Join your fellow independent consultants as Scott Messer of Sales Evolution discusses how independent consultants can overcome the challenges they face in selling their consulting services, on Monday, November 14, at 7:30 am, at Intelligent Office, 1150 First Avenue, Suite 501, King of Prussia, PA 19406.

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming.

Participants in this program will learn strategies for overcoming these common sales challenges:

• Determining if the customer qualifies for you and not the reverse
• Getting out of your own way to close more deals
• Discovering the outcome customers seek, their dream, and selling it back to them.
• Maintaining control of the sales process

About Scott Messer and Sales Evolution

Scott Messer’s career as a business development professional and serial entrepreneur spans over 30 years. Before starting Sales Evolution, Scott held various sales, sales management, and executive positions at Union Carbide, American Chemsol Corporation, Griff Machine Products Company, Ultimate Software Group, Data Flow Information Systems, Compuware Corporation and Growth Dynamics.  He brings to Sales Evolution a blend of leadership, management, and communications skills along with a diverse background of experience from large, established companies to early stage ventures. Scott has an uncanny ability to cut through the static and get to the real issues in any buying situation. His skill and knowledge of Sales are easily transferred to those clients that need to learn a better way to elevate their sales efforts. This is why so many clients turn to him for coaching when confronted with those really tough deals that need to go forward.

Join your fellow independent consultants as Patrick Lefler of The Spruance Group outlines six powerful rules for pricing your consulting services, on Monday, October 10, at 7:30 am, at Intelligent Office, 1150 First Avenue, Suite 501, King of Prussia, PA 19406.

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming.

Some things to consider in pricing your services are:

• Do you really know the value clients obtain from your services?
• In this difficult economy, what are the best ways to adjust price in order to survive?
• Is your pricing strategy aligned to what matters most with your clients?
• If price is cut to gain market share, what are the odds that competitors will follow?

Pricing is complex, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Follow these six powerful rules for pricing excellence to find the pricing strategy that gets the most for your services.

Rule #1: Always price for value
Rule #2: Anchors aren’t just for ships
Rule #3: Never underestimate the power of FREE
Rule #4: Innovate with price
Rule #5: Let price drive value
Rule #6: Price wars are a fool’s game

Master these six rules and you’ll be well on your way to achieving pricing excellence.

About Patrick Lefler and The Spruance Group

Patrick Lefler is founder of The Spruance Group – a management consultancy that helps growing companies grow faster by providing unique value at the product level: product marketing, product pricing, and product evolution.

Mr. Lefler’s leadership expertise comes from leading outstanding men and women while serving as a officer and pilot in the United States Marine Corps. His critical thinking and analytic reasoning skills come from my experience as a bond trader for Goldman, Sachs & Co. And his sales and marketing knowledge comes from my decade-long experience with the software firm, Wall Street Systems – a Warburg Pincus portfolio company.

Mr. Lefler studied engineering at the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 1980, and has an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

The Spruance Group was founded to provide outstanding value to its clients – value that can be measured and directed towards improving the bottom line. It is committed to providing this through a distinctive style of service that is meant to be “second to none.”

Please join us for an evening of relaxing drinks & supper by the pool. Reconnect with old friends & connect with new ones.

BYOB and a swimsuit (if you are so inclined)

Sodas, hamburgers & hot dogs will be provided.

R.S.V.P. (Please!)

Dale Power 610-585-6567 or

dale@bigshoesmarketing.com

NOTE:  There will be no regular meeting this month!  We will resume our Fall program in October

Join your fellow independent consultants as Michael Gidlewski of Achievement Unlimited leads us in an interactive workshop on execution, on Monday, June 13, at 7:30 am, at Intelligent Office, 1150 First Avenue, Suite 501, King of Prussia, PA 19406.

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming.

Tired of setting goals and not achieving them?  Learn insider secrets on why your goals aren’t working and how you can become more effective in setting and achieving goals.  In an interactive experience, walk away with some concrete goals to focus on during the summer and through the rest of the year.

Presenting a workshop to help business owners tackle the number one critical issue described by The Conference Board in the 2010 CEO Challenge –“Excellence in Execution.”

