Three Proven Ways to Position a Professional Services Firm

Three Proven Ways to Position a Professional Services Firm

Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

BCE (Hons.) ( Jadavpur ), MTech ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), PhD ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), Cert.MTERM ( AIT Bangkok ), CEng(I), FIE, FACCE(I), FISH, FIWRS, FIPHE, FIAH, FAE, MIGS, MIGS – Kolkata Chapter, MIGS – Chennai Chapter, MISTE, MAHI, MISCA, MIAHS, MISTAM, MNSFMFP, MIIBE, MICI, MIEES, MCITP, MISRS, MISRMTT, MAGGS, MCSI, MMBSI

Chairman and Managing Director,

MultiSpectra Consultants,

23, Biplabi Ambika Chakraborty Sarani,

Kolkata – 700029, West Bengal, INDIA.

E-mail: dramartyakumar@gmail.com

The decision of how to position a professional services firm is actually a collection of decisions made over time. These choices become more strategic and more expensive as the firm grows but they are made at thousands of points along the way nonetheless. The question really is: are they made proactively or reactively?

How Positioning Evolves Within a Firm

It starts at the firm's founding when the principal makes the decision to hang out a "shingle" and attracts his first client. The nature of these early client relationships establishes a precedent for the type of work and type of clientele the firm continues to service for years to come. And, rarely are those first client decisions strategic choices. In fact, usually the early clients of the firm are not really selected and attracted; they are pursued and sold in a desire to survive.

Over time, the firm grows - adding new clients in new industries and applying new service remedies which require different people and different skills. Along the way, the firm tells itself that it is highly differentiated and well positioned - after all the firm is growing and winning new clients. "We have better client service," it says. "We do things better (faster or cheaper) than the big boys! We are more accommodating! We are more flexible!"

One day, twenty or thirty years hence, the firm leadership looks around and asks itself a few difficult, yet fundamental questions. The questions themselves are never quite the same but generally speaking they sound something like this:

How did we get in THIS business?

Why are we providing THAT service?

Why are we pursuing THOSE clients?

The amount of time it takes to get here varies and the size of the firm at this point is largely irrelevant. Regardless, this is the moment when positioning stops being reactive and starts being proactive.

Three Fundamental Positioning Models

At this point, the task of positioning moves from being a situational one (how can we win this piece of business with that client?) to being a strategic one (what business are we actually in?). The decision becomes a matter of strategic focus and is about directing the firm's expertise in a given direction such that it can attract a selection of high-value clients.

Ultimately, the firm realises that it can only truly own one simple idea in the minds of its clients. Generally speaking, that simple idea is the collective expertise the firm offers to the market. Deciding what that expertise is becomes the fundamental task of positioning. While generally the decision is not quite this simplistic, there are three simple ways to think about positioning a firm.

#1 - Horizontal Positioning

Generally the simplest approach to position a firm is by building deep expertise in a relatively narrow service offering that has high value to a wide range of clientele across a variety of industries. I say this approach is the simplest positioning strategy because it doesn't necessarily ask the firm to radically change itself. The professionals in the firm are asked to deepen their knowledge in a topic they presumably love - some narrow portion of the profession they have set out to do.

That said, if the fundamental goal of positioning is to attract high-value clients, then it has become increasingly difficult to do this solely by positioning around a narrow service offering. As an example, perform a Google search on the topic of "analytics and data mining consulting." The resulting string yields over 25M hits. One of the subsequent links provides over 150 firms claiming competency in this somewhat narrow IT service offering.

Despite all the noise, it is possible to identify firms having success with this strategy. If you perform a Google search on the topic, "salesforce consulting firms" you’ll find about 1.2M hits. While this is still a daunting list, after clicking through a few firms the user quickly finds out that most firms offering this service are just IT generalists trying to express some modest expertise in this area. After a few clicks, one finds Red Sky Solutions (www.redskysolutions.com), a Los Angeles-based firm that specialises in sales automation specifically utilising the Salesforce platform. The message is clear and simple, "We partner with clients to implement and customize the following salesforce.com offerings..." The proof is equally clear and simple - 250 Salesforce projects within just the first 2 years of operations (and that was 7 years ago). Most attempts to proactively position a professional services firm take this first approach, though few do it as well as Red Sky Solutions.

