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Businesses operate in circumstances which are caused as a result of macro- and micro-economic factors. Macro-economic factors are due to myriad forces such as political stability and unforeseen natural calamities upon which businesses have little or no control. For instance, businesses have little control over oil price hikes caused as a result of war in certain parts of the world.

Micro economic forces are those which act upon the industry or firm. Businesses may react by seeking and allocating internal resources to prompt a strategy to solve them. In most cases, a business may not have the resource as the firm itself runs with optimal resources. Management consultants pitch in for such situations with their valuable expertise and resources. They have resources according to the industry and function. Purchasing consultants have expertise in the areas of supply chain management of different industries.

In most of the organizations, purchasing reports to operations. Hence most of the management consultants who have operations expertise consulted on problems related to purchasing. Purchasing consultancy evolved from the need for IT in purchasing function and the transition from tactical to strategic function. As IT was integrated into the business functions, firms needed to know the level of automation and the different systems available in the market.

Globalization and competition forced the purchasing from a transition role to a strategic role: from cutting costs to managing suppliers, from confrontational behavior to collaborative. This necessitated strategies to engage the suppliers, evaluate them based on the new criteria, and help firms formulate strategies to go global.

Manufacturing firms spend more than half of their operating costs on materials and parts. Hence most of the consultants focus on manufacturing industries. For instance, the automobile industry with many tiers of suppliers for parts and modular supplies presented great scope for cost reduction and supplier involvement in new product development. They provide consultancy in contract management, ecommerce strategies.

The cost of consulting prohibits small and medium enterprises to hire consultants. There are online services to post the problem so that consultants are pulled to the firms, thereby eliminating search costs.

Think back to the time you started your business. Chances are it was because you enjoyed being in a particular industry – you had a passion about your product or service, and wanted to share it with the world. But did you ever stop and say to yourself, “I can’t wait to market this business”? Probably not. That unfortunately is why many of today’s small businesses fail. The owners try everything they can think of to save their business, yet they miss out on the one opportunity that can turn their business into true success: hiring a small business marketing consultant.

A small business marketing consultant specializes in learning the top ways to market a business; creates strategies that will help businesses double, even triple their current profits; and teaches the most effective methods for increasing the bottom line of any business.

In today’s business world, there are two types of small business marketing consultants:

* Traditional small business marketing consultants

* Online small business marketing consultants

A traditional small business marketing consultant can help you create a marketing strategy using traditional tools. They understand how to advertise your business. They understand the importance of branding. They can help you write copy, and create dynamic promotional pieces. In short, they understand how to marketing your business well in the traditional environment.

But if someone has been in the marketing field for a number of years, and understands traditional marketing venues well, what they may not be good at is making the transition to the online world. And there is a world of difference between traditional and online marketing.

An online small business marketing consultant understands the same strategies used in traditional marketing. They understand advertising. They understand branding. They understand the importance for creating dynamic promotional pieces. But from there is where the differences begin.

An online small business marketing consultant realizes that you sell differently online than you do off. It takes different strategies, different copy, and different promotional materials to succeed online. Not only should a consultant provide you with traditional methods, but they should make sure these methods feed the online world as well.

For example, a postcard sent out direct mail has always been a successful tool. But if you send out that postcard asking for the reader to take one action step – heading to a website to sign up for a free report – you success rate for that postcard will improve dramatically.

While this technique may seem simple, there are many techniques just like this that can bridge the traditional and online world together, and make your business stronger and more profitable. It’s all in what you know – and whom you ask to help make it a possibility.

If you are knowledgeable about e-business in general and the way the online market place works, then you may want to consider a career as an internet marketing consultant. Even if you are relatively new to the online world, but have a marketing background to call on, you can actually still become an internet marketing consultant. All it needs is just a little bit of work. But that’s true for any career. But to be a consultant you need to make sure your knowledge is varied and is solid.

In order to turn yourself into an internet marketing consultant and be able to market yourself, you need to first take stock of your internet marketing skills and knowledge. Figure out where your strengths are and what you need to improve. From that information, put together a plan that will allow you to educate yourself and improve your weak areas. If you find that you are weak in some areas, begin to work on those areas and brush up on them. Once you develop your skills and feel confident, you will be ready to embark on your internet marketing consultant career.

