Top Five Most Read Articles of 2007

Today I was sent an e-mail by the editor at Rain Today about their recent "Best Articles of 2007" special issue. Turns out their fifth most popular article on business development for management consultants was written by us at Beyond Referrals and deals with selling when you're too busy to sell (sound familiar?). It was the fifth most read out of about 250 articles they posted last year.

If you care to read it you can find it at Top Five Articles Issue.

"Everywhere Used To Be Like Alberta"

I am fortunate enough to speak to many consultants in varied practices across North America and what I began hearing as a whisper late in 2007 is now being discussed openly. Things are slowing down. Consultants are still working but the notion of actively seeking new engagements is now at the forefront, instead of the background.

As recently as early in 2007 everywhere I looked in North America, the consulting field was "just like Alberta" - Canada's larger than life, "boomingest" province. Busy, and no worries.

But in 2008, even before this week's stock market crash, and surprising semi-recovery, the consulting industry is starting to look a lot more modest. In case you were just thinking it, I can tell you that others are saying it.

So if you were "selling consulting while you were busy consulting" things will be fine. If you ignored your pipeline for the last few years you better get cracking.

Offshoring Professional Services

Local lawyer Harold Buchwald wrote an interesting article today for the Winnipeg Free Press on the use of lower cost offshore lawyers, by North American firms. You can read the article by clicking here.

RFP's And Professional Services: A Massive Procurement Failure

The above was the original title of the article written by us for CA Magazine which currently appears in their first issue of 2008. The kindler, gentler souls at CA Magazine retitled it "A Decent Proposal" but if you've ever wondered about the real costs, or effectiveness of the RFP process as applied to professional services firms, this is the article for you. Feel free to forward the link to your favourite purchasing deaprtment. And hats off to PMAC who have invited us to present the article at the Purchasing Management Association of Canada (PMAC) national conference in Newfoundland on Thursday May 22, 2008. I'm sure it will generate some long overdue discussion. Again congrats to them for opening the floor to this type of presentation.

http://www.camagazine.com/4/1/8/5/3/index1.shtml