Podcast appearances and mentions of david a fields

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed David A. Fields, a seasoned consultant and Co-founder of Ascendant Consulting. We explored the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence on consulting, dived into the crucial role of building trust with the Trust Triangle, and uncovered the innovative Colorado Pricing strategy. From understanding the dynamic landscape reshaped by AI to gaining insights into client trust-building strategies and implementing unique pricing models, this episode provides a roadmap for future-proofing your consulting career. Join us for a deep dive into the intersection of AI, trust-building, and groundbreaking pricing models that are shaping the future of the consulting industry. More About David Fields: Connect with David on LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/davidafields/ Visit his Website - davidafields.com/ Get a copy of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients - amzn.to/3tTCixD Connect with John Jantsch on LinkedIn Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts If you liked this episode please consider rating and reviewing the show. Click here - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-duct-tape-marketing-podcast/id78797836 , scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Unleashed, Will Bachman interviews David A. Fields on how to work with industry associations and other types of groups to build businesses and create value. He touches on the concept of trade associations, and how we should view the trade association as a source of prospects. It's important to consider other types of associations that have a large group of prospects in their tribe, such as software platforms, data providers, headhunters, and journalists. Data providers often need the help of consulting firms to ensure their data remains relevant and useful. For example, data providers can provide information on social media trends, transportation logistics, and more. In conclusion, trade associations can be a valuable tool for firms to connect with prospects and build their business. They can also serve as visibility partners, helping firms reach out to potential clients. David talks about connecting with visibility partners and what you can do to raise your profile through that relationship. For small firms with no specific focus, it is important to find the right group by focusing your business on a few industries and engage with associations or other providers to find potential partners. This approach makes it easier for the firm to find prospects and be more valuable to them. David shares examples of clients who have successfully worked with data providers as visibility partners. One example is a consulting firm in Virginia that has grown from about $1 million to $15 million through targeted visibility building with data providers. The firm has done research work with the data provider to demonstrate the importance of creating value for both partners and their clients.  Connecting to a Visibility Partner To get started with a visibility partner, David suggests reaching out, offering to meet, building relationships, and staying right-side up. For example, a consulting firm might have worked with multiple clients using data from a data provider and had a history of complaints about the data. By introducing the firm to their contacts to help the data provider improve their service, they can help address the client's concerns and also improve their visibility.   David discusses how to increase visibility by getting on a podcast. Will suggests reaching out to the host of a podcast and posting a summary on LinkedIn to tag the host. This approach is often overlooked by hosts, but it can be a great way to reach potential clients. David stresses that this is a long-term relationship building strategy, and not a quick fix.  Furthermore, he encourages people to get involved in small podcasts, new podcasts, and podcasts with only 12 listeners, as they are more likely to have a smaller audience. This can lead to better targeted discussions and better results. David talks about the pros and cons of tapping into alumni associations for businesses. For example, Procter and Gamble's alumni network is a strong example of how alumni networks can help businesses grow. Working an Industry Conference For industry conferences, it is important to determine who's going to be there, who you want to meet ahead of time, and set targets for attendees. Additionally, commit to attending the conference for three years, as it allows you to build relationships with potential clients. Will suggests using LinkedIn to create a list of attendees and send connection requests to potential attendees. This will help you connect with potential clients and build relationships with them. When it comes to messaging a potential contact to secure a meeting, Will and David discuss possible approaches. David also mentions various methods of connecting with industry recruiters and securing visibility through content development. David mentions his next practice accelerator, which is sold out but will be held in 2024. In summary, David emphasizes the importance of visibility partners and the need to consider the tribes they overlap with when promoting a firm. By focusing on these strategies, consulting firms can increase their visibility and attract more potential clients.   Timestamps: 03:23 Leveraging industry associations and other groups for business growth 05:27 Partnering with visibility partners for consulting firms 12:22 Partnering with data providers for visibility 19:59 Networking strategies for professionals 26:18 Networking strategies for a conference 30:57 Consulting firm visibility partners Links: David's website: https://www.davidafields.com/ David's Books: https://www.davidafields.com/books/ David's Blog: https://www.davidafields.com/blog/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.  

David A. Fields works with small consulting firms across the globe that are eager to accelerate growth. He's widely considered to be at the forefront of thought leadership for consulting firms.   David talks about prospecting, helping resistant clients, partnering, and much more!

Show Notes In this episode of Unleashed, Will Bachman explains how independent professionals can use a spreadsheet as their CRM system. A spreadsheet can be an effective first step before investing in a paid CRM system, and for independent professionals, the most fundamental use of a CRM spreadsheet is to keep track of the people, organizations, and project opportunities, in addition to confirming new projects, but the first step in setting up a CRM system should be to create a spreadsheet of all your contacts, and another tab with all your past projects.  Ultimately, using a spreadsheet as a CRM system can be a great way to get started and gain familiarity with the features of a paid CRM system before investing, but when you do, you'll be able to upload your spreadsheet into the CRM. Will walks you  through setting up a CRM system. The initial tabs discussed are 1.contacts, 2.opportunities, and 3.companies. Using a Spreadsheet for Contacts When setting up the contacts tab, a few fields are recommended, including: info about the person, like employer and title, name, pronouns, ID number URLs/links/social media links Physical address It's also recommended to have separate columns for first name, middle name, last name, maiden name, and nickname. It is also recommended to  include the option to track if the contact is a connection on LinkedIn or not. When it comes to tracking contacts, emails are essential, and often, the preferred method of communication. It may also be helpful to track physical address, how the contact was originally met, the strength of the relationship, the level of decision making power, whether they are a client or potential partner, the industry they are in, the date of the last contact, the time interval between points of contact, if they are subscribed to your newsletter, if they are on your holiday card list, what gifts have been sent, topics of interest, the name of their executive assistant and their contact info, and the next action to be taken with the contact. Additionally, it is helpful to also track notes from interactions with the contact. Will suggests creating a separate tab for notes on each conversation, and to filter it for any given individual. However, the drawback of using a spreadsheet is that it is not as great as a relational database.  Using a Spreadsheet for Opportunities  For opportunities, the fields suggested to track are: Current pipeline Project/opportunity ID, title, associated company/organization Client executive name, billing contact, and any other names related to the opportunity A description and stage of the opportunity Source of opportunity Will learned this system from David A. Fields and he talked about it  in episode 172  of Unleashed. David's three stages are: identified opportunity, but not yet talked to the client; completed context discussion (which entails live interaction with client), and finally,  submitted proposal. If you have several projects in the pipeline, you could also add several stages such as: ‘in contract phase'. Will  suggests adding two stages for a contract:  ‘1 active' - for current projects, and ‘1 complete', for the final stage. It may also be useful to add a stage for ‘lost' and/or ‘on hold' and ‘possible opportunity' for potential opportunities on the horizon that you may want to follow up on in a few months. You could also track the dollar size of the opportunity and likelihood of closing. By tracking ‘likelihood to close' you'll gain a better understanding of your ability to your accuracy in estimating potential opportunities, and dates of each stage. And most importantly, columns to include are your next action(s) and action due date(s). Using a Spreadsheet to Keep Track of Organizations Company ID, website, LinkedIn, industry All the projects you have done for the same company Who else works at the same company Be able to see all the projects you have done for the same company Who else you might speak with at the company Will also suggests adding if you have a service agreement with the company, termination dates, payment terms, and any other key contractual terms, such as a non-compete agreement, and invoicing instructions. While the former company details may not be necessary if you have the details of the company contact  in place, the latter is particularly useful if it's been a few years since you worked on a project for the company. A link to a downloadable spreadsheet template has been added in links to to help you customize your own spreadsheet. Timestamps 00:01 Using a spreadsheet as a CRM system for independent professionals  01:49 Tracking contact Information for professional relationships  09:27 Tracking conversations and opportunities  16:21: Tracking contact and contract information on organizations  Links: Notes on using a spreadsheet as a CRM: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PQssMvenlu4EPVaLevbRNWGlgppIWc8IXFatU4RG5sY/edit?usp=sharing  

Our special guest today, David A. Fields, provides everything you need to build a more successful consulting firm. He is an expert in the business of consulting and is going to share some of his best stuff with us today. You don't want to miss this one!

On this episode of the #Strategy and #Leadership Podcast, David Fields joins us to discuss some of his most important tips for customer development, the importance of framing a value-over-cost mindset, and the significance of putting your client first. David A. Fields worked in marketing for GlaxoSmithKline for nine years before joining a boutique consulting business as a partner. He later co-founded Ascendant Consulting, which specialized in assisting huge firms in entering new markets. He has also written two books on consulting. Check out David's website : www.davidafields.com.

David is an amazing business consultant but the information shared today is good for anyone involved in projects/goals. He shares design principles and a some tips on marketing too. Consultant, speaker and best-selling author David A. Fields is widely considered to be on the forefront of thought leadership for consulting firms. His second book, The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients is not only on Book Authority's list of the “best consulting books of all time,” it's #1 on that list! David's firm works with boutique and solo consulting firms all over the globe that want to scale, and helps build consulting practices that are lucrative and lifestyle-friendly.

