How to Become an Educational Consultant by Leveraging Your Professional Network

Dr. Mike Robinson: Dr. Granoff, it seems everyone is a consultant, but not all consultants are created equal. What is an educational consultant? And what are the professional habits of an effective educational consultant? 

Dr. Tom Granoff: On the simplest level, an educational consultant is a problem solver. The contracting organization or individual brings in a consultant to solve a problem that they cannot handle on their own. Sometimes, the consultant has specialized knowledge that the organization needs for a short period of time and at other times, the consultant is simply “an extra pair of hands” to get a project done because everyone in-house is too busy. Some of the professional habits of an effective educational consultant include:

• The ability to complete projects without supervision (being self-propelled).
• The ability to prioritize and complete lifelong learning as a subject matter expert.
• The ability to identify needs and persuade others to follow their course of action.
• The ability to sustain marketing and networking efforts for months and years.
• The ability to tolerate risk and persist in the face of uncertainty and failure.
• The ability to work in ambiguous situations and generate workable solutions.
• The ability to negotiate win-win solutions to problems.

Dr. Mike Robinson: What advice would you offer faculty exploring moving from the classroom to the consultant world? And how can faculty and higher education administrators leverage their professional networks to increase consultation opportunities without negatively impacting those relationships?

Dr. Tom Granoff: Probably the most important advice I can offer a faculty member is that developing a successful consulting practice typically takes years of time. The hard reality is that most new traditional businesses fail, and I would suspect the failure rate is even higher for consulting practices. As an example, I have been a full-time dissertation statistician and methodology consultant for the past 17 years. However, I had previously done this type of consulting work for 20 years on a part-time basis on evenings and weekends while I had traditional daytime jobs. Those first 20 years taught me (often the hard way!) most of the professional lessons that I needed to learn in a comparatively low risk environment of part-time consulting projects.

I remember listening to management consultant Brian Tracy suggest that young people should start an Amway product selling business. The reason is that for a small financial investment and a low level of risk, the young person could learn in a microcosm all the aspects of running a successful service business (professionalism, marketing, sales, inventory, goal setting, prioritization, customer service, finance, problem-solving, managing employees, etc.).

A second piece of advice that I would give a faculty member would be to develop in advance their clear USP ("unique selling proposition") and build a resume of experience that proves you can do the consulting project. A USP is a simple and clear statement of why the organization or individual should hire you instead of any of the 10,000 other educational consultants that are floating around. This USP could include such things as:

• Being a recognized subject matter expert through degrees, work experience, certifications, etc.
• Quality-Service-Price comparisons.
• A professional reputation for quality work done on previous projects.
• Availability.
• A compelling leadership presence that people are attracted to and want to follow.

One way to leverage networks would be to become an active participant in your professional organizations. Remember, while you’re doing this additional work, you still must make your day job boss happy! Based on whatever your consulting goals are, look for volunteer opportunities to work on the relevant professional committees. Committee work has at least four benefits:

• It allows you to gain professional experience for free.
• It enhances your resume.
• It exposes you to the top people in your profession as role models and mentors.
• It provides you with visibility of other opportunities and ideas.

Dr. Mike Robinson: Dr. Granoff, you are a very successful educational consultant. To what extent did you use your professional network? And what are methods aspiring consultants can do to grow their professional network that will eventually position them to leverage those relationships to cultivate consultant opportunities?

Dr. Tom Granoff: My professional network is vital to my consulting practice. The key to it all is the professional reputation that you establish and maintain. Folks need to be able to trust you! This is especially true in the Internet age where people can find out about you quite easily: both the good and any bad. At this point in my consulting career, maybe three quarters of my new clients are the direct result of referrals from previous happy customers.

There are many ways to a grow professional network. The key is to let people get to know you and trust your professionalism in the low risk way. Here are some of the common ways:

• Realize that you will have to do most of the networking yourself to develop and maintain your professional contacts because everyone is so busy.
• Said above, volunteering in relevant professional organizations is a good way.
• Develop a good LinkedIn profile. Use www.toplinked.com to gain connections.
• Identify your target market of customers, and begin to provide value for them for free in Facebook postings, LinkedIn group postings, articles in your professional publications, speaking at conferences, etc.
• Find yourself a good life coach to help you free up the 10 to 15 hours a week necessary to get all the marketing, networking and continuing education done while maintaining your day job, your sanity, your health, and your marriage/family.

Dr. Mike Robinson: Dr. Granoff can you outline a few of the common mistakes aspiring consultants make that often derail or setback their consultant opportunities? And based on your experiences, what are the factors organizations/individuals consider when selecting a consultant?

Dr. Tom Granoff: Here are some of the common mistakes that aspiring consultants make:

• Quitting their day job before they have developed a strong reputation, professional network, and effective marketing system.
• Thinking that developing a consulting practice will be easy and risk free.
• Not realizing how competitive consulting work really is.
• Having more than 25% of their income come from one client which limits walk away power if the consulting engagement goes bad.
• Not using multiple marketing methods to gain clients.
• Underestimating the importance of sustained marketing efforts over the years.
• Not having 3 to 6 months of savings available to cover the slow times.

 I’m not sure of all the factors when considering a consultant in other organizations but here is a list that I suggest to potential dissertation clients of mine to help in their decision process:

• See if the potential consultant teaches anywhere (for how long and what topics).
• Check what degrees the potential consultant has (from where, and how long ago).
• Observe how many recommendations they have on LinkedIn.
• Request samples of the potential consultant’s work.
• Ask for a free 30-minute consultation to determine their expertise, professionalism, their ability to communicate, personality, and their problem-solving skills.
• Research how many times have they been acknowledged in ProQuest dissertation database searches by former dissertation students who graduated.
• Set up initially a small professional project with them (1-2 hours of consulting time) as another test to gauge the quality of their work, their professionalism, their ability to keep their promises, etc.

 Dr. Mike Robinson: Dr. Granoff, thank you for your time. As our last question, what additional books and resources would you suggest for aspiring consultants?

Dr. Tom Granoff: I would recommend the following resources. I am sure there are others, but this is an excellent for aspiring consultants:

• www.toastmasters.org to develop self-confidence, leadership and communication skills.
• www.toplinked.com to increase your number of LinkedIn connections.
• www.thebabbgroup.com to learn how to obtain online teaching positions to establish your expertise and provide additional training in juggling moonlighting assignments.
• “Book Yourself Solid” by Michael Port.
• “Get Clients Now!” by C.J. Hayden.
• “The Secrets of Consulting” by Gerald M. Weinberg
• Volunteer to do telephone fund-raising for the non-profit organization of your choice. Your experiences will give you self-confidence in handling rejection, strengthen your ability to persist, provide additional selling experience, teach you how to develop rapport quickly, etc.