 “Own your backyard.” That was a phrase we’d heard back in our ad agency days. It meant that you need to dominate your immediate geographical market... especially before you spend a single dollar trying to make inroads elsewhere.
Makes sense, right? To a point. Back then, “geographical” was a very real factor in the equation. To put it in perspective, this is when terrestrial radio was called, well, “radio.” An FM signal can reach for about 50 miles. A local paper reaches a local market. There’s nothing wrong with these media. They still exist; some still thrive. And they’re quite relevant for local businesses, such as retailers, restaurants, and car dealers. But we mentioned “consulting” in the title of this article. And as we write this, we’re still locked down amid Covid and travel restrictions and all that. Crisis? Perhaps. Opportunity? Absolutely. Clearly, this article will have a big “internet” component to it, but that’s only one aspect of “cross-pollination.” Make more money Cross-pollination in consulting—a phrase which we made up, by the way—is a more relevant take on “own your backyard.” But it’s also a clever way to expand your backyard. Put it this way. Which is easier: Cold-call prospecting, or scooping up a referral that’s been tossed your way by a happy client? Exactly. It takes the absolute most effort to reach, and convert, total strangers. At the other end of the spectrum, the ostensibly easiest conversion is upselling an existing client: the so-called “land and expand” strategy. Cross-pollination is more closely related to the latter than the former. And it’s got a neat spin to it, which we’ll get to in a minute. Let’s say you’re an expert in Industry A. You know all about it, you specialize in it, it’s the core of your business. That’s great. Next on your list is Industry B. You also play there, but not as strongly as you do in Industry A. That’s fine. It’s also pretty much the rule among boutique consultancies. So let’s see how we can apply cross-pollination to this situation. In Industry A—where you’re an expert—you have tons of deep-dive lessons learned. They’re so specific to Industry A, however, that they can’t be applied to any other industry, such as, say, Industry B. But that’s a misperception. There are always lessons and insights from Industry A that not only apply to Industry B, but are also a welcome surprise to everyone in Industry B, because they lack that specific Industry A insight that only you possess. Voilà. You use your Industry A insights to “cross-pollinate” Industry B. The trick here is to disregard all of those biases that have become ingrained in your thinking that had led you to conclude, incorrectly, that there’s no overlap between Industries A and B. Indeed, the more disparate they appear, the more valuable the cross-pollination insights. If you specialize in, say, long-haul logistics, you’re not going to break much new ground applying that to short-haul logistics. But if you can apply, say, insights from long-haul logistics to... banking. Whoa. You’re onto something. Entire careers are made from breakthroughs like this. Do the work, reap the rewards We’re not saying that this is easy. Because if it were, as they say, everyone would have done it. But you’re smart. You’re a hard worker. You simply need to carve out the time and the effort to draw up a little “Column A/Column B” note sheet, and start to populate it. Here’s where it gets fun. Once you’re able to impress even a single client (or prospect) in Industry B, you’ve just given yourself the opportunity to “land and expand” there. So you can keep working, and learning, and getting paid to do so, building your Industry B expertise to the point where it’s at least as strong as it is for Industry A. (Meaning that Industry C is just around the corner!) Here’s the neat little “spin” we’d hinted at above. You can also use your Industry A insights to prospect in Industry B. That’s right: You can showcase this knowledge as “broader perspective” outside-the-box/outside-the-silo thinking. Mind you, you need to couch it properly. You can’t tell a banking prospect, “I’ve spent years specializing in long-haul logistics. Let me help your bank.” Clearly, that won’t work. But what if you said something like, “Did you know that the way trucks are ‘reverse-loaded’ at the depot prior to their routes has direct parallels to solving cash-processing across your retail branch network?” Now, we just made that up, but even before we revealed that, you were impressed. Admit it. Get help We know about these challenges because we work with them, daily, on two different fronts. One: Our consulting clients span a variety of verticals, so we’re always seeing challenges in Industry A, Industry B, Industry C, Industry D... you get the idea. And two: Our clients themselves all straddle more than one industry among their clients and prospects, and we help them apply the insights from one to the other... and also sprinkle in a generous serving of insights from our other industries that they don’t serve. The cross-pollination goes all around. We can help you, too. On both of those fronts. Simply contact us today to learn more.
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