Workshop Takeaways:

• Learn six strategies to take your business to the excellence in execution level.
• Increase your productivity by 25-40%.
• Learn 4 tactics that will almost guarantee you can accomplish far more in less time.
• Become more pro-active and reduce stress levels by practicing the ideas and concepts from the workshop.
• Gain a sense of clarity and control over your business your personal life.

Formula for Success:

1. Learn the Principles of  “Achieveology”
2. Principles of Effective Personal Productivity
3. Harness the power of the Pareto Principle
4. Eliminate Bumper Car Management
5. What are you Worth
6. Power of “Leveragation”
7. Benefits of Pro-active Management

F. Michael Gidlewski, Business Coach and Trainer

BACKGROUND

Over a 25-year career, Michael Gidlewski learned about business and the qualities that produce successful people and companies by working his way up from the ground floor.

Michael Gidlewski learned about the dynamics that enable companies to grow and prosper by developing what has become most companies’ single most valuable asset:  their employees.

He has focused on proactive behaviors and winning attitudes to produce consistent peak performers.

EXPERIENCE

Michael Gidlewski is a seasoned professional known for maximizing human potential. As president of Achievement Unlimited Inc., he is committed to singleness of purpose in helping individuals and organizations discover and harness their strengths to achieve extraordinary results.  As a success coach and professional speaker, Michael believes that it makes sound business sense to invest in the growth and development of a company’s human capital, their greatest resource.

He helps clients create an organization of winners by increasing personal productivity, improving leadership effectiveness and developing winning attitudes. Michael’s high energy personality and positive attitude captivate and inspire audiences.

Building Cultures for Sustainability

Join your fellow independent consultants on Monday, April 11, at 7:30 am, at Intelligent Office, 1150 First Avenue, Suite 501, King of Prussia, PA 19406.

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming.

You know the importance of communication and collaboration while solving a problem. But don’t forget to innovate!

Consultants consistently encounter change – the able consultant affects continuous innovation while coping with change, while the lesser consultant tries to minimize the pain of change. Do you encourage your clients to maximize their experiences and understanding of the pain, while leveraging it into an innovative value? Striving for new impact engages all of the client’s stakeholders, creating the art of sustainable performance.

Learn how to use change creatively as a catalyst for innovation. Innovation equals sustainable results!

About Jane Hartman Frankel

Jane Hartman Frankel combines internal and external business focuses to help organizations and their leaders leverage 21st century challenges into performance and growth cultures. She has worked in the technology arena for 20 years, developing organizations for outstanding performance using a collaborative approach to partnering and organizational alignment. Her unique approach to building organizations for growth places primary importance on internal and external customer relationships and capabilities as they directly relate to scorecarding for business results. She has developed and managed several alliances between large and small companies resulting in new business models and significant revenue generation.

Jane founded The Art of Performance LLC in 2007 to help organizations build the entrepreneurial spirit and collaborative capability that fosters innovation and growth. As an advocate of lifelong learning, she holds Master’s degrees in Education (Temple University) and in Organizational Dynamics (University of PA) and is an Adjunct Professor of Business Communications, Entrepreneurship, and International Organizational Behavior at area universities. She once taught math for the School District of Philadelphia.

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming.

Join us for a robust panel discussion of recently released books that have the potential to shift our thinking and change our operational paradigms. The main books being discussed are:

Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Linchpin by Seth Godin

Get Naked by Patrick Lencioni

Panelists:

Oliver Picher, President, Visible Influence
Glenn Sherk, Owner, The Leadership Group
Ed Callahan, Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) Business Coach

A reading list of highly recommended books will be the hand-out

Join your fellow independent consultants on Monday, February 14, at 7:30 am, at Intelligent Office, 1150 First Avenue, Suite 501, King of Prussia, PA 19406.

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming.

Companies spend thousands of dollars getting their corporate messaging right. Their websites and materials look good but then it sometimes falls apart when they start a conversation. Eyes glaze, boredom follows.

Independent Consultants frequently discount this important aspect of their business. When they do, they are sometimes left wondering what it was they said that turned a good potential prospect into thin air.

There are simple steps to crafting a message about you and your business that can provide the tipping point for getting work that has meaning and creates clients for life.

This interactive presentation will give concrete examples and practice exercises for developing messages that paint visual pictures that attract, deepen, and engage others in memorable conversations that lead to the best work and  referrals.

