Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors: Covert Techniques for a Remarkable Practice

The first opportunity is when you are initially discussing the engagement. You’ll want to give the prospective client multiple options for the engagement, each one priced and scoped differently. You’ll probably have a good idea of what they should hire you for, but it’s still helpful to most (not all) prospects to hear the options. You’ll also be p

Most clients aren’t ready for everything, so don’t overwhelm them. This can also be a strategy for a later engagement that’s more “advanced” in nature.

No middle ground: free to prospects … or high fees to clients. The distinction here is that the free stuff is unapplied, leaving the prospect to figure out what parts work and which ones need to be modified. Your clients, though, pay you good money to figure that out for them.

it’s your job to know which tools—in which order—to apply in solving that for them.

There are many viable definitions for that word, but I’m referring to a very specific person here: An expert is someone whose thinking is regularly sought and paid for. That’s different from your father-in-law who opines about everything, without invitation, as if he has a prepared speech, and every pause in what has been to that point a conversati

You must care a little less about winning the business than the prospect wants you to take him on as a client.

The four things are insight, objectivity, courage, and empathy, all wrapped up in a methodology unique to you, governed by a dismissive perspective about your own future—a disregard for how you will survive.

Second, have a simple lead generation plan. This must include the regular development of insight that’s disseminated somehow, but you’ll need at least one higher-impact tactic that fits your personality and takes advantage of the context in which you work: speaking engagements, events, research reports, a book, etc. The goal is to secure more oppor

First, note the relative size of your largest client. If you are working for multiple departments or divisions of the same larger entity, they should be listed as a single source of work. You want that largest client to represent 15%–25% of your total fee billings. Larger than that and most of the clients that follow will be too small to generate p

The third type of day (Perspective) is the weekend, for most people. It’s when you become a normal human again, reconnect with people, pursue hobbies, do physical labor, read, and largely forget about work. They are Perspective days because they keep you grounded. You soak things up like a sponge, often learning things that have nothing to do with