How to Establish a Unique Brand in the Consulting Profession

Alan Weiss-author, international consultant, highly-sought keynote speaker-is the founder and president of Summit Consulting Group. His clients have included Hewlett-Packard, State Street Corp., Fleet Bank, Coldwell Banker, Merrill Lynch, American Press Institute, Chase, Mercedes-Benz, GE, American Institute of Architects, and Arthur Andersen. He is the author of The Ultimate Consultant (Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 2001) and Getting Started in Consulting (John Wiley & Sons, 2000). Weiss resides with his wife, Maria, in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.

• Introduction xiAcknowledgements xiiiChapter 1 A Brand by Any Other Name: Why Consultants Desperately Need Brands to Thrive (Survival Isn't Enough) 1Marque My Words: Perception Is Reality 3Real World Lessons 4Positioning a Brand so that the Brand Positions You 8Why Consultants Need to Get Their Hands Dirty in the Branding Business 11The Payoff of a Strong Brand in Consulting 13The Ultimate Secret of Branding 14Brand New Lessons 18Chapter 2 You Don't Start at the Beginning: You Have the Makings of a Brand at Hand 21Identifying the Ingredients of Your Brands 21Recipe: Finding the Right Raw Materials and Mixtures 22Magnifying Your Existing Repute 26Re-Energizing Your Brand for Maximum Impact 32Five Ways to Ensure Brand Freshness 35The Critical Case for Strategic Branding 36Brand New Lessons 39Chapter 3 The Gravity of Brands: Creating Irresistible Attraction: Using Brands to Draw Buyers to You 41The Elements That Create Gravitational Attraction 44Brand New Lessons 70Chapter 4 How to Write a Book, Even If You've Never Written Your Mother: The Best Branding Technique of Them All 71Early Preparation Is Better Than the Best Editor 73Creating and Selling a Brilliant Proposal 77Writing a Book and Living to Tell About It 81Marketing Your Book Because the Publisher Really Won't 84Some Other Very Important Issues 86Brand New Lessons 88Chapter 5 How to Conquer the Lecture Circuit: Using the Platform to Raise Your Brand 89Why Professional Speaking Is Brand-Effective (the "Reach" of the Speech) 90Preparing Your Message: Insider Tips on Outstanding Speaking 91The Elements of a Powerful Delivery 97Turbo-Marketing Your Speaking Efforts 100The Magic of Setting High Fees (the Good Stuff) 104Exploiting Success 106Brand New Lessons 108Chapter 6 The Twelve Myths of 21st Century Branding: I Didn't Walk in Here and I'm Not Leaving 109The Myths 110Brand New Lessons 127Chapter 7 Publicizing Your Brand Within Your "Environment": Expanding Fifteen Minutes of Fame into a Month of Sundays 129Understanding the Brand Environment 130Creating the New Environment 133Ten Guidelines for Influencing the Environment 136Twenty-Five Ways to Foster Publicity in Any Environment 139Brand New Lessons 147Chapter 8 Creating Products to Boost Your Brand: The Wonderful Combination of Passive Income and Active Promotion 149The Ironclad Case for Products in the Consulting Profession 151Alan's Favorite Methods to Boost Your Brand 154Brand New Lessons 166Chapter 9 Where Are We Heading and How Do We Capitalize?: A Dozen Trends That Close the Case for Branding 169The Trends 170Brand New Lessons 186Chapter 10 Leapfrogging: How to Take Your Brands and Your Plans to New Heights 187Multiple Brands 188Abandoning Brands 190Protecting your Brands: The Principle of Adaptive Uniqueness 193Keeping Brands Revitalized 197Final Thoughts 200Action Checklist 201Index 205