Today’s dreams are tomorrow’s reality. I’ve followed Alan Weiss for years and aspired to attend his Million Dollar Consulting College in the US at a cost of roughly $15,000.

He’s written over 64 books on Consulting, has a large worldwide community and is one of the top business consultants in the world.

I’ve read Million-Dollar Consulting and Value-Based Fees, which was instrumental in creating my Know Your Value Framework.

So, when I learned he was coming to London on the 29th of November, I seized the opportunity to see him in person.

In the room with about 22 fellow consultants (2 women) from across Europe and the UK, we learned:

1. For every objective, there should be three outcomes.

2. Hold yourself to your own metrics and not just follow the crowd – be a contrarian to encourage thinking.

3. Language controls discussion – Alan role-played a client meeting with one of the participants and showed what can happen when you allow the client to control the discussion and what to do if you go down that rabbit hole.

4. Do not compromise on fees, be ready to communicate what the clients are getting and how they will change – this is their ROI.

5. Expertise is highly in demand, don’t feel guilty about calling yourself an expert, as people respect and like it when you demonstrate your expertise.

6. Identify the three things the client needs to get their results and create a compelling value proposition. This model was a real breakthrough for me.

7. Perfection is the enemy of success; when you are 80% ready – move

8. Don’t wait to be given permission, and spoke about the four permission meters – no permission – situational permission – frequent permission, and blanket permission. This was a big one for me as I was guilty of this and learned the hard way in my earlier years.

9. Create your own range of free offers all the way to your vault of unique offerings.

10. Alan asked the class for ten questions we wanted to be answered by the end of the session (i.e. how do you introduce value-based fees), and true to form, he answered them all with gusto and skill.

He is the master of storytelling and metaphors and emphasises that you must believe in your worth and value and that you belong in the room. Confidence and self-efficacy is the key to building a successful life and business.

Alan Weiss’s Return To London was one of the most impactful courses I have ever attended. I feel resourced and educated on how to be a better consultant and position my expertise with greater confidence and assurance.

He said no one ever learned to ski by reading a book. It’s the same here; experiencing the workshop live was a much better investment and a great way to end the year. I shared a table with Matt Davies and Nick Wealthall, where we had some stimulating discussions.

I am even more emboldened in my commitment that it must be about how much the client has improved after my intervention.