Corrections or additions?
This article by Kathleen McGinn Spring was prepared for the November 20, 2002 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Rainmakers For Consultants
If you are a consultant looking for clients, Joel
Smith and his company, People Source Group, may be able to help.
Smith and his business partner Barry Meyers function as consultant
brokers. “We met people at consulting meetings — former CEOs,
former CFOs, marketing people — who wanted interim work,”
says Smith. “And people new to consulting were looking for someone
who could help them find opportunities. So our slogan is `solutions
from the boardroom to computer room.’”
“We have good connections. We network well. We look for opportunities
and try to match the best consultant with the opportunity — we
don’t market any one individual,” says Smith. “Consultants
like it because we are another resource. Clients like it because we
are a one-stop shop.” People Source represents nearly 400 consultants
in a wide range of fields: IT, engineers, scientists, trainers, human
resource and compensation specialists, marketers, financial professionals,
and public relations people, including photographers and videographers.
Heshie Segal, one of the consultants in the “stable”
of People Source Group, will give a seminar on networking on Thursday,
November 21, at HQ, 116 Village Boulevard, Suite 200, Forrestal Village.
Cost for the three-hour seminar is $150. participants will also meet
Smith and find out about his company’s services. Call 215-646-5520
Smith’s company is located in Maple Glen, Pennsylvania, but he stages
these training seminars in Princeton partly because he has strong
ties to this area through RCA and Sarnoff. After majoring in mechanical
engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Class of 1970, he went
to work at RCA in Moorestown. He had various manufacturing and operations
jobs and spent 18 years as vice president of engineering at a textile
and paper company. He returned to RCA, by then the Sarnoff Corporation,
in the late 1990s, working in Dan Koloski’s HiTek division to do light
manufacturing for outside contracts. After a downsizing at Sarnoff
he partnered with Meyers to start his own firm.
With its variety of specialties, People Source Group has an unusual
business model. There is no cost to consultants until they get a job,
then People Source gets 20 to 25 percent of the hourly fee and takes
care of the billing. A competitor, ProSavvy, is web-based, and as
Smith notes “they don’t actually meet the person or the client.
We interview every consultant and guarantee our work.” ProSavvy
also charges an initial fee.
“We’re not marketers — we have to tell it like it is,”
says Smith, “and people like that. But our seminars are a marketing
piece, to get the brand out there.”
The November 21 seminar features Segal, a professional speaker. An
alumna of Douglass College, her company, Business Connections with
Heshie (215-493-1640, wwww.heshie.biz) is based in Yardley, and her
motto is “How to Turn Business Cards into Business.” Some
of her talking points:
Build relationships , says Segal. It’s the first step inbuilding a network. Taking someone’s business card is not enough.”The common way people network is to meet as many people as theycan.”Build a diverse network. . When we choose to mingle onlywith those who are “like us”, we miss out on an importantpart of who we are and who we have the ability to become.”If I want to find out about a different culture,” says Segal,”I can ask someone right in my network. If I really don’t haveanyone who can answer a particular question, I am usually just oneperson removed from finding that answer. Perhaps one of the greatestpleasures is having become a better person because of the people whosurround me. They represent the world as diverse as it is.”Show up everywhere if you want to be known in the community.You don’t need to be the first one there or the last one gone butyou need to be visible.Take the people you connect with and connect them with eachother. “Be known as the individual who goes out of his or herway to give referrals. It will not be long before people come to realizehow valuable it is to have you as a colleague and will eventuallystart looking for ways to send you business as well. The old ideaabout not sharing relationships is passe. If we believe that thereis enough room for everyone, then everyone succeeds,” says Segal.”I have Girlfriend Connection parties, gathering people I havejust met and inviting them to my place.”Follow up if you meet someone you genuinely like. “Mostpeople don’t know how to do that. It’s the first step to buildinga relationship.” Send E-mail and/or handwritten notes after anevent and send thank you notes at every opportunity.Be a resource , so that people will know to come to youwhen they need something. Share your knowledge, strength, and knowhow.Segal keeps a business card workbook with categories, cross-referencedchronologically and by categories, “so I know who people are andwhat they do — from medical to house repair.””Look at how you can be of help to someone else, not expectinganything in return from that particular person,” she says. “Ifyou do that enough times, somewhere, sometime, someplace, someonewill be there to help you.”Previous StoryNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
