Monthly Archives: February 2019

Toolkit Subscription or Membership?

Articles, Resource Hub, Standard Requirement Self Assessment Information

Which one is better for you? (and no – they are not the same)

At The Art of Service we offer two different services to our clients that are interested in the Self Assessment Guides and Toolkits.

Of course you can always purchase single individual toolkits in our store, but we find that many of our clients see the benefits of multiple toolkits for different scenarios. That’s why we are offering a Toolkit Subscription as well as an Art of Service Membership.

What does this mean? What is the difference between the two options?

1. Self Assessment Toolkit Subscription

This monthly subscription is a great way to receive a number of featured toolkits each month. It really is the most economical way to have access to a wide range of toolkit topics. This subscription is perfect for consultants and executives who need access to a broad range of topics.

It depends on your subscription level how many toolkits you have access to. (Bronze = 5 toolkits Silver/Gold = 15 toolkits).

Silver and Gold level subscribers receive additional perks like access to the bestseller list from the past 12 months (in addition to the featured toolkits each month) as well as the ability to request a specific topic to be added to the list.

For more information on what is included in the levels, and to sign up go to this page: theartofservice.com/the-art-of-service-toolkit-subscriptions

2. The Art of Service Membership

For clients who prefer more control on the toolkits they receive, you have the opportunity to become a The Art of Service Member. For an annual fee of US$125 you get 60% discount on all toolkits you purchase for the next 12 months.

The benefit of this membership is that you can cherry pick the topics that you prefer and you’re not depending on what our team select as featured toolkits.

To sign up as a member, go to this order form: it963.infusionsoft.com/app/orderForms/Annual-Membership-Order-Form

How to use the Self Assessment Toolkits as a consultant

Articles, Documents, Resource Hub, Standard Requirement Self Assessment Information

At the beginning of a new quarter or new year we tend to look forward and think about ways we can do things differently this time. We have goals to achieve and targets to reach…

In the past you’ve used several tactics and techniques that made you the person you are today; with the knowledge and skillset you have today. But it also means that you may not have achieved the results you were hoping or aiming for.

So it’s time to shake things up – to start using a different technique.

After all – “Doing the same things and expecting a different result is a sign of insanity” – isn’t that true?

Now, look back at the last year and consider what did work. What gave your clients the best value for money? What made them want to hire you again?

The power of questions

I’d like to take a guess to say that what you clients appreciate most about you as a consultant is that you know when to ask the right questions. You ask questions that makes them think. Perhaps think differently about a situation, or to even consider a specific solution in the first place. (the famous ‘AHA’ moment).


Sure, they appreciated the legwork you did for them at times, and they would have loved the briefs and documents you produced. But most of that could have been done in house by internal staff members.

Think about tit… Nobody in the company had the knowledge and skills to ask the right questions in such a way that it helped with the increased awareness around a topic and to guide the implementation project forward. That’s why they engaged your services and that’s why they would happily hire you again.

What does all this have to do with the Self Assessment Toolkits? Well, as you would have guessed.. the toolkits are packed with questions. Each subject has up to 1000 different questions that you can choose from. You choose your questions wisely based on your assessment of your client’s organisational needs. (that’s where your knowledge and skill set is important).


Is this company new to the implementation of the subject? Stick with the basic questions mentioned in the chapters ‘define’ and ‘Recognise’. These chapters contain questions that are more generic and cover a broad range of topics.


Or is your client’s company more advanced and looking on how to control and sustain the benefits gained from previous implementation and improvement projects?

It’s up to you how you want to use the questions. You can collate them into a brief or white paper document for your client where you answer the questions based on your knowledge of the company.


Or you use the questions as a conversation starter during stakeholder meetings.

There is of course the option to use the questions as is and have a team go through the Self Assessment to find out the current maturity of the organisation.

As a consultant you have so many ways to make use of these questions. All of them will increase the value you offer to your clients and improve your own understanding of the subject at hand.

Unsure about how to use the Self Assessment in your specific situation? Feel free to contact us for additional support and to answer any of your questions.
For more information on the Self Assessments and a full overview of the available topics, go to store.theartofservice.com/self-assessments/

How do you create so many Self Assessment Guides?

Articles, Standard Requirement Self Assessment Information

We get this question on a regular basis – and for good reason. We have many different Self Assessment Guide Toolkits on a range of topics.

Let’s lift the veil and give you a behind the scenes view of how we came up with the idea of the Self Assessment Guide Toolkits and what this means for you as a user of the toolkits.

The Art of Service has been an Australian based consultancy firm since 2000, founded by professionals who had their own management consultancy careers starting from the early 1990s.

Our 30 year experience taught us the value and impact of questions. We’ve also experienced first hand how daunting it is to look at an empty piece of paper or an empty screen, trying to come up with questions that start a meaningful and valuable conversation on a particular topic.

Knowing this, it only made sense that we started to create a database with a canon of questions that get the conversation going, irrespective of the topic at hand. There are always these ‘golden nuggets’, these ‘gems’ – the questions that nobody really asks but are so important and poignant in various situations. These are the questions we have been using in our own client engagements, our consultancy briefs and process health checks.

In 2018 we wanted to create a product that would help our clients to utilize the power of a consultancy service without having to engage a consultant.

When we dug deeper on what the biggest value add is of a consultancy engagement, it all came down to the questions (again).

We were trying to find a way to bring our question based approach to a larger audience. Those questions now form the basis of our Self Assessment Guide Toolkits.

How can you get the Self Assessment Toolkits?

The Art of Service is based in Australia, which limits the amount of people and clients we can personally connect with due to distance and population. To help us reach as many people as possible we have been offering online eLearning and digital consultancy products since 2002. Therefore, the most obvious way to offer our Self Assessment Toolkits to the (English speaking) world is to turn them into books. Books can be sold online with an instant global reach.

So that’s what we did. Our preferred delivery mechanism for our Self Assessment Guide Toolkits is by offering them in a book format. Every client has the opportunity to contact us directly to request additional resources, more questions and project management templates. We wouldn’t be able to put everything in our books as that would make them way too big. Just send in your proof of purchase via email and we will give you access to the full set of resources that belongs to the Self Assessment Toolkit.