Taking your Professional Services Business to the Next Level

Executive Briefing

Taking Your Professional Services Business to the Next Level

www.profilesinternational.com© 2011 Profiles International, Inc. All rights reserved.

Taking Your Consulting, Training, Coaching or Recruiting Business to the Next Level. Copyright 2011 by Profiles International. All rights reserved. No part of the report may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without written permission from the publisher.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

PublisherProfiles Research InstituteDario Priolo, Managing Director5205 Lake Shore DriveWaco, Texas 76710-1732

Profiles International (800) 960-9612www.profilesinternational.com

AcknowledgementsPresident, Co-founder, Profiles International: Bud HaneyEditor-in-Chief: Dario PrioloManaging Editor: Carrie D. MartinezAssistant Editors: Jeffrey M. Meyers, Christine Gallia, Jacob FordCreative Director: Kelley TaylorGraphics Assistant: Kristen Fletcher

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http://www.profilesinternational.com/


As a professional and an entrepreneur, you know the challenges of running your own business. Being your own boss, setting your own rules ‐‐ it all sounds great, but there are downsides. Going it alone, juggling all the demands of life and work, can leave you in a position where you can’t see the forest for the trees when it comes to improving your own business.

We have been in business for 20 years, and have approximately 700 active partners around the world. Over this time we have seen it all –what works, and what doesn’t. And our partners tell us that we provide tremendous help to them in the following areas:

1. Enhancing credibility2. Unlocking new options to close business3. Diagnosing needs and gaining deeper insight into client issues4. Generating recurring revenue streams5. Accessing world‐class support

If you are a consultant, trainer, coach or recruiter, we invite you to read further to better understand how we can help you take your business to the next level.

Taking your consulting business to the next level

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1. Enhancing credibility


Credibility is in the eye of the beholder

One of the big challenges that any consultant faces is establishing credibility with a new prospect. If a prospect doesn’t know you or your company, he or she must become convinced your proposed solution will meet the company’s needs and provide tangible benefits that warrant changing the status quo, and that you can and will provide the support the client requires to be successful.

Becoming a Profiles Strategic Business Partner will enhance your credibility.

Whether you are a brand‐new consultant or a 20‐year veteran working with a brand‐new prospect, a proven way to establish credibility is to reference success with other clients.

Over the past 20 years, we have provided assessment instruments and technology that have helped our partners help thousands of organizations improve their human capital processes. You can borrow our credibility and experience while building yours, and give your prospect the assurance that one of the most established names in the business is backing you up.

Remember, prospects buy from consultants they like AND trust. Although lasting trust is developed over time, partnering with us will accelerate the process of creating sales‐winning credibility with your prospects.


2. Unlocking new options to close business


Your time is money, so use it wisely

Many organizations are reluctant to make a major investment in a consulting or training initiative without first doing a proof‐of‐concept or a pilot project. This creates challenges for consultants or trainers who feel like they are asked to provide time‐consuming services for free with the hope that it will turn into more significant and profitable work in the future. When you generate income by billing time, you need to be very careful about how you use your time.

Becoming a Profiles Strategic Business Partner gives you more closing options.

Profiles Strategic Business Partners have more options at their disposal to help transition a prospect to a paying client. Many of our partners will offer to conduct a small number of assessments on a targeted group (i.e., a pilot project) free of charge.

Although our partners do invest some time getting the client set up and debriefing the client on the results, the time they spend is considerably less than if they were to do a pilot consulting study or training program. The information that they uncover from the assessments reveals many issues and helps them start relationships with other influential decision‐makers in the organization.


3. Diagnosing needs and gaining deeper insight into client issues


Treat the root cause, not the symptoms

There is a saying in the medical field that prescription without diagnosis is malpractice. Consultants, trainers and recruiters who can pinpoint the precise needs of their clients will be viewed as more credible by the client. Furthermore, a comprehensive diagnostic process will help you to scope better solutions, set proper expectations, and reveal more opportunities to help your client at the right time. This drives more successful engagements, more satisfied clients, and more profitable work with less or no competition.

Becoming a Profiles Strategic Business Partner gives you access to exceptional diagnostic tools.

Profiles Strategic Business Partners have access to a comprehensive suite of assessments that will enable you to provide outstanding insight and direction to your clients.