You must be prepared fully, because as an internet marketing consultant you will be called upon to help a number of varying clients. Your clients will vary from being completely “green” to seasoned veterans of their fields. You will have some that know almost nothing about business or the internet and are looking to you for everything. You will have to take them under your wing, so to speak. On the other hand, you may have clients who are essentially marketing gurus, but have no idea how to market on the internet. As an internet marketing consultant, it is your job to help all levels of client. So be prepared.

Perhaps you feel that your strengths are heavy towards just one area of expertise. You may then want to consider working as an internet marketing consultant within that niche. You can specialize in fields like search engine optimization, email marketing, ezines, or even newsletters. Identify the niche you are strong in and make sure you are up to date on it. There are a number of areas where you can work in internet marketing if you do choose to go the way of niche expertise. To identify which niches are “hot” simply type in a typical question into your favorite search engine and see what comes up.

Becoming an internet marketing consultant can be rewarding work. If you enjoy business, marketing, and the internet it may be a career direction you may want to take. All you need to do is take stock of your knowledge and skill, educate yourself, and be ready help all levels of customers. If you think you are more suited to one aspect, then you can always go the way of the niche consulting role. How you choose to function in your internet marketing consultant role is really up to you.

Culture, a Major Obstacle To Business

Morale was high at the US based contracting company. They had just been invited to join a consortium of companies that had pre-qualified for a big public works tender in Central Asia. The offer came via e-mail. After concluding the initial round of correspondence with their counterparts, a two man team made up of one senior engineer and one business development exec were sent to Europe to meet up with their potential partners and sign the consortium agreement.

The trip started well, as they were well received by their hosts at the airport, guided to their hotel and were pleased to see that a well planned itinerary awaited them. Two mid- level managers took them out to dinner that night, and a jovial relationship was established.

The next day, still dazzled by the late night and effects of jet lag the US team met with the senior execs of the consortium and gave a strong power point presentation as to their capabilities, past business performance and key deliverables. Everyone was all smiles at lunch, and things were very cordial in the afternoon during the contract negotiations. The US team e-mailed back the tentative consortium agreement late afternoon and was treated to a special evening of entertainment and fine dining “Asian” style by the corporate execs.

Next morning, they received confirmation from the legal department at corporate that the agreement was acceptable and that they could go ahead and sign. The agreement was signed, pictures were taken and small gifts were exchanged. After having generated so much good will in such a good time, it was decided that the new consortium partners should visit the government office which was organizing the tender in order to introduce the US company.

Up to that time, the whole process had been text book perfect. The meeting with the government authorities went ahead as planned, but it was not possible to gauge the results of the meeting from the US company’s point of view. They had also received some conflicting news from the Government officials. The pre-qualification for tender had been cancelled, and the process would start over again.

Their new partners assured them that this was a normal occurrence for this part of the world. Other disturbing news started to trickle down as comments of the need to make facilitation payments arose. The US team automatically countered with their need to abide by the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, but their hosts assured them that it would be they who would take care of things, not the American’s, but that the American’s should know that such a arrangement had to be entered into as they were a part of everyday life if you wanted to do business in this part of the world.

The trip was concluded with a lavish good bye dinner and further entertainment, “Asian” style. The team was in a jovial mood when they arrived back in the US and were congratulated by the CEO for their accomplishment.

Their Asian counterparts meanwhile prepared for the new pre-qualification process and asked for intensive documentation. A project team was established for the Central Asia project and earnest work began to supply their consortium partners with the necessary materials to win the pre-qualification bid. At the same time hints that certain facilitation expenses were being made to Government authorities were being relayed to the American company over the phone. But, never in writing. After a while, these vague remarks became very much clearer as their foreign partners started to talk numbers.

The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.

Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.

Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the size of the payment been larger! They vowed to have the pre-qualification tender cancelled and the process renewed. Which they actually managed to do! But by this time, the American company had lost faith in their partners, and having allocated resources freely against the promise of lucrative rewards, decided to withdraw from the project.

The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.

The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.

ATN Management Consulting offers “Cultural Leadership” coaching programs to bridge the gap between cultures and to facilitate effective communication with the aim of delivering results in the International arena.

Morale was high at the US based contracting company. They had just been invited to join a consortium of companies that had pre-qualified for a big public works tender in Central Asia. The offer came via e-mail. After concluding the initial round of correspondence with their counterparts, a two man team made up of one senior engineer and one business development exec were sent to Europe to meet up with their potential partners and sign the consortium agreement.