#2 - Vertical Positioning

The second approach to positioning is to align the firm’s resources to serve a range of needs for clients within one or a handful of select industry verticals. Generally speaking, this is a market-based strategy. The firm effectively owns the market it serves in the minds of its clients. One of the best single examples of this is the power-focused engineering firm, Sargent & Lundy. Sargent & Lundy can describe its expertise in simple yet meaningful units of measure: it has led the design of 927 power plants totalling 135,643 MW of energy. This experience is tangible and real to the client. It's worth noting that the firm has ridden this single market focus for over 120 years and has derived ~$500M in revenue annually from this strategy (equivalent to ~8-10% of the US market for these services).

While this method to positioning is generally the most successful one, less than 5% of professional service firms in a given industry has the courage to position itself in this manner. This is due to the fact that it requires the professionals in the firm to learn quite a bit about something they often do not care much about - their clients. While all firms talk about how well they understand a client's business, very few actually commit themselves to building deep expertise through the methods of listening to clients, reading their industry publications and attending their relevant professional conferences. Even if they do all these things, few have built systematic approaches to sharing this insight firm-wide to build the collective knowledge of the firm's people to truly be experts.

#3 - Positioning Through Business Model Innovation

The third approach to positioning is to innovate an entirely new business model to serve clients in a new or novel way. Since this is a bit more difficult to wrap your head around, I shall offer a more detailed example.

QStart Labs

At first glance, QStart Labs is just another software development firm. But, as you look more closely, you realise that the firm has created an entirely new business model for providing this service. Essentially, it is part developer, part investor and part entrepreneur. The firm contracts with venture-backed startups over multi-year terms through revenue-share arrangements. That sounds confusing, but it is really quite simple - the firm knows a boat load about how to get a new software product to market so they are willing to share in the risk (and reward) of a new venture. Now, the interesting part is that while the revenue share model was built to serve the needs of startup companies, it has enabled the firm to open relationships with companies of all sizes and types that are interested in a unique type of relationship with a software development firm.

While this approach to positioning generally creates the most value for the client and has potential to create the most growth, it is by far the most difficult path. The skill sets required to innovate a business model generally start with the difficult decisions made to build deep, meaningful expertise in a narrow area of service or a narrow market. The folks at QStart Labs built significant chops by working closely with a number of VCs to take products to market over a number of years - skill sets you do not just build overnight.

A Fourth Approach for the Remaining 0.5% - "The Big Idea"

Wait a minute. Isn’t the title of the article, "Three Proven Ways to Position a Professional Services Firm?" In actuality, there is a fourth way to position a firm but it is reserved for a very small collection of very well established firms in a marketplace. These are the firms that have already risen above the noise and grown to a significant level of status in the marketplace. They are seen as leaders and the phrase, "nobody ever got fired for hiring [insert firm name]" is a phrase used regularly in the space. Many of these firms are quite generalist in nature but grew at a time when demand for their expertise far exceeded the available supply of it. They exploited this opportunity by being the most professional consultants in the room.

This 0.5% of firms in any professional category has already been defined. There is no room for additional firms to join this rank. For this small set of firms, it is quite effective to position around "the big idea." The firms that have been most successful with this approach are, of course, Accenture and IBM. Accenture has done it by positioning itself as "the firm to achieve high performance." And IBM has followed with its campaign "for a smarter planet." Both approaches position around a "big idea" that is much greater than the underlying expertise of the collective resources within either firm. That said, it is the collective expertise and talent of each firm that enables it to deliver on the lofty message declared through the positioning.

This approach to positioning could best be described as "do not try this at home." Positioning any firm in the remaining 99.5% in this way sets the firm up for disappointment when marketing initiatives fail to deliver the outcomes sought by the firm leadership.

The Difference Between an Intern and an Employee

The Difference Between an Intern and an Employee

Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

BCE (Hons.) ( Jadavpur ), MTech ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), PhD ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), Cert.MTERM ( AIT Bangkok ), CEng(I), FIE, FACCE(I), FISH, FIWRS, FIPHE, FIAH, FAE, MIGS, MIGS – Kolkata Chapter, MIGS – Chennai Chapter, MISTE, MAHI, MISCA, MIAHS, MISTAM, MNSFMFP, MIIBE, MICI, MIEES, MCITP, MISRS, MISRMTT, MAGGS, MCSI, MMBSI

Chairman and Managing Director,

MultiSpectra Consultants,

23, Biplabi Ambika Chakraborty Sarani,

Kolkata – 700029, West Bengal, INDIA.

E-mail: dramartyakumar@gmail.com

The desire to help up-and-coming professionals often creates an interest in developing Internship programmes. However, there is a lot of misinformation about Internships in the marketplace.

