Consultant's Link Round-Up

Over the weekend I ran across a couple interesting links in my feed reader:

• More on What Freelancers Need to Know About Their Finances - this is a follow up to a previous post where I linked to advice on what freelancers (consultants) should do when preparing their taxes for 2008.  There are many deductions you can take advantage of, but don't forget other things that are important to your personal well-being such as providing yourself with adequate health insurance and your retirement. Just because you don't work for an employer doesn't mean you can can't create a benefits package for yourself. This post provides some good advice on this topic.
• The Four Flavors of "No" and How to Deal With Them - for many consultants, this is probably their biggest obstacle to growing and sustaining their business.  Nobody likes to be told "No", but this post breaks down rejection into four categories and how to address them.

I always enjoy finding helpful articles on consulting that I like to share with you.  If you have some you have found recently, please feel free to share them here.

Top Posts of 2008

According to our analytics, here are the top three TVCNet Blog Posts for 2008:

• Marketing a Consulting Business: A Recap of the January TVCNet Meeting
• 13 Mistakes Consultants Make and How to Avoid Them
• Old Pro or Newbie: Avoid These 5 Stupid Mistakes in Consulting

From the looks of things, readers were very interested in how to market their consulting business and how to avoid mistakes.  Be assured in 2009 we will continue to cover these and other topics related to consulting in the Treasure Valley.

You Can't Win If You Don't Show Up

Shortly before Thanksgiving I saw a news story about how Nissan, the number 3 Japanese car maker, decided to pull out of the Detroit and Chicago auto shows citing a tough economy and lack of innovation in new products to present. When I saw this story, I wondered what kind of message does this send to their customers and their competitors?

Early in the week, news broke that our economy is in a recession and we have been so since December of last year. It didn't take a Mensa member to figure this out. Most of us could tell just by the way other businesses have been acting especially when it comes to the business we conduct with others in our own consulting practices.

I'm sure most of you have heard this excuse, or some variation, over the last year.

"We're not going to do anything now or in the foreseeable future until things pick up."

In other words, clients are telling you that they don't want to spend money with you despite the apparent need for your services. You know it and they know it, but they would rather be like Nissan - holding back on the way they do business until things get better, whenever that happens. Does that make sense to you? Would you stop or hold back on what you have been doing that made you successful now and in the past or should your reposition yourself under the current conditions and play then hand that has been dealt to you, work harder and look for new opportunities?

Before you accept "no" for an answer, talk once again to them about the need. It doesn't go away despite the economy. If you believe all of the news reports you would think that cars have stopped running, planes are grounded and factories have ground to a halt. Business is still being conducted because there are needs that require fulfillment. More importantly, your client's competitors are still doing business. It's no different for your clients (unless they really want to go out of business) and the focus should not be on the money being spent, but the value it brings and what its ultimate potential is.

Nissan is wrong to pull out of the Detroit and Chicago auto shows. I know the auto industry is a tough business to be in these days, but if they don't show they send a message to their customers and their competitors that they are not worthy of their position in the marketplace and provide little value or benefit to their consumers. Rather than be a no-show, they should showcase their current models and spotlight the value of their products. Show the public they are strong and dedicated to their products.

Think about this scenario in regard to your business. Do you think you will be in business much longer if you hold back and act like Nissan? Show your clients how you fulfill a specific needs and provide value. Look for new opportunities like Mike Fisch, TVCNet member, illustrated in his recent blog post. It's more important now than ever before. In a tough economy, this is one way you can stand out by showing your commitment to the quality of your work and a dedication to your craft.

Guest Post: Distinguish Between Feature and Benefit

Editor's Note: TVCNet member Mike Fisch of Apropos has written a post for his blog about the difference between a feature and benefit. Because of its relevance to consulting in the process of marketing our products and services, we have reposted it here. Enjoy!

It's important to distinguish between features and benefits, because customers care much more about benefits. In fact, benefits are really what sell a product.

A feature is a charactesristic of a product or service, and a benefit is the need or desire it satisfies for a customer.

To illustrate, let me ask you a question. What is the last thing you purchased and why? Your reason why may point to a feature or benefit. But ask yourself why once more, and you will surely be stating a benefit.

The last thing I purchased was a "sunrise muffin" at Big City Coffee while driving home after picking up my 15-month-old daughter at daycare. The muffin has raisins, coconut and sunflower seeds and appears to be made of whole wheat. It is moderately sweet. Those are all features. So why did I buy it? Because I was hungry and the muffin tastes good and is reasonably healthy. I also fed some to my daughter so she would be happy and not fussy while riding in the back seat. So the benefits are (1) satisfy hunger, (2) enjoy taste, (3) be healthy, (4) make baby happy and (4) enjoy peace and quiet in the car. All for $1.95!

The features focus on the muffin, while the benefits focus on me.

The best marketing is about the customer, not necessarily the product, not ultimately. It’s about them. Because the goal of marketing is to influence people to buy a product or service. And why do people buy? To satisfy a felt need or desire. This desire drives the purchase. The product is a means to satisfy it. So the purpose of marketing is to make a connection between the customer’s desire, whatever it may be, and your product. This is why it is so important to emphasize benefits - they are your customers' needs and desires.

Recap of September TVCNet Meeting: Apropos Marketing Foundation Workshop

Mike Fisch of Apropos led a special session of our monthly TVCNet meeting on Thursday, September 25th at The WaterCooler where he previewed his Apropos Marketing Foundation Workshop to those in attendance.  This same workshop will be formally launched on October 29th.

