Betsy Jordyn (00:00.108)
Are you positioning your consulting or coaching as a service provider or as a strategic partner? How do you tell? And how do you know which one's best for you? That's exactly what we're diving into today on this episode of the Consulting Matters podcast.
Betsy Jordyn (00:25.014)
And welcome to the Consulting Matters podcast. This is the show for consultants and coaches who are ready to own the power of what they do and position themselves for the impact and income they're ready for. I'm your host, Betsy Jordan. I'm a business mentor and brand messaging and positioning strategist. You can find out all about what I do to help my clients make more money through making a bigger difference on my website at www.betsyjordan.com. And don't forget Jordan's with a Y. So let me ask you some questions.
You know, have you ever wondered if the way that you're landing clients and shaping the relationship with your clients, it's holding you back from the impact and income you really want? Or maybe you're somebody who is just saying yes to whatever scope a client hands to you. Or maybe you feel like you're just delivering a bunch of one-off workshops or coaching packages that just feel like this transaction, you know, where you're maybe stuck in the trading time for money and you just don't feel like you're being paid for the value that you create. If that sounds like you, you are in the right place.
because in this episode, I'm gonna put words around what's really going on, why it matters, and more importantly, how you can turn it around. So today, let me tell you what we are doing. I am kicking off a brand new series on the Consulting Matters podcast called From Service Provider to Strategic Partner, and I'm very excited about this series. This is long time coming. And in this first episode,
I want to really start the whole series by us getting on the same page around what is the difference between a service provider and a strategic partner. And the reason why is that in order for you to make a conscious choice about your direction, you need to understand what your choice points are and what the value is for each path. And if you do want to step into the role of strategic partner, you need to know what shifts you need to make so that you can actually make this shift faster.
And the good news is, is that when you start really getting that vision for strategic partnership, you can make changes to your impacted income very, very quickly without necessarily even doing a complete business overhaul. So this is what I call partnership setup is my approach to lending clients. And I'm going to introduce you to the whole process and I'm going to be deconstructing it for you on the show. So this is the approach.
Betsy Jordyn (02:37.301)
that I have developed and honed since my early days as an internal consultant at Disney. So it's about developing relationships and partnerships for greater impact. And so here's the backstory. And I've told this story so many times, you probably heard it. But one thing I discovered very, very early on in my career is that leaders were not automatically gonna use my expertise in the way that I knew was gonna create the most value. That it was up to me to position myself for the kind of role and the kind of work that I knew made the biggest difference.
And so I needed to make some shifts in how I was showing up with my clients and more importantly, how I was responding to the requests of me and what they wanted from me. So you know what I'm talking about. clients are gonna come to us consultants and coaches all the time, like, can you deliver this workshop for me? Can you do this training? Can you do this strategic facilitation? You know, whatever this tactical requests, I knew that I needed to pivot these conversations from these wants to the needs to get into the strategic conversations.
so that I can position myself in the most strategic way. So this is a process that I had developed and honed as an internal consultant. And then when I left my internal consulting role and I started my own consulting business, of course, this is what I did when I had lead, it's an opportunities. And so I was able to grow my business. You might've heard this story. If you've been following me for a while, you've heard all my stories, but you've heard my story about how I grew my business from zero to 300,000 in the first 18 months. Wow, wow, wow. You know, isn't that amazing?
But I'll tell you, I didn't get it because I became like some sort of marketing guru. It's because I knew exactly what to do with a lead once I got one. And so I'm so passionate about this particular approach because I know the impact that you can have right away and how it creates sustained levels of improvement over time. So last week I had on the show Katie Anderson and she talked about the power of learning partnership setup and how it helped her dramatically elevate her impact and income.
So this series, again, close to my heart for those reasons, I love seeing the impact on my clients and how they are able to create just bigger client results, where they are able to position themselves to influence their clients on things that are really important to them. But the foundation of all of this goes to my heart and it goes back to the core of my career from the beginning, which is all about partnership and the power of partnership in creating results.
Betsy Jordyn (05:06.251)
we get to work hand in hand with our clients on the goals that matter most to them. So when I relaunched this podcast after coming out of sabbatical, and I went from enough and already to consulting matters, I chose to have Peter Block as my first guest because he really influenced me about the partnership principles from the very beginning and that has guided my career. And so I wanna take you more into what does partnership look like in practicality.
So in this series, I'm not just gonna share the steps, but I'm gonna share more people who influenced me in the approach that I teach my clients around how to land bigger clients, the strategic work they want, and set themselves up to be able to influence their clients on the things that matter most to them. But today, let's talk about today. You can see I could just go on and on and on about how amazing partnership setup is and how it's gonna change the world. And I really think it's gonna change the world, but let's get into today.
