Million Dollar Consulting: The Professional's Guide to Growing a Practice: The Professional's Guide to Growing a Practice

A few years ago, as I was leaving a career in television news, I bought this book, and it became my bible. Today I have a successful communications consulting firm with Fortune 500 clients, as well as two best-selling business books, "Speak Like a CEO," and "Motivate Like a CEO" both published by McGraw Hill. This book provided the practical advice strategy and inspiration I needed to make it all happen. Alan is one of the top consultants in America, and he's showing you how you can be successful, too. It's an absolute must-read for anyone leaving corporate life and preparing to strike out on their own. In times like these, many people are considering a move to their own business, but you can't do it alone. You'll find everything you need to start and build a 7-figure consulting practice. I would also highly recommend Alan's guide to getting your prospects to say yes -- "How to Write a Proposal That's Accepted Every Time."

I have used the advice put forth in this book with great success. I now sell my services according to value, no longer by the hour. Also based on the tips in this book I sell projects which get a minimum of 50% of the fee up front. Further, my projects don't get cancelled. Buy this book. It will help you grow your practice.Steve McCombs

To begin with you have to start with the title of the book so you understand where in the business cycle it applies. This is about growing a consulting practice and not about starting one. It assumes that you already have an established practice that you now want to expand. There is almost nothing in here related to the initial marketing and starting a new business.The book also concentrates on the needs of small firms in terms of the number of employees and owners. This is not the book for a large consulting company although many of the principles can be applied to such companies.Okay, now that that is out of the way, if you are wanting to grow a consulting business then this is a great book. It carefully goes through the most common mistakes that consultants make and how those mistakes keep their business from growing. The suggestions are strong, time tested and very valuable. I completed a Master's Degree in business and the items in this book were more valuable then the entire five years of college.Does it work? My company grew until it became a target for merger with a competitor. Then we started a new division and are using the same techniques for it to grow and it is growing faster than anyone expected.When it comes to proposals I prefer the much more in depth book by Tom Sant on Proposal Writing but this one still does a good job in that area. This is a great book for the already established consultant who just can't seem to get to that next step.

I have been consuling for 10 years. About 4 years ago I stumbled across this book. I bought it principally because I was going on a trip and needed something to read, I had no expectations. I was surprised to find a wealth of advise that I really needed to bring my consulting to the next level. Issues such as: Setting value based fees, building relationships, dropping the lower end of the business to make room for bigger opportunities and importance of self promotion through publishing & speaking.The other thing I enjoyed is that Alan presents consulting as an honorable trade that can really help effect change and growth for our customers. If your a consultant, you should read this book! At a minimum your guaranteed to find a few useful points.

I am new to the consulting business and have read several "how to do it" guides to get me started. This is the best by far. Full of practical and tactical techniques, but more importantly focuses on fundamentals and concepts -- who are you? What is a consultant? What is your value to a customer? If you don't know the answers to these questions, tactics are just activities. Strongly recommended; how can you go wrong for the price? Dr. Weiss has a very helpful website too.