David A. Fields is the co-founder of Ascendant Consulting and is the author of the #1 most recommended book on Amazon.com for consultants interested in building a practice, The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients, and the Executive's Guide to Consultants. David is well-known throughout North America for his expertise in the consulting arena, and in today's episode, he shares valuable insights and advice on planning strategies. Key points include: 02:47: Planning 90 minutes each week for eight weeks 08:08: Focusing on data and lessons learned 11:32: Revisiting your mission, vision, and values 31:27: Budgets and resources To learn more about the 8-week planning process, visit 8 Weeks to Get Juiced. To learn more about the focus wheel, visit Use This Unique Tool to Focus Your Consulting Firm, and to subscribe to David's weekly articles where you will find a plethora of valuable insights, visit www.davidafields.com/blog. Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

David A. Fields spent nine years in marketing for GlaxoSmithKline before jumping into consulting with a boutique firm, where he became partner. He then co-founded Ascendant Consulting and focused the practice on helping large corporations enter new markets. He is the author of two books on consulting, and on this episode, he shares expert tips for solo consultants, boutique firms, and small to medium businesses.  David can be reached through LinkedIn or his website, https://www.davidafields.com. Key points include: 06:24: Structuring the discovery discussion 15:14: Partners for consultants 18:35: Big challenges for solo consultants 31:43: The challenge of growth Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

David A. Fields spent nine years in marketing for GlaxoSmithKline before jumping into consulting with a boutique firm, where he became partner. He then co-founded Ascendant Consulting and focused the practice on helping large corporations enter new markets. He is the author of two books on consulting, and on this episode, he shares expert tips for solo consultants, boutique firms, and small to medium businesses.  David can be reached through LinkedIn or his website, https://www.davidafields.com. Key points include: 06:24: Structuring the discovery discussion 15:14: Partners for consultants 18:35: Big challenges for solo consultants 31:43: The challenge of growth Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com. 

  David A.Fields is a consulting firm expert and author. He has helped hundreds of boutique and solo consulting firms grow, increase margins, and create lucrative, lifestyle-friendly businesses. This episode is taken from a session that David A. Fields led for the Umbrex and Veritux communities on how to craft your fishing line. Key points include: 06:06: The two-by-two grid 08:32: Solving precise problems 10:17: Mistakes in fishing lines 11:07: Generic problems, generic targets, conjunctions and comets  Sign up for David’s newsletter or order his book on www.DavidAFields.com. Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

David A. Fields, consultant, speaker, and best-selling author, shares his customer-centric viewpoint which makes for unique insights into how your products and services can consistently deliver value.More about our guest:Consultant, speaker, and best-selling author David A. Fields helps in building consulting practices that are lucrative and lifestyle-friendly. He's the author of Amazon's highest-rated book on the business of consulting and has guided consultancies ranging from hundreds of millions of dollars down to one-person startups.------------------------------------------------------------Episode Guide:1:03 - What Is Innovation1:33 - Innovation as an improvement vs Innovation as breakthrough4:56 - Different kinds of innovation5:34 - Four Box Worldview and Consulting Business8:20 - Innovation as a portfolio  10:20 - Innovation application on product-service industry  13:16 - Evolutionary vs Revolutionary14:32 - Portfolio vs Product Distinction15:16 - What isn't innovation15:57 - Working with Kodak17:10 - Looking out the window vs Listening inside the walls17:51 - Patent Offices20:46 - Developing frameworks and models23:33 - Stepping back and recalibration29:27 - Advice to future innovators--------------------------OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

In today’s weekend edition of Unleashed, I share a list of 20-25 questions that David A. Fields and I usually ask our clients during the initial conversation to help engage the client and secure the project. Key points include: Focusing on the client’s needs Understanding the scope of the project Understanding the client’s expected outcomes Insight into the internal team and the stakeholders involved

As independent consultants, we often look for ways on how to grow our business. In today’s episode, you’ll find a round up of 21 business development ideas that can help build your business this year. You’ll also find all the relevant links to Unleashed episodes where we explore these items in more detail.   Create a portfolio of sanitized work (Episode 121) Create a project list (Episode 140) Update your LinkedIn profile (Episode 211) Set up a CRM system (Episode 172) Make outbound calls (Episode 170) Email a past client (“Would love to hear about your plans for the year”) Reach out to clients where you LOST a proposal, just to check in Update your resume (Episode 253) Ditch the yahoo, Gmail, AOL and get a professional email address Start a podcast and invite potential clients as guests (Episode 10) Comment on LinkedIn posts by potential clients Post 3-5 times per week on LinkedIn on the topic you want to be known for (Episode 235) Organize a virtual event Create, or update, your website (Episode 59) Create a course teaching some skill that a potential client might be looking for* (“How to organize an Integration Management Office”) Update your email signature to include your phone number (on the computer AND phone) Create – or refine – your Fishing Line (Episode 1) Ask past clients for feedback Build relationships with other independent consultants serving your niche Read The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients by David A. Fields Contact me at and sign up for weekly podcasts: unleashed@umbrex.com    

In this short episode of Unleashed, I share a few valuable ideas taken from David A. Fields and his book, The Irresistible Consultants' Guide to Winning Clients, which I highly recommend, to help identify your core group. Key points include: Creating a master list Segmenting groups Identifying the weak ties

To access the (100%) Free show resources and (PDF) transcript of today's conversation on this episode's page on KenNewhouse.com - CLICK HERE