Today, I want you to get clear on a few things. Number one is what does it look like to be a service provider by choice and why there's a tremendous value in that role and that if this is something that really suits you, this is a great path. But then I'm also gonna talk about what I call the accidental service provider trap. And that means that you might be doing this role and it's not necessarily exactly what you want. So there's the service provider by choice and then there's the accidental service provider.
And then I'm gonna talk before we get into the solution, which I think you know where I'm going, because it's all about partnership. I'm gonna share a little bit about why we all, all, all of us start our businesses in some version of the service provider model. Then I'm gonna get into how do we break free and position ourselves as that partner and how to start stepping into your power in that type of role. So all of this is coming your way. I'm super excited. So let's dive in. So let's begin with.
a conversation about what is a service provider by choice. And a service provider by choice is somebody who makes an intentional decision to build a business around offering their outsourced expertise and delivery. So it's about expertise and delivery. The value proposition is simple and powerful. Businesses, leaders, individuals, they get access to your specialized skills for far less money than hiring in-house, period. Like that's just amazing value right off the bat.
Betsy Jordyn (07:30.719)
So when you think about from a company standpoint, this is amazing because let's say they want to work with a fractional leader. They get senior level expertise without adding permanent headcount before they're ready. And for other roles, like maybe they are needing financial, technical, creative, or project support, they can get these resources in a much more flexible way without having to have the overhead of a full-time hire. So that's really a great value proposition for these organizations.
But then I think about myself as a solopreneur, I hire these providers all the time and I bet you do too. And we value them because, you know, lot of times when we're growing our own businesses, we don't necessarily want employees. I know I don't want full-time employees, but I absolutely do want experts to handle my website, especially my podcast editing, social media, and I cannot imagine for the life of me ever doing my taxes. So I for sure have an accountant. So for me, the value of servers providers could not be clearer.
But for you, let's think about is this a good fit for you? Service provider by choice is a wonderful fit if it aligns with who you are and what you want. So maybe you left your nine to five to start your own business because you want more freedom, more flexibility, more control over your career, but yet you still love the tactical day-to-day work that you used to do when you were a full-time employee or a leader. And you wanna recreate the role that you once had, but just in a more flexible way. If that's the case, this is your lane.
Consider fractional work, gig work, contract work, subcontracting work. This is great for you because having the opportunity to do the work that you used to enjoy in your nine to five, but instead of working for one company, you get the variety, that's a win-win for you. So you create great value for your clients, you have a great opportunity for you, this is great. But now let's talk about the next point, which is about the service provider by accident.
And what this means is that you're doing service provider type work and it's not what you want and you don't know another way. And that's what makes it a trap. So maybe for you, when you decided to start your own consulting or coaching business, it's that you didn't want to do the tactical day-to-day work anymore. Maybe you've been there, done that, you outgrew it. Maybe you outgrew it when you became a leader and you started overseeing other people doing that work. Or maybe you just left.
Betsy Jordyn (09:52.863)
the nine to five because you just didn't want to do it anymore. But you didn't know what else to offer. And that happens to all of us all the time is like, it just seems to make sense because this is what you've done before. But when you start getting into the work, it's like, I don't really want to do my technical expertise. Like what I really want to offer clients is my lived wisdom. What I've gained over the years, maybe through my formal roles and maybe through my informal experience, maybe there's something else. So the problem with the service provider trap
is you're doing this kind of tactical day-to-day work when what you really want is help your clients in times of complexity and ambiguity. You wanna help your clients achieve important strategic goals. You wanna guide transformation when leaders, individuals, or organizations are scaling to new level of success. You don't wanna be a part of the day-to-day, you wanna be a part of what's next, the future. And so if this is the kind of work you're after and you're not landing it,
you might be stuck in the trap. So instead of being hired for your perspective, your wisdom, your ability to help clients stretch beyond their current capacity, you're in this transactional contract mode, or what I might call the project or piecemeal mode, where you're either doing these labor-intensive projects, where you're doing a lot of, maybe you're making great money overall, but when you break it down per hour, it's not that great.
and you're doing a lot of like implementation work or what I would say is like piecemeal work is like you're not doing the whole kit and kubu at all. Like you might be implementing one part of a change strategy but not the whole kit and kubu at all. You're not really helping your clients achieve the goals. You're only doing one part. And so this is the accidental service provider trap is it's not necessarily bad if this is what you love. It is.
