Million Dollar Consulting: The Professional’s Guide to Growing a Practice by Alan Weiss (PDF)

Description

The Long-Awaited Update for Buildinga Thriving ConsultancyCompletely updated for today’s busier-than-ever consultants, this classic guide covers the ins andouts for competing and winning in this ultracompetitive field. You’ll find step-by-step advice on howto raise capital, attract clients, create a marketing plan, and grow your business into a $1 million-per-yearfirm, plus brand-new material on:Blogging and social networkingGlobal consultingDelegating laborProfiting in a troubled marketRetainer businessInternet marketingPraise for the previous editions of Million Dollar Consulting:“If you’re interested in becoming a rich consultant, this book is a must read.”Robert F. Mager, founder and president, Mager Associates, and member of the Training & Development Hall of Fame“Blast out of the per diem trap and into value billing.”Jim Kennedy, founder, publisher, and editor, Consultants News“The advice on developing price structure alone is worth a hundred times the price of the book.”William C. Byham, Ph.D., author of Zapp!“Must reading for those who are beginning a practice orseeking to upgrade an existing practice.”Victor H. Vroom, John G. Searle Professor, School of Management, Yale University

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author Alan Weiss, Ph.D., is the founder and president of Summit Consulting Group, Inc., a global firmspecializing in management and organizational development. Known as “The Rock Star of Consulting,”he has written 32 books that have been translated into 9 languages, and is the onlynonjournalist in the 60-year history of the American Press Institute to be awarded its LifetimeAchievement Award. He is a member of the Professional Speakers Association Hall of Fame.Alan lives in East Greenwich, RI, with his wife, Maria.Learn more about the author at summitconsulting.com and contrarianconsulting.com

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐In his text “Million Dollar Consulting: The Professional’s Guide to Growing a Practice”, Alan Weiss concentrates on providing advice to those individuals seeking to build a small, private consulting practice. Weiss repeats this refrain on several occasions throughout his discourse here, because as he indicates, a high number of individuals have asked him to expand his training materials over the years to address the growth of the individual practice. This focus contrasts with works written by David H. Maister, such as “Managing the Professional Service Firm” and “First Among Equals: How to Manage a Group of Professionals” (see my reviews), for example, and Weiss is very explicit as to the reasons behind this focus: “Unless you have a personal objective to build a large firm, surround yourself with the accoutrements of size and mass, and build the equity in the company to the point where you own a valuable business (or a share in one), there is no intrinsic personal financial benefit in linear growth.” And “if your objectives are to earn a high income while helping clients to improve their condition – in other words, to support your family and your aspirations while engaging in constructive and valuable work – then your chances of fulfilling this goal are immeasurably greater if you are running your own small firm (small meaning just you or with a few others). You don’t have to wait years for a portion of the ownership because you already have all of it. You are not reliant on colleagues’ productivity or management’s strategic decisions, and you absolutely control how much money you keep.” While this reviewer does not agree with all of the content in this book (for example, the definition that Weiss provides for “B2B”), this book is highly recommended to anyone interested in the subject matter at hand. In addition to the refrain Weiss provides concerning the purpose of this book, the other message that the author repeats is the value of financial reward, which is not an end in itself: “Remember that money is fuel for life and that the real wealth is discretionary time.” This reviewer agrees with some of the other reviewers here in the sense that the author’s chapter entitled “Stop Thinking that Time is Money: If you’re Charging a Per Diem, You’re Still Just Practicing” is among the best in the book. Charging clients based on billable hours rather than the business value that the work creates limits the amount of earnings that one can generate each year: “Fees are based on value, not on your time, which has no intrinsic value to the client. You can always make another dollar, but you can’t make another minute.” And “if you agree that discretionary time is real wealth, then you can easily see that simply maximizing income, despite personal and family sacrifices, can actually decrease your wealth. Be careful about that.” The chapter entitled “Beyond Success”, among the other favorites of this reviewer, provides answers by the authors on the following questions: “Should you charge the highest fees you can get away with?”, “Should you travel first class and bill the client?”, “Should you borrow others’ ideas and present them as your own?”, “Should you bill more than one client for the same basic expenses?”, “Should you pass on to the client confidential information given you in the course of your assignment?”, “Should you use tickets supplied by your client to bring your spouse along?”, “Should you accept an assignment from a client’s competitor?”, “Should you agree to use secret identifying codes on a confidential survey?”, “Should you continue to write for a client who passes off your work as his own?”, “Should you agree to supplant an alliance partner who introduced you to the client?”, and “Am I justified in turning down business from a firm whose practices are reprehensible to me?” The answer that Weiss provides for this last question is especially interesting. Of the guidelines that he provides, the author’s first guideline is to ask whether the activity improves the client’s condition or merely one’s own. While this reviewer admires Gerald M. Weinberg (see my reviews by this author), his Third Law of Consulting sits in stark contrast with this philosophy, which states: “Never forget they’re paying you by the hour, not by the solution.” No author has all of the answers, but in the opinion of this reviewer, adding this book to one’s reading list along with works by Maister and Weinberg can be an unbeatable combination.

