http://inovar.blog.terra.com.br Aqui apresentamos novidades e dicas sobre como gerenciar a inovação em empresas e instituições para torna-las mais competitivas no mercado. pt-BR http://backend.userland.com/rss092    Most white papers take a similar approach to the presentation of information: Start with a thorough discussion of a specific business or technical challenge, present a unique solution that will solve those challenges, and end with the results gained from the implementation of the solution. But what do you do when the solution that you are offering is also offered by countless numbers of other equally capable solution providers? The answer is the Comparison White Paper. The Comparison White Paper is designed to compare two solutions, approaches, methodologies, or concepts, both of which are provided by the solution provider. The use of a comparative approach accomplishes several advantages for the solution provider: 1. Thought Leadership. Providing in-depth comparisions of several alternatives can demonstrate a depth of knowledge (thought leadership) over a competitor which can translate into the perception of a market advantage. 2. Win-Win Marketing Advantage. By presenting several alternatives in a comparison white paper provides a “win-win” for the solution provider. Since all alternatives are available by the solution provider, each is acceptible no matter which one is chosen by the propective customer. 3. F.I.F.O. No, this is not the well know accounting term but instead stands for “First Informed, First Offered”. The solution provider that is often the first to educate (inform) the customer to a new and compelling concept is often the first one that is offered the business deal. So when your customer is looking for new ways to get a leg up in a highly competitive marketplace, suggest the Comparison White Paper. You might actually gain a competitive advantage AND win the business at the same time! http://inovar.blog.terra.com.br/lideranca_de_conhecimento_atraves_de_com It’s the holy grail of Professional Services - to become a trusted advisor to your senior clients. To be viewed - and sought out - as a source of valued advice and support. The benefits from a business development perspective are clear: the professional who is the first port of call for a client with a business problem is in a tremendous position to help shape that client’s thinking, to build a deep understanding of the situation, and to establish strong credibility through the discussions. In other words, they will be in pole position to win any related work. And if the professional has established a position of being able to help across a broad range of business issues - not just in their own specialism - then they begin to advance towards that other holy grail, the ability to cross-sell professional services. But becoming a trusted advisor doesn’t happen overnight. The position must be earned - and this takes time and investment of effort. The clues to what to focus on are in the name - trusted advisor. You must establish both a trust-based relationship with your client; and you must be viewed as a source of valuable advice. Building trust can only be done by demonstrating and proving trustworthiness over time. The client must come to believe that you understand them, you have their best interests at heart, and you will deal with them with candour - always being honest about what you can and cannot do, and taking a long term perspective rather than seeing them as a short-term sales prospect. When the Huthwaite Group studied client’s perceptions of professional service salespeople, they found that of the key elements of trust (in their words: candour, competence and concern) it was the area of showing concern and empathy for their clients where professionals performed the worst - much worse than their counterparts in product sales. Accountants, lawyers and consultants are trained “to be professional” - to be objective, fact-driven and solution focused. They have been conditioned into feeling they must constantly demonstrate their cleverness and expertise in order to be credible. But all of this mitigates against showing genuine human concern for clients and their challenges. It’s not that professionals don’t care about their clients - far from it. But they must learn to express this concern in ways which clients can appreciate. Using our listening skills, for example, not to gather ammunition for our next verbal gem - but to build genuine and deep understanding of a client’s situation. When it comes to demonstrating that you can provide valuable advice, this again must be demonstrated over time. Every interaction with your senior clients is a chance to either advance their perception of you as a source of valuable insight, or not. First you must “earn your spurs” - earn the basic right to be listened to by your senior clients. You do this by demonstrating competence in the areas for which you have been hired. Until you have done this, attempts to advise on wider areas will fall on deaf ears - you need to demonstrate your basic capabilities first. But many professionals stop there. They limit their interactions with clients to talking about the work at hand and the specialism they focus on. Over time, this causes them to be pigeon-holed as merely a technical specialist. Someone who can be relied on to deal with specific topics - but not a trusted advisor who can help with more challenging problems. To establish your advisor status you must demonstrate that you can give valuable advice outside your specialism. You must demonstrate you knowledge of business in general, and of the client’s business and industry specifically. This means you must do your homework. As a professional you must know the key issues of the day - in