Come see my art!

Winter has finally made it to Sydney. We're breaking out the winter woollies, and enjoying the gloriously sunny few hours in the middle of the day.

This month has been a time of finishing off for me. I'm off to Melbourne tomorrow for the last in a series of training and performance improvement workshops.

I have an art exhibition in just a few weeks on Level 1 at @Newtown (what used to be Newtown RSL before it got hip!). The opening is on Monday May 29th 6:30 - 7:30. Come along and have a canape and a drink. The works will remain on display for 6 weeks afterwards.

I'm looking forward to the conference in Coolum (yay, warm Queensland winter!), and have (enfin!) planned the details of my June/July trip to Paris. It's been 16 years since I was last there studying; while I don't expect the historical buildings to have changed much, I'll be interested to see what has!

Down to business, though, here’s a summary of what’s in this ezine:

• improve your business with improvising
• is your client sane, is your boss?
• improve your consultancy - web pages, e-publishing
• some interesting selling tips
• interesting ideas: working remotely
• and fun (as usual)

May it make you smile!

Cindy

You've got one more chance to improve your business skills through impro games, at the Ludic Creative Life is not a rehearsal workshop in Sydney on Saturday June 17th 2006. It runs from 12 to 5, and is a heap of fun!

The best recommendation we can give you is that one past participant sent his wife along; and so far 2 of the 25 or so people who've come so far are coming back this time. You can see testimonials and recommendations on my website, but here is one now:"Fun, practical exercises, tools. The day was well put together – a layered experience that took me through skills and improvisation exercises. At the end of the session I realised I had achieved my outcomes. Great fun too!" Suzanne Mercier – Business Alchemy International.

Life is not a rehearsal is on Saturday 17 June 2006, at Social Life in North Sydney, 12 to 5pm. It's usually $150. Put ezine in the discount code when you enrol, and get it for $100.

Do you sometimes feel so overwhelmed with choice that you buy nothing (or everything, depending on the price point?). This not only happens to us, but to our clients as well. I mentioned last month some Cialdini research about keeping a small number of options in your sales proposals (but not just one). There's also some very interesting info about Choice Anxiety and depression on a recent ABC Catalyst program. It tells how too much choice can depress us! The choice anxiety experiment has been cited in Affluenza and in Whole New Mind - at a shopping centre stall, consumers were given a choice of 24 jams. At a different stall, they had the choice of 6. The display with fewer choices sold 10 times. It's certainly an argument for specialising in consulting.

And on the mental health of bosses and clients, check out: Is your boss a psychopath courtesy of Fast Company. Almost half of American presidents between 1789 and 1974 experienced some degree of mental illness during their lifetime!

For your consultancy, I found Go Daddy, who will sell you a domain name for $8.95US a year, and host it from $3.95US a year. Can't say whether it's provides great service but I'm paying much more than that, and my domain and email were both down for several hours yesterday due to a power outage in Wollongong. And since my host never even bothered to let me know what was happening (even after I called them), I'd suspect the level of service couldn't be much lower, right? At these prices even if all you do is forward all your email through it, it's very cheap!

And once you have the domain name and a website, you may be interested in this article about how to read your website stats.

Maybe you don't have your own website, but want to put articles on other people's websites (another cheap and way to improve your consultancy profile), they check out this one on writing headlines for online editors.

Selling more: if our clients can imagine themselves using our service then they're more likely to buy. If it's too abstract for them to imagine it, then they're less likely to do so. An argument for developing case studies, reference sites, and even videos (why not make your own "office" series as the consulting program progresses?), so clients can truly "get" what they're buying.

But perhaps they're ready to buy, and now quibbling on price. How about this real life story? The client asks for a lower price because they don't think the consultant can/will deliver. So the consultant negotiates a double or nothing deal! It's not about what happens, it's what you do about it. If you can handle the cash flow, and you're confident in your ability to deliver, this could be a win/win strategy for both of you!

In the category of wow, isn't that interesting, McDonalds are apparently staffing some of their drive-throughs remotely. What could you staff remotely? One of my ezine readers is based on the just north of Sydney. Ex-geologists with office and IT skills, good brains and time on their hands, they have staff who'll work for as little as $10 an hour (or more) doing anything intelligent and experienced people can do (proof reading, data entry, summarising research). Maybe we can learn from McDonalds and staff remotely too!

I also stumbled on this amazing concept on the springwise site (a must for any "new idea" junkies). It's an online game where you create a virtual baby and guide it through its childhood and teens. The look and characteristics of the child are based on the unique 'DNA' of the two people are its "parents", derived from a quiz the couple takes before conception. The parents then have 6 days to raise their Eccky into a happy, well-functioning 18 year old. Communication is the key to this - so "parents" chat with their Eccky via MSN Messenger. Eccky is a very fancy chatbot. it's a Doritos promotion happening in the Netherlands. Pay 1.50 Euro to make the baby, and more to feed and clothe it. Do this with money or by buying Doritos and getting the tokens from the packs! What will they think of next?

In the thank goodness someone has proven the obvious department, McKinsey say that mediocre management goes hand in hand with mediocre corporate results.

And because it's fun, check out the low-technology billboards along highways in the Netherlands - walking, woolly flocks of sheep. Given the Australian sheep population, this may take off here (although there aren't that many sheep where the people are, right?). Have you considered giving your dog your logo to wear? Your kids?

If you live in Sydney, remember to pop along and see us play Scared Scriptless Theatresports® every Friday night. It’s at the Clarence Hotel, 450 Parramatta Road, Petersham. There are 2 shows now: at 8pm the Theatresports® show - guaranteed comedy (in the vein of "Thank God you're here", but more story).

The second show is more surprising. The Late Show is 45 minutes of non-stop improvising; it starts at 10:30 (10 minutes after the first show), and goes till 11:15. Great for a post-Leichhardt meal!

Love to hear from you if any of these ideas spark something good for you and yours!

C

Cindy Tonkin The Consultants’ Consultant
Certified Management Consultant

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This month's images are original artworks ©2006 Cindy Tonkin. These will be on display @newtown, level 1, courtesy of the Inner West Cultural Services and Marrickville Council from 22 May to Late July 2006. From the top: Souk, Aerial, Field, Squall, Shapes, Inspire, Pinnacle, Blues. Acrylic, ink and collage on Paper, 60x60cm works.

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