There are many ways to go about consulting, but how do you do it, and how do you do it successfully? Most consulting companies fail because they can not attract the clients who need their services. Failed strategies include calling on their former associates, attending networking events, and cold calling, and waiting for the phone to ring. The key to successful consulting is marketing, not selling.
John Carter describes the creation of a successful boutique consulting firm, Product Development Consulting, founded in 1990 and still thriving in Boston. He presents the practical marketing techniques used to establish and grow the firm and gives tangible best practices and operational metrics to get clients to call you, not the other way around. John's focus on marketing can help aspiring consultants, or those who are more experienced, find greater success without stress.
John Carter has been a CEO, CTO, founder, and a widely respected consultant over his 35-year career. He has provided merger and acquisition advice to technology firms acquired by Google and Computer Associates and the private equity firm Vantage Point Venture Partners as Principal of TCGen. In 2004 John and his partner raised capital and executed a global rollup strategy in consumer electronics integrating the brand operations of Klipsch, Jamo, and API, which tripled sales and doubled profit in less than three years. Prior to TCGen, he was the founder and a principal of Boston-based Product Development Consulting Inc., a leading consultancy advising Fortune 500 companies in the areas of research, development, and marketing. He has consulted for many high technology companies, working with clients such as Abbott, Apple, Cisco, Hewlett Packard, IBM, and 3M, where he applied best practices in areas such as portfolio management, stage gate, metrics, product definition, and teamwork. Before starting PDC, John was Chief Engineer of BOSE Corporation. He earned his SM in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BS in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California.
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