#robert solomon

Hardly a day goes by without my inbox being assaulted by some clueless, LinkedIn idiot carpet-bombing me with an unsolicited pitch, but last month there was a note waiting for me among my messages, from someone who clearly did their homework before making an overture.

The author of that message was Jude Agboola, founder of a solo practice called Zenith Consulting, whose LinkedIn profile describes him as an,

“Authority Conversion Systems for Founder-Led Expert Firms | Turning Credibility Into Premium Buyer Perception & Qualified Inquiries | B2B Positioning · Web · Copywriting · AI Concierge | 40+ Client Projects”

In truth I didn’t the faintest notion of what any of this meant, but no matter; for only the second time ever, after reading what Agboola wrote, I said “yes” to his request:

I visited the website demo he had built on spec; what I saw was both as unexpected as it was remarkable -- well written, visually enticing, organized to merchandize what I offer in the best way possible – vastly improving my existing sites, which, if I’m  being honest, I characterize as static and descriptive, more passive than assertive.

Although I’m an account person, I have well-defined opinions when it comes to matters of taste, particularly when we’re talking about choice of typeface and color palette.  Normally I would have input on these topics, but this was far from normal.  I was looking at a nuanced sense of proportion and scale, punctuated by a sophisticated deployment of typography.  I changed not a thing.

I wasn’t just impressed with the work Agboola has done, I was equally impressed with him, his speed, responsiveness, and patience, not to speak of his in-depth understanding of what I’m striving to achieve as an industry practitioner.

As I attest on the site’s homepage, I am in the business of helping others deal with the challenge of behavior change.  Yet I was like the proverbial cobbler’s son, with my own behavior in need of change, starting with what I created on the web, which had grown stale and sterile in the ten years since their inception, in need of a serious refresh. 

The catalyst for all this recent activity is the forthcoming, long overdue December 21 publication of a newly revised, substantially rewritten fourth edition of The Art of Client Service.  The new book signals the need for a new approach, something Agboola saw even before I did.

The new site has a new URL – www.robertsolomon.net -- that ultimately will consolidate all three sites.  Solomon Strategic’s consulting/coaching/speaking/workshop-leading site is still there, as is the book’s previous, third edition; in December, once Wiley publishes the fourth edition of The Art of Client Service, both will be mothballed. As for this blog, for now it continues, waiting to be subsumed into the new site.

To give you a sense of how substantial the changes are, here’s a comparison of the old Solomon Strategic site with the new one.  If you’re interested in exploring further, just click here.

The new site does a vastly better job of explaining how and why I can be of help to you and others.  The opinion that really matters, however, isn’t mine; it’s yours. 

Chapter 7: Additive