Companies Train Interns and Hire Employees

In other words, be clear about the outcomes you expect from your Internship programme. There are six criteria from the U.S. Department of Labor to help guide the analysis of whether the Intern must be paid:

1. The Internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;

2. The Internship experience is for the benefit of the Intern;

3. The Intern does not displace regular employees but works under close supervision of existing staff;

4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the Intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;

5. The Intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the Internship; and

6. The employer and the Intern understand that the Intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the Internship.

If you determine that you do in fact want to create an Internship programme, here are some pointers:

The outcome of an Internship programme should be solely based on training of the Intern according to a pre-defined curriculum.

If you want to hire an individual to temporarily perform a specific job function within your organization, then that individual should be considered an employee, not an Intern. As such, all employment related rules apply. And, as an employee, that individual cannot agree to waive their rights, especially not in writing.

If you have an unpaid Intern temporarily working within your company to perform a specific job or role, this “unpaid Internship” role poses a long term liability exposure for your business, creating issues with wage and hour regulations, workers’ compensation and welfare benefit.

There are limited circumstances when an Intern is unpaid. However, if your situation meets the criteria below, the individual could be considered unpaid and not an “employee” per se.

How does an Unpaid Internship Programme Work?

It involves training an individual based on a curriculum you establish.

A company provides training to an Intern similar to that which would be provided in a vocational school even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer. In other words, every Internship programme needs to be based upon a curriculum.

Company provided training is for the benefit of the Intern, not the business.

Interns do not displace regular employees, but rather work under close supervision. In other words, Interns do not perform a job function which could be identified as a job function of a staff position.

The company providing the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the Intern, and on occasion, the company’s operations may actually be impeded. In other words, Interns do not produce work product or otherwise contribute to the outcome of the service or product produced by the company.

The Intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the completion of the Internship programme; and

The company and the Intern understand that the Interns are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training.

At a time when so many companies are streamlining work processes and maintaining lean teams, it is challenging for any business to meet the criteria established for “unpaid Internship” programmes.

A Suggested Approach for how a Paid Internship Programme could Work

It involves hiring an individual for a designated period of time.

The company agrees to hire an individual for a definitive period of time, clearly identified with a starting and ending date.

The company pays the individual minimum wage (or more).

The company creates a structured programme that benefits both the Intern and the company, including hands-on work and specific vocational training.

The company makes no commitment to hire Interns that complete the Internship programme.

Getting a Job using Your Failed Startup

Getting a Job using Your Failed Startup

Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

BCE (Hons.) ( Jadavpur ), MTech ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), PhD ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), Cert.MTERM ( AIT Bangkok ), CEng(I), FIE, FACCE(I), FISH, FIWRS, FIPHE, FIAH, FAE, MIGS, MIGS – Kolkata Chapter, MIGS – Chennai Chapter, MISTE, MAHI, MISCA, MIAHS, MISTAM, MNSFMFP, MIIBE, MICI, MIEES, MCITP, MISRS, MISRMTT, MAGGS, MCSI, MMBSI

Chairman and Managing Director,

MultiSpectra Consultants,

23, Biplabi Ambika Chakraborty Sarani,

Kolkata – 700029, West Bengal, INDIA.

E-mail: dramartyakumar@gmail.com

If you are a young engineer or an engineering student, this piece of writing has been written with you in mind.

Failure does not mean that you have inability to do something. Especially in the tricky waters of entrepreneurship, an unsuccessful attempt in business cannot be linked to the incompetence of the initiator. When people start a business and for some reason they fail, they think of it as a stigma on their career and feel that it will barricade their chances of success in their future. I, however, think just the opposite. Initiating an entrepreneurial endeavour takes a lot courage and commitment. Also, the success of a startup banks on a number of factors that may or may not include the entrepreneur himself. In this article, I am going to discuss as to how you can use your failed attempt at a business startup to convince a potential employer of your abilities while applying for a job.

1. You have got unique experience

The world out there is full of experienced professionals looking for a job and many of them have an experience much greater than yours. However, when you go out into the job market there will be only a handful of people ( and in some cases, none at all ) who can match the kind of experience you have in starting a startup. You can highlight the fact that unlike other applicants, your experience goes beyond coming to office in the morning to do the same job every day. Your experience is rather versatile owing to entrepreneurial responsibilities you undertook while establishing your startup. Your potential employer would see your overlapping experience of, for instance being an engineer and a financial manager and a creative professional at the same time, as evidence of your being a multi-tasker and poly-skilled professional.

