Ten steps to winning interim assignments

Simon Berry has worked with hundreds of senior executives helping them to quickly and effectively build successful careers in interim management and consultancy. In this article he covers all aspects of winning assignments from targeting your market to developing your proposal, through to capitalising on your success to win further work.

1. Target your market

The problem many senior managers have in entering the interim management or consultancy market place is that they just have too much experience. Why should this be a problem, you may ask? Well, when it comes to the crunch most clients like to buy from specialists in their marketplace. They like to take on interims who they believe really understand what “their world” is all about. If you are looking to relocate your manufacturing to a low cost country, you’re more likely to be attracted by someone who markets themselves as a specialist in this area rather than someone who simply markets themselves as a problem solving senior executive. One interim has a target market of just 10 companies, and has never been short of work since he started out many years ago. So narrow your target (you could, though, have more than one target) and market yourself as a specialist. As you get a few assignments under your belt you will find it easier to move around industries as your reputation, your network and your references grow.

2. Focus on the client’s problems, issues and challenges

If they don’t have any, there won’t be a need for you. Sometimes the client does not recognise they have an issue; maybe you can see it coming but they can’t. That’s even better. Focusing on their issues builds rapport (you look like a trusted advisor and not a salesperson), and shows them you know what you are talking about. Research from the 1990s into major capital purchases indicated that over 90 per cent of companies bought from the people who helped them realise the issue/need in the first place. So put yourself in your client’s shoes and focus on their opportunities/issues.
You may start with point 1 or point 2 above. Some interims/consultants focus on a specific market segment first such as retail banking, logistics or IT, and then look at the issues those segments face. Others focus on a specific issue and then identify who faces it. An example of this can be found in the early days of Sarbanes Oxley Act when many companies did not realise the implications of the legislation. A smart group of interims made them aware of the issue and how they could help and won a great deal of lucrative contracts. Such an assignment may not be your specialisation, or even something you would want to do, but the principal holds firm in all areas.

3. Build your value proposition(s)

This is a statement (you may have more than one for different target segments/issues) which clearly demonstrates:
• Your understanding of the ‘world’ of your potential clients and the issues they face
• Your skills, knowledge and experience relevant to helping resolve those issues
• Your track record and results you have achieved in doing so.
These statements form the basis of your marketing materials (and even the theme of your CV) for those using service providers (see next point).

4. Identify your routes to market

The key here is that whatever you choose should get you in front of your potential market. Most networking events seem to be populated by interim managers/consultants looking for work while some of these maybe valuable, and give you a forum for checking out your value proposition or learning to market yourself effectively, in most cases they will not get you closer to winning business. Conferences and networking events are fine to keep abreast of industry issues, but the most important are those attended by key people in your target market. In other words, if you want to sell to logistics companies, go to where the relevant decision makers meet, even if that is halfway around the world.
You’ll want to use service providers (agents for interim managers, although they don’t like to be called this) as a route to market. Target them as you would a potential client; identify the ones who work in your market and approach them with a personal and tailored approach. For advice on CVs for service providers you can find it on the download section of the Interim Assignment website.
There are many other routes to market – personal network, past employers, competitors, customers, getting articles published in the journals that your target market reads, speaking at conferences, web-based networking forums such as LinkedIn and Xing, industry associations, alumni associations. The list goes on, but if they are to be a good use of your time the golden rule is: are they read by, attended by, listened to by potential clients?

5. Networking

It’s worth saying a few words about networking as a separate topic as it’s not something that comes naturally to many people. A few tips which you may well find valuable are:
• Make sure you take enough business cards and hand them out freely, and also take a pen and paper to make notes about who you meet
• Have goals and a plan, don’t just turn up. Your goal could be to meet specific people who could be there, to meet a certain amount of people, to get feedback on your value proposition
• Don’t “sell”. Your goal is to develop a relationship and one of the best ways to do this is to ask questions about them and their business, not tell them about you and yours
. A mindset of looking at what you can do to help others rather than what they can do to help you can be invaluable
• Arrive early and stay late. Some of the best contacts are made in these periods when things are a little quieter. You’ll also meet a lot more people that way
• Follow up promptly especially if you make commitments. The person will be fresh in your mind and you will give a professional impression
• Be active. This will be easier if you are selective about the groups you attend. If it’s a valuable networking event then get involved, have people get to know you by seeing you regularly. You may even want to volunteer to organise events or serve on the committee.

6. Meetings

Once you’ve got the meeting you have a real opportunity to create a favourable impression and progress towards an assignment. A successful meeting is one with the following outcomes:
• The potential client has greater clarity as to the issue they are facing and what is causing it
• Has greater clarity on importance/urgency of the issue
• Has greater clarity on what an ideal solution would look like
• Believes you could help solve the issue more effectively than anyone else or than they could themselves.
To achieve this, as with networking, the trick again is not to “sell” but to spend the majority of the time asking questions, listening to the answers and only occasionally interjecting with your own insights. This makes perfect sense as you don’t know what you will be selling until you have clearly established what the issue/opportunity is. Of course, it may require several meetings to accomplish the above outcomes but use them to evaluate where you are in the buying/selling process and to stay “on purpose”.

7. Proposals

Sometimes you would think interims/consultants believe that the effectiveness of a proposal is based on its weight in kilograms. However, an effective proposal is short, sharp, concise, to the point and easily readable. It should clearly state:
• The issue or opportunity being addressed
• The scope of the project and the results expected
• What you will be doing (and not doing)
• The client’s role in the success of the project
• Why you are the one for the assignment (relevant, skills, knowledge, experience, testimonials)
• How much you will be charging
• Terms and conditions.

8. Delivery

Effective delivery is vital. Your reputation and track record will be critical to your future success (especially if you are using the service provider route). So make sure you deliver. In fact, make sure you over-deliver. Some interims/consultants will be more adventurous about what assignments they take on; they may be moving outside their regular area of expertise/industry (they may have chosen this career in order to get more variety) but you should never take on an assignment unless you can truly deliver on it.

9. Follow up

You can capitalise on your delivery success by including it in your marketing material, updating your records with service providers, getting the client to write you a testimonial (or writing one for them to “sign”) and asking your client for referrals. The more successful assignments you get under your belt, the easier you will find it to market yourself and the more the service providers will take notice of you.

10. Act

Knowing what to do and actually doing them are two different things. Unless we actually act on what we know, nothing will change. More interims/consultants fail through a lack of motivation to act rather than a lack of knowledge of what to do.

Interim Assignment is lead by Simon Berry, a former director of NCR Ltd. Since leaving corporate life he has forged a successful career as a consultant and interim manager, having worked with clients across a variety of industries in the UK, Europe and USA.
In recent years he has worked with hundreds of senior business executives to help them quickly and effectively build successful careers in consultancy and interim management.

Copyright 2008 Plato’s People Ltd.

This article is the intellectual property of the author and must not be reproduced in full or in part without our express permission. This article represents the personal view and opinion of the author and does not constitute advice, you should seek appropriate professional advice before taking any suggested course of action.