It can be challenging to narrow down your offer to a signature differentiator, especially given current consulting trends.

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Imagine you want to help startups with their People operations.

You could follow the trend and market yourself as an interim or fractional Chief People Officer, i.e., “do all the things” for a set period of time.

These types of engagements can be a rich and lucrative option if:

a) the client sees the need and value for an all-in-one, temporary, functional executive hire

b) you’re seeking a mid- to long-term, embedded client engagement

and c) you want to take on all of those related activities (team mgmt, admin, exec. meetings, etc.)

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But perhaps there is a specific, high-impact activity you know you are exceptional at and (gasp!) enjoy doing...

Could you design a service around just that one activity?

For example:

• Run executive workshops on People strategy to iron out some critical principles and infrastructure
• Act as a coach to People teams, perhaps ahead of and during a scale-up, reorg, or layoff
• Customize and install boilerplate HR policies
• Run people & culture audits and make related recommendations

By narrowing down your service, your offer might be more digestible for your prospect, while putting your best foot forward as an initial engagement.

As you deliver more of them, it becomes your signature service, and eventually, you’re sought out for that service as your specialty, which boosts your pricing leverage, etc. etc.

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Interim and fractional engagements certainly have a place if they match your interests and goals.

But remember, you get to decide how broad or narrow you design your services.

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So, simply put, sign up for the activities you enjoy and do exceptionally well.

Leave out what you don’t.

Sounds pretty obvious, right?

💡

-Wes

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