INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS
New England Chapter

News and Views

In this issue:

Tip of the Month

Roundtables

Member News

Member's
Words of Wisdom

IMCNE Member Profile
Shelley Hall

Upcoming Events

News from the Board

Strategic Partner Events

Tip of the Month

Low Tech but the Price is Right…

Sometimes on the weekend trips, we don’t have email access. Going to a Starbucks or Panera is a solution but sometimes, I get tired of packing up, driving to a coffee shop and drinking more coffee than I need. That’s why I bought into BAMnet (www.bamnet.com). They are an old-fashioned telephone internet service. It is slow but the cost is just one cent per minute. The minimum charge is $20.00. If you just want to check your emails on an occasional trip, it is a lot cheaper than many of the high speed wireless accounts.

Mary Adams, CMC
Trek Consulting LLC
www.trekconsulting.com

Roundtables

Roundtable Survey

Regus, a new IMC/IMCNE sponsor, has offered IMCNE complimentary access to conference room facilities around the Boston area for hosting our Consultant Roundtable programming. This is a great resource as it provides first class accommodations in a variety of locations. However, it will require that we schedule our Roundtables in advance both by date and location.

Since there are multiple scheduling options and locations available to us, we thought the best way to design the schedule would be to consult our community—including you! Please have your voice heard by taking this three-minute survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com

Next Event Featuring You?

Have you read a good business book lately? Do you have a question that you would love to ask a group of consultants? Are you one of our New England members that is tired of all our meetings being held in Boston? Do you have a challenge that you are facing and would like to get feedback? Do you have a case study that would fuel a good discussion? THEN USE THIS RESOURCE! 

It takes about three minutes to fill out a Roundtable Proposal. You give us a title and description; we’ll publicize it and handle registrations. This program helps our members Get Smart, Get Known, Get Business. What are you waiting for? Download the form today from our Programs page (http://www.imcne.org/programs.htm)

We have a good group of members that are going to pursue their CMC this spring. It’s not too late to join and take your career to the next level. For more information contact Glenn Bachman, CMC 401-635-0050 or Mary Adams, CMC or 781-729-9650

Member News

Harvy Simkovits, CMC http://www.business-wisdom.com has been accepted to teach an elective MBA course early next year on Small Business Strategy at Boston College's Carroll School of Management. The course will be called "The Success and Survival of the Independent Business."

Dave Jacobson http://www.regus.com made a presentation prior to our dinner program earlier this month on Mobile Workforce Trends. There was a lot of good data not only for our own consulting businesses—but also for our clients—on the differences in engagement and support of virtual and in-office employees. Read the presentation here.

Allan B. Haberman, Ph.D. http://www.biopharmconsortium.com was quoted in two articles on the metabolic disease drugs locaserin (Arena Pharmaceuticals) and exenatide (Amylin/Lilly's Byetta) on the Pharmawire news service. The articles were published on September 4 and September 6, respectively.

Pharmawire is an online subscription-based news service that focuses on news and data on the global pharmaceutical market. It is owned by the Financial Times Group, the publisher of the Financial Times.

Author Lewis Green’s fifth book http://www.l-gsolutions.com was just released by HRD Press, Inc. Called Lead With Your Heart, the book calls for businesses to adopt a model that will result in business success as well as create a better world in which to do business, to work and to live.

“This book is about changing the way we do business. It is written to inspire business executives, managers and entrepreneurs to invest in a new business model that can be a first step to changing the world we live in,” Green says.

The book may be purchased at Amazon.com or online directly from HRD Press or by calling 1-800-822-2801.

Ken Lizotte’s next book http://www.thoughtleading.com The Expert’s Edge: Become the Go-To Authority that People Turn To Every Time will be published by McGraw Hill in January 2008.

Member's Word of Wisdom

From the Benjamin Group, Ron Visocchi, Managing Partner and Sales Sage www.benjamin-group.com:

"Lower Limbo"

It was déjà vu! As interim sales VP for a client, I was going through prospect updates with each sales person, hearing the same lines I’ve heard for many years from countless sales people:

“We’re going to get the order; we’re just waiting to get it approved.”

“They need time to think about it but assured me that it’s looking good.”

“It will happen next quarter. They just got really busy this month.”

Sound familiar? You’d be better off doing a coin toss in a wind storm than trying to base any reasonable forecast on this information!

Here’s the point: There is no meaningful information in the above statements.

So what’s the answer? Go lower limbo! Press deeper until you have enough information to accurately assess the status of each prospect. Let’s take the above statements and go lower:

• If higher approval is needed you likely started too low in the food chain and have gotten stuck dealing with someone who can’t say “yes.”

• First:Ask if it was his or her decision, would they move forward today? This tests your contact’s support; it’s easy to “blame the boss.”