A trap though, if this isn't what you want and you feel this draw to something more, like you wanna have a different kind of impact, you wanna get paid more for your advice, your wisdom, your guidance, and that's when it's a trap. So let's take a pause here and let's just reflect. And I want you to think about, are you in either one of these situations? Are you a service provider by choice or have you accidentally fall into the trap? If you're a service provider by choice,
Betsy Jordyn (12:10.931)
I just wanna congratulate you for the choice. And then your next question is, how do I scale this thing up? How do I take this business to the next level? That's gonna be a different type of conversation than what I'm necessarily talking about here on this podcast, but I'd love to chat with you about that. So definitely reach out to me if you want a thinking partner to help you scale up your service provider business. But if you are accidentally in the trap, this podcast series is for you. And if you wanna get out of it,
this is exactly the solution that you've been looking for. So just reflect, are you a service provider by choice? Have you accidentally fallen in the trap? And if you're in the trap, do you really want to get out of it? So point number three, before I get into the solution, really I want to set the stage to say, if you're in the service provider trap, please do not feel no shame, no foul. The fact is we all fall into it, all of us. Even when I tell you like, I was so great with doing
my initial business launch and I was able to take a client and turn it into the other one, I still fall into the trap from time to time. Not because we're not smart, not because we don't have something powerful to offer, it's just when we start our businesses, we really don't know any other way. We know how to get jobs, we know how to negotiate salaries. If we were an internal consultant, we absolutely know how to do statements of work. So what do we do when we first start our business is we do the same things we did before, especially,
in those early days. I don't know if you were like this, if you could relate to this experience, but I hear a lot of people have the same experience that I did when I first left Disney. As soon as you leave, either your old employer or somebody that you know through referrals, say, hey, great, yay, you're on your own. Why don't you come work for us? And then what do you do? Is you start contracting for work. You do all of the same things that I just said. And so then at some point you realize like, hey, wait a minute, this isn't gonna work for me over the long term.
You know, some of it is there's a struggle because it doesn't really feel scalable, you know, unless you're just like, get more clients, raise your rates. But if you're money, you know, and time together, you know, there's only so much you can do and you know you need to do something different, but you don't necessarily know what that is. So I just want to normalize this before I go into the solution is that if that we all fall into this in some ways, it's super easy to fall into.
Betsy Jordyn (14:36.485)
And it's just because nobody's really taught you another way. Like that's the problem is I know how to land jobs. I know how to negotiate salaries. I know how to do current statements of work. And I know how to do complex contracts. Like I know how to do this. And the key is, is that in order to move to the solution, we have to understand what got us to today. And this is one of those things where we have to unlearn what we learned in order to learn something new. So if you can you relate, just take a minute.
Can you relate to the situation that I was mentioning? If you are in the accidental service provider trap, does it make sense, like what I was saying about your own experience? Can you relate to your own experience that you had left and automatically got clients, did what you know, and at some point it just stopped working and now you want something different? So now let's talk about the solution. And that is destination strategic partnership. And so the
First, first steps, I'm gonna go through the series on exactly what you need to do, but we gotta begin with really painting the picture of what is a strategic partner. So the way forward is first envisioning the role and then stepping into it. So let's talk about what is a strategic partner. In contrast to a service provider, a strategic partner comes alongside clients to enhance their capacity, enhances their capacity to solve their own problems, to achieve their most important strategic goals,
and to catalyze their own leadership career in organizational transformations. So breaking down the word strategic and partner, strategic means that your consulting or coaching is positioned against those types of challenges. So it's not positioned against the day-to-day results, but the future. So you're not there to do the work they could do, but they don't want to, or they don't want to bring it in-house.
You're there for something very different. So you're not there to help them get today's results, you're there to help them for tomorrow's growth. So that's what strategic means. Partner means you're positioned as a peer and collaborator. So back in 2022 on the show, I talked about being in the pair of a hand strap. And this is one of those ways that I would say is not how you wanna be positioned.
Betsy Jordyn (16:51.945)
So a peer and collaborator is different than the pair of hands, and that means doing whatever a client asks. So that means you're sort of under the client. So they ask you to do something and you say yes, that's the pair of hands trap. But you also don't want to be above your clients where you're the surrogate leader, where you're dictating work and you tell them what to do, but you're alongside them, co-creating the work together. So I would say in the service provider type of mode, it's either the client or you define the work.
in the strategic partnership type of environment, you are co-creating the work together. So this is a different type of role. Here, your expertise is delivered through relationship and influence. Or as Peter Block said on the show a few weeks ago, he said that relationships are the delivery mechanism of your expertise. So that's that role. And your value is measured in terms of
what is the value or outcome your clients got because they invested in your partnerships. So you're not there to help them save money on expert support. You're there to be an investment that will get them to a better place and a better way. So you're not paid for your time, you're paid for your contribution to their goals. One thing I know for sure after 30 plus years in the consulting or coaching industry is what I said before, and I'll say it again, no one is automatically gonna use your expertise
in the way that creates the most value, especially when it comes to transformation. So I learned this early in my career, as I mentioned, as an internal OD consultant. And what was really confusing in so many ways is I had the formal role in the organization. You know, I had a title, you know, and a position on the org chart where I was an OD consultant. My clients who are executives, they were MBA trained, and I was confused that they did not understand what OD was or how to use me in ways that mattered most. I thought that was
Very interesting, know, pretty young and naive at that point. And what I realized is that in some ways, they just didn't have a language for the work that I did. But now I see something different after all of these decades in this field and helping my clients navigate so much deep transformation when they move from employee to business owner and from leader to consultant or coach. And the thing about transformation, it is so fundamentally different from day to day work. And that's why leaders default.
