Deborah Henken’s marketing articles chosen by IdeaMarketers as "A+ One of Our Best"
Deborah has been awarded the distinction of "A+ One of Our Best" for her work with IdeaMarketers. Recipients are chosen for the quality of their articles submitted to the site.
Women consultants make more, work harder
by Lynn Graebner
Niti Agrawal loved her jobs, marketing and managing products for Hewlett-Packard Co. and then Agile Software Corp. But with two young boys and a need for a break, she delved into independent consulting four years ago. She hasn't looked back.
She's still working hard, 40 to 45 hours weekly. But she's making more than she did as an employee and she's got the freedom she craved. Revenue for her company, Stage 4 Solutions Inc., of Saratoga, are up more than 30 percent a year, yet her rates are the same.
This seems to be the story for many women consulting in the Bay Area. Female consultants are making more money than they did last year, although they're working harder for their compensation since rates stayed flat, according to a survey by Women in Consulting (WIC), a nonprofit association in San Jose.
WIC got responses from 154 women consultants, 46 percent of whom are WIC members. The majority of those responding to the survey have been consulting for between 10 and 20 years, 48 percent have master's and 4 percent have a doctoral degree.
According to the June survey, average total revenue is $146,000 -- up from $139,000 last year. But the average hourly rate is down 4 percent from $125 in 2004 to $120 this year. Basically, it's flat, says Deborah Henken, WIC's president. Thirty-three percent of respondents make between $100,000 and $175,000 and another 36 percent make between $50,000 and $100,000. Only 9 percent make less than $50,000.
Despite the encouraging numbers, it was a rough ride for consultants during the downturn, says Mark Haas, chair elect of the Institute of Management Consultants USA, a nonprofit Washington D.C.-based association that certifies management consultants. It has 1,700 members and 24 chapters in the country and certifies consultants based on standards accepted by 41 other nations.
Mr. Haas says that Kennedy Information Inc., a Peterborough, N.H.-based information source on management consulting, calls the recent economic downturn the worst in 30 years for the consulting sector. And recovery only really started in 2004.
Mr. Haas speculates that women consultants may have been hit even harder than the industry as a whole since they typically excel in the field of human resources. When the economy is down, human resources are scarce.
The institute has not been focused on recruiting members, so Mr. Haas has not seen a surge in the number of consultants over the past several years, although he has made a push for more women in his local Washington, D.C., chapter.
Yet Ms. Henken has seen seven-year-old WIC's ranks triple in five years to 225, mostly in the Bay Area.
The largest percentage of the consultants in WIC's survey are marketing strategists. The next largest category is "other" and the next most prevalent categories are public relations, management consulting, product marketing, graphic arts or design, project management and market research.
Most of them are in their 30s and 40s and looking for ways to balance their personal and professional lives. Ms. Henken, who has an MBA and previously was a vice president at Blue Pumpkin Software Inc., in Sunnyvale, started her marketing consulting company five years ago largely because her son was starting first grade and she wanted to be home more.
Despite the bad economy -- she launched just after the 9/11 tragedy -- Ms. Henken and the majority of WIC members surveyed increased revenue from May 2004 to May 2005. During that time, 60 percent of survey respondents said revenue increased in the past 12 months and 73 percent expect it to climb even higher in the next year.
Ms. Henken's first year revenue was $125,000 and last year she pulled in $175,000. Unlike many consultants, she was able to raise her rates between 30 percent and 40 percent in 2005.
Consultant Julie Merrill, who does business as Change Catalysts in Oakland, says she hasn't really raised her rates but that she's getting a lot less resistance when she quotes them to clients. She charges by project.
That seems to be the trend, Mr. Haas says. "If you sell yourself as time [by the hour], you put yourself out as a commodity in the lowest bidder market," he says.
Many WIC members find they can generate more personal revenue if they outsource to subcontractors.
Consultants with subcontractors average $132,000 in personal income versus $86,000 without subcontractors, the survey reports.
Of those surveyed, 66 percent are sole proprietors and 81 percent have no employees, yet 63 percent use subcontractors. In fact, Ms. Agrawal of Stage 4 uses as many as eight subcontractors, including one in India. And her business is growing so rapidly that she's considering hiring employees. Her annual revenue is increasing between 30 percent and 70 percent annually and she hasn't seen any dips since she started her business.
But that's not typical, says Ms. Merrill. She and most of her consulting friends have seen dips and valleys in their revenue, although over the last 16 months the landscape has been improving, she says. She works about 50 to 60 hours a week and supports herself on her income.
While she's still working long hours, she's not on the phone or a plane eight hours a day, like she was when she was vice president for training and development in Bank of America's call center division.
"It's my own hours now."
Lynn Graebner covers nonprofits and life sciences for the Business Journal. Reach her at (408) 299-1822.
Deborah Henken asked to speak at the National Association of Women MBAs
Deborah Henken, President of WIC, has been asked to speak at the National Association of Women MBAs, Monterey Institute for International Studies chapter conference on Gaining Real Opportunities for Women on Sept. 24th, 2005. She will be speaking on starting a consulting practice.