This conversation covers: Laying the groundwork for a successful open-source program office (OSPO). Why legal and engineering are usually the two main stakeholders in open-source projects. Why engineering teams tend to struggle at articulating their perspective on open-source. Tobie offers some improvement tips.  How Tobie defines open-source strategy. Tobie also explains the risk of not having an open-source strategy, as well as his process for helping organizations determine the best strategy for their needs. Common challenges that businesses face when deploying open-source software.  The secondary — or non-code — benefits of open-source, and why many organizations tend to overlook them. Tips for engineers in non-technology organizations like pharmaceuticals or finance to approach business leadership about open-source.  Links UnlockOpen: https://unlockopen.com/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/tobie TranscriptEmily: Hi everyone. I'm Emily Omier, your host, and my day job is helping companies position themselves in the cloud-native ecosystem so that their product's value is obvious to end-users. I started this podcast because organizations embark on the cloud naive journey for business reasons, but in general, the industry doesn't talk about them. Instead, we talk a lot about technical reasons. I'm hoping that with this podcast, we focus more on the business goals and business motivations that lead organizations to adopt cloud-native and Kubernetes. I hope you'll join me.Emily: Welcome to The Business of Cloud Native. Today, I am talking with Tobie Langel from UnlockOpen, and I wanted to start, Tobie, by just asking, you know, what do you do? Can you give us sort of an introduction to what you do, and how you tend to spend your days?Tobie: Sure. So, I've been back into consulting for a number of years at this point. And I essentially focus on helping organizations align their open-source strategy with business goals. So, it can be both at the project level—so sometimes helping specific projects out—or larger strategy at the corporate level.Emily: So, I actually recently had Nithya Ruff, who's the head of the OSPO at Comcast on the podcast. For listeners who don't know, that's an open-source program office. So, are you sort of an outsourced OSPO for companies that aren't Comcast's size?Tobie: So, that's a really good question. My answer would be no, but it tends to happen that I help companies build that capacity internally. So, I would generally tend to come up before an OSPO is needed, and help them figure out what exactly they need to build. For OSPO, my pet peeve is companies building OSPOs like they need to tick a checkbox on the list of the things that they have to do to be up-to-date with good engineering practices, if you will. In general, if you want to be successful, with an OSPO, it has to meet the particular needs of your company, and that's usually kind of hard to figure out if you just leave it to whoever in the organization is more interested in driving that effort. And so essentially, I sort of help in the early stages of that by bringing all of the stakeholders at the table, and essentially listening to them and making sure that what they want out of an OSPO is aligned between the different stakeholders and matches the overall strategy of the company.Emily: And who are the stakeholders that you're generally talking to?Tobie: So, essentially, open-sources is strange, for one reason, in terms of how it was adopted in companies from a historical perspective. Adopters have always been essentially engineers who just wanted better tools, or the package or the software that best fitted their current intention, and there's a very, very grassroots process by which companies start using open-source. And what happened at some point is companies sorted to see all of the software, and got concerned, and started trying to assess the risk. And so companies just tended to bring in the legal arm and lawyers at this point. And so to fulfill compliance questions, you bring in lawyers, and then the responsibility of grown-up open-source kind of falls on to lawyers, which tends to be problematic from the perspective of good engineering practice and velocity that you want from your engineering and product side in a company. And so clearly, the two stakeholders or the two main stakeholders tend to be legal and engineering, and there tends to be a tension between these two sides. And in lots of companies this tension, instead of being resolved to some degree, tends to be won by the legal side that understands business concerns better and is better able to praise or explain what they do in terms of business impact and business risks than the engineering side. And so this equilibrium tends to create OSPOs which are legal heavy, process heavy, and don't really give engineers the kind of freedom that they would need to be effective in their daily engineering practice. And the reason behind that being essentially over exaggerated risk perception of open-source because, to be frank, open-source is not well taught in legal school and clearly not part of the curricular that most lawyers are familiar with when they move into helping tech companies out. So, essentially, I sort of tried to bridge these two worlds.Emily: I can imagine that being an open-source lawyer, that's a niche, that's a very specific niche.Tobie: Yeah, actually there's a running joke in that community, which is, “As soon as you get your law degree and you're an open-source lawyer, you're one of the 25 best open-source lawyers in the world.”Emily: [laughs]. That's awesome. Why do you think engineering teams are so bad at clearly articulating their perspective on open-source, and what can they do to improve?Tobie: So, there are clearly multiple reasons why engineers aren't the best at articulating how open-source matters. So, I think one of the key ones, it's just, it's something that's part of their daily practice, and they don't really understand and never have been taught the actual intellectual property—IP—impact, that open-source has on their company, and they don't really understand how others in the company might perceive this IP impact. So, I think, one part of it is, essentially, this is just how engineers work. Like, you want to use a piece of software, you put it in it, right? If you want to fix something, well, you do a pull request. This is sort of, like, a common practice. And it's always hard to articulate things that are essentially part of your, like—you know, like a native language, like part of your culture. It's really hard to describe, why you would do this, and why it matters. So, I think that's one reason.The other reason, I think, is that there is a lot of overlap between the way legal works, and the way business works in general. Few examples of that are, engineers tend to think really like in binary way, like, you know, something is true or false, something is on or off, whereas business and law a much more spectrum thinking and into the gray area of things. Similarly, law will share with executive manager's schedule, versus a maker's schedule. So, there's lots of cultural artifacts of law culture in corporations that are much closer to business culture, and so, just a better understanding. So, I don't think engineering is really bad, per se. I think it's just bad when you compare it to legal, essentially.Emily: I mean, and clearly, like, lawyers, their whole training is about making arguments for things that they believe to be true. So.Tobie: Fair enough, but honestly, when you hear engineers talking to one another, that could be said, of engineers, too.Emily: That's fair.Tobie: Your second question was, how can engineers improve that?Emily: Yes.Tobie: And I think that's actually something that they can do and that has way more benefits than just making it easier for them to contribute to open-source, or to have a strong open-source culture at their company. And I think that's essentially focusing on the customer-facing business value, if you will, of what they are building. And if you can start articulating all of what you do in terms of how it affects the business, how it affects end-users or end-customers of your products, it gets way easier to have weight in conversations with other people within an organization that reason about this that way.Emily: And I would imagine this applies not just to making a case for open-source, but everything in engineering. Making a case for using containers, making a case for changing something in your architecture, investing in engineering, hiring a new person—Tobie: Absolutely.Emily: —you have to learn to make the case in terms of the business impact.Tobie: Yeah. It's interesting because we always look as growing up or leveling up as an engineer in terms of actual ability in your craft. But what really makes a difference is how you can leverage your craft to pursue broader goals, organizational goals. And yeah, you're absolutely right that skill set is useful, just, like, across the board. So, are soft skills, by the way, which is another thing that engineering tends to forget about, unfortunately.Emily: So, going back to what you do in crafting open-source strategies, what is an open-source strategy, and what's the risk of not having one?Tobie: So, by strategy, I sort of think about the plan that you have to meet certain goals that you care about meeting. And so an open-source strategy can be widely different depending on what those goals are, and what those organizational goals are. Some companies will have—their main business will be extremely tied to open-source software—you know, think like a company like MongoDB, or Redis, or Mozilla, for example—but for most companies, their business is kind of far away from actually producing open-source software. And so, an open-source strategy for those will be one that is more aligned with, like, how exactly can open-source help our organizations serve our clients better? The same way you would use DevOps to some degree. Or even, like, you know, Cloud, for lack of a better example. So, really, about how can you leverage these tools to help meet organizational goals?Emily: And then what happens if you don't have a strategy?Tobie: Oh, well, what—that's what happens when you're missing a strategy for anything else: you essentially end up at best copying what others are doing—so, you know, you're sort of late to the game—and that worse, just running around aimlessly. If you don't know why you're doing something, you don't know what to measure. And this is true of everything. I mean, this has nothing to do with open-source. You don't know what to measure, you don't know where to invest, you don't know if what you're investing is actually giving you a useful return on investment. You know nothing, and so you're probably better off just not doing anything.Emily: When you meet with these different stakeholders in a company, how do you help them figure out what the best strategy for that particular company is going to be, in relation to open-source?Tobie: So, if we're looking at companies who are not essentially trying to monetize an open-source project, the way I usually start looking at that is looking at what are the current points of frictions? What are the challenges and the problems that a company is facing to run its software, its engineering operations with the kind of performance level that it would want to do? And this can be broadly different things. It could be an organization finds itselfs to be fairly siloed, and finds it really hard to collaborate with teams in different parts of the organization. It could be having a really hard time filling in their hiring pipeline, or having retention issues. There are just plenty of different problems that show up. Then the second thing that we tend to look at is if they had a magic wand, if you will, what would their future look like? What would they want to achieve? And once we have this current situation and future desired state, we look to see at what part of open-source can actually help this transformation. And for that, what I do is I—there's a talk that I've given a number of time, called, “Making the Business Case for Open-Source,” which essentially focuses on all of these different aspects of open-source that are beneficial to companies, which I called byproducts, or second-order benefits of open-source, which is not the output of the code itself, but all of the benefits that having a strong open-source culture brings to a company. And we'll look at those, and we see if there's a good fit.Emily: And how aware do you find business leaders to be about the secondary benefits of open-source? The sort of non-code benefits of open-source?Tobie: Mostly not, honestly. I guess it's actually surprising how few companies get that, outside of the tech giants, by the way. All of the large tech companies understand that really well. Everyone from Google to Microsoft to Facebook to Mozilla, everyone is doubling down on these aspects and knows that open-source is where you tend to find a lot of really good engineers and that open-source really benefits engineers and helps them level up, and helps them build things that are actually, then—end up being really useful internally, like soft skills. I mean, I know that open-source has a really bad rap, and there are reasons for this, and there are lots of things that, as a community in open-source, we have to improve. I don't want to be dismissive of that at all, but if you're actually able to collaborate and get alignment in a large open-source project will you have—you can't go through like your manager to get your manager to speak to the manager of the person that's not complying with whatever it is that you want because it turns out, they're in a completely different company. When you're able to be effective in an environment that is as hostile as that one, once you bring that skill set back internally, you're highly effective. So, these benefits exist, and large tech companies understand these benefits really well. Outside of tech, though, that's not the case. And when you look at the data, it's that's really telling because we have today really good datasets, per industry, of how much different industries use open-source, and frankly, at this point, pretty much there's open-source everywhere, in every industry, and in every project in every industry. But, however, when you look at what industry—what vertical—actually has, built-in, a large, a strong open-source culture and is contributing to open-source, like outside of tech—where it's roughly 50 percent of tech companies contribute to open-source, often on a regular basis, outside of tech I think the closest is finance and financial services, and it's like 12 percent, or like 13 or 14. It's really, really low. So, tech has it, the rest of the world, not yet. And to some degree, that's also why open-source is actually a real accelerator of how companies are able to build the kind of tools that they need to respond to their business needs. It's not by accident that you find that the companies that have the highest growth—market growth as a company are those that are heavily invested in tech and heavily invested in open-source. And so it's not surprising that incumbents from all the verticals are having a much harder time to adapt, and as a result are also, in verticals where there's lots of competition, lots of new players, lots of new startups that are, sort of, like, stealing market share, and disrupting those different markets.Emily: You've said a lot of things that are really interesting. I wanted to ask, though, again, about this idea of helping people develop soft skills because honestly, I had never considered that as an advantage of open-source. Could you just sort of talk a little bit about how that happens, and how individual engineers can use working on open-source projects to develop soft skills, and then how it translates to better success in their employment situation?Tobie: So, if you look at how software is built in a closed-source project, you will essentially be working with your peers. I mean, that's not always the case, but in most cases, people that you can literally, like, turn your chair around and tap on the shoulder to get help. In open-source that's very different. Large open-source projects will have people across lots of time zones, and completely different stakeholders. You will have in the same project, someone that is just passionate about this project and is a teenager in a high school that just really cares about whatever it is that you're working on. You're going to have a bunch of folks in academia, actually using that project to run some data internally or something like that. You will have small companies building plugins on top of it or doing agency work. You will have large corporations leveraging that project. So, you will have this very broad stakeholder set of people with very different backgrounds, very different interests, very different reasons to be involved, essentially. And I mean, just that, just this diversity of background and culture will make you up your communication game because you will not be able to speak to these very different stakeholders. If you want to get something out of them, if you want to review one of their pull requests, if you want to get them to sign the CLA, it's not the same as turning around and tapping your colleague on the shoulder that, unfortunately, tends to be roughly the same skin color, age, and gender as you are in lots of different teams, still today. So, I think that's the first point is just, lots of stakeholders, with lots of different interests, coming from lots of different places.The second bit is, a lot of software is about communicating what you want to do and what you're hoping that they're doing. And that's harder to do in return, frankly, for most people. And it's harder to do, again, when you have sociocultural gaps. So, learning how to do that properly to get alignment on something, this is a skill, you have to learn. Thirdly, the absence of formal leadership in—which is what I was mentioning before—in projects and by formal leadership, I mean, yeah, sure, there's like a technical steering committee, or a [00:21:05 unintelligible], or someone's leading the project, like maintainers and stuff, but they don't get to tell who does what. So, if you want help from someone on a project, you will have to learn how to use your soft skills to do that because you can't make anyone comply to anything. It's this completely soft, smushy thing. We don't really have—you can't hold on to someone and tell them, “Go do this PR now,” or, “Go review this.” You will have to figure out ways of getting people to be involved using a completely different skill set then force compliance. And this is—I mean, I might be cutting corners here, but to me, this is what leadership is about. Leadership is about aligning people in the mission without a whip. And this is precisely what you're doing if you want to do anything in open-source. And this set of skills, once you're back in a company—I mean, any kind of serious project, impactful project in a company will be across multiple teams, multiple orgs, you'll have to get approval from, like, policy, you'll have to go see legal, you'll have to get designers involved, you'll have to get product involved, you'll have to get infrastructure invol—like, all of these organizations that you don't have direct power over, learning this set of skills inside of an open-source project prepares you for this so much.Emily: Interesting. Yeah. You know, you could have a project, and legal could say, “No.” And you don't get to just override what legal says if they say no. You have to have the skills to negotiate a way out of that, basically.Tobie: Yeah, and frankly, I mean, if you look at sort of the career ladder of an engineer, it's essentially around growing your impact inside of an organization or company. And growing your impact, I mean, that is done laterally. It's done by getting others aligned on your vision early in the process. And again, it's interesting because there's lots of parallel between what I'm describing right now and what I do for a lot of my clients, which is to get alignment from all of the different stakeholders along a specific set of goals. And this is only soft skills: it's listening to people, figuring out what their needs are—when legal says, “No,” I mean, no one ever says, “No.” People say, “No,” and they mean, “Oh, this is going to make me too—too big of a cost for me. I don't want to do this right now. It's easier for me to just say, ‘No.' I don't really understand the risks. I don't really understand the value of this project.” I mean, behind the, “No,” there's a bunch of information. And building soft skills lets you have the tools to go figure out what that, “No,” that legal just gave you really is about. And it's way easier to address something like, “Oh, there's actually—I'm concerned about this specific risk at this specific place,” than addressing something that's as vague as, “No. Legal said no.”Emily: And how would you say that an engineer that's, say, in a non—technology company, as in you know, not in the technology vertical, they are in a company that sells cars, or pharmaceuticals, or financial services or whatever, what are the specific ways to to make those business arguments to talk effectively with business leadership?Tobie: So, one of the consultants that is a consultant for consultants, David A. Fields, talks about ‘right side up thinking' and he's essentially talking about, put yourself in the shoes of the people that you're talking about. Understand what it is that they care about, and then have answers to that. Which, to me, is also something that you can build in open-source, but it's essentially listening to people. I mean, there's so many times I've been in a meeting with lawyers about a particular topic for a client or for a company I was working with, where I got out of a meeting with much, much more than I expected, essentially because instead of opening my mouth, I just shut up and listened to what it is that they were concerned about, and really tried to understand from their perspective. And then realize that all of the schemes I had in my head of what it is that they wanted, and the solutions I had for what I thought it was that they wanted, were not necessary at all; what they cared about was something completely different that I just couldn't know about. And so, that would be my biggest suggestion is, just shut up and listen to what people want. Same for customers, by the way. I mean, when you're facing customers, just actually listen to what people say. It doesn't mean that you have to essentially implement precisely what solution they're giving you, but you have to listen to what their problem is. As an expert—and that's true of an engineer in a non-engineer context: the engineer is the expert, but your expertise should be applied to turn the need, the requirement, into something that's implementable. That's its only purpose, really. It shouldn't be about asking people, “Well, so would you want to use PHP or Rails for this?” And then giving them a lecture on both. This is not what someone some business wants to hear about.Emily: Excellent. We are going to go ahead and wrap up pretty soon, but anything else that you would like to add about bridging the gap between business and engineering?Tobie: Yeah, so I think that at the end of the day, what really works is when everyone is aligned, and pulling on the same rope, aligned with the same goals. If you're in a company, where the underlying goals really don't match at all your vision of what you want to do, you're in a bad place, regardless of what vertical that company is in, whether it is a tech or a non-tech company. So, I think that engineers, if they're able to and, again, I mean, not everyone is in position to change job or hop to find a different job, and the job market right now is particularly difficult, but I think that if you want to be happy in your job, you have to make sure that there's alignment. And if there isn't, at least try to carve out areas of alignment. And don't try to win every fight: really go for the things that matter to you that make a difference, and make concessions. Actually, that's the other, for me, the really key point is, make concessions. If things don't really matter to you but make a huge difference for the person that's in front of you, make a concession even if you think it's silly. As engineers, we really have, again, this really binary way of thinking. Admit that there's a lot more to all of this then yes or no, and that there's a whole bunch of area in the middle where people can meet and find agreement, and focus on that stuff.Emily: Excellent. All right, just a couple last questions. What is your favorite engineering tool that you couldn't live without?Tobie: That's an interesting question. I don't think I really have one. I think that's deliberate. My goal would be to be able to jump on a new machine and be effective within seconds, and not have to go through the whole ordeal of having to set everything up just to right for me. So, I tend to try to work with whatever is there. I also don't believe that a good engineer is an engineer that types fast. Actually, I'm a really slow typer, so maybe that's why. But yeah, I really believe that it's not about tooling, it's about all of the other things, and that tooling should come last. So, I don't have any is my answer.Emily: Fabulous. And then where can we listeners connect with you or follow you.Tobie: So, I tweet quite a bit under @tobie. So, T-O-B-I-E. There's lots of politics there, too, so if you believe that tech and politics are not linked, you probably don't want to follow my account. And then there's the website of my consultancy, which is unlockopen.com. So, unlock and open in one word, dot com.Emily: Excellent. All right, well, thank you so much for joining me.Tobie: Well, thank you for having me. This was fun. Thank you so much.Emily: Thanks for listening. I hope you've learned just a little bit more about The Business of Cloud Native. If you'd like to connect with me or learn more about my positioning services, look me up on LinkedIn: I'm Emily Omier—that's O-M-I-E-R—or visit my website which is emilyomier.com. Thank you, and until next time.Announcer: This has been a HumblePod production. Stay humble.

