Why is consultative positioning essential for the ongoing practice of design?
First, our monthly office hours for paid members is coming up! Join us on Tuesday, January 21 to ask me anything about value-based design & getting an impact with your work. These vary in attendance from 1 to 10 people, and they’re always helpful for you and for me. Signup link after the jump!
Happy new year, y’all. Feels good to be back. Got a fun one this week.
In his recent excellent book The Four Conversations, consulting consultant Blair Enns describes a term called the flip, where a prospective client begins to view you as a consultant, not a contractor.
This is essentially a matter of positioning: you view yourself as an expert, talk about things that promote yourself as an expert, and hopefully the client views you as an expert, too.
One does this a few ways:
- Teaching everything they know on their mailing list (hi)
- Podcasting
- Guesting on others’ podcasts or blogs
- Writing books (also hi)
And then hopefully your prospective client comes in the door already knowing your whole deal. For the rest of them, there’s this lesson. Here, we’ll talk about the role of consultative positioning, and why it’s vital for the future of design to work in a consultative capacity.
The rest of this post is available to members. Upgrade now to get:
- Every lesson on how to level up your career with value-based design
- Full access to our 10+ year archive
- Monthly office hours with an engaged community
- Early, discounted access to all new releases