The Beauty of Thought Leadership

Why every professional services firm must demonstrate it

by Randy Shattuck, The Shattuck Group

"This is what I'm talking about," said the CEO, waving his firm's latest advertisement in the air. "We spent over 12 grand on this ad and got not one lead out of it." He slammed the trade publication down on the table.

His very successful professional services (PS) firm had hired an award-winning ad agency to help the company go to market. Six months into the campaign, he was frustrated and called me in to assess what was going wrong.

Thought leadership??? ... Sick demos ... You in five years ... Weak spine

"Thought leadership" sounds like another fancy shmancy business phrase. Randy Shattuck knows it, so he explains what it is and why it's important to professional services in this month's feature story. 

Just because it's flu season doesn't give you the right to catch diseases that lead to stunningly awful demos. Learn about the symptoms and cures.

Famous interview question, "Where do you want to be in five years?" Mary Hanna gives you a straight answer in Don't Box Me in.

The economy blues got you down? This issue's best advice column should perk you up.

A manager struggles to find balance between nice and tough. How can he better manage his staff with a weak spine? Something else buggin' ya? Share it and let our experts and readers help. 

The nice thing about December is that things slow down for many of us. But we can't rest as we have to keep the newsletter going strong in the New Year. How can we help you meet your professional services resolutions? Your name goes into a drawing for a pair of Garmin Rino 100 MP3 GPS whenever you provide feedback. Happy holidays — Jack

Marketing — How will your firm handle marketing in 2009?

The Survey:

Professional Services Journal, in our ongoing efforts to serve our readers, is asking our audience to tell us how you plan to market your firm in 2009 and what marketing and business development topics you’d like to hear more about in the coming months.  This will help us deliver content that is on-target with your interests and professional development.

Time Commitment:

It will take about 10 minutes to fill out this mostly multiple-choice, confidential survey. 

What You Get:

Everyone who completes the survey will receive an Executive Summary of the findings at no charge.  All participants will also be entered into a drawing to win one of two iPods.

Stunningly Awful Demos

Beware of debilitating demo diseases

by Peter E. Cohan, Principal, The Second Derivative

How can you prevent a stunningly awful demo? Watch out for debilitating demo diseases. Here is a compendium of the ones that commonly afflict sales, presales and marketing teams when preparing for and presenting demos. For each disorder, you’ll find the major symptoms, one or more examples to aid in diagnosis, and steps to a cure for each.

Don't Box Me in

"Where do you want to be in five years?"

by Mary Hanna (introduction by Meryl Evans)

I remember in my first job interview after college, the interviewer asked, "Where do you want to be in five years?" Since then, I never liked the question. It's not that I don't plan or lack direction. Five years is not as short as it sounds. A lot can happen in one or two years. I set my goals based on my current needs and work toward them, which helps me reach my high-level goals.