David A. Fields is back on the show, this time to help me answer a question from listener Caroline Taich, who asked for best practices on what steps to take at the end of a long project to: 1) hand over deliverables 2) ask for recommendations and referrals 3) stay in touch with key individuals you've developed relationships with over the course of the project We cover all three topics, and I found particularly helpful David's approach to asking for a recommendation. I recommend that every consultant sign up for David's weekly blog posts: https://www.davidafields.com/blog/   If you like this episode, be sure to check out the other episodes with David: 1. Winning clients 170. How to make outbound calls 172. How to set up a CRM system 182. The David A. Fields Solo Practice Accelerator 190. Partnerships, Advisory Boards, and Gifts 221: How to convert leads to projects 259. Pandemic advice for consultants 264: How to run a world-class virtual workshop

David A. Fields had scheduled an in-person two-day workshop  for early April – his Solo Practice Accelerator. When the coronavirus pandemic made it impossible to conduct the event in person, David and his team converted the event into a highly interactive, world-class virtual workshop. That took planning, technology, and setting up a studio in David’s living room. In today’s episode, David shares very practical tips on what it took to run a world-class virtual workshop that engaged attendees as much as an in-person event. I strongly encourage all my friends to sign up for David's weekly newsletter - the first thing I read every Wednesday morning: https://www.davidafields.com/blog/ David also kindly shared this checklist: People (not equipment, but will make some of the buying list clearer) Presenter Video controller (managing the different inputs) Zoom controller (managing breakout rooms, etc.)   Computers Laptop for the presenter – any laptop will do Laptop for the Video controller – this is a dedicated laptop with a ethernet port, that connected to Zoom. Laptop for the Zoom controller – this was for the team member who managed the Zoom breakout rooms PC with large monitor and wireless keyboard – this was for the Video controller to be able to send notifications to the presenter. (For instance, “Speed Up” or “Question”)   Tablets We used Samsung Galaxy 8” tablets – one per every three participants. (These were used for the breakout rooms.) https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-Android-Tablet-Black/dp/B07VDB92RK/   Video Equipment Panasonic HC-V770 videocam with HDMI output. There are probably better cameras and fancier ones with remote control pan and tilt. This is a high quality camera, though, and it gives a “clean” HDMI output without any symbols on the screen. Not all videocams do that. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RBG5J02 Roland V-1HD video switcher. Possibly overkill, but allows for picture-in-picture, easy switching, etc. by the Video controller. https://www.amazon.com/Roland-V-1HD-HD-Video-Switcher/dp/B017Y3JSZ8 HDMI splitter. This allows the presenter to present to the big screen as well as the feed into the Zoom conference. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005HXFARS Avio HDMI to USB converter. All the inputs (cameras, presenter’s laptop output) video mixer are in HDMI format and so is the output from the video mixer. You need some way to get that HDMI output into your computer so that Zoom will treat it like a webcam. This cool little box from Avio did the trick well. We got two of them. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZH7HRKW We also used a lot of lighting equipment, including a soft lightbox (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GCN6HV7) a lot of LED lights (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TJ6JH6) with power adapters (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CQG4V18), and a slew of tripods and Zipwall polls. Finally, about 5 miles of HDMI cables and extenders. For example, https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CTD1HAW and https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HUWVMBW   Monitors Presentation monitor – Any large, 4k HD monitor should work fine. We used this one: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-UN75RU7100FXZA-FLAT-UHD-Smart/dp/B07NC8ZDVL. We definitely needed that size or larger monitor for me to stand next to and still have the slides super legible. Confidence monitor – Again, any monitor will work fine. It has to be large enough that the presenter can see it and view all the participants in Zoom’s gallery view. My first choice would have been a 49” ultrawide, and that’s what we’ll use next time. The ultrawide allows you to see the whole gallery and also Zoom’s chat and participants windows easily. (https://www.amazon.com/Acer-EI491CR-Pbmiiipx-Technology-DisplayHDR400/dp/B07NFJ6M3R). Unfortunately, none were quickly available when we were in the throes of pulling this together, so I settled for a 40” regular monitor. We bought two like this, but only used one: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-UN40M5300A-40-Inch-1080p/dp/B071ZVQVFQ.   Audio We used a Movo lavalier mic, which worked fine. We have other, fancier equipment, but couldn’t actually create better sound than plugging the Movo directly into the Video controller’s laptop. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HX40Q3C We also provided a headset to every attendee. https://www.cdw.com/product/sennheiser-culture-sc-60-usb-ml-headset/3091260  