business and industry generally; in your clients industry more specifically, and if you can, in your clients company even more specifically. As you get closer and closer to you client, they will also begin to share issues that are personal to them and their role. But at the start, it is the more general industry and company issues which you must focus on. Always make sure you are up to date about industry news - and ask the client about their opinions. Put out tentative hypotheses to gently establish the fact that you have been thinking about their industry and their company. Highlight a recent move a competitor made and ask them how effective they feel it was - and be prepared to give your tentative views too. Don’t push this too far, too early. I’ve seen many junior consultants and aspiring partners rush far too fast into trying to “coach” senior clients long before they have earned the right. Instead, recognise where you are in your relationship: Have I established my basic competence? Have I created an impression of strong general business knowledge? Have I demonstrated useful insights into key business problems? View the development of your relationship as a ladder you climb step by step - and hand-in-hand with your client at every step. Do this and you will set yourself well apart from the vast majority of professional services business developers. Do it really well, and you’ll find that the clients you develop your trusted advisor roles with will support you for many, many years. http://inovar.blog.terra.com.br/tornando_se_um_consultor_de_confianca The Introduction of your white paper is one of the most important sections of a white paper. In this section, your goal is to present valid background and industry-specific circumstances that are causing the primary business challenge in the white paper. Validating your business case in the Introduction can be accomplished in three different ways: 1. Industry Specific Analysts/Media/or Spokespeople - such as news articles, websites, white papers, and statistics. 2. Popular Opinion - polls that demonstrate a majority agree with your stated perspective. 3. Mini Case Studies - an actual testimonial or business story that validates your claim. Items #1 and #2 are fairly straightforward which have used quotes, statistics and graphs, but item #3 is a completely different approach that has a greater impact for the reader. Mini case studies use preferrable one, but not more than two paragraphs which are taken from a news articles or other industry-specific media that shows how a business or individual was impacted by the circumstances outlined in your Introduction. Typically these mini case studies show the negative impact by a company that either did not have a solution in place, or used a competing solution that was ineffective. For example, if you were selling a data encryption solution for computer hard drives, a mini case study in the Introduction might read: “An Idaho Power Company found itself in an uncomfortable situation as it attempted to track down several unscrubbed disk drives that had been sold on eBay. The drives contained confidential employee information, correspondence with customers and memos that discussed proprietary company information. The company said it hired an outside contractor to recycle about 230 SCSI drives. The contractor had sold 84 of those drives to 12 different parties using the online auction website. ” Adding mini case studies such as this example at the very beginning of your white paper not only builds the case for your subsequent business challenge section, but also differentiates your white paper from the typical crowd of statistical sameness that is all too often used in the Introduction. You can find stories like this via Google and/or searching industry specific magazines and media. Finding the best case study or news story may not occur after your first search, but if you alter your search terms eventually you will find one that fits your argument. Try it for your next white paper and you’ll find that your reader will notice and enjoy the change. http://inovar.blog.terra.com.br/iniciando_white_papers_com_um_mini_estud   Prince2 é uma metodologia de gestão de projetos desenvolvida pelo governo inglês e que é plenamento aderente ao PMBOK do PMI. A utilização de um modelo de gestão de projetos é um ponto critico para o seu sucesso, o objetivo é apresentar alguns conceitos chave do PRINCE2(tm), um método desenvolvido pelo governo do Reino Unido e que tem sido utilizado como padrão não só por aquele governo, como também pelo setor privado, em diversos países de todos os continentes. Apresenta uma visão geral do modelo de processos no qual o método é baseado, assim como de seus componentes e suas técnicas. Mostra também os benefícios da sua adoção e sugere critérios para o sucesso de sua implementação, que pode ser feita em qualquer tipo ou tamanho de organização, independente dos demais processos já adotados por ela.  A palestra é do consultor Aldacir da Silva Angelo da empresa Elum  do RJ. No link abaixo você está convidado a assistir a palestra "Gestão de Projeto - tudo que o pesquisador-empreendedor precisa saber" que foi gravada pela IPTV da USP e que apresenta as principais característica da metodologia Prince 2:   http://iptv.usp.br/overmedia/home.jsp#   Atenciosamente, Sérgio Mylius da Silva   http://inovar.blog.terra.com.br/voce_sabe_o_que_e_a_metodologia_prince2 Alô pessoal, Ai vai um link para a entrevista de Michael Stelzner, o guru do White Paper, sobre o que é e para que servem os White Papers dentro do processo de identificação de novas oportunidades de negócio no mercado: http://www.marketingwhitepapers.net/blog/?p=19 Um Abraço, Mylius     http://inovar.blog.terra.com.br/o_que_e_um_white_paper_e_para_que_serve