How to use a blog for consulting projects

by (klaus)

Here are the uses I have thought of to use a blog to connect with your clients.

• Daily or weekly status, for the client and project team - Helps keep everyone aware of what is going on, and they can learn as much or as little as they want. Added bonus of not blasting emails to people's inbox
  
• Posting deliverables, including a description of why they were made, how they can be used, who they are for - Increases awareness of what you as a consultant are producing, with emphasis on the value of those deliverables. After all, we know customers only derive value from you when you physically produce a product.
  
• Posting insights or research - You can do this as added value to the client, something you are providing for free. It might be pre-packaged insights from elsewhere in the consulting firm, but by providing it to them on the blog just for them, it is easier for them to see items of relevance. This contributes to increasing your positioning as a "thought leader" (a horrific term)
  
• Explain the purpose of various tasks/sub-projects - Helps the client understand better what they are paying for, why you are doing it, and what value they will derive from this work. This should help ensure there are no surprises. That those impacted by the work are more likely to be aware of it, etc.
  
• Explain various methodology being used - Many clients (most in my experience) don't want to know how the sausage is made. Methodology is a waste of time to them. Unless they are engineers, then they want to know how you did your work, and will explain to you a more optimal way to have done it ;-)
  
• Explain upcoming milestones - This reaffirms that you have a schedule, you are managing to it
  
• Explain results of work being performed or accomplished - The ultimate reason you are there, results. Don't just focus on the big picture items, let them know about the smaller day to day things as they have value too.
  

What else?

Can I use Lijit with Wordpress or Posterious?

I know I can do so with my Blogger account (check the top right of my page of course). I am hopeful I can for my Wordpress blog, but will it get me better results and/or stats than Lijit? And my guess is that I can't with my Posterous blog because of their desire to keep that service so simple.

Jimmy Buffett loves Jim Zorn

Or so his local lyrics claim.

Trend: Long-term prices are expected to increase as global competition increases

Continuing from the prior post on trends, that construction materials are decreasing in cost in the short-term.

China continues to acquire materials at increasing rates, accounting for 45% of world consumption in 2007. The rate of consumption grew 8.5% from 2006 to 2007. This type of competitive resource acquisition is expected to increase in additional sectors. By 2018, it is estimated that 80% of the world’s construction will take place in China and India.

Comments to the customer:

Prices for materials will increase in the long-term due to resource competition. This is a risk for both prices and procurement of US based construction materials. Recycling construction waste helps reduce costs as well eases the burden of materials acquisition.

*Everybody clap your hands*

Is from the devil.

It's true.

Otherwise 80,000 people wouldn't go insane for it.

Why not local Gatorade commercials?

gatorade does great commercials, and at the stadium they sound great and almost get fans fired up. But they need to localize the ads. Show DC athletes at a Redskins game!

Improving Google Voice - Let me control the number of rings

 

I had a Grand Central account for a while before it became Google Voice. I have no major complaints it has worked well as a number I can give out to various contacts so they can more readily contact me. This has been and continues to be an issue for me since I have Federal government clients. There are lots of rules about where I can and can't take my cellphone (especially since it has a camera).

I'm attempting to use it for all my business contacts so I can control more readily who has access to me. And one enhancement to the service I'd like to see is the ability to control the number of rings a call goes through at my various numbers. During business hours I may only want my cell phone to ring 3 times, as the odds are I don't have access to it (for a variety of reasons, such is my life). Instead of their standard number of rings, I KNOW I need a faster ring rule at that time of day. So why not let me control that?

I love this picture

From an article about George Mason students who are using open source imagery to map out the North Korean infrastructure. Which includes a water slide from Kim Jong Il.

Trend - Construction materials are declining in cost

I'll be doing several recurring posts here with some snippets from a deliverable I produced for a client. They are a federal government client, who run the facilities for that organization. They asked me to look into some trends affecting the facilities world.

Trend #1 -

The economy will bottom out, potentially Fall 2009, but not boom thereafter. There will be continued real estate challenges for both the construction industry and individuals. The defined end of the recession will also not immediately result in jobs growth, which could be delayed up to a year and a half later. As a result of these economic issues, there has been a one-year 8.92% decrease from the Summer 2008 peak (Turner Building Cost Index).

Questions for the client -

• Have we seen the corresponding price reductions in construction costs?
  
• Do our cost estimate models reflect this?
  
• Can we lock in existing materials rates for a long-term period?