Consulting Growth

Dan Cuprill

Email Marketing For Professional Services Firms with Michael Katz

Want to stay in touch with your clients, build your and your firm's reputation, and have people tell you when they're ready to work with you? A newsletter is a great way to do it.  That's exactly what Michael Katz does: email marketing and email newsletters for small professional services firms. He's an email expert, having sent his first email newsletter in 1999.  In this episode of Consulting Growth, Michael talks about how his approach to email marketing, including: How to bui...

Communication for Quiet Leaders with Tom Yorton

Leadership, like personalities, comes in different shapes and sizes. Introversion or extroversion is not about how shy or social you are; it is about how you derive your energy.   Introverted leaders who struggle with communication, succeed when they understand the underlying needs and benefits for those they lead.   Today, our guest is Tom Yorton of Shyne Advisors. Tom works with introverted leaders in order to help them develop the skills to become better leaders and become thei...

Brand Purpose For Your Clients and Agency with Betsy Henning of Aha

A brand’s purpose should be the center of attention in order to gain success. A brand with a strong purpose not only helps the overall good of society but also helps customers know what they stand for through purpose-driven brand actions. In a world in which consumers can quickly find out if a brand is acting on their promise, it is crucial for brands to be transparent, create connections and a strong relevance with their consumers. Today, our guest is Betsy Henning - Marketing Dir...

Building Diverse Teams with Elena Christopoulos

There is an increasing body of evidence that diverse teams of varying racial and ethnic makeup produce better results. They perform better financially, gain a competitive edge when recruiting top talent, experience less employee turnover, and offer greater benefits for those they serve. Today, our guest is Elena Christopoulos. A very busy consultant who builds project teams and bring diversity to her team. She also applied diversity in her political career. And she believed strongl...

How to Establish Authority with Bob Lalasz

One of the most powerful ways to establish authority is through thought leadership. It is all about sharing ideas, insights and valuable information to your target audience with the goal of solving their problem and improve lives. Being a respected expert is essential in new customer acquisition and retention. Acting as a visionary expert makes it possible to build a reputation within a certain field and forges a relationship of trust. In this episode, we'll be talking about: How...

Building a Personal Brand While Running a Successful Agency with Kurt Schmidt

A personal brand is one of the most powerful ways to differentiate you and your company from the competition. Developing a personal brand in the digital age requires a whole lot of time, strategy, and patience. My guest today is Kurt Schmidt of The Foundry, who prides himself on being an inspirational leader who solves problems in a way that builds culture and delivers diverse breakthroughs. In this episode, we discuss: Why you should invest in personal branding Why companies sh...

Lead Qualification Process That's Automatic, with Tom Miller

Leads can be acquired in many different ways, from referrals through customers, white papers, social media and more. Deploying a survey with customized questions will help you be sure that you're only talking to the most qualified people, who are most likely to buy. My guest today is Tom Miller, founder of Email for Experts. He will share his way of qualifying leads using surveys. In this episode, we'll be talking about: How conducting a survey can help you qualify leads How to ...

Conference Networking Tips with Andy Storch

One of the main reasons we go to conferences is to make new relationships. Understanding how to network at a conference, and going in with the right strategy, can be a turning point for your business or career. My guest today is Andy Storch, from Advantage Performance Group. He reveals his strategy to network efficiently at conferences. In this episode, we'll be talking about: How to prepare for a conference What to do during the conference How to follow-up properly Why invest...

Using Marketing Events to Establish Authority, with Erin Joy

We've covered in previous episodes how to build your authority in your market and what efforts are needed to do so. Here's something you can add to that list: marketing events. Getting your business's name out there can be challenging, but if you have an event organized that's intriguing to guests before they even arrive, you're on the right track, my friends. My guest today is Erin Joy, owner and founder of Black Dress Circle in St. Louis, Missouri. In the past 8 years, Erin's bus...

How to Become a Keynote Speaker with James Taylor

If you've ever wondered how to become a keynote speaker, it may come as no surprise that it's not a linear journey. To speak on a certain topic in your field and establish yourself as an expert takes quite a bit of effort and self-reflection, as well. From managing bands and touring around the world, to becoming an international keynote speaker, my guest today shares a bit about his journey. James Taylor has been an international keynote speaker for the past 20 years, speaking on c...

Building a Thriving Professional Community with Will Bachman

As an independent consultant, it's important to have a strong network and professional community you can lean on and work with when needed. There are so many benefits to building a community in your network beyond the possibility of landing more projects. My guest today is Will Bachman, co-founder of Umbrex. Umbrex is an online community of independent management consultants. As a former consultant at McKinsey, Will shares his experience working with a team versus working independe...

The Emotional Side of Being Acquired with Alex McClafferty

Being acquired may seem like you've struck gold—literally, and figuratively—in your business. What most people don't focus on, though, are the downsides to being acquired. You might be thinking, "there's no way being acquired can have cons," when in actuality the results may surprise you. My guest today is Alex McClafferty of Productize.co. Alex is sharing his experience of his company, WP Curve, being acquired by GoDaddy, and the emotional results of the process. He shares a deepl...

