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.

We hear about social marketing tools like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. We have also learned that these can take up a lot of our valuable time. What is the right course for a consultant to consider moving forward with social media? It is not a black box; it is also not about having the latest shiny object. We will look at the importance of an overall social media strategy – things to consider when formulating a social media strategy, what should you consider first before taking up a lot of your valuable time. That being said, there is a place for these social marketing tools and we need to know how to embrace them. Bring your questions – if you have a specific question please submit it ahead of time to Rick@DinkumInteractive.com.

Rick Simmons is a principal at Dinkum Interactive.  With over 30 years of experience in advertising and marketing, and over 10 years working with the Internet, Rick brings an ideal combination of talents to the technology firm.  For the past 8 years, he has incorporated his marketing expertise with his Internet knowledge through his work with Search Engine Optimization and many other Internet Marketing strategies.  As a result of dozens of speaking engagements all over the East Coast, Rick has been touted as one of the best speakers for deciphering the Internet, Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing for all levels of listeners.

Monday, May 10th at 724 West Lancaster Avenue, Wayne, PA. 7:30am to 9:00am. The cost is free. For information and directions, please visit the MACN website at www.maconsultants.com.

The Mid-Atlantic Consultants Network (MACN) is an open association of independent consultants in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. We meet regularly to learn how to grow our consulting practices, improve our skills as consultants, and strive to serve our clients more effectively.

Yet, times also appear ripe for the creation of a tsunami of new consultants and solopreneurs, all competing for lucrative client contracts. In a sea awash with apparent sameness, how will we – as established consultants – standout?

Creating demand for our services is our job as consultants. So, how prepared are we to leverage the Internet as a key marketing channel to establish our credibility and preeminence?

About Charles “Charley” Timmins
Charley assists consultants, professionals and executives to Find Great Work …assignments that are the “right fit” with the “right clientele”.

He understands the challenges of selling consulting services in today’s market and how traditional marketing techniques can fall short. He’s studied the personal marketing habits of successful consultants. He complements their conventional wisdom of the business development process with proven “out-of-the-box techniques” to realize more-effective outcomes. Charley’s “personal branding” methodology improves the ROI of “marketing in the now”.

An experienced coach and consultant with 35 years experience in a cross-section of businesses, his clients and business colleagues alike refer to Charley as the “go-to-guy” that “boomer consultants” seek out when their “Plan A” isn’t working.

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Many seasoned business consultants make the comment: “My firm is on the Internet. We have a website. We spent a lot for it. It gives great detail about what we do.” Such a website may provide a digital presence, but it is hardly the well-conceived digital identity needed to position a business consultant as the “go-to” practice in their niche.

What makes us different is what makes our expertise sought after. So, what’s your brand? How can you begin to even think you can compete with those who promote a solid brand message? That’s where you need to know how to build the appropriate brand identity on blogs, social networking sites and websites. It is the branded content of the site that is important to a consultant, not its technology.

Your digital reputation is the only accepted currency on the web. You must leverage “who you are” to affect how you earn. Today, you are not considered for any engagement without the decision makers “Googling” you. It’s their job to find out as much about you as possible. Your references are “your references”…they are biased! Do you know what the Internet says about you, the consultant?

A branded on-line identity process will drive opportunities to you. For this to happen in this new environment, you first must identify your personal brand – your unique promise of value. Then, translate that distinctiveness into the digital realm. Your resulting credibility and visibility will create demand for your services.

Charles “Charley” Timmins, an experienced coach and consultant with 35 years experience in assisting consultants, professionals and executives to Find Great Work, will be speaking on Developing Your “Brand You” Digital Identity at the January 12, 2009, meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Consultants Network.