The trip started well, as they were well received by their hosts at the airport, guided to their hotel and were pleased to see that a well planned itinerary awaited them. Two mid- level managers took them out to dinner that night, and a jovial relationship was established.

The next day, still dazzled by the late night and effects of jet lag the US team met with the senior execs of the consortium and gave a strong power point presentation as to their capabilities, past business performance and key deliverables. Everyone was all smiles at lunch, and things were very cordial in the afternoon during the contract negotiations. The US team e-mailed back the tentative consortium agreement late afternoon and was treated to a special evening of entertainment and fine dining “Asian” style by the corporate execs.

Next morning, they received confirmation from the legal department at corporate that the agreement was acceptable and that they could go ahead and sign. The agreement was signed, pictures were taken and small gifts were exchanged. After having generated so much good will in such a good time, it was decided that the new consortium partners should visit the government office which was organizing the tender in order to introduce the US company.

Up to that time, the whole process had been text book perfect. The meeting with the government authorities went ahead as planned, but it was not possible to gauge the results of the meeting from the US company’s point of view. They had also received some conflicting news from the Government officials. The pre-qualification for tender had been cancelled, and the process would start over again.

Their new partners assured them that this was a normal occurrence for this part of the world. Other disturbing news started to trickle down as comments of the need to make facilitation payments arose. The US team automatically countered with their need to abide by the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, but their hosts assured them that it would be they who would take care of things, not the American’s, but that the American’s should know that such a arrangement had to be entered into as they were a part of everyday life if you wanted to do business in this part of the world.

The trip was concluded with a lavish good bye dinner and further entertainment, “Asian” style. The team was in a jovial mood when they arrived back in the US and were congratulated by the CEO for their accomplishment.

Their Asian counterparts meanwhile prepared for the new pre-qualification process and asked for intensive documentation. A project team was established for the Central Asia project and earnest work began to supply their consortium partners with the necessary materials to win the pre-qualification bid. At the same time hints that certain facilitation expenses were being made to Government authorities were being relayed to the American company over the phone. But, never in writing. After a while, these vague remarks became very much clearer as their foreign partners started to talk numbers.

The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.

Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.

Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the size of the payment been larger! They vowed to have the pre-qualification tender cancelled and the process renewed. Which they actually managed to do! But by this time, the American company had lost faith in their partners, and having allocated resources freely against the promise of lucrative rewards, decided to withdraw from the project.

The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.

The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.

ATN Management Consulting offers “Cultural Leadership” coaching programs to bridge the gap between cultures and to facilitate effective communication with the aim of delivering results in the International arena.

Culture, a Major Obstacle To Business

Morale was high at the US based contracting company. They had just been invited to join a consortium of companies that had pre-qualified for a big public works tender in Central Asia. The offer came via e-mail. After concluding the initial round of correspondence with their counterparts, a two man team made up of one senior engineer and one business development exec were sent to Europe to meet up with their potential partners and sign the consortium agreement.

The trip started well, as they were well received by their hosts at the airport, guided to their hotel and were pleased to see that a well planned itinerary awaited them. Two mid- level managers took them out to dinner that night, and a jovial relationship was established.

The next day, still dazzled by the late night and effects of jet lag the US team met with the senior execs of the consortium and gave a strong power point presentation as to their capabilities, past business performance and key deliverables. Everyone was all smiles at lunch, and things were very cordial in the afternoon during the contract negotiations. The US team e-mailed back the tentative consortium agreement late afternoon and was treated to a special evening of entertainment and fine dining “Asian” style by the corporate execs.

Next morning, they received confirmation from the legal department at corporate that the agreement was acceptable and that they could go ahead and sign. The agreement was signed, pictures were taken and small gifts were exchanged. After having generated so much good will in such a good time, it was decided that the new consortium partners should visit the government office which was organizing the tender in order to introduce the US company.

Up to that time, the whole process had been text book perfect. The meeting with the government authorities went ahead as planned, but it was not possible to gauge the results of the meeting from the US company’s point of view. They had also received some conflicting news from the Government officials. The pre-qualification for tender had been cancelled, and the process would start over again.

Their new partners assured them that this was a normal occurrence for this part of the world. Other disturbing news started to trickle down as comments of the need to make facilitation payments arose. The US team automatically countered with their need to abide by the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, but their hosts assured them that it would be they who would take care of things, not the American’s, but that the American’s should know that such a arrangement had to be entered into as they were a part of everyday life if you wanted to do business in this part of the world.