Client Relationship Building Skills with John Doherty of Credo

Some consulting firms have the "juice," others…maybe don’t. The way you sell and the way you market yourself has a big influence on whether or not your potential clients think you have the "juice." Your client relationship building skills may need to be spruced up a bit. My guest today is John Doherty, founder of Credo. Credo is a marketplace for clients to hire pre-vetted marketing professionals for a variety of consulting and agency needs. John shares with us specific tips like h...

SEO Techniques for Consulting Firms with Jeremiah Smith

The value in SEO is that you can be found online by people who have no idea who you are, but as it turns out, coming up in the top 3 slots on Google is actually pretty difficult. Surely, there are plenty of SEO techniques to incorporate here, and that's exactly what my guest today is sharing. Jeremiah Smith is the CEO & Co-founder of SimpleTiger, an SEO company helping SaaS companies be found online. Jeremiah shares what he knows about SEO, how he applies it to his consulting firm,...

Winning Pitches With Big Companies, with Robby Berthume

As the saying goes, "You win some, you lose some," but what about the companies that seem to win all the time? In your sales process, winning pitches is undoubtedly the goal, but knowing how to approach pitches proactively will make all the difference. My guest today is Robby Berthume, CEO of Bull & Beard, an agency collective. As an agency "matchmaker," Robby's role is primarily in the sale itself; joining in on conversations and pitches between agency and client. Robby brings his...

SEO For Creative Agencies With Chris Bolton

Running a creative agency requires much more than just being creative. Having a good sense of business development and strategy will make for a smooth run of your agency; at least that's what my guest, Chris Bolton, is sharing with us today. Chris is the Strategy Director at Murmur Creative, a creative agency right here in Portland, OR. His experience of building a business mostly through SEO and an "in the trenches" method has generated most of their leads, and continues to do so ...

Sales Proposals That Win With Reuben Swartz

If you've drafted sales proposals that generated no response, chances are you're not putting your best effort forward. Reuben Swartz, founder of Mimiran, is my guest today and he's sharing his top tips for creating sales proposals that win. A key component of drafting and creating proposals starts with a story. If you're just unloading chunks of information, chances are the person reading your proposal will get bored. To keep them on their toes and invested in what you have to offe...

Establish Authority With (Truly) Useful Marketing with Mark O'Brien

When you’re starting from scratch, you want to be sure you’re taking the right steps to establish expertise in your market. Creating useful content that captures a point of view will not only help to strengthen your company’s positioning but also help others within your market. My guest today is Mark O’Brien, CEO of Newfangled, and he’s sharing how to establish expertise with useful content no matter where you are in your business. Mark’s company works to create the systems and hab...

Agency Culture with Robert Glazer of Acceleration Partners

Agency culture becomes increasingly important as the firm grows in size and value. While some may think of the in-office perks like craft beer on tap and foosball tables, culture is really about being clear on what the company stands for. My guest today is Robert Glazer, CEO of Acceleration Partners, and he's sharing how he's building his company's culture, the lessons he's learned growing his marketing firm, and how he's working to create a culture he loves that excites him and hi...

Brand Storytelling with Donna Griffit

Brand strategy or brand guidelines are often more familiar terms, but brand storytelling is something businesses should focus on. The narrative your business tells makes what you do more relatable to people on the outside. Rather than try to set your brand apart with "business-y language," as my guest Donna Griffit says, she's here to tell businesses it's the story that matters. Donna is a corporate storyteller, working with startups and all kinds of companies to help them improve ...

Why CRM Failures Happen with Jon Lee of Copper

Some tools work better than others. Figuring out the best one for your business can be a series of trial and error. Rather than let CRM failures happen, you could find the one that's the best fit for your business. Jon Lee, CEO of Copper, is my guest today, and he's explaining why CRM failures happen, how they can be avoided, and how you can leverage CRM to grow your business. And no; no tedious, tiring data entry is required here! In this episode, we'll discuss: How to avoid CRM...

Creating an Automatic Business with Brad Martineau

Automation has become a business buzzword for many in recent years, but what should be the term in focus is an automatic business. My guest today is Brad Martineau of Sixth Division, and he's sharing how optimizing and managing an automatic business can deliver impactful experiences to your customers. If you want this business model to work for you, your vision of how it will operate should be clearly laid out. Brad walks us through the steps of creating the ideal automatic busines...

How to Become an Expert with David C. Baker

You're the best at what you do and have the resume to prove it, but still, you wonder how to become an expert, or at least, be considered as one. What are the qualifications or characteristics? David C. Baker, also known as the "expert's expert" according to the New York Times, joins me today to talk about how to establish yourself as an expert. David is the author of The Business of Expertise, an "expertise manifesto" that motivates and encourages entrepreneurs to become experts t...

How to Get Acquired with Nick Ellsmore

Welcome to the very first episode of Consulting Growth! My guest today is Nick Ellsmore, CEO of Hivint, an information security consulting firm in Australia. Nick brings his experience of starting and selling two companies, the steps he took that led to two major acquisitions. While starting a business with an exit strategy in mind is typically not the first item on the agenda, Nick shares with us how to get acquired, in addition to the importance of being prepared, and sustaining ...