⭐I have been in consulting for some 15 years and have learned hard lessons by trial and error. I wished I had found this book when I made my first attempt to consulting 15 years ago. The book is packed with the best advice to really build a million dollar practice. I have started already to cut fat, my two former partners are gone, do not need them to work, do not need to share my income with them, from now on if I need help it will be on a project basis. Though there are lots of advice and wisdom in this book. I found the chapter on Value Based fees to be the best part of the book. I had come to some practical methods of determinig my pricing, I have always used ROI to sell my projects, but I have not used the ROI to come up with a decent pricing, always have been able to give a 10-1 ratio from every dollar I have received or more, but now are staring to see the benefits of selling big tag projects to CEO’s directly, without the need to put hourly-or -per diem fees.I recommend to all to read throughly the parts on answering objections. Those are great advice and will be very useful to change the minds of CEO’s and avoid being down priced by the peanut counters that all finance dept. have.This book and a great book on negotiation from Herb Cohen – You can negotiate anything! will be a good match to get you moving specially if you are new in this business. Another and very important book for start ups is: The Four Steps to the epiphany by Steve Blank. I wished I had read it first before doing anything, basically what Blank tells you in the book is test your product/service idea first with real prospects in a real market. Find out if your product is really great and determine the minimum requirements to get to market successfully, do some iterations and test your business model and make sure there are customers ready to buy your product, and do your work before launch, this will help you avoid going to increase the stats of the failure start ups. This quote is great: most of start ups do not fail due to technology, they fail because lack of customers, I can tell you this is absolutely true. Forget the social networks, for consultants you need to meet real people and decision makers who have problems that you can solve, in the social networks what you will find is lots of people looking for free advice, consulting is not a charity. Unless you want to consult pro-bono for some real and good cause which is OK, but first make money..then else. Thanks

⭐This is not a bad book but I have heard all of it before. The part on the process has remarkable resemblance to the work of Schein and Druker, the part on marketing gravity is basically the same stuff that I have read on the much better book by CJ Hayden Get Clients Now (I am not aware who was published first, but CJ Hayden has a more approachable and effective style and approach). The part on sales and objections is basically a summary of what you can easily find on old style sales book (circa 1979/1980). Basically this is a condensed version of bits and pieces that you can find elsewhere, all in one book. Anything groundbreaking? No.Interesting the chapter on Value Based fees even if the tone of the author is very narrow minded as he deems professionals like lawyers and accountants as morons because they do not adopt this billing method (clearly AW is not aware that in some countries these highly regulated professions cannot charge extortionate rates as local legislation imposes cap that if not respected would lead to the professional being struck out). I found the part on office equipment redundant and patronising (as well as totally out of touch with reality as when the latest edition came out people were not using faxes or PDAs anymore as it was very old technology). It is an OK starting point but – unlike the author is trying to say – his view is not gospel.What i found really off-putting is the bragging non-stop attitude and parvenue style (he keeps on talking about his expensive cars and in all honesty, who cares??). I find AW style arrogant, obnoxious and he gives me the idea of someone that has to scream his self perceived grandiosity to the world in an attempt to convince people of his credentials. I pass on AW’s books. IMO they are just a reshuffle of a couple of ideas that have lost traction in 1980. There is a massive difference between confidence and cockiness: AW comes across as cocky – very off putting.If you want a modern approach that works and are not interested in bragging non stop I suggest to read Brand Against The Machine instead. It is not aimed specifically at consultants, but the framework is applicable to consultants as well. Unlike AW’s book, it is modern, clear and not written by an inflated bragger. Other much superior books aimed specifically at consultants/professional services are Marketing the Professional Services Firm: Applying the Principles and the Science of Marketing to the Professions by Laurie Young and Rain Making: Attract New Clients No Matter What Your Field.

⭐Solid overview on all aspects of being successful consulting. Long book best read while making key notes which can apply to your situation

⭐I loved this book – gave me a list of new ideas and approaches. I’m not a consultant but will use many of the ideas for different ventures I’m involved with.

⭐Very good, as I have found Alan’s other books I’ve read. I would recommend it to anyone who is thinking of starting, or has recently started in consulting.

⭐I LOVE this book. It has given me such confidence and clarity when starting my biz. It is the perfect counter to all those doubtful voices you hear when you start out. It is also full of extremely practical advice. I am so pleased to have read it at the start of my biz as it’s already helped me sidestep some traps.

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