Our guest today is David A. Fields, author of The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients. In this episode, David shares his advice on the actions consultants should take during the coronavirus epidemic. He reminds us of his number one rule: to practice right-side-up thinking, that is, consulting is about the client, it’s not about us. David covers: How to reach out to clients during the pandemic How to establish new partnerships during the pandemic How to manage pricing during the pandemic David has been a popular guest on the show and I encourage you to check out our past discussions, including Episode 1: Winning clients Episode 170: Outbound calls Episode 172: Implementing a CRM system Episode 190: What makes for a successful consulting partnership Episode 221: How to convert leads into confirmed projects I also recommend you sign up to receive his weekly blog post straight to your inbox.  

If you are looking to stay productive while between projects, one area to invest time is setting up technology tools for your practice. In this episode, I share 17 recommendations. I mention some previous episodes of this show in my discussion, including: Episode 172: David A Fields on setting up a CRM system Episode 236: Evernote Episode 237: MixMax Episode 73: Calendly

David A. Fields works with small consulting firms across the globe that are eager to accelerate growth, increase profit and create lifestyle-friendly practices. He and his team have guided consultancies of all sizes, small to large.

When it comes to being a consultant it is a massive mistake to be a generalist.  You might be able to widen your audience after years of being established but starting out you have to know your message, your audience, and their problems.   David A Fields has plus years of experience include consulting, speaking and writing The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients.  He has made a career of helping consulting practices become lucrative and lifestyle friendly. David shares his experience with us on what marketing you can do and what you MUST do.  In addition, he explains why having your content solidified is vitally important and why if your core idea isn't easily repeatable then your message isn't clear enough. It can be easy to veer from your core message into topics that interest you.  We share some thoughts on why you have to have message discipline and stick to an editorial plan.

In my conversations with independent consultants, a common question I get is how to generate more business. There are a lot of things one could POTENTIALLY do to generate more revenue, and some people flail around putting effort into initiatives that may have a low return on investment. Of course we all want to put our time and energy into areas with a relatively high return on investment, and I’ve found that it is useful to break down all the possible factors into what I call the Consulting Revenue Equation. Also check out Episode 221, in which I discuss with David A. Fields some ways to increase your conversion rate.

Today we welcome back David A. Fields, the author of The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. David was my very first guest, on Episode 1, when we covered many of the topics in his book. https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed/episode-1-david-fields-on-winning-clients/ In Episode 170, David shared tips on how to make outbound calls: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed/episode-170-david-fields-on-how-to-make-outbound-calls/ In Episode 172, David explained how to set up a CRM system for a small consulting practice: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed/episode-172-david-fields-on-how-to-set-up-a-crm-system/ And in Episode 190, David discussed what makes for a successful consulting partnership: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed/episode-190-david-fields-on-what-makes-for-a-successful-consulting-partnership/ In today’s episode, David and I riff on tips to increase the chances of converting a possible consulting opportunity into a confirmed project. Definitely buy David’s book if you haven’t already, and check out his website, davidafields.com. I love his weekly blog posts and if you visit his blog and scroll down, you can sign up to get his blog posts delivered right to your inbox – it is the first email I read every Wednesday morning.

How would it impact your business if you had a way to tap into a stream of unlimited clients?   My guest for this episode is David A. Fields.  David is a definitive expert with decades of experience in consulting, a sought-after speaker, and a best-selling author who helps build consulting practices that are focused on “right side up thinking”, making them both lucrative and lifestyle-friendly. As a co-founder within his firm, Ascendant Consulting, David has worked with one-person startups to some of the world’s largest companies.  His latest book, The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients, is Amazon’s highest-rated book release on the business of consulting in the past 30 years. Don’t miss this chance to learn David’s key insights towards maximizing your impact.

Our guest today is David A. Fields, Umbrex member and the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. David advises many boutique consulting firms, and over the years he has seen partnerships thrive and partnerships fall apart. On today’s episode, David shares some observations on how to make a partnership successful. We also discuss the idea of adding an advisory board to your firm, and we spend a few minutes on how to select the right gift for a client. Got questions about how to thrive as an independent professional? Email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com

 Find out what you need if you need more rain for your consulting firm Learn what your consulting firm's clients really want Know how to create need for your consulting firm's offering -

 Find out what you need if you need more rain for your consulting firm Learn what your consulting firm’s clients really want Know how to create need for your consulting firm’s offering Resources/Links: Free Outreach Scripts: Finding new clients don't have to be hard! Download this two-page example of scripts that will convert your outreach process into consistent, new leads Summary David Fields is a consulting firm expert, speaker, and bestselling author. He helps build consulting practices so that they both lucrative and lifestyle friendly. He's got a consultancy ranging from one person startups to the consulting divisions of some of the world's largest companies. In this episode, David shares how he helps clients to accelerate growth, increase profit and create lifestyle-friendly practices. Check out these episode highlights: 01:23 – David's ideal client: Runs a small consulting firm, might be one person, might be 200 people but usually not going to be any bigger. 01:35 – Problem he helps solve: "I solve two problems. One, how do we make more rain or have more rainmakers, and two, how do we increase profit? How do we scale profit, that's it." 01:58 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to David: "Most consultants know if they're the revenues not coming in well enough so if the revenue is not as high as you want. If your margins are not as high as you want. If you're working too many hours and it's not as high as you want, you definitely have it." 02:29 – Common mistakes people make when trying to solve that problem: the belief that if I was just in front of more prospects by more visibility, I'd win more business. And the second mistake is looking in the mirror and saying "Ooh gee, what does that person in the mirror want to do?" As opposed to looking at the market. 03:18 – David’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): "Pick up the phone and just talk with people find out what they want." 05:57 – David’s Valuable Free Resource(VFR): http://www.davidafields.com/blog/ and davidafields.com/outreachscripts 06:40 – Q: So, David what's going on in the world that you think would help my people? A: Here's what's going on in the world. There is a huge huge trend towards independent consultants in a way from the big companies. And so if you were thinking, "You know what? I'm too small, I can't really compete with the big guys". The fact is you can. And so, take advantage of that trend, that's what I would say to everybody listening. You, if you're running a one-person shop or a 100 person shop you can compete with the biggest firms in the world. So, don't undersell yourself. Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode: “Pick up the phone and just talk with people find out what they want.” -@_davidafieldsClick To Tweet “Think right side up. And that means, thinking about the client first. The number one rule of consulting is it's not about you, it's about them.” -@_davidafieldsClick To Tweet Transcript (Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast) Tom Poland: Hello everyone, a very warm welcome to another edition of “Marketing the Invisible”. My name is Tom Poland, joined today by David A. Fields no less. David, good day. David A. Fields: And it's good day to you also. Tom Poland: Thanks mate. Where are you hanging out? I'm in. I'm in Australia. Where about to you? David A. Fields: I'm in Connecticut in the United States of America today. Tom Poland: Perfect. And hands across the water. So, for those of you who don’t know David. David is a consultant speaker and bestselling author. He helps build consulting practices so that they both lucrative and lifestyle friendly. I thought those two are mutually exclusive as consultancies David, but apparently not.