The Apropos Marketing Foundation Workshop is an interactive session developed by Mike Fisch where students learn how to select a target market for their products and services and craft a marketing message that will reach the target audience and potentially convert them to customers.

Sitting in attendance, here are the key points I took away from the workshop:

• When it comes to the products and services you are selling, it's more than features and functions.
• Connect the product or service to the needs of your audience.
• Your audience must be able to know and like you. They must also know and like the products and services you have to offer in order to convert them to a customer.
• Your marketing foundation should be who do you want to talk to and what do you want to say to them.

To professionals who have been marketing themselves for many years, much of this is second nature.  However, I found it very wothwhile to take a second look at how I am marketing my own business and the TVCNet organization from a different perspective.  It enabled me to see things differently, and that alone was enough for me to make some changes to my marketing plans which I hope will boost business.

The workshop was very interactive and the attendees, including myself, were able to walk away with content we could craft even further in order to effectively target who we as consultants want to speak with and what we want to say to them. If you missed this TVCNet meeting, be comfortable in knowing that if you attend Mike's official workshop in October you won't be disappointed.

Mike wrote to me the next day and said, "I appreciate the chance to test drive my marketing workshop with the TVCNet group. Their feedback was great, and the final workshop will be better for it!"

Thank you, Mike, and thank you to all who attended.  We look forward to seeing you, other members and new faces at the next TVCNet meeting scheduled for October 23rd.  For details on this an other events, please visit the TVCNet Calendar.

How Well Do You Know Your Audience?

This month, TVCNet will be hosting a special workshop developed by one of our members. Instead of the normal meeting and presentation, Mike Fisch of Apropos will be delivering a preview of his interactive workshop titled The Apropos Marketing Foundation Workshop.

The Apropos Marketing Foundation Workshop will help business professionals kick-start their sales. It is an interactive session for developing a message that explains the benefits of your product or service and selecting a target audience who is likely to respond. These two elements form a marketing foundation, which supports and extends everything needed to reach out and win customers.

The workshop will be held at The WaterCooler located at 14th and W. Idaho St. in downtown Boise on September 25th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Admission is free for TVCNet members, $5.00 for non-members.

In preparation for event, I found an interesting article at Entrepreneur.com titled Do You Know What Your Audience Wants? that will get you thinking about one way to identify your target market and match their needs with your services.

E-Book Review: Making Money in Your Pajamas - A Freelancer's Handbook from the oDesk Insider

Independent consultants who have been in business for a short while know one thing: approximately half of your time is spent marketing your services. Unfortunately, when you spend time marketing your services, you are not generating an income doing work you can bill for. Sometimes you are spending money just to get an opportunity to make money.

TVCNet member Sarah Lewis has written an e-book that will help new consultants, and even those who have been in business for a while and would like new streams of income, generate business through an online service called oDesk. oDesk is an online marketplace, so to speak, for freelancers and consultants to promote their services. Businesses or other consultants use oDesk as a resource to find talent to help on projects.

Sarah's book, Making Money in Your Pajamas: A Freelancer’s Handbook from the oDesk Insider serves three purposes. First, it explores whether or not freelancing (or consulting) is right for you and if you are prepared for it. Second, it discusses the oDesk service and how you can put your best foot foward to create a profile and presence in the service that will attract the type of work you are looking for. Finally, it discusses doing the work you are hired to do and being paid for your services.

Unlike other books that I have read on similar subjects, Sarah's book does an excellent job discussing the work (freelancing/consulting) and the tool (oDesk) and how they are linked together.

Making Money in Your Pajamas: A Freelancer’s Handbook from the oDesk Insider is available for purchase and download at oDesk Insider.

Guest Post: Solving Your Customer's Real Problem

Editor's Note: TVCNet member Mike Fisch of Apropos has written a post for his blog about meeting the needs of the customer. Because of its relevance to consulting, we have reposted it here. Enjoy!

Earlier this year I met with a man who had been president for 8 years of an innovative, fast-growing computer company in Silicon Valley. He was transitioning into the role of co-chairman, which would mean less involvement in day-to-day operations and more advising and coaching. For me it was a great opportunity to talk with an experienced, well-respected business leader and maybe learn something.

Heading to the meeting, I felt a little nervous. But I put on my game face and walked through the door. The man sat comfortably at a large conference table and an assistant, notepad in hand, was at the other end. After shaking hands and introducing myself, I sat down. He asked what I thought about their new products and marketing initiatives. In general I was enthusiastic and told him so. He asked if I saw the issue of green computing coming up frequently in the market. I said yes, though it seemed to be an economic issue, of wanting to save on electricity, equipment and space. "Hmm, I think so too," he replied.

We talked about sales and his philosophy for connecting with potential customers. He related a story about a speech he had delivered in Israel. He said he did not talk at all about the company's products, but rather how his company had weathered the technology downturn after the dot com implosion. The company was selling primarily to dot coms, and when many of them failed, they were left with far fewer customers. A natural reaction would have been to cut back, hunker down and try to wait out the storm. Instead the company invested heavily in developing new products and selling into new customer segments. They went "all in" instead of playing conservatively.

The market eventually rebounded and the company was positioned to accelerate past its competitors, which it did. Major revenue growth followed. The gutsy, counter-intuitive strategy proved to be exactly right. Today it is the fastest-growing major company in its industry.

People were so impressed with the story that they came to talk to him afterward. Some even expressed interest in doing business with his company - without any sales pitch at all. At this point in our discussion, he leaned over, lowered his voice as if about to betray a secret and said to me, "You know, you can really make any technology fit... The important thing is to have credibility that you can solve the customer's business problem."