Highland Team Clients Achieve Success in 2004
NetSuite
NetSuite, an ERP/CRM/e-business ASP spin-off of Oracle Small Business software, needed to assess the opportunity to lead with its ebusiness module and whether to utilize channels to go-to-market. Highland Team led research into the market needs of e-business vendors, assessed the competitive environment, and identified the web-savvy channels to work with to build the e-business market segment. Most importantly, Highland Team recommended that NetSuite come to market with an integrated e-commerce web store/accounting/ CRM product, rather than a separate web store product as the company was considering, as we identified the major benefit for customers as the ability to integrate the web store software component with accounting and CRM components, rather than have to use three systems and reenter data. NetSuite introduced the integrated product, NetCommerce, in Summer, 2004.
www.netsuite.comTelling Stories
Telling Stories provides software targeted to consumers to easily lead them through a process of telling a story about someone or something. Combining a historical timeline with the ability to simply integrate text, photos, artwork and movies, it lets the user create a gift or memory for big and small occasions. Highland Team evaluated various target markets and built a comprehensive marketing plan focused on PR, online marketing and guerilla marketing ideas. Telling Stories launched in May with rave reviews in USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. They received a 4 out of 5 rating in PC Magazine and Telling Stories "Deluxe Personal Story Teller" is distribute nation-wide in CompUSA stores.
www.tellingstories.comAmbeo
Ambeo, a provider of software used to increase data performance by identifying what data is being used, by whom and when, has been a long-term client of Highland Team. We started with developing a channel strategy, creating new positioning and messaging and have been their virtual marketing team for the past year, creating a new website, advertising and collateral. We've also developed and managed demand creation and PR campaigns, using article and white paper placement as a key, economical way to increase awareness and demand. With HIPAA, other regulations and security of data making headlines this year, Ambeo realized their solution provided a data auditing solution which matched this new market perfectly. Highland Team has played a key role with successfully re-positioning the company, creating press around the new application and developing and placing articles and white papers in over 20 websites and publications as diverse as database publications such as DM Review and Datawarehouse.com, CRM sites such as CRM Community and CRM Magazine and security sites and publications such as SecurityDocs and IT Compliance Institute.
www.ambeo.com
Deborah Henken to speak at Silicon Valley AMA
Panel Topic: Relationship Marketing and Social Networking Strategies, Thinking Outside the Box
On November 10th at the Network Meeting Center at Techmart in Santa Clara, Deborah Henken will moderate a panel discussion on relationship marketing and social networking.
It seems that everyone is connected on the Web these days, either through a social network or mailing list. What’s the big deal? Find out at November’s program, which will provide an overview of social networks and mailing lists -- how they differ and how to maximize your connections for both work and fun.
Please join SVAMA on November 10th and learn from an outstanding panel of leaders in Networking from Linked In, Spoke, Women in Consulting (WIC) and the KIT (Keep in Touch) List who will educate us about the value of these powerful tools.
For event details and registration visit the SVAMA site.
Highland Team and Next Step Introduce "Marketing that Sells"
During a recent engagement, Highland Team developed a clearly differentiated value proposition for a client and created the key messages to be used with prospects, analysts and the press. However, our client and his company (like many companies did not have extensive sales experience. Therefore, the company faced a challenge adapting these messages into 'sales messages' and developing the process, skills and confidence to directly sell his offerings to prospective clients.
We've teamed together with long-time colleague, Jennifer Vessels, President of Next Step, to develop a seamlessly integrated sales and marketing service to create effective marketing and compelling sales results. Our clients will receive compelling and differentiated positioning and messages and the skills to turn these into effective sales results. For more information, contact Deborah at dhenken@highlandteam.com.
For information on Next Step, Click here.
Highland Team Partners with Phone Works
Highland Team is pleased to announce a close working relationship with Phone Works, to provide an even wider range of go-to-market services for our clients. Phoneworks is the leader in developing telesales and telemarketing strategies for high tech companies. Phone Works consulting teams have built or re-engineered over 150 inside sales operations for technology start-up companies and former start-ups that include BEA, Cisco, Network Appliance, PlaceWare, and PeopleSoft. Highland Team recommends the power of telesales and telemarketing as a core component of a sales and market penetration strategy. Telesales can enhance a company’s sales reach and ramp revenue very quickly and cost-effectively. Telemarketing can provide a targeted and powerful vehicle to introduce new products, build awareness and develop qualified leads quickly. By teaming with Phone Works, we are now able to bring these powerful tools to our client companies. Click here for more information on Phone Works.
For the last twelve years, Phone Works has built and improved telephone and internet-based sales and pipeline-building functions for hundreds of companies to accelerate sales results at decreased costs. Phone Works consulting teams have built or re-engineered over 150 inside sales operations for technology start-up companies and former start-ups that include BEA, Cisco, Network Appliance, PlaceWare, and PeopleSoft. See www.phoneworks.com for more information on their background and services or contact Anneke Seley, Founder and CEO, 415-567-1300, aseley@phoneworks.com or Sally Duby, President and COO, 510-749-9073, sduby@phoneworks.com.