• Offer to meet with management together; don’t let someone else do your selling. Suggest some tough questions that only you could answer.

• At a minimum, agree on actions and a timeline to get this decided.

• What exactly do they need to think about?

• Is there additional information lacking that you can provide?

• People don’t like to say no; they’d rather put you off into “Polite-land.” Give them permission to say no and let everyone stop thinking about it!

• Ask for specific feedback that will help you to sharpen your offerings.

• Express understanding that your project may well not be their top priority

• What projects may compete for your dollars next quarter?

• Are there consequences to waiting?

• Is your added value really that compelling or would it just be “nice to have?”

The sales process is about uncovering facts and getting at the truth. Getting a no is just as important as getting a yes; it will allow you to focus on real prospects and not waste time. That means that surface answers don’t cut it; you need to go lower limbo!

From the IC Knowledge Center web site, which is a joint effort between Trek Consulting LLC and Intellectual Capital Sweden AB:

ROI is so Business 1.0: Not

This blog posting by Dennis Howlett discusses ROI on software and investments in web 2.0—but his conclusions speak directly to the dilemmas of everyone working with intangibles. He feels that just because intangible aspects of ROI are hard to identify, we cannot ignore the need of organizations to understand the results of investments they make. His defense of ROI and the CFO’s that seek to understand it is worth reading. Read the post.

Intellectual Asset Centre
The IAC is an interesting publicly-funded entity that supports Scottish small and medium-sized companies in identifying, analyzing and leveraging their intellectual assts. You don’t have to be Scottish to learn from their work and their approach.

For more information, visit www.ia-centre.org.uk.

IMCNE Member Profile

Serial Entrepreneur and risk taker best describes Shelley Hall, Principal and Managing Director of Catalytic Management LLC. Catalytic Management is Shelley’s third company. She built her first consulting business in the 80’s with a focus on sales and service for the banking and retail industries. Almost 20 years later over a day Labor Day weekend, Shelley surprised herself and negotiated the purchase of a technology training organization that was closing it doors. Within two years, she had turned the company around and sold it in 2000. Catalytic Management, founded in 2001 is based on Shelley’s passion for growing businesses. The company helps clients accelerate growth and drive improved performance by delivering consulting, training, and coaching in sales effectiveness, customer loyalty and business process improvement.

“I have been extraordinarily fortunate to work with and partner with truly talented and dedicated colleagues who make it fun to go to work. I guess I’m always surprised that I have been lucky enough to have a successful business and a successful marriage at the same time. My husband’s sense of humor and good nature play well opposite my Type A personality”

Ten Things You Didn’t Know about Shelley:

1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, it would be… Pasta

2. If I weren't a business person, I would be a Teacher

3. Something I would like to do, but haven't had the chance…Learn to be a carpenter

4. The last concert I went to… Bruce Springsteen

5. My favorite toy as a kid… The Pool

6. When I'm not working, you'll find me…on an inner tube tied to a mooring on Woods Pond in Bridgton, Maine

7. My favorite TV show is… Not fond of much current stuff, but MASH and Hill Street Blues will always be favorites

8. If I could be any animal, I would be a... Any kind of bird, the metaphor of flying about it all appeals to me

9. The last movie I saw was… I’m more of a reader. The most recent book I read was Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

10. If I could have dinner with a famous person, dead or alive, he or she would be... I’d have dinner with my Dad. So many questions I would like to ask him and so much I want to tell him!

Learn more about Shelley and her business by visiting her firm’s website http://www.catalyticmanagement.com

Upcoming Events

Consultants Roundtable

Friday, December 7th
8:00 a.m.

Regus
Riverside Center
275 Grove Street
Suite 2 - 400 Newton, MA
Directions

A Whole New Mind –
Why Right Brainers will Rule the Future – a dialogue

with Mira Furth

Target Audience: Consultants interested in ensuring continued relevance to their clients changing needs.

In his book A WHOLE NEW MIND: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future, Daniel Pink identifies the AGRICULTURE AGE as the age of farmers; INDUSTRIAL AGE, the factory workers; INFORMATION AGE, the knowledge workers. Today's CONCEPTUAL AGE, characterized by affluence, technology and globalization, is the age of creators and empathizers.

Technology and globalization have made it easy to perform large amounts of routine, white collar, left brain directed work at significantly lower cost, thereby forcing knowledge workers in the advanced world to master abilities that can't be shipped overseas. Affluence, Pink claims, has accelerated our search for meaning.

How do we supplement our left brain directed thinking in order to stay marketable within our professions?

In this roundtable we will:

• Review the six specific high-concept and high-touch aptitudes recommended by Daniel Pink.
• Brainstorm on how we can work muscles that have atrophied after a few generations in the Information Age, back into shape.