Betsy Jordyn (19:15.122)
to asking for things like workshops or meeting facilitations or coaching packages. And it's because transformation, where we shine, we where we are most needed as consultants and coaches, the word transformation literally means changing forms. So an organization or a leader, your client, they're going through some sort of the changing form process, you know, where they're in this like liminal space where they're trying to move from a startup into maybe a thriving enterprise or a manager becoming an executive.
or leaders shifting from command and control management style to empowerment, or companies moving from profit center to people centered. All of this requires a client to go somewhere that they've never been before. It's unknown territory and this type of work does not belong on the org chart and never will be on the org chart. So they don't really have any context to ask us for the transformational work we know we wanna do. So it's not that transformational consultants and coaches are invisible.
It's that the work of transformation is invisible and mysterious to our clients. That's why they need us, but they don't know necessarily what to ask for. And that's why it's up to us to position ourselves clearly, confidently, intentionally as their strategic partner through this nebulous journey of transformation. And the way we do this starts with our approach to landing clients. And that is exactly what I'm gonna be unpacking in the upcoming weeks.
So I'm gonna walk you step by step through my partnership setup approach, how it's different than contracting, and what you can do immediately to start leveling up your impact and income. And in the weeks after, I'm so excited about this, you're gonna get to hear directly from two of my biggest influences on my partnership setup approach. First from Rick Bommelje, my very first mentor, and he's the one who actually gave me that wise...
wise advice so many years ago about nobody's ever gonna position me for the work I wanted. I had to position myself, but he also showed me how to use my listening and empathy skills to do this positioning. So I'm really excited for you to hear from, I still call him Dr. Balmage, even though we are now peers and I'm older. So I'm really excited for you to hear from him. And then you're gonna hear from Jack Phillips, who is the creator of the ROI methodology and.
Betsy Jordyn (21:34.051)
I went to a workshop that he did when I was a brand new consultant at Disney, and he really gave me the clarity on how do I align my OD expertise with business outcomes in addition to how do I measure the results and how to talk about what I do in ROI terms. So I'm really excited to have Jack Phillips on the show. So all of that is coming your way. So let's just recap what we discussed today. Number one, there is a difference between being a service provider by choice and a service provider by accident that can feel like a trap.
And the trap is when you're doing project and piecemeal work, when what you really want is the strategic transformational engagements and you don't know how to get there. And the way out of the trap is to change your vision for the role and your contribution and take charge of how you're positioning yourself in the market and especially with clients when landing work, replacing contracting with partnership setup. So what I love for you to do next is I want you to reflect and just choose really, really what's best for you.
are you meant to be a service provider or a strategic partner? And if you are meant to be a strategic partner and you're not there yet, just start thinking about what mindset shifts you're already seeing that you need to make to be open to the new approaches that I'll be sharing over the next few episodes. And also, when you're done listening, I got a freebie for you. You're gonna love it. This is my discovery meeting script, and it starts to introduce to you the process of how do you pivot a client from wants to needs.
how do you start asking those questions to establish that type of relationship? So you could get that on my website at www.betsyjordan.com forward slash discovery hyphen meeting hyphen script. Or you can find it by going to my website and hit the free resources dropdown and you'll see that as well. And I wanna give you some other exciting news. I'm gonna be launching a new group coaching program that turns these principles of partnership set up into action.
So what I'm gonna be doing over eight weeks as a group and giving you some one-on-one coaching is I'm gonna show you step-by-step how to make this partnership setup process your very own and how you can start using it right away, starting with your next client opportunity. So the signup is not ready yet and I just wanted to give you early, early access for exclusive discounts. So if you wanna get more information, I'd love to chat with you about it. You could send me an email at betsy at betsyjordan.com.
Betsy Jordyn (24:00.001)
If you want, you can head on over to LinkedIn, connect with me there and direct message me and I can't wait to give you more information. I'll be sharing more as the weeks progress. So that's it for today's episode. If you enjoyed it, please be sure, you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to hit subscribe wherever you're tuning in. And you'll definitely want to hit subscribe if you want to listen to Jack Phillips and Rick Balmage. They're gonna be amazing guests. can't wait for you to hear them and pass it on to your colleagues and friends.
If you enjoyed this episode too, I'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review it on Apple Podcasts. It'll help more people find the show and I'd really appreciate it. And until next time, thanks so much for listening.