About Dale Power

Dale Power is the creative engine behind Big Shoes, a leading Philadelphia marketing consultancy:

• Entrepreneur
• Strategist
• Author
• Humorist
• Partner
• Speaker

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming.

Start the year off on the right foot by attending the Mid-Atlantic Consultants Network (MACN) panel discussion of the financial and tax questions faced by solopreneurs and independent consultants. Our panel of experts will help you make a fresh start with the financial aspects of your independent consulting practice, including tax and business operations. Melissa Hawes, Ira Feldman and Ben Goldberg all have extensive experience in helping small business owners to ease the burden of keeping good financial records. Come to hear ideas and options that you may not have thought of before.

When you’re a solo-preneur, cash is king. The panel will give you some tips on how to maximize your cash and other financial resources. Some of the questions that the panel will address are:

• How do I know if my office counts as a home office?
• Is your business growing and you’re not sure what your next move should be?
• Is your accounts receivable under control?
• Have you received an email from the IRS?
• What special steps do I need to take about my taxes if I have an LLC?
• How do I track my expenses?
• If I hire a contractor, what do I need to do?
• I don’t have my expenses together to complete my 2010 taxes. What do I have to do now?
• What is my tax liability as a solo-preneur?
• Do I need an accountant?
• What’s the mileage rate for the mileage deduction for 2010 and 2011?

Melissa Hawes
Shortly after her son Miles was born, Melissa Hawes, CPA, founded Miles Financial Management. With over 20 years working in public and private-industry accounting as well as running her own accounting practice since 2003, her expertise is in taxation, financial analysis, accounting operations, growth policies, procedures, project management and government compliance. She has also served on the IRS Information Reporting Program Advisory Committee in Washington D.C.

Melissa is certified in Pennsylvania and New York and accredited as a QuickBooks Pro Advisor. She stays up-to-date on the accounting profession, as well as connected to her peers and local businesses, with memberships in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and CPA Connect, an affiliate of CPA International, the Exton Chamber of Commerce and Business Network International.

As a mother, Melissa supports other women with families and fosters connections with them through the eWomen Network. She tackles the onslaught of tax season by hiring highly-competent female accountants to perform tax services on schedules that provide work-life balance.

Ira Feldman
Ira Feldman is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of Bush Tecosky Goodman Feldman LLC. He has been with the firm for 20 years; has 24 years of Public Accounting experience and 4 years experience as an auditor for the Internal Revenue Service. His areas of concentration are in Taxation, Business Valuations, Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions and general business consulting, and Family Financial Planning.

Mr. Feldman has prepared numerous business valuations since 1992, which include valuations for Estate and Gift Tax, Mergers and Acquisitions, Dissenting Shareholder Actions, Lost Revenue, and ESOP Transactions.

Mr. Feldman earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1984 from Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science with a dual major in Accounting and Finance and a minor concentration in Economics. In 1987 he received his Masters of Science in Taxation from Widener University. Mr. Feldman received his designation as a Certified Valuation Analyst from the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts (NACVA) in 2000.

Mr. Feldman is also an adjunct professor at the University of Phoenix.

Ben Goldberg
Ben is the founder of BSG Advisors, a consulting firm with a practice focused on providing financial and operating management expertise to emerging growth and middle market companies, particularly in the technology, life sciences, cleantech, and advanced manufacturing industries. He serves these clients as an interim or part-time CFO and/or COO, or on a project or transaction, such as an acquisition, divestiture or licensing transaction, due diligence, strategic and operational planning and budgeting, business plan and investor presentation development, cash flow management, turnaround and crisis management, financing, or systems selection and implementation. He also performs due diligence for early stage investors and assists them in transactions.

