In addition to being an enthusiastic and passionate problem solver, a good consultant has a great thirst for knowledge. We’ve never known a good consultant that wasn’t also a voracious reader. We’ve often been asked to recommend books for consultants to read and have available in their personal libraries. This week Lew and I will discuss some of our favorite consulting and business related books.

Just to demonstrate how important it is to be versed in good books and other resources in your field of expertise, I heard of an incident recently where a client was speaking with a consultant, and at their initial consultation the client asked for recommendations of some books on the subject they were working on so she could get some initial insight. When the consultant answered with “sorry, I don’t know of any†the client was taken aback. This simple misstep has undermined the consultant’s credibility in the clients mind from day one.

So, be well read within your specialty, on current and evolving issues and on general business matters it helps build credibility and trust with your clients.

We’ll take turns discussing books that we would recommend to consultants or aspiring consultants.

(Lew) Getting Naked by Patrick Lencioni. It’s Lencioni’s style to write a story, a parable to make a point and teach a lesson. Getting Naked is not about being unclothed. It’s about being vulnerable with the client. Saying ‘I don’t know’ when you don’t know and not being afraid to ask a dumb question.
He also advocates being their advisor as a sales approach. His advice is ‘Consult, don’t sell’. Meaning, when you begin talking to a client, let them talk. Ask them questions about their business and the challenges they’re facing and help them. If they like your help, they’ll keep coming back to you.

In most consulting firms, a sales call is a PowerPoint that brags about all of their experience and how many offices they have. Clients just aren’t interested in that. They want their problems solved.

The story in Getting Naked shows how a consultant in a traditional consulting firm sees the light. It advocates selecting good clients. He says a bad client is worse than having no client at all. It prevents you from finding other good clients.  And it’s unlikely to get a good reference. It destroys your culture.
It points out 3 fears that consultants have when it comes to selling:
- - fear of losing business
- - fear of being embarrassed
- - fear of feeling inferior

This is an important book for consultants because it very clearly points out that selling services is not like selling a tangible product. It’s about developing relationships and developing a collaborative approach so that they come to you for help rather than you always hawking your services to them.

(Jeff) Lincoln on Leadership (currently reading – after seeing the movie ‘Lincoln’) Written by Donald T. Philips who says early in the book “Curiously, with everything that has been written about Abraham Lincoln, little is known about his extraordinary leadership abilityâ€. Donald uses examples of Lincolns own work from speeches, letters and so forth to explain his principles of leadership in 4 sections:
a. People
b. Character
c. Endeavor
d. Communication
Although so many of his anecdotes and doctrines are in the context of the 19th century and governing a nation at war, the underlying messages apply in almost every instance to a consultant client relationship:

Get Out of the Office and Circulate Among the Troops - Today we might call this networking…. Or maybe hand-on management.

Persuade Rather Than Coerce – Relationship selling

Keep searching until you find your 'Grant' – Building strong teams and mentoring leaders.

There are so many principles in this book that when you read the title initially it can be easy to dismiss as obvious or trite, but Don Philips does a great job bringing out Lincolns deeper thoughts on each su