2. You are a go-getter

I have heard many employers and business managers complain as to how their employees lack the ability to take an initiative. Peeping into the psychology of business owners, it is found that most of them are go-getter types and so they appreciate the people who like to take initiatives. Coming from an entrepreneurial background, you are automatically characterised as someone who had the guts to start a business, regardless of its failure. If you highlight this point, your potential employer could take you as a professional who would welcome new ideas and business initiatives as compared to other employees.

3. You are reasonably resourceful

Establishing a startup involves tapping a number of resources. You connect with people in the niche market and work with different professionals like communication designers, corporate lawyers, secretarial staff, etc. So, even though the enterprise you establish does not go as it should, you make a good number of contacts along the way. Your potential employer could see you as a resourceful and well-connected person as compared to rest of his employees. Although business owners and employers are quite sufficient in their own resources, however, it is always good to have a few more, through you.

4. You can put yourself in their shoes

Employees cannot understand the position of the business owner and the difficult decisions he has to make daily - not unless someone has been into almost the same situation as the business owner. This is something that makes you, a former entrepreneur, different than other run-of-the-mill employees. If, for instance, your boss takes a certain decision that apparently seems bad to the employees, you will be able to see through things and have a better understanding about the decision because you may have been in a similar position previously as an entrepreneur. This aspect of yours, if marketed correctly, is something that your potential employer would really like.

5. You are accustomed to work challenges

In the life of an entrepreneur every single day is a challenge, especially when you are trying to build a business. The whole process runs like an obstacle course. These inter-laced tasks brush up your problem solving skills as well as the ability to work under pressure and these are the exact characteristics job opening advertisements ask for in the applicant. Being through the process of establishing a business, your potential employer would see you as one who is accustomed to professional challenges and would not hesitate to take up new ones.

6. You are not the ‘giving up’ sort

To start a business with great zeal and then see your dream fall apart is a matter of great psychological pain. Besides, there is a great loss of time and money. Even after such a disappointment, if a person gathers himself up and shows willingness to take part in other endeavours, it certainly shows that he is not ready to drop out of the race as yet. Willingness to start over is considered a valuable feature in an employee and this is what you show when you apply for a job after having a failed startup. You can convince your potential employer that when you did not stop working after such a major set-back, you will certainly not stop when trying to overcome the obstacles in your job.

To conclude

After experiencing a failed startup, when you go out looking for a job, you should have no reason to shy away from your entrepreneurial attempt. You should rather build on this experience and make the most of it. After all, a startup can fail to take off for any reason. There are many cases in which the person who initiated the startup was hardworking and visionary - however he may not have been able to get suitable people to help him or he may have faced a lack of resources and so the business landed in a pitfall. Therefore, when applying for a job, you can take your unsuccessful attempt at entrepreneurship as a blessing in disguise because unlike other applicants, your cover letter would not just ‘say’ such things as "multi-tasker", "team player" and "can work under pressure". Your entrepreneurial background would certainly vouch for it too.

Eight Traits of Exceptionally Motivated Entrepreneurs

Eight Traits of Exceptionally Motivated Entrepreneurs

Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya

BCE (Hons.) ( Jadavpur ), MTech ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), PhD ( Civil ) ( IIT Kharagpur ), Cert.MTERM ( AIT Bangkok ), CEng(I), FIE, FACCE(I), FISH, FIWRS, FIPHE, FIAH, FAE, MIGS, MIGS – Kolkata Chapter, MIGS – Chennai Chapter, MISTE, MAHI, MISCA, MIAHS, MISTAM, MNSFMFP, MIIBE, MICI, MIEES, MCITP, MISRS, MISRMTT, MAGGS, MCSI, MMBSI

Chairman and Managing Director,

MultiSpectra Consultants,

23, Biplabi Ambika Chakraborty Sarani,

Kolkata – 700029, West Bengal, INDIA.

E-mail: dramartyakumar@gmail.com

The highly motivated live for more than just earning money; they live to have an impact. Money can only be so motivating before it becomes shallow and meaningless. The highly motivated feel a deep sense of purpose and are compelled to manifest what they feel, vision and seek. It is this deep feeling which fuels their motivation; after all, e-motion equates to energy in motion.

1. Take full responsibility.

In a society quick to make excuses where people blame everything from their childhood to the government for their lack of success, the highly motivated refuse to buy into any type of mentality that would make someone other than themselves responsible for their success or lack of it. The highly motivated never give their power over to outside people, events for circumstances.