Prior to founding BSG Advisors, Ben served as CFO of a $20 million manufacturer of packaging materials and a $25 million manufacturer of bar code scanning equipment. As CFO of the bar code scanning manufacturer, he served as a key member of a team that prepared the registration statement and prospectus for the company’s initial public offering effort. His experience includes both high growth situations and successful turnarounds. Earlier in his career, he worked for several Fortune 100 companies in positions in Engineering, Operations, and Financial Management. He also taught in the Graduate Business School at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Ben received his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University and his Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Delaware. He is active in a number of civic and charitable organizations and is a member of the Greater Philadelphia Senior Executives Group, BioStrategy Partners, Regional Biotech Council, MidAtlantic Angel Group, and Financial Executive Networking Group. He is a member of the board of directors or advisory board of several early stage companies. He has served as a judge of numerous business plan competitions including the Fox School Business Plan Competition, Mid-Atlantic Diamond Ventures and the Angel Venture Fair.

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming.

As consultants, we ultimately seek to earn “trusted advisor” status with our prospective and existing clients. Clients, however, are overwhelmed with options. There is little barrier to entry into our profession. So, it’s no wonder that many claim expertise and skill in addressing a broad range of business issues. In a crowded market, few consultants can differentiate themselves and their unique promise of value. Discovering and marketing one’s talents remains a challenge for most trying to focus their services on “what they are good at” –their “special sauce”. Few gain a certainty of what really matters most to those organizations that need their “special sauce”.

Typically, consultants have 10-12 seconds to capture the interest of their prospects before communicating their value proposition. Instead, they engage in a conventional elevator speech that rambles on, alienating the listener, offering no understanding of the consultant’s true value. Their pitches sound “Blah, Blah, Blah.” They don’t stand out. The bottom-line is they aren’t getting serious consideration in proportion to their efforts. They fail to showcase their “authentic self”.

This session explores steps consultants can take to reverse this trend, using pragmatic techniques to advance the client development process – that can be implemented rapidly. Participants will learn…

• How to discover your talents
• How to communicate your personal brand succinctly; and
• How to stand-out authentically and advance relationships toward that “trusted advisor” status.

This meeting will be held on December 13, at 7:30 am, at Intelligent Office, 1150 First Avenue, Suite 501, King of Prussia, PA 19406.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Charles Timmins
Founding Principal/ Chief Innovation Officer
PMA, LLC
CJT@SixFigureCareerMastery.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlestimmins

A Certified Personal Branding Career Strategist, Charley helps consulting professionals “stand out authentically” to influence decision makers to offer them consulting opportunities that make significant contributions that really matters.

Charley works with talented consultants to help them discover their authentic self (aka personal brand) in order to find great clients…retaining him to uncover opportunities that are the “right fit” for them within “right fit” organizations working with “right fit” decision makers.

Clients and business colleagues refer to him as the “go-to-guy” that consultants must seek out when their “Plan A” isn’t working. His clients report earning more…working less…and having more fun.

The challenges of looking for meaningful client relationships in today’s hyper-competitive market are formidable. Decades-old business development techniques often fall short. Charley possesses over 23 years experience of working directly with successful solopreneurs, studying their business development habits, learning what works/ what doesn’t and then crafting creative approaches to secure hard-to-find engagements.

His King of Prussia-based firm, PMA, LLC, espouses innovative, “out of the box” techniques to create more effective marketing methods – based upon the consultant’s distinctive brand. As a certified Personal Brand strategist, his clients go to market with tailored “personal marketing” strategies that leverage their uniqueness, so they get “right fit” interviews for “right fit” engagements so they add to their professional preeminence.

• You hate the idea of selling your services
• You are not sure what is holding you back
• You don’t want to sound like a salesperson all the time
• You don’t have a process for building your pipeline
• You are suffering because of the economy
• You wonder why some seem to sell so effortlessly
• People who should hire you …don’t

…Then this workshop is for you. Dan Caramanico, author of the book The Optimal Salesperson, has been acclaimed by CEOs and consultants around the country. His book was rated one of the ten sales books you must read in 2010 by SellingPower Magazine.

You’ll learn about the effect that hidden strengths and weaknesses have on your sales and profits. You’ll hear real world case histories that will shed light on lost opportunities, slipping margins, resistance to prospecting and slumping sales. You’ll learn the truth about so-called top producers and why they produce in any economy. But this is a true workshop so you’ll discover an effective sales process you can use the minute you leave the meeting. In just one short hour, you’ll learn more about growing your practice than in an entire lifetime of consulting!

This meeting will be held on November 8, at 7:30 am, at Intelligent Office, 1150 First Avenue, Suite 501, King of Prussia, PA 19406.