Stop worrying about your credentials and start worrying about the value you provide to clients. You’ll be more successful.
Several years ago, when I was fascinated by the power of the Internet and was in a playful mood, I had my dog, Katie, accredited as an ordained minister by an online church.
For my five bucks, I received a nice certificate and a notice that she was now able to marry couples, along with some business advice on how to run a marrying operation. However, smart as she was, she never performed any — to my knowledge.
I thought of Katie’s new skill while listening to Alan Weiss, author of some 30 books and often called the consultants’ consultant, when he spoke recently at a conference hosted by my regional consultants’ organization. As was his usual style, Weiss was ever provocative.
One of the bombs he dropped concerned credentials. Most consultants, he said, concentrate on their credentials, everywhere touting their degrees, the organizations they belong to, the top clients they have worked with etc.
And clients don’t give a fig.
I’m sure they might scan your credentials as an indicator of your expertise. But, anyone can flaunt credentials these days and it’s no guarantee of competence. (Note, my dog example above.) And it doesn’t get you work. Weiss claims dozens of designations but says they rarely are the reason he is asked in to perform consulting.
What prospective clients are really interested in is whether you can do the job.
They care about value. They care about what you can do for them. They care about you taking a burden off their shoulders, or giving them a perspective they can’t get somewhere else. As the geeky university scientist turning entrepreneur said in the film Ghostbusters “I’ve been in the real world and it’s tough: They want results!”
I think that you can probably extend Weiss’ thinking to the whole world of advising. There was a time when you needed a big office with plush furniture and a fancy boardroom and an expensive web site to impress prospective clients.
But those days are over. In a virtual world, such trappings of “success” are meaningless unless they’re useful. Who cares what you own, as long as you can deliver the goods? That other stuff just means you’re going to be charging big fees to pay your overhead: It doesn’t mean you’ll be of any help.
If you’re an independent consultant, coach, agent or other kind of professional, you’ve probably put in your time in one of these big shops with all their partnerships and business development strategies and departments that make everybody feel like they are on a treadmill to generate ever more business.
But the joy of independence is that you don’t have to do that. Instead, you can concentrate on giving the client what he or she needs: Advice that is valuable to them.
Find this post valuable? Please share it with your colleagues or anyone else who may like it.
Nice post — intriguing topic — while I agree personally with the sentiments espoused here I will try to play a bit if a devil’s advocate.
I disagree with Alan’s comment that clients do not care about your credentials — my findings in fact have been the opposite and more and more of us “independents” are required to demonstrate these. RFPs are requesting certifications — where I live and work almost all work with the government requires the PMP designation whether the work even is remotely related to Project management, CMC is making its way in the procurement process as a “preferred” designation. Recently I responded to a Request for Resources — it was mandatory to submit a copy of my MBA Degree, PMP certificate and CMC certificate and PROSCI (which I did not have at the time … )
So in principle I agree that having a bunch of letters behind you name does not indicate the value you will deliver it is becoming table stakes in many regions if you want a chance to demonstrate the value you can bring …
My 2 cents
Hi Colin:
I don’t think you’re being devil’s advocate at all. In fact I think you’re right.
Alan and myself are probably talking more about private sector clients. Certainly Alan is, because in the US consultants don’t rely as much on government work (I believe) as do consultants in Canada.
And you’re right, in Canada governments are very much of that academic thinking that the more degrees you have, the more competent you must be. (I don’t agree, but I’m not running these operations, so we have to live with it). So the alphabet soup that follows your name is indeed, as you say, “table stakes” for government work.
But even that isn’t always the bottom line. A fellow CMC related to me recently that when he had to re-submit for a government contract he had held for some time, the criterion for choice was the lowest cost. Although credentials were demanded, they apparently didn’t enter into the decision at all.
Tony
I enjoyed reading this post.
Credentials are important in some fields and expertise. However, I can agree that credentials are not as important in the convential or traditional form. What are truly important are (just to point out a few):
- the right attitude
– having the support system and network to help you succeed
– interpersonal skills & life experience to be relatable
– expertise: with today’s technology & internet, new opportunities to become an “expert” are available without costing you a penny — i.e. you can write a book and be an author is one way to build credential, expertise and profile
( this can be done, without the PhD or big capital investment — all available online )
And Free Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Business Ownership like network marketing, self employment and online businesses which make more income, allow more free time to enjoy life again — away from the corporate world that promised security, now — only lay offs and unemployment — this is the answer to save the economy issues and grow the economy as projected and studied by many credited institutions, Experts and Entrepreneurs of this millenium. Credentials today, are now looked at a new way which is through results, the quality of your network and clients — but most importantly, how much impact you make in making a difference in your profession, expertise and in the lives of others.