Midwest Society of Professional Consultants

August 1^st, 2007

MSPC Consultants College

The "Consultants" College concept in professional society meetings (originally conceived by Dave Taylor in 2003) was reintroduced in May and June of 2006 with such success that we are offering the format again.

Guerrilla Marketing For Consultants
Moderator Tom Long (Solid Oak Consulting, LLC)

When Guerrilla Marketing was first published in 1983, Jay Conrad Levinson was considered a pioneer with his innovative, take-no-prisoners approach to marketing for the small- and medium-size business owner. Nearly 25 years later and half a million copies later, "Guerrilla Marketing" is now considered the bible of marketing and entrepreneurial advice.  The pre-dinner presentation will introduce the basic concepts of Guerrilla Marketing, include the key secrets of Guerrilla Marketing, identify the differences between Traditional Marketing and Guerrilla Marketing and identify a number of marketing weapons well suited to consultants.  The post-dinner presentation will integrate the principles of Guerrilla Marketing with interactive exercises that will involve the participants. 

What is Guerrilla Marketing?
It is a body of unconventional ways of pursuing conventional goals. It is a proven method of achieving profits with minimum money. In the words of the Father of Guerrilla Marketing, Jay Conrad Levinson, this describes guerrilla marketing: "I'm referring to the soul and essence of guerrilla marketing which remain as always -- achieving conventional goals, such as profits and joy, with unconventional methods, such as investing energy instead of money.

What is Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants?
For guerrillas, marketing is a full-time business that includes every aspect of a consulting practice. It begins the moment you decide to become a consultant and never stops.  Marketing involves more than just trying to sell your services; it affects how you comport yourself, run your practice, bid on projects, perform for clients and build relationships. 

Tom Long is the President and Principal Consultant of Solid Oak Consulting, LLC and a member of MSPC. He is a seasoned executive with 30 years of experience in starting, managing and turning around business groups both domestically and internationally. He has started groups at Procter & Gamble, Nastec Corporation, Ernst & Young and R.R. Donnelley & Sons. And has worked to turnaround groups at Cincom Systems, Nastec Corporation, Oracle, KPMG, Andersen Consulting and Computer Associates. His involvement as an executive in a Venture Capital backed startup, Nastec Corporation, is where he first had the opportunity to work in a turnaround situation. But since then, he has consistently sought out opportunities to work in IT start-ups and turnarounds. Most recently, he led the AI Expert Systems practice at Computer Associates and took it from a starting position of breaking even, to a 24% net profit margin on a base of $5M in revenue. Tom's hands-on experience and leadership skills have helped him to be successful in dealing directly with senior management in client companies and acting as the communication facilitator between senior management and skilled technical people. Through mentoring and individual development to foster motivation, his teams have consistently been recognized as peak performers by his clients and management. Credentials Tom is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rutgers University and The Stanford University School of Business. He is certified in the Capability Maturity Model by Carnegie Mellon University. He is certified in Business Dynamics and Dynamic Systems Modeling from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He holds certificates in Change Management from ODR and The Australian Graduate School of Management. He is trained as an Executive Coach and certified by Andersen Consulting.  Tom is also a member of MSPC’s Program committee.