Consultants and Coaches are full of ****

Here we go again as yet another consultant/consultancy/coach/mentor/trainer/speaker* (*delete as necessary) claims to be able to help grow a digital agency quickly and effortlessly. I hate most of them and here’s why:

“As the #1…”

Are you really the #1? According to who (your mother or some franchise you’ve bought into)?

“Follow my trade-marked/licensed/copyrighted five-step process…”

One-size-fits-all cookie-cutter approaches do not fit all. Very few of us are the average/norm. We are all running different races. With different goals and different objectives.

Alluding vaguely with quotes starting, “Research says…”

What research, by whom, and when, and how authoritative and scientific were its processes and findings? I can find (or create) a bit of research that “proves” anything.

Suggestions of a silver-bullet, perfect solution

I am old enough and ugly enough to know that no such thing exists. Most success comes about from brilliant and persistent execution… being great at the dull, boring stuff.

“Let me share my secret formula I applied to sell my agency…”

You mean, “Do what we did once, long ago, and it worked then in that particular context and environment, so it might work for you now (with your different circumstances and in a different time).”
P.S. No mention of how good they are at actually helping business owners. Not all formerly successful business owners have the skillset of someone who can help other agency owners.

“We are experts at growing businesses like yours so let us share our magic with you…”

Or do they mean, “We have some models and stuff that works with most businesses, so it will probably work with yours”.

“Look at our successful client list and case studies…”

Sometimes these need to be treated with a pinch of salt. How much benefit can really be attributed to the consultant? The relationship between consultant and client doesn’t directly translate into profit. There are many more moving parts.

Yes, there are some cowboys and cowgirls out there (last time I wrote like this I got a tirade of abuse from several people believing I was actually writing about them!).

Everyone knows what you should put in a half-decent website or email. But writing something down or claiming it to be true doesn’t make it right.

We need to choose our advisors carefully. We need to get past the marketing hype. In fact, we need to be deeply suspicious of the marketing hype. The more hype there is, the more suspicious we should be. We need to work with people who connect with us.

So, get out your copy of BS Bingo and score the BS before you pick up the phone.