Consultancy creatures - what animal are you?

The question of how to present your business to clients is a perennial problem for consultants - do you aim for a small niche and risk being discounted for projects outside the niche - or opt for a more general approach and risk leaving the customer unsure of what exactly it is that you do?

An exercise that I've found useful in workshops is to visualise your business as an animal, preferably producing a drawing to crystallise your thoughts. People have come up with all kinds of animals and the interesting thing about this exercise is it helps you think in a more creative and personal way about your business. If you also take an objective look at the creature you come up with from a clients point of view it can lead you to changes you need to make in your approach to attract more or better clients.

I've given a few examples from past workshops on the Skillfar blog but I'm sure you'll have some new ones to add to the list!

Clients that come to Skillfair directly often have very specific requests and over the last few months we've seen a distinct increase both in direct requests and in the more obscure areas - from VAT consulancy to cement discharging problems. This week has been no different and there are plenty more opportunities on the site if you want to have a browse around.

Opportunity Independent PC Service Agent, United Kingdom
OpportunityBizTalk Trainer, East Midlands
OpportunityIT solutions company seeks non-competitive partners
Direct ClientPrint Machinery analysis, Southern England
Direct ClientEvent and Internet Event Sales
OpportunityRecruiting new Research Associates
Client Web SiteRenewable Energy Study , East Midlands
Client Web SiteProduction of a Physical Activity DVD ,Yorkshire and Humberside
Client Web SiteConsultant For Audience Research, South West
Client Web SiteIT Security Penetration Test,Overseas
Client Web SiteBusiness Continuity & Crisis Management Consultancy, London
Client Web SiteVideo Production for website, Southern England
Client Web SiteMentoring for Micro Businesses, North West England
Client Web SiteMicrosoft 2007 Training for Staff ,Europe
Client Web SiteManaged Workspace Search Consultant, North East England
Client Web SiteOnline Communications & Development, United Kingdom
Client Web SiteMarketing, PR and Design Services , Channel Isles
Client Web SiteArts/Cultural Project Management, London
Client Web SiteIT Consultancy Services, East Midlands
OJEU Healthcare Consultancy Services ,Yorkshire and Humberside
OJEUToxicity Study, Greater London
OJEUComputer Assisted Virtual Reality Platform, East Midlands
OJEUComputer Based Training (CBT) Software for School , South East
OJEULeadership and Management Development Training, East Midlands

For some of or more obscure projects it seems even the 10,000 consultants on our database can't provide exactly the right help and we have to start searching outside the database to try and help our clients. Obviously we'd rather not do that so if you have contacts who do consultancy - of any kind! - it would be great if you'd let them know about Skillfair. We're particularly interested in getting in touch with more people with technical and engineering backgrounds as these requests tend to require very specific and often hard to find expertise.

That way we have a better chance of satisfying the clients requirements, which in turn will mean they come back next time they need help and provide more opportunities for everyone.

As an extra incentive if your contacts use the links in this newsletter to register we'll know that you referred them and will add an extra month to your membership when you join.