a newly-hired consultant would have to say to the client.

My take on that second letter is the subject of this month’s issue of The Guerrilla Consultant.

Enjoy the article.

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