Highland Marketing Becomes Highland Team, Introducing the New Team
I am pleased to announce two new principals have joined Highland Marketing, leading us to rename the company, Highland Team. My new colleagues strengthen the ability of Highland Team to create revenue-enhancing strategies and programs by adding business development, sales leadership and e-business expertise, as well as strong channel management and marketing skills. Phyllis Brock joins Highland Team from Nortel Networks, where as Vice President of e-Business she created and managed that division which achieved a run rate of $10 billion of transactions in one year. She served in senior management roles at Sun Microsystems in marketing and channels and had a highly successful sales career with IBM. Karen Henken (no relation) has merged her consulting firm, The Apex Group with the Highland Team. She will add her strong market development and channel strategy experience. Most recently, she served as Vice President of Channels and International at Pillar Corporation (acquired by Hyperion) and in senior sales, channel and business development roles at Borland, Sybase and Sun Microsystems. Highland Team can now provide:
- Strategic Marketing
- Channel management and marketing
- e-Business strategy and implementation
- Go-to-market planning and implementation
Highland Teams with IDC on Their Latest Study
Highland Team is pleased to team with IDC as an Authorized Implementation Partner (AIP) on their newest study, "Capturing Market Share with Influence Relationships."
The study focuses on how to estimate the revenue impacted by alliances in a company, the appropriate metrics for measuring the impact of influence and what elements need to be included in an influence program to maximize benefit to a company. AIP companies will critically evaluate a companies need to adapt to an influencer partner program model, develop strategically sound frameworks to launch a program and implement best-in-class influence partner programs with a focus on clear and measureable ROI.
For more information on the study, click here. (MS PowerPoint presentation)
Highland Team teams with Charles Consulting Group to offer Win/Loss Studies and Competitive Analysis.
Highland Team is pleased to team with The Charles Consulting Group to help its clients achieve market leadership through intelligence. The Group focuses on conducting win/loss and competitive surveys that provide clients with the actionable insight needed to sharpen their marketing, sales, and development tactics and strategies. These actions result in an improved win/loss ratio, helping them gain or maintain market leadership.
Michael Beek is the founder and president of the Charles Consulting Group. He has over 20 years of sales and sales management experience. His background includes working for several start-up companies as well as building new business initiatives for large, established companies. Following Mike's mantra, "put yourself in the buyer's shoes", the Charles Consulting Group brings a much-needed source of actionable intelligence to its clients. . For more information contact Michael Beek, mbeek@charles-consulting.com or www.charles-consulting.com.
Highland Team now brings value of IDC partner and channel research into client engagements
Highland Team has been selected as an Authorized Implementation Partner (AIP) of IDC Global Software Partnering and Alliances Group. Chosen for depth of practical experience in developing and managing channel and partnering programs and relationships, Highland Team will be one of a select group of partners that the IDC group will recommend to their clients to develop and implement best practice channel and partner plans and programs as a complement to IDC research and advisory services.
AIP members have a close working relationship with IDC, enabling them to bring the value of IDC analysts, research and methodologies into their consulting assignments to deploy partner programs and initiatives for clients. Highland Team looks forward to working with clients to make the most of valuable IDC channel and partner research.
Learn more about why to use an IDC Authorized Implementation Partner - AIP Implementation Assistance (Power Point Presentation)
For more information about IDC and their Partner Program please visit IDC's Authorized Implementation Partner Program Page.
Highland Team partners with Hyde Park Group to bring breakthrough Positioning Workshops to San Francisco Bay Area
(05/22/02) Deborah Henken, President of Highland Team, has joined forces with the Hyde Park Group, experts in identifying the optimal position in a market through experiential positioning workshops with highly actionable results.
Mary Haderlein, President of the Hyde Park Group, delivers a unique positioning workshop featuring a combination of analytical tools and creative, role-playing scenarios which put participants actively into the marketing situation of their company and generate positioning statements based on their particular market dynamics.
The workshops focus on four marketing scenarios: War Games for highly competitive market share wars, LeapFrog for stagnant or declining markets competing on price, TrailBlazers for companies in new or undefined markets, and Beat The Clock, for markets experiencing rapid growth. Each module uses proprietary experiential techniques loosely based on the work of Edward de Bono, a leading expert in creative thinking, complemented by analysis into the market, competition, customer and brand. Sample workshop sucess stories
Ms. Haderlein has over 20 years of strategy and marketing experience at some of the leading communications firms in the world including Omnicom, WPP, and Saatchi & Saatchi. She has worked with a diverse array of Clients including Microsoft, MCIWorldCom, Motorola, Procter & Gamble, Kellogg, Clorox, Borden, American Plastics Council, International Truck, Waste Management, R J. Reynolds, The Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and many others.
Prior to starting The Hyde Park Group, Mary was President of Grant/Jacoby, Inc., serving a variety of consumer and business-to-business clients. Mary is a graduate of Northwestern University (CAS '80) and The Kellogg Graduate School of Management (KGSM '82).
For more information, e-mail Deborah Henken or call at (650) 224-6295.