Our guest today is David A. Fields, the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom.   David is leading an upcoming professional development program for independent consultants that I thought could be valuable for many of the listeners of this show, so I asked David if he’d share an overview of the Solo Practice Accelerator. The next one is August 18-19, 2019 in San Francisco, CA.   Details: https://members.davidafields.com/solo-practice-accelerator If after listening to this episode you are interested in attending but those dates don’t work for you, then subscribe to David’s blog and you’ll get notified of the next one. David kindly offered a bonus for listeners of Unleashed who attend the Accelerator – if you attend the program and let him know you heard about the program on this show, he will schedule an hour-long, private one-on-one phone call with you to discuss your practice. David has been a popular guest on the show three times before: Episode 001, where David shares highlights from his book Episode 170, where David discusses how to make outbound calls And Episode 172, where David shares his approach to setting up a CRM system. If you are interested in hiring an independent consultant or joining a global community of independent consultants, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com    

A listener asked for advice on how to set fees, and here are my thoughts. In this episode I refer to, and strongly recommend, Chapter 22 of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom, by David A. Fields Visit askunleashed.com to sign up for the weekly Unleashed email - get a summary of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips.  

Our guest today is David A. Fields, Umbrex member and the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. In today’s episode, we discuss how to set up a CRM system for an individual consultant or boutique firm. A bit more than a year ago, I attended a training session that David led on this topic, and I set up my CRM system exactly that way he describes on this show. I’ve found the simple setup that David suggests incredibly useful, and I highly recommend it. While you can use his suggested setup with just about any program, I happen to use Pipedrive, which is the system that David uses and recommends to his clients.   David has a great blog that I highly recommend - check it out and subscribe at: https://www.davidafields.com/blog/  

Our guest today is David A. Fields, Umbrex member and the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. David was my guest on the very first episode of Unleashed and it was great to have him back on the show. In today’s episode, we discuss how to make outbound calls to the people in your network. It is so much more comfortable to send an email. It can be awkward to just pick up the phone and make a call. David argues that picking up the phone is an incredibly effective means to reach out. And that it is much more comfortable if you have a plan for how you want the call to go, and that’s exactly what David offers in this episode. In our discussion, David mentions a script outline that he uses when making outbound calls – you can download a copy of that call outline for free on his website at https://davidafields.com/outreachscripts While you are there, you might want to get access to the full script bank that David has created, and if you use the code Unleashed, you’ll get half off from now until June 1, 2019. If you like the show, I invite you to subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, where you’ll get summaries of each recent episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips. To sign up, go to askunleashed.com, or just shoot me an email at unleashed@umbrex.com

Scaling Up Services is a podcast devoted to helping founders, partners, CEOs, key executives, and managers of service-based businesses scale their companies faster and with less drama. Have each episode delivered to your inbox by subscribing here: http://www.scalingupservices.com/subscribe

059: Build Your Consulting Business with David A. Fields   David A. Fields started his career in marketing for GlaxoSmithKline before jumping into consulting at a boutique firm. David then co-founded Ascendant Consulting where he developed his “general contractor” model where he focuses on overall quality and relationship management for each project.   David and David dive into the business of consulting and how to be specific yet broad with your expertise. David also gives insight on any professional speaker or expert trying to get into the consulting business.   In This Episode, You'll Learn…   Shifting from expert to consultant Two things that are the core of consulting The advantages of having speaking experience when pursuing consulting Three things a consultant can do to create value How David built his consulting business Following the market Generalist vs. Specialist The Solo Practice Accelerator event Transition from corporate to solo Inbound and outbound outreach Where cold outreach can be effective David's favorite premises to initiating conversations with prospects     Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode   David's Website David's Cool Friends Link

Where are you on the spectrum? Talking Points It’s important to clarify for yourself why you’re offering speaking services The difference between a speaker and a consultant who speaks How speaking provides challenges for the speaker The differences between subject matter expert speaking and inspirational speaking The overlap between speaking skills and consulting skills How to know which things to say yes to and what to say no to How speaking fits into your business model Finding a balance between performance and content Knowing what the audience needs to know and filtering out extraneous details Keeping track of your stories, findings, and observations 
Quotable Quotes
 
 “The expertise that I gained from doing client work is what I would base my talks on.” –JS “I like the give and take of an audience, because it tests you in really good ways.” –RM “Knowing where you fall – it’s a strategic decision. It’s going to decide what things you say no to, and it’s going to be saying no to a lot of things, and then you’re left over with the things you actually have time to do well.” –JS “It’s helpful to understand where you are right now, because that will tell you what you need to do, and most importantly, which things to say yes to and which things to run screaming from.” –RM Related Links David A. Fields Steal the Show by Michael Port Flawless Consulting by Peter Block

This episode concludes our six-part podcast miniseries on how to improve the client experience. In this episode, I share tips on how to provide a great client experience during the post-project Episodes 129-133 cover the five phases of a project lifecycle: The proposal phase Onboarding / kickoff phase Project execution Wrap-up Post-project I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website: https://www.davidafields.com/ If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you’ll receive a summary checklist that includes the points from the whole miniseries https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

This is part five in a six-part podcast miniseries on how to improve the client experience. In this episode, I share tips on how to provide a great client experience during the wrap-up phase. Episodes 129-133 cover the five phases of a project lifecycle: The proposal phase Onboarding / kickoff phase Project execution Wrap-up Post-project I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website: https://www.davidafields.com/ If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you’ll receive a summary checklist that includes the points from the whole miniseries https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

This is part four in a six-part podcast miniseries on how to improve the client experience. In this episode, I share tips on how to provide a great client experience during the project execution phase. Episodes 129-133 cover the five phases of a project lifecycle: The proposal phase Onboarding / kickoff phase Project execution Wrap-up Post-project I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website: https://www.davidafields.com/ If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you’ll receive a summary checklist that includes the points from the whole miniseries https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

This is part three in a six-part podcast miniseries on how to improve the client experience.  In this episode, I share tips on how to provide a great client experience during the onboarding / kickoff phase. Episodes 129-133 cover the five phases of a project lifecycle: The proposal phase Onboarding / kickoff phase Project execution Wrap-up Post-project I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website: https://www.davidafields.com/ If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you’ll receive a summary checklist that includes the points from the whole miniseries. Sign up here: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

This is part 2 in a six-part podcast miniseries on how to improve the client experience. Episode 128 introduces the series. In this episode I discuss 29 suggestions for how to improve the client experience during the proposal phase. In Episodes 130-133, I'll be covering the next four phases in a project lifecycle: The proposal phase Onboarding / kickoff phase Project execution Wrap-up Post-project I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website: https://www.davidafields.com/ If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you'll receive a summary checklist that includes the points from the whole miniseries.  Sign up at: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

This episode introduces a six-part miniseries on steps consultants can take to improve the client's experience across the five phases of a consulting project: The proposal phase Onboarding / kickoff phase Project execution Wrap-up Post-project I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website: https://www.davidafields.com/ If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you'll receive a summary checklist of all the suggestions from this client experience miniseries.  To sign up, visit: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/   

Meet David A. Fields, author, speaker, and consulting firm expert. Talking Points How David got into the consulting space David’s website redesign David’s books, and the difference between the first and second books David’s writing process How books work as a marketing vehicle How David pictured his book fitting into his business model The difference between traditional publishing and self-publishing Advice for people who are considering writing a book What happens when you are the brand David’s story about speaking Speaking as a marketing tactic Quotable Quotes “What do you consider part of the writing process? Because there’s writing, then there’s rewriting, there’s having the beta readers give feedback and tweaking based on that.” –DF “If you want something fast, you get up on stage and you speak. If you want something enduring, you write.” –DF “It’s not worth holding back your book because you can’t get a publisher. If you’ve got a book to write, write the book.” –DF “I don’t consider myself a professional speaker. I’m a consultant who speaks.” –DF David's Bio David A. Fields is a true consultants' consultant who works with boutique consulting firms worldwide. He's a best selling author, speaker, consultant, and mentor. David also heads the Ascendant Consortium whose clients are who's who of the business world. Related Links David A. Fields

David is the author of The Irresistible Consultant's The Guide to Winning Clientsand The Executive Guide To Consulting. He joins us on the podcast today to discuss how to get better at the sales part of consulting. David's background was on the corporate side of marketing research and sales. He then became a consultant with a boutique firm and worked his way up to partner and then branched off with a colleague to start his own consulting practice of their own. His partner departed after only a matter of weeks, leaving him without a rainmaker to bring in clients. Tune in to hear the story of what steps he took to turn himself into a rainmaker and learn about the consortium model that made him a successful expert writing guides on how to make sales in consulting. This episode will have you rethinking how you write emails to clients and you'll learn to avoid common pitfalls by anticipating client's responses and getting everything on the table while negotiating.

