- Adriana: “Your positioning is … euhm … how do I put this nicely … ?”
- Me: “No need to put it nicely 🙂 – I’m paying you exactly so that you can tell me your unfiltered opinion.”
- Adriana: “Well, your website positions you more like a freelancer who is doing the work, rather than the experienced expert you are.”
Ouch. (She was spot on)
I chose to work with Adriana precisely because of her unique experience and expertise – and that is precisely the reason why people choose to work with me, too.
And that means I need to showcase my expertise confidently.
Adriana then showed me several website changes I could make to reposition myself.
None of them were rocket science, but I was doing none of these things yet and they are going to make a difference.
Some were quick wins, like adding a page about hiring me as a speaker.
I am now improving my website page by page.
A one-hour session with Adriana helped to move me into action mode.
When to get external advice?
I believe that everyone benefits from an extra pair of eyes – from the right person, at the right time.
A good advisor can help to:
- Move out of patterns you are stuck in: Whether you work on your own, in a small or large team, everyone operates from a certain ‘truth’ about what works, where the bottlenecks are and what needs to change. Bring in an expert when you’ve doing the same things for a while and don’t see enough traction.
- Break a stalemate: A wise client (and subscriber to these Field Notes) once told me – “Usually, when I hire an advisor, I already know what they’re going to say, but I need it said by an external voice so that it’s more than one employee’s opinion”.
- See things from a different angle: Marketing is such a broad domain that you can’t possibly know everything. And many things are changing rapidly. You can always experiment, of course. But why not skip the first few failed experiments by learning from someone who has already done it successfully?
It would be stupid not to mention that you can hire me for a fresh perspective. Get started by getting one of my digital student recruitment audits.
Some caveats
Over the years, I have spent a lot of money (my money – since it’s my own business) on advice. I regret hiring some advisors – notably the time when I hired EY to advise on my business setup after moving from Singapore to Belgium – that was making things way too complex. They were decent people I enjoyed working with, but their expertise (and hourly rates!) were not a good match for my business.
But I am eternally grateful to many of the advisors that crossed my path. I’ve grown to trust my current accountant so much that I simply do as they say. A network of trusted advisors is super valuable.
To get the most out of an advisory relationship, I have learned to:
- Beware of conflict of interest. Clearest example is Google. Once an ad account shows growing ad spend, as an advertiser you will tend to get an invitation for a free advice call from someone with an @google.com account. I have had many such conversations and while most of these advisors are good people, they are strictly paid based on how much they can grow an account’s ad spend. What seems like a free call can end up costing tens of thousands of euros in wasted ad spend. Now, I am not saying to not speak to these people – but if any advice would potentially result in spending lots of money with your advisor, be sure to pay for a second opinion.
- Know what to ask. Advice is a two-way street. Before engaging an advisor, write down your goals so you’re super clear about them. In advertising, some of my clients want to scale their and are less concerned about their ad spend, while others have a fixed budget they want to optimise. The advice I would give each of them is completely different. So communicate your goals up front. If you don’t, your advisor might make the wrong assumptions.
- Don’t outsource your thinking. Experts have deep domain knowledge, but you are the expert in “you” and “your institution”. You can only unlock the value of an expert by making their advice relevant to your context. This even applies when you work with a medical specialist: the specialist knows how well treatments for a specific condition work in the general population, but only you can fully experience how well it works for you. So no matter the advisor’s credentials, don’t be afraid to push back about how the solution would work in your specific context.
Want advice about advice?
If you think you might want to work with me but you’re not entirely sure how, a simple way to explore is to Book a discovery call with me.
This article first appeared as a Field Note
In the Field Notes, I share one practical idea you can try on your site or in your campaigns. Every two weeks. Get it in your inbox by signing up here.
