Consulting Journal: Techniques - Been there; done that

This article is reprinted from The Consulting Journal
http://www.consultingjournal.com

Techniques: Been there; done that

by David Blakey

Show prospects that you've really been there.

[Monday 11 November 2002]

In this article I shall try to convince you that you should have a portfolio, or book of samples. First, let me present an analogy.

You can buy a ‘Tyrolean’ hat in Austria, Germany or Switzerland. Your hat can be plain green or it can be a mixture of green and brown. It may have a feather in the head-band. As you travel around Austria you can buy badges to pin on your hat. Some badges will be of towns or villages, such as Bad Aussee. Some badges will be of single places of interest, such as the seilbahn up the Dachstein from Türlwandhütte. Wherever you go you can look for a badge and add it to your hat.

People will react to your hat. The locals will know that you are a tourist. Well, that isn't a problem, as they will often be happy to help you with directions to places of interest or places to stay. Other tourists may also have hats, and you can compare the badges on your hats for the names of places that you have both visited - so that can talk about your common experiences - or that one of you has not yet visited - so that the other can give recommendations.

There are places and occasions when you would not wear your hat. You would not wear it to a formal dinner, but you might wear it for a walk in the country. It might still attract interest and discussion.

Now to my point. I suggest you should build up a portfolio of samples. An easy way to start is by including the cover pages from reports that you have written.

The content of a report for a client will probably be owned by the client, and they will hold copyright. The design of the cover for the report will probably be owned by you or by your firm. You will want to use the same elements of the design and layout again, for other clients.

It is worth considering putting a clause into your contracts to establish the ownership of the design of the covers of your reports.

You should still ask your client if they would be happy with your including the cover in your portfolio. In some cases, you may have a non-disclosure agreement that prevents you mentioning the assignment at all, although these usually apply only to government - and especially military - clients.

You should include photographs, which look good when they are stuck to plain black paper. You can include photographs of you with your clients and of you on the client's site. I have one which shows the two CEOs of an important client and their newly appointed outsourcer signing the contract. I am in the row behind them, surrounded by senior staff of each company. Anyone looking at the photograph will realize that I played a significant part in forming that contract. The photograph is proof that I was there. I have another one which shows me in my hard hat and ear protectors inside a power station.

You should also think about having your own hard hat, if you don't have already and if you occasionally need to wear one. Make sure that your name is on the front in large letters: it looks good in photographs.

The first of these photographs was by a professional photographer. The second - in the power station - was taken by a colleague. Always have a camera in your car or your briefcase for these occasions. You can even use a ‘throw-away’ camera: it will produce adequate photographs for your portfolio.

Make sure that the photographs show you either doing something significant or being somewhere significant. My photographs would have less impact if they showed me sitting and talking with one of the CEOs or standing outside the gates of the power station. Instead the first shows me at an important occasion and the second shows me standing beside a turbine in the turbine hall: casual visitors do not get down there, even on open days.

Now let's get back to my analogy: the Tyrolean hat and its badges.

You can only wear your hat on certain occasions, when it would not be out of place. Similarly, you should always present your cv in the first instance. The portfolio can be a useful support for your cv. If someone asked me what my role was in negotiating the deal between my client and the outsourcer, I would take out my portfolio and show them the photograph and name the other people in it and describe the occasion. If someone asked me about my experience in the energy sector, I would take out my portfolio and show the photograph of me in the turbine hall. I have photographs of me in a number of energy companies' control rooms. Anyone in the industry knows these control rooms and knows that you do not get into them as a casual visitor. The portfolio proves that I have ‘been there and done that’.