Consultant, speaker and best-selling author David A. Fields helps build consulting practices that are lucrative and lifestyle-friendly. He has guided consultancies ranging from one-person startups to the consulting divisions of some of the world’s largest companies.David still advises corporate clients too as the leader of his firm, Ascendant Consulting. His latest book, The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients, is Amazon’s highest-rated book on the business of consulting released in the past 20 yearsLearn More: http://www.davidafields.comInfluential Influencers with Mike Saundershttp://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/

Consultant, speaker and best-selling author David A. Fields helps build consulting practices that are lucrative and lifestyle-friendly. He has guided consultancies ranging from one-person startups to the consulting divisions of some of the world’s largest companies.David still advises corporate clients too as the leader of his firm, Ascendant Consulting. His latest book, The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients, is Amazon’s highest-rated book on the business of consulting released in the past 20 yearsLearn More: http://www.davidafields.comInfluential Influencers with Mike Saundershttp://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/

Panel: Jonathan Stark Erik Dietrich In this episode of the Freelancers’ Show, the panelists discuss dealing with inbound communications, what to do if you’re getting too much and what to do if you’re not getting enough. They talk about how difficult it is to manage inbound communication, especially when there is a large amount coming in, the difference between using slack and email, and Gmail plugins to help organize incoming emails. They also touch on triaging your inbox, being honest with yourself as to what you actually will do on your to-do list, and more! In particular, we dive pretty deep on: Getting too much inbound communication VS not enough Needing better ways to manage inbound communication Very difficult to manage when there is a lot coming in Do you mean just email or multiple channels? What are your channels of inbound communication? Working on ways to optimize Moving urgent client communication to Slack The difference between Slack and Email Declaring email bankruptcy The ability to ignore email inbox Gmail plugins to help Buffering emails Only checking slack for paying customers Go in once a day to clean up your incoming communication Not knowing an email is there VS strenuously trying to avoid it The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss Getting Things Done – David Allen Triaging your inbox Only focus on the urgent to-dos Be honest with yourself so your to do list doesn’t get too long If you don’t feel the need to get to it within a week, it’s not that important Suffering from inbox overload To get less email, you can respond less frequently  And much, much more! Links: The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss Getting Things Done – David Allen Sponsors: FreshBooks Linode Picks: Jonathan Calendly Guide to Winning Clients by David A. Fields The Pricing Seminar Erik Getting Things Done SiteGround Calendly

Panel: Jonathan Stark Erik Dietrich In this episode of the Freelancers’ Show, the panelists discuss dealing with inbound communications, what to do if you’re getting too much and what to do if you’re not getting enough. They talk about how difficult it is to manage inbound communication, especially when there is a large amount coming in, the difference between using slack and email, and Gmail plugins to help organize incoming emails. They also touch on triaging your inbox, being honest with yourself as to what you actually will do on your to-do list, and more! In particular, we dive pretty deep on: Getting too much inbound communication VS not enough Needing better ways to manage inbound communication Very difficult to manage when there is a lot coming in Do you mean just email or multiple channels? What are your channels of inbound communication? Working on ways to optimize Moving urgent client communication to Slack The difference between Slack and Email Declaring email bankruptcy The ability to ignore email inbox Gmail plugins to help Buffering emails Only checking slack for paying customers Go in once a day to clean up your incoming communication Not knowing an email is there VS strenuously trying to avoid it The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss Getting Things Done – David Allen Triaging your inbox Only focus on the urgent to-dos Be honest with yourself so your to do list doesn’t get too long If you don’t feel the need to get to it within a week, it’s not that important Suffering from inbox overload To get less email, you can respond less frequently  And much, much more! Links: The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss Getting Things Done – David Allen Sponsors: FreshBooks Linode Picks: Jonathan Calendly Guide to Winning Clients by David A. Fields The Pricing Seminar Erik Getting Things Done SiteGround Calendly

Consultant and consultant to consultant David A. Fields shares wisdom from his latest book, The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients, including how to think "right side up", how to price deals, how he got started in sales, and more.

Guest David A. Fields shares a gold mine of practical advice on outreach, positioning, building authority, trust building, and more.

Winning new customers and securing more business from current customers is the lifeblood of your company. In this fun, freewheeling session, I discuss some surprising secrets of landing business with David A. Fields, whose Guide to Winning Clients has become a blockbuster. David A. Fields is a consultant, author, and possibly one of the most influential voices in consulting and consultative selling. His new book, The Irresistible Consultants' Guide to Winning Clients is the most highly recommended book on building a consulting practice released in over 30 years. Today's show is sponsored by Audible.com. Audible.com is a leading provider of spoken audio entertainment and information. Listen to audiobooks whenever and wherever you want. Get a free book when you sign up for a 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/businessgrowth.

jQuery(document).ready(function ($){var settings_ap19301653 = { design_skin: "skin-wave" ,autoplay: "off",disable_volume:"default" ,loop:"off" ,cue: "on" ,embedded: "off" ,preload_method:"metadata" ,design_animateplaypause:"off" ,skinwave_dynamicwaves:"off" ,skinwave_enableSpectrum:"off" ,skinwave_enableReflect:"on",settings_backup_type:"full",playfrom:"default",soundcloud_apikey:"" ,skinwave_comments_enable:"off",settings_php_handler:window.ajaxurl,skinwave_wave_mode:"canvas",pcm_data_try_to_generate: "on","pcm_notice": "off","notice_no_media": "on",design_color_bg: "111111",design_color_highlight: "ef6b13",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_waves_number: "3",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_waves_padding: "1",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_reflection_size: "0.25",skinwave_comments_playerid:"19301653",php_retriever:"https://myquestforthebest.com/wp-content/plugins/dzs-zoomsounds/soundcloudretriever.php" }; try{ dzsap_init(".ap_idx_5754_114",settings_ap19301653); }catch(err){ console.warn("cannot init player", err); } }); Founder of Ascendant Consulting David Fields and Bill Ringle discuss proven methods to winning clients for consultants. Key points that you’ll learn from this interview: Tried and tested ways of getting more prospects What it means to have “learning conversations” The number one attribute of a right prospect How to know it’s time to upgrade your network The 5 marketing musts in consulting. How to set a basic dashboard to measure outreach A better way to ask for referrals The significance of putting your client first [thrive_accordion_group title="Interview Insights"][thrive_accordion title="Click to Read the Show Notes" no="1/1" default="no"] 1:52 What David is excited about in his life and business right now. 2:10 “One of the benefits of running a small business is that the practice serves you if you do it right.” 3:28 How having a book in accessible spaces leads to an influx of inquiries. 4:15 What it means to have a learning conversation 5:21 “In order for me to remain a thought leader in consulting I have to talk to people and understand what they’re doing.” 5:58 Why David is interested in how people have failed. 6:51”You have to be willing to admit you don’t know, and you need to have a genuine desire to learn.” 7:44 “The obstacles are all internal.” 8:54 Why if you’re targeting smaller company prospects, you need to make sure they have big issues. 11:14 “The place to start is not by defining your target.” 11:20 “The number one attribute of a right prospect is that you can reach them.” 12:32 Why you need to reach the influencer and the decision maker and make A1 relationships. 13:47 Trade associations and the 5 marketing musts in consulting. 14:40 How David helped a small firm explode their business through trade associations. 16:14 Why trade media is still relevant. 17:18 Ways to measure the success of your outreach.” 18:08 “There’s a difference between goals and behaviors.” 20:10 “Most people absolutely suck at asking for referrals.” 21:53 “People who are interesting are people who are doing things.” 22:53 “Consulting is not about you.” 24:29 How you interact with people everyday, how you respond, affects your business. 25:49 “We are wired to think about ourselves.” 25:59 Lightning Round [/thrive_accordion][/thrive_accordion_group]   David Field's Bio David A. Fields works with boutique consulting firms and individual consultants across the globe that are eager to accelerate growth, increase profit and create lucrative, lifestyle-friendly practices. He has guided consultancies ranging from one-person startups to the consulting divisions of some of the world’s largest companies. David still advises corporate clients too. After climbing the ranks to become a partner at a prestigious consulting firm in Connecticut, David co-founded Ascendant Consulting, where he has attracted clients such as Abbott Laboratories, Church & Dwight, FMC, Warner Home Video,

