Presentations

As Bethany wrote, all of our business to date has come from colleagues and friends. We know that this will not always be the case .. so we are exploring ways to market our services. What we have learned is that marketing a business is not a simple thing. A firm may have excellent experience and exceptional talent, but getting business requires a special expertise that isn't always innate or even learned as one gains other job experience. It seems to me that the cardinal rule is to articulate the value that you can bring to the prospective client .. e.g., what can we do for you that you can't do for yourself. OR, what can we do for you that is different or better than others in our field. I was reminded of the importance of focusing on the client's needs last week when I participated in a meeting to select a consultant. The consultant started his talk with "let me tell you about my company. No, let me tell you about me." His tale of "me" went on for 30 minutes, during which he name-dropped excessively. In the next 30 minutes, he went through a canned presentation of the general process ALL consultants use in performing this service. NOT ONCE, did he relate either his experience or the process steps to our project. I filed this experience in the "what not to do" folder.