In her role as Director of Career/Culture Development at SEA Consultants Inc., Mira developed and managed that company's national award-winning comprehensive learning Program for Business Professional Development. This Program educates technical professionals in the professional services industry, such as engineers, scientists and architects, primarily in the 'business of business'.

Currently Mira consults with clients on creating learning programs that integrate perspectives of individual needs with the business needs of a company, tying training efforts with tangible business benefits. Also, her popular di.a.logic™ Practices for Effective Conversation program has served as a platform for all other communication and leadership development programs.

As an Executive/Leadership Coach Mira has been recognized for her ability to shape people's perception so they see possibilities where they did not see any before, to think in ways they would not have done otherwise; her clients have acknowledged an expanded sense of what's possible for themselves, their careers, teams and organization.

Walk-ins are welcome. Coffee is available. Food can be purchased in the Café.

Other Dates for Your Calendar:

Wednesday, January 7, 2008
Consultants Roundtable
Noon – lunch is included

The Business Case for Sustainability:
Opportunities for Management Consultants?
with Glenn Bachman, CMC

Regus
Riverside Center
275 Grove Street
Suite 2 - 400 Newton, MA

$30 for members, $40 for nonmembers

Thursday, January 24, 2008
Dinner Meeting - 5:00-8:30 pm
Hilton Garden Inn, Waltham, MA

Pick a Pack of Perfect Panelists:
Succeed as an event moderator and deliver a lively program

Engaging, informative panel discussions – online and in-person – require planning, pacing and control. It’s an honor to be asked to moderate a group discussion, and it can be an effective business development tool. But it’s critical to determine what the audience needs and ensure they get the information they want and not a sales pitch or rambling war stories. The difference between being a host and an effective communicator means profiling your panelists, managing their agendas and reining in some strong personalities.

This program presents the keys to successful preparation and delivers a “panel of panelists” to show how it’s done.

Moderator

Bob Feldman
HPC Marketing
An Emmy-nominated TV broadcaster and marketing/sales consultant, Bob Feldman is an experienced public speaker. For more than 20 years he has been a presenter, producer and voice-over artist. He directed the award-winning series "The Right Way to Manage," hosted by Sir David Frost and has worked with such clients as Intel, Hewlett-Packard, National Semiconductor, Dow Chemical, Lucent, Thinking Machines, Sequent/IBM and the Army National Guard.

Speaker Bios

Kevin Carroll
Executive Search Practice Leader in Life Sciences
Phillips DiPisa, Inc.
Kevin has spent years recruiting senior executives and interviewing C-level officers for commercial, medical and sales roles. He also trained sales teams at Bristol-Myers Squibb. At Worcester Polytechnic Institute, he teaches a course titled "Assembling the Management Team” for the Medical Device Management Certificate Program.

Jeff Govendo
The Innovative Edge, Inc.
Jeff specializes in leading discussions on corporate innovation and creative thinking in industries ranging from high technology to consumer products for clients pursuing new products and businesses and planning for the future. He has designed management conferences with creative approaches for addressing difficult corporate issues.

Dick O'Brien
Nagog Hill Partners
In 2004, Dick founded a marketing consultancy addressing business development and growth issues for emerging companies in medical device, biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He is frequently asked to moderate and arrange panel discussions at the WPI Venture Forum and Merrimack Valley Venture Forum.

News from the Board

Offer for Members

We have listened to you and are making changes to the newsletter to reflect your ideas.

We want to publish our member’s works. If you have a blog, an e-mail newsletter or a short article (500 words or less), please send it to If you put us on your distribution list, you never have to think about it again but your content will go into our pipeline. If you have a blog, feel free to send your URL and give us permission to mine it for posts that we want to share with other members.

This is a members-only benefit and a great way to increase your visibility in the New England consulting community (our newsletter goes out to close to a thousand people).  Please include a headshot, your byline and a 30 word bio with any submission. If we mine your blogs, we will create the bio and grab your headshot.

We reserve the right to edit and proof each piece, so if that is a concern, please choose the article you wish to send, ensure it is no more than 500 words, and proof and edit it carefully before sending it. We maintain the right to edit and proof, but it is unlikely that we will need to do much to an article that you have submitted to these specs.

Strategic Partner Events

Check out our Calendar of Strategic Partner and Other Events on our web site for more information on events of interest. Click www.imcne.org/spcalendar.html, then click on the appropriate link for detailed information that could save you money.

Share Your News

Share news about your firm with our community by submitting information on collaborations with other members, upcoming speaking engagements, and new publications. Eligible publications are books or articles that have been published recently by a print or on-line magazine. We are happy to post a copy of your article on the IMCNE website if you send us a Word or .pdf document with the full text.