The trip was concluded with a lavish good bye dinner and further entertainment, “Asian” style. The team was in a jovial mood when they arrived back in the US and were congratulated by the CEO for their accomplishment.

Their Asian counterparts meanwhile prepared for the new pre-qualification process and asked for intensive documentation. A project team was established for the Central Asia project and earnest work began to supply their consortium partners with the necessary materials to win the pre-qualification bid. At the same time hints that certain facilitation expenses were being made to Government authorities were being relayed to the American company over the phone. But, never in writing. After a while, these vague remarks became very much clearer as their foreign partners started to talk numbers.

The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.

Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.

Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the size of the payment been larger! They vowed to have the pre-qualification tender cancelled and the process renewed. Which they actually managed to do! But by this time, the American company had lost faith in their partners, and having allocated resources freely against the promise of lucrative rewards, decided to withdraw from the project.

The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.

The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.

ATN Management Consulting offers “Cultural Leadership” coaching programs to bridge the gap between cultures and to facilitate effective communication with the aim of delivering results in the International arena.

Culture, a Major Obstacle To Business

Morale was high at the US based contracting company. They had just been invited to join a consortium of companies that had pre-qualified for a big public works tender in Central Asia. The offer came via e-mail. After concluding the initial round of correspondence with their counterparts, a two man team made up of one senior engineer and one business development exec were sent to Europe to meet up with their potential partners and sign the consortium agreement.

The trip started well, as they were well received by their hosts at the airport, guided to their hotel and were pleased to see that a well planned itinerary awaited them. Two mid- level managers took them out to dinner that night, and a jovial relationship was established.

The next day, still dazzled by the late night and effects of jet lag the US team met with the senior execs of the consortium and gave a strong power point presentation as to their capabilities, past business performance and key deliverables. Everyone was all smiles at lunch, and things were very cordial in the afternoon during the contract negotiations. The US team e-mailed back the tentative consortium agreement late afternoon and was treated to a special evening of entertainment and fine dining “Asian” style by the corporate execs.

Next morning, they received confirmation from the legal department at corporate that the agreement was acceptable and that they could go ahead and sign. The agreement was signed, pictures were taken and small gifts were exchanged. After having generated so much good will in such a good time, it was decided that the new consortium partners should visit the government office which was organizing the tender in order to introduce the US company.

Up to that time, the whole process had been text book perfect. The meeting with the government authorities went ahead as planned, but it was not possible to gauge the results of the meeting from the US company’s point of view. They had also received some conflicting news from the Government officials. The pre-qualification for tender had been cancelled, and the process would start over again.

Their new partners assured them that this was a normal occurrence for this part of the world. Other disturbing news started to trickle down as comments of the need to make facilitation payments arose. The US team automatically countered with their need to abide by the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act, but their hosts assured them that it would be they who would take care of things, not the American’s, but that the American’s should know that such a arrangement had to be entered into as they were a part of everyday life if you wanted to do business in this part of the world.

The trip was concluded with a lavish good bye dinner and further entertainment, “Asian” style. The team was in a jovial mood when they arrived back in the US and were congratulated by the CEO for their accomplishment.

Their Asian counterparts meanwhile prepared for the new pre-qualification process and asked for intensive documentation. A project team was established for the Central Asia project and earnest work began to supply their consortium partners with the necessary materials to win the pre-qualification bid. At the same time hints that certain facilitation expenses were being made to Government authorities were being relayed to the American company over the phone. But, never in writing. After a while, these vague remarks became very much clearer as their foreign partners started to talk numbers.

The US stance was the same. We cannot be involved, we don’t want to know about it.

Two months after the signing of the consortium agreement, the new pre-qualification bid was held, and their consortium failed to qualify.

Their Asian counterparts blamed them in part for not assisting them in paying up the facilitation fees, and claimed that they would have won had the size of the payment been larger! They vowed to have the pre-qualification tender cancelled and the process renewed. Which they actually managed to do! But by this time, the American company had lost faith in their partners, and having allocated resources freely against the promise of lucrative rewards, decided to withdraw from the project.