Motivated individuals live by the simple mantra “it is up to me.” They understand that other opinions do not have to become their reality and make the choice to lay the future of their success completely within their own grasp. The idea of being fully responsible may be daunting, but more than daunting, the highly motivated find this pressure inspiring. Certainly, there will be things in life they cannot control, such as nature, the past and other people but it is for this reason they take full responsibility for directing their thoughts, emotions, choices and actions.

2. Live with clear intent.

The key ingredient which sets the highly motivated apart from others is they live their lives intentionally. They are doing what they believe they were placed upon this earth to do. They know their purpose and they live it on purpose. Having a sense of purpose in life is one of the most important elements in becoming a fully evolved human being. The exceptionally motivated feel the most alive when they are doing what they love.

Because they live on purpose, their entire life is directed towards doing their job right and to the very best of their ability. They love what they do and it shows. Their conviction is as evident as it is persuasive. It helps them draw the right people into their lives to partner with. Because they live with clear intention, with their focus largely on bringing value into the lives of others, the money takes care of itself.

3. Willingness to sacrifice.

The highly motivated rarely question if they are willing to pay the price to get them the success they seek. The greatest difference between the successful and unsuccessful is finding out what it will cost them to make their goals a reality. The successful are relentless in their efforts to making their dreams a reality and they will not be heard complaining about the effort or time it takes to do what they need to do. The successful are clear on the why’s of what they do. Their why’s provide the deeper meaning responsible for sustaining their motivation. They understand they can get practically anything they want out of life - if they are willing to pay the price.

4. Stay focused.

All of us are overloaded with tasks, messages and emails vying for our time. This is why the ability to stay focused is essential for achievement. All things are important and love should always come first, which is why the highly motivated remain clear on their priorities. They know where and how to invest their time to achieve their big pay-offs down the road. They organise their time in a way which allows them to focus on their passions while also being able to sustain the support they need.

Motivated individuals create a supportive team to keep them focused and pointed in the direction of their larger purpose. Again, motivation is contagious so it doesn’t matter who it is - everyone becomes an essential part of their journey. The highly motivated stay close to their goals, involve those closest to them in their passions and create a crusade. They spend a significant amount of time focusing on and visioning their bigger picture making it reality. Like any habit, staying focused becomes easier the more it is practised.

5. Become an expert.

The highly motivated study their field with fervour and passion. They know it better than anyone else and are on the continual search for knowledge. Many of these individuals find a way to share their purpose in whatever forum best suited for them; coaching, mentoring, speaking, teaching, blogging, writing, TV, radio, etc. They make it a point to share their information with as many as possible. The exceptionally motivated believe in education and in the idea that people need to learn and love to learn.

6. Written and spoken maps.

The highly motivated put their dreams into written form. In doing this they create an action plan which puts them on the path to where they want to go. They are well aware that goals which are not written down are most often not achieved. When goals are written they become real as if writing them down creates a signed contract. Not only are they writing their goals down but the highly motivated also make use of “auto suggestion” and read their goals out loud daily. Speaking them serves to reprogramme their unconscious mind re-directing their thinking towards their bigger picture. As they communicate their goals, their goals become real and they develop a deeper belief in them, thereby, increasing their motivation to achieve them.

7. Keep going.

Passion drives perseverance. It may sound simple but the highly motivated are truly passionate about what they have set out to achieve because they can see the value it will have on those whom they seek to benefit. Because the deeper purpose of their mission has the potential to bring value to the world, thoughts of stopping or giving up never enter as ideas for consideration. The highly motivated hold a vision of what they want and do all they can to ensure their vision is bulletproof to frustration, doubt, confusion, rejection and failures. The road to success is not an easy one but nor does it have to be arduous. The exceptionally motivated live for their mission which makes each part of their journey useful and worth it.

8. Don’t delay.

The highly motivated are acutely aware that time is limited. They understand they do not have forever to live and manifest their dreams. The clock is ticking - the time is now - there are no time-outs and sooner or later their number is going to be called. Motivated individuals know this but rather than seeing this as something negative or depressing they use it to spur them on to go after what they want as energetically and as passionately as possible.

Success is one thing, and for the exceptionally motivated it is a great thing, but what is even more important to these individuals is having an impact. They are driven by a deeper emotional component of serving a purpose larger than themselves. Having an impact is what drives the desire to turn their purpose into a crusade. For this reason, they are willing to suffer, sacrifice and succeed as long as their success brings value. It is their primary motivation to be free in advancing their own lives and those of others. It is their desire to live uninhibited and to express and fulfil their purpose. It is this deeply felt purpose which drives their motivation. They seek to leave a legacy of great significance.