We take science seriously and we continually invest in ongoing research and development to ensure that our assessment instruments are both valid (i.e., measure what we say they’ll measure) and reliable (i.e., measure consistently across population groups). We maintain a staff of PH.D psychometricians, seek feedback from an outside Scientific Advisory Committee, and are founding members of the Association of Test Publishers (www.testpublishers.org).

This gives you solid confidence and unmatched resources to serve your clients better and build your business.

http://www.testpublishers.org/


4. Generating recurring revenue


It pays to build equity in your business

The project‐oriented nature of consulting, training and recruiting work can lead to a cycle of feast‐or‐famine that can be tough to break. When you land a new assignment, you work like crazy to deliver the work and collect your fee. During this time, it is easy to neglect other sales and marketing activity, and your funnel runs dry. When you complete your assignment, your revenue stream dries up until you land your next client. And the cycle continues.

Becoming a Profiles Strategic Business Partner enables you to build recurring revenue streams in your clients.

Our assessment instruments are great diagnostic tools to help you scope and close your project‐based work. However, our assessment systems stay active in the client's organization after the project to enable ongoing employee selection and workforce development activities. Think of the razor and blade strategy. Your project work and relationship with the client are the razor and our assessments are the blades. The assessment instruments and delivery system become part of how your clients run their organization.

This means that you will earn highly profitable income from the assessments your clients use after your project is complete. And you have an unobstructed view into the inner workings of their organization and plenty of opportunities to follow up, build more and stronger relationships, and become a trusted advisor.

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5. Accessing world-class support


No need to go at it alone

As an entrepreneur, you know how lonely and difficult it can be to be in business for yourself. Along with catering to the needs and demands of clients and staying on top of the latest developments in your field, you are responsible for sales, marketing, finance, accounting, administration, legal, IT, R&D, facilities, and more.

Becoming a Profiles Strategic Business Partner gives you access to a business coach and exceptional support resources.

We have over 600 active partners from around the world that we work with every day, and we have created a support group to help drive our mutual success. Here’s a summary of what you get:

• You will have access to a business coach, who will help with your onboarding, product training and business planning, and who is there for you whenever you need him or her.

• You will have access to a full suite of scientifically valid assessments and a world‐class online assessment delivery system that you will use to manage your clients.

• You will be able to participate in our weekly conference calls, regional meetings and annual conferences where you will continuously learn not only about how to use our assessments with your clients, but also how to close business and retain and grow your clients.

• You will have access to the Profiles Partner Marketing System and all of the resources we make available for our partners to build their reputation and generate leads.

• We even have programs where we can sell and service your clients for you.


How it all works


For 20 years, we’ve helped our partners succeed

First of all, we are NOT a franchise. We are a publisher of world‐class assessment instruments, which we deliver online through our state‐of‐the‐art virtual assessment center.

Our partners pay an annual fee for their assessment center license, and then buy assessments from us at a wholesale price and resell them to their clients at a retail price.

We recruit partners such as you, many of whom have existing consulting, training, coaching and recruiting businesses. Others might be retiring executives in search of a new challenge that will leverage their experience and contacts. These professionals use our assessments to enhance their business, but many of our most successful partners make an excellent living selling only assessments. Our partners get access to many additional resources to help them succeed, because when our partners succeed, we succeed.


imagine great people™

We are always looking for outstanding professionals as resellers of our assessment solutions.

Profiles business partners use our assessments to support the services they offer to their clients, such as recruiting, training and development, executive coaching, and human resources consulting.

If you want to take your recruiting, training, or consulting practice to the next level, we have the tools and the knowhow to help you succeed. You can be in business for yourself, but not by yourself.

The first step is to experience the power of our assessments first hand. Please call us to schedule a complimentary assessment and learn if this opportunity is a good fit for you.

Profiles International helps organizations Select the right people and develop them to their full potential.

Our partners work with their clients across the employee life cycle to enhance productivity and performance of individuals, teams and organizations.

Over the past 20 years, we have served over 40,000 clients in nearly 120 countries and 30 languages.

Call us today to learn more about how we can help you enhance your professional services business by adding our assessments.

Contact Mike Priest: at (800) 880‐2909

Business Partner Opportunity Profiles International – Who We Are

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