My first consulting job came when I was a summer intern at Columbia Records in NYC. A cousin of mine who was a physical fitness trainer asked me to write a marketing plan for a mobile fitness concept that he was developing. 17 years later, I've been blessed to make a living consulting athletes, entertainers and entrepreneurs in various management and marketing practices - and I hope to impart these useful tidbits of knowledge that may be beneficial to you:

#1 - Darrell Miller, a prominent entertainment attorney in Los Angeles who I spent six months working for (recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in Hollywood by Fade In Magazine), once told me that the rule for success is 50% style and 50% substance – meaning that what you produce as a professional must be equally strong in both presentation and content. It may seem obvious that if you were to submit a proposal that looks great but doesn’t have sufficient substance that it will fail. But the converse is also true… if you make a pitch with great substance but has no presentation appeal then it will also fail. Therefore, you must be conscious of both style and substance and develop an ability to consistently deliver work that surpasses expectations on both levels.

#2 - Take the time to get it right. As a Marketing Coordinator to Sandra Trim-DaCosta (VP of Marketing for GRP Records and one of the first black women executives in the music industry) there was nothing more frustrating than having a memo corrected six times and rewriting it over and over before being approved. Being a consummate professional, Sandra was meticulous about her work and anything coming from her department had to be tight. Being fresh out of college, I had to swallow my pride and understand that if I was patient and humble enough I would learn a tremendous amount from her professionalism. To this day, depending on the importance of the document, I may print-correct-review-and-rewrite as many times as needed to get it right. That extra effort always pays off in the end.

#3 - As the saying goes, “the devil is in the details.” New opportunities and partnerships often sound good during the enthusiasm of a new project, but the details of their execution sometimes reveal issues and challenges not originally considered. Always “look before you leap” and fully vet the opportunity on paper with feedback from everyone involved. If it’s truly a good opportunity it will withstand objective analysis in the clear light of day. And if your potential partners are truly committed to the concept they’ll be patient enough to work through any challenges to help ensure the liklihood of a “win-win” outcome.

#4 - While “customers are always right”, clients typically are seeking advice about what’s right. One of the inherent differences between product and service companies is that “keepin’ it real” takes on different meaning with different consequences. With service companies, whether your business provides fashion advise, designs websites, or plans events you must be prepared to give honest answers to your clients (with grace and tact) even if it conflicts with their current opinions about what’s right or best. As a professional service provider, your reputation will strengthened from giving solid and objective feedback as opposed to being a “yes man” or “yes woman” who simply tells your clients what you think they want to hear.

#5 - When making a sales pitch to a new client or customer, always emphasize benefits rather than services. In presenting what you can do for that person, of course you’ll need to outline what your services consist of. But don’t become so focused on what the services are that you miss the opportunity to explain exactly how these services will benefit the client. This requires a strong assessment of the client’s needs and skillfully making a connection between the services and how they will meet the client’s needs. This is also known as the “value proposition” (e.g. how your product/services adds value to what the client/customer is working to do).

Feel free to post questions on any of the tips above and stay tuned for more entries in the weeks/months ahead