The Asian partners accused the American’s of being short sighted, inflexible, and shallow. The American’s accused the Asian’s with being untruthful, slow, and not results oriented. Both sides threatened each other with law suits and asked for damages. Lawyers wrote letters back and forth, but even they had problems communicating. The cost of litigation would have been too expensive, so both sides refrained from going to court, but wrote letters of complaint to their respective embassies.

The communication gap between the cultures played an important role in how this project went bad. Communicating across cultures can be extremely difficult. What is the beginning for one culture can be the end for another.

Consultative Selling and its cousin, SPIN selling, are newer generations of the “Needs Selling” of the 1960′s. They have been in vogue with salespeople for almost two decades – with good reason. In today’s business climate, Information Overload isn’t just a buzzword; people are overwhelmed with data. They may welcome assistance in tuning out the noise in order to tune into a viable solution to their problems. A concerned, helpful salesperson may understandably be embraced as an Advisor or Consultant.

The Consultative Selling Process appears well-suited to the needs and challenges of today’s customers. Yet, in my opinion, consultative selling is most often implemented in such a way that it’s merely a new name for the same old manipulative sales games.

Let’s start with nomenclature: A salesperson who refers to her- self as an Advisor or Consultant is essentially misrepresenting her true agenda – to earn a commission. A salesperson’s primary objective is NOT to ‘help’ her clients and customers- she wants to make money. If receiving money for her sales efforts were not possible, she would be doing some other kind of work.

Real consultants and advisors charge a fee for their advice. Good advisors make *their client’s* best interests paramount. How many salespeople frequently advise their clients not to buy their product or service, or to buy from their competitors?

By implication, advising encompasses full disclosure, including warnings about the ‘down’ sides of choosing an option. Most salespeople are very good at explaining the features and benefits of their products and services. How many salespeople disclose the detriments as well – without a prospect’s prompting? Those salespeople say that their job is to emphasize the positives. Some even acknowledge that they are telling “half-truths”. However, it is deceptive and unethical to “lie by omission”. For the typical salesperson, it’s just “part of the game.”

This same old sales game is often dressed up as “Probing for Problems and Solutions” in order to help the prospect. In reality, anything we sell must meet some of the prospect’s needs. It may be an explicit business need, such as reducing the volume of paperwork, or an executive’s implicit want, such as possessing the latest “must-have” gadget. There’s nothing wrong with selling something that someone wants to buy. However, it is deceptively manipulative to “probe for hidden problems” and “identify hidden pain” without disclosing your intentions, which are to *persuade* a prospect that your product or service will alleviate their newly discovered Pain. Furthermore, it is a very difficult and ineffective way to sell.

There is no probing for hidden needs in High Probability Selling. We won’t even give prospects an appointment if they merely know what their needs are, and are “really interested” in meeting with us. In High Probability Selling, we distinguish between Want and Need.

A small portion of the universe of businesses and/or people will need our product/service in the relatively near future. Those that want our product/service- right now- are High Probability Prospects. We will schedule appointments with them now.

Those who will want our product in the future are part of the viable prospect universe. Many of them will become High Probability Prospects in their own time, for their own reasons. The essential difference between Consultative Selling and High Probability Selling is that we don’t attempt to persuade, convince, or manipulate those prospects into Wanting. Selling that way almost always results in low closing averages. Although many may need what we’re selling, most will not buy until they decide they Want It Now. It’s not just semantics- a prospect either wants what we’re selling, or they don’t.

Another distinction between High Probability Selling and “consultative selling’” is Total Disclosure. In HPS, honesty and transparency are core tenets of the sales process. We trust and respect prospects, and require that prospects treat us with trust and respect as well. Practically speaking, we divulge the detriments as well as the benefits of our product/service. In turn, prospects must fully disclose their Wants, or requirements for doing business. At each step of the sales process, the prospect explicitly states their conditions for doing business, and agrees to purchase, if we can meet their requirements.

Ironically, salespeople who implement High Probability Selling usually act as advisors. Like a trusted advisor, High Probability salespeople practice total disclosure, divulging both the strengths and weaknesses of their offerings. Because we never pressure prospects into becoming buying customers, the selling process is relatively stress-free, as dealing with a trusted consultant should be.

What kind of salesperson are you? If you’re still pressuring and manipulating, this is probably reflected in your low closing rate. You may be playing the same old sales game while dressing yourself up as a Consultant. Maybe it’s time for you to get real about who you are and what you do.