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Consulting Business

Getting Unstuck
Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 - 23:40 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
“If there is something you must do and you cannot do it, you cannot do anything else.” Mignon McLaughlin I think this highlights a variation on perfectionism but it’s something I certainly wrestle with from time to time. “Good enough” is one way to break the logjam, but if something is late I can sometimes feel that it has to be better (or perfect) to justify the fact that it’s late. I worked with a peer manager at Cisco who would damage projects because he wanted to work on a task but he could not do quick and dirty version or a first draft.
Sean Murphy
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Five Reasons Companies Hire Consultants
Posted on Friday, February 11, 2011 - 00:59 by Theresa Shafer from the site SKMurphy
From an article by Theresa Shafer in the  PATCA Feb 2011 Newsletter Understanding why companies hire consultants can provide clues on what to look for and how to find more business. 1.   Crisis Resolution: Often consultants are hired to solve a crisis when the current staff cannot resolve the situation adequately.  Sometimes the crisis involves time to market, sometimes product failure, or an unexpected employee situation. For example, outside consultants might be bought in to solve a power, timing, or IE6 compatibility issue.
Theresa Shafer
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Keeping the Ball Rolling With Prospects
Posted on Monday, December 13, 2010 - 22:55 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
Most of our clients offer complex software products, frequently in combination with some amount of consulting services. Their sales are not the results of credit card transactions but a complex orchestrated sales process.
Sean Murphy
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Keeping Your Customers’ Trust
Posted on Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - 02:01 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
Consulting is the art of influencing people at their request. People want some sort of change—or fear some sort of change—so they seek consulting, in one form or another. Gerald Weinberg in “Secrets of Consulting“ I think B2B software is often purchased by firms hoping to achieve–or avoid–some sort of change. Like consulting, software is the promise of an ongoing business relationship. And essential to mutually satisfactory business relationship are trust and an exchange of value.
Sean Murphy
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Cold Calling Won’t Find Your First Business Customer
Posted on Thursday, September 23, 2010 - 19:00 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
I meet teams trying to cold call for their first customer and I just haven’t seen it work for startups selling to businesses.  Here is a relevant excerpt from  Gabriel Weinberg’s interview with me for his traction book. yegg: So it is pretty rare that the first customer is from a cold lead? skmurphy: I haven’t seen it. The challenge with a first customer for new software is that big unknown in the prospect’s mind is if the team going to perform.
Sean Murphy
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Recognizing Chris Finnie as a Partner and Advisor
Posted on Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 14:39 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
We focus on strategy and business development for software startups. We’ve been fortunate to develop strong relationships with firms who also serve startups but offer complementary services, as well as firms who focus on larger clients but whose expertise is also of benefit to startups. We work with a number of partners to create value for our clients.
Sean Murphy
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DreamSimplicity Interview Transcript
Posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010 - 19:09 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
I was recently interviewed by Floyd Tucker of DreamSimplicity Marketplace and now have a transcript courtesy of SpeakerText (which I have edited for clarity and added hyplerinks): FLOYD TUCKER: Good morning, this is Floyd Tucker with DreamSimplicity.
Sean Murphy
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Matt Perez on How Nearsoft Leverages Yammer
Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2010 - 03:30 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
I met Matt Perez in 2003 just as I was starting SKMurphy.  It was the tail end of nuclear winter in Silicon Valley and folks were trying to figure out what was next (unlike now where it’s pretty clear what’s next for a while in California, more of the same if we are lucky–flat is the new up).
Sean Murphy
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SKMurphy Featured In Case Study For Central Desktop
Posted on Monday, January 4, 2010 - 13:56 by Theresa Shafer from the site SKMurphy
SKMurphy was interviewed and selected as one of a dozen case studies on Document Management Solutions for Consulting Groups by Central Desktop. Read about our innovative approach at “Document Management Solution helps SKMurphy Consulting Group Increase Productivity.” We make some strong claims in the case study: Increased productivity - approximately 5 to 10 times more productive Significantly sped up decision making time on projects Eliminated version control issues for faster review cycles The baseline is E-Mailing documents and phone tag.
Theresa Shafer
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Three Good Books for Consultants
Posted on Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - 20:46 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
I continue to run into folks who find themselves encouraged to launching a consulting career by their former employer and what is proving to be a very deep recession.
Sean Murphy
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