jQuery(document).ready(function ($){var settings_ap19301653 = { design_skin: "skin-wave" ,autoplay: "off",disable_volume:"default" ,loop:"off" ,cue: "on" ,embedded: "off" ,preload_method:"metadata" ,design_animateplaypause:"off" ,skinwave_dynamicwaves:"off" ,skinwave_enableSpectrum:"off" ,skinwave_enableReflect:"on",settings_backup_type:"full",playfrom:"default",soundcloud_apikey:"" ,skinwave_comments_enable:"off",settings_php_handler:window.ajaxurl,skinwave_wave_mode:"canvas",pcm_data_try_to_generate: "on","pcm_notice": "off","notice_no_media": "on",design_color_bg: "111111",design_color_highlight: "ef6b13",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_waves_number: "3",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_waves_padding: "1",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_reflection_size: "0.25",skinwave_comments_playerid:"19301653",php_retriever:"https://myquestforthebest.com/wp-content/plugins/dzs-zoomsounds/soundcloudretriever.php" }; try{ dzsap_init(".ap_idx_5754_89",settings_ap19301653); }catch(err){ console.warn("cannot init player", err); } }); Founder of Ascendant Consulting David Fields and Bill Ringle discuss proven methods to winning clients for consultants. Key points that you’ll learn from this interview: Tried and tested ways of getting more prospects What it means to have “learning conversations” The number one attribute of a right prospect How to know it’s time to upgrade your network The 5 marketing musts in consulting. How to set a basic dashboard to measure outreach A better way to ask for referrals The significance of putting your client first Interview Insights Click to Read the Show Notes 1:52 What David is excited about in his life and business right now. 2:10 “One of the benefits of running a small business is that the practice serves you if you do it right.” 3:28 How having a book in accessible spaces leads to an influx of inquiries. 4:15 What it means to have a learning conversation 5:21 “In order for me to remain a thought leader in consulting I have to talk to people and understand what they’re doing.” 5:58 Why David is interested in how people have failed. 6:51”You have to be willing to admit you don’t know, and you need to have a genuine desire to learn.” 7:44 “The obstacles are all internal.” 8:54 Why if you’re targeting smaller company prospects, you need to make sure they have big issues. 11:14 “The place to start is not by defining your target.” 11:20 “The number one attribute of a right prospect is that you can reach them.” 12:32 Why you need to reach the influencer and the decision maker and make A1 relationships. 13:47 Trade associations and the 5 marketing musts in consulting. 14:40 How David helped a small firm explode their business through trade associations. 16:14 Why trade media is still relevant. 17:18 Ways to measure the success of your outreach.” 18:08 “There’s a difference between goals and behaviors.” 20:10 “Most people absolutely suck at asking for referrals.” 21:53 “People who are interesting are people who are doing things.” 22:53 “Consulting is not about you.” 24:29 How you interact with people everyday, how you respond, affects your business. 25:49 “We are wired to think about ourselves.” 25:59 Lightning Round   David Field's Bio David A. Fields works with boutique consulting firms and individual consultants across the globe that are eager to accelerate growth, increase profit and create lucrative, lifestyle-friendly practices. He has guided consultancies ranging from one-person startups to the consulting divisions of some of the world’s largest companies. David still advises corporate clients too. After climbing the ranks to become a partner at a prestigious consulting firm in Connecticut,

Host James Lott Jr talks with the author David A Fields on his book and the 6 steps to unlimited clients and financial Freedom! All consultants should listen to this podcast about "Right Side Up" Thinking!

Host James Lott Jr talks with the author David A Fields on his book and the 6 steps to unlimited clients and financial Freedom! All consultants should listen to this podcast about "Right Side Up" Thinking!

David A. Fields is Founder and Managing Director of The Ascendant Consortium, an organization that matches top-tier management consultants with consulting clients. He is also the author of The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. In this interview, we chronicle David’s consulting journey from the big firm to […] The post How to Think Right Side Up with David A. Fields appeared first on Boutique Growth.

Our guest today is Chris Doig, who has thought more about enterprise software selection than anyone else I know. I’d like to thank David A. Fields for introducing me to Chris. Chris is the co-founder and CEO of Wayferry, a boutique consulting firm with a very tight focus: their entire focus is on helping enterprise clients select software.  The firm has developed its own proprietary software and processes to support enterprise software selecton. Chris is also the author of a book that was published in October and is available on Amazon: “Rethinking Enterprise Software Selection: Stop buying square pegs for round holes.” For me, the takeaway from my conversation with Chris is broader than what I learned about software selection.  He is a great example of how a consultant can build a successful practice by carving out a niche to serve one pain point. I know at least a dozen firms that provide a range of IT consulting services. But I know just one person with an exclusive focus on enterprise software selection. So the next time one of my enterprise clients is trying to select software, guess who I’m going to call?

David A. Fields is the Managing Director of Ascendant Consortium, a group of elite, independent business consultants whose clients span the Fortune 500. He is the author of the new bestselling book The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. Named one of Advertising Age magazine’s “Marketing Top 100,” Fields has worked with consulting firms and individual consultants all over the world who are anxious to grow their practices and earn a steadier, more reliable income.   He has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, USA Today, CNNMoney and The Huffington Post, writes a monthly column for IndustryWeek and Consulting magazines. Fields is a sought-after speaker to national and international executive audiences.     Podcast Highlights Who is David Fields? David considers himself an “everyday hero”. After business school, David started in corporate America doing sales before getting into consulting and spinning off his own firm with a partner. After four weeks, his partner jumped ship and David found himself with a company that had virtually no clients. Some timely advice from a colleague which revealed David’s innate ability to sell consulting services changed the course of David’s business. What makes you different? David is willing to persevere and try again, even in the face of failure. Be willing to find help, ask for it and keep trying. David’s philosophy is that all the answers come from outside your life. As a consultant, it doesn’t matter what you want to do. It’s not about you, it’s about the clients. The Rise of the Independent Professional There are an abundance of role models for kids that are 15, 16, and 17 years old that have been successful in business that are driving a generation of independence. Why do so many consultants have challenges landing clients? Consultants are too focused on themselves instead of paying attention to the market. It’s not about all the things you can do, it’s about what the market needs you to solve. When you are very specific with what you do, people will call you first if they have that specific problem. You have to pick a problem that is pervasive enough and expensive enough that people want to solve. Why do consultants undercharge? In many cases, people are undercharging for their services. When you charge higher fees, you have the room to do whatever you need to get the client the best possible result. Whether or not you are undercharging is the hardest question to answer. Can you create a higher value? If so, you can charge larger amounts. Clients aren’t paying you by the hour, they are paying you for a specific results. You don’t charge the same for every client. Have standardized systems and approaches, not a standard list of services. Tailor your solution to your client to fit like a glove. Discovering what is driving your client better than the even know themselves will make you the obvious choice. Before you can make a sale and get more visibility, you have to make a bigger impact. Reference: The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom, David Fields David’s Takeaway Listen to the voice and manage it, address and test its concerns. We all have that voice but the question is: does it scare you or do you use it to help you move forward?     Links: www.winclientsnow.com www.davidafields.com Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please

David A. Fields joins us to share his insights into this very important topic. From the 5 Marketing Musts to The Turn, to what you should be doing immediately, you'll gather incredible ideas for improving your results. Best-selling author and acclaimed speaker, consultant, and mentor David A. Fields helps build lucrative, lifestyle-friendly consulting practices. He has guided consultancies ranging from one-person startups to the consulting divisions of some of the world’s largest companies. David still advises corporate clients too. Learn more at www.davidafields.com. Today's show is sponsored by Audible.com. Audible.com is a leading provider of spoken audio entertainment and information. Listen to audiobooks whenever and wherever you want. Get a free book when you sign up for a 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/businessgrowth.  

Accelerate! Expresso. It's a weekly round-up show that contains snippets from each interview from the previous week's slate of guests. These clips have been edited into tight, short show that will give you just a taste of the insights you missed if you didn't catch every episode of Accelerate! In this episode, you'll hear from excerpts from my conversations with the following experts: David A. Fields, John H. Johnson, Mike Kunkle, Amit Bendov, Bridget Gleason and Elise Mitchell.

The customer is always a priority, but sometimes we can lose sight of that in sales. In this episode, we consider how to avoid that trap.

During this hour with Marnie and special guest, David A. Fields, you’ll discover:   How to Identify a Hot Market for Your Firm & Become the Obvious Choice for Your Clients The One-Word Answer for Women Who Want to Win Clients: Discovery The Master Strategy for Creating Relationships Clients for Life: How to Identify Relationships Worth Nurturing How to Transform Relationships into Business Opportunities (7 Words) Right-Side Up Thinking: How to Instantly Shift to a Customer-Based Approach The Surprising Truth About Self-Confidence in Business Best-selling author and acclaimed speaker, consultant, and mentor David A. Fields has helped build lucrative, lifestyle-friendly consulting practices ranging from one-person startups to the consulting divisions of some of the world’s largest companies. Learn more at http://davidafields.com  

Host James Lott Jr talks with Managing Director of Ascendant Consortium David A Fields, who is the author of the book The Irresistible Consultants Guide To Winning Clients- 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients and Financial Freedom. Great tips!!

Host James Lott Jr talks with Managing Director of Ascendant Consortium David A Fields, who is the author of the book The Irresistible Consultants Guide To Winning Clients- 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients and Financial Freedom. Great tips!!

We’ve all brought consultants on board and found ourselves paying a bundle of billable time without ever seeing the kinds of results we were hoping for. David A Fields debunks the “we’ve always done it that way” approach to hiring consultants, and lays out a path to getting a great return on our investment. David is one of the world’s … Read more about this episode...

Dr. Linda McCarthy Ph.D in Metaphysical Counseling, Board Certified Life Strategies Coach with the American Assn. of Drugless Practitioners. She is a member of the American Holistic Medical Assn.,and Co-Author of the best-selling book “The Wellness Code” Eveline Pierre known as the Campaigner of Empowerment, Empowerment Expert, Speaker and Best Selling Author Adam Hewison President of INO.com and the co-creator of a set of online trading tools called MarketClub  Becki Saltzman confirmed that humor and provocation provide the superglue for remembering the best persuasive techniques. These tools in hand, she went off to become a buyer for a major department store and then to conquer the world of real estate  David A. Fields one of the world's leading authorities on using outside experts such as consultants, coaches and agencies. He is author of the highly acclaimed book, The Executive's Guide to Consultants  Brian LaCorte intellectual property partner in Ballard Spahr's. He focuses on patent, trademark, and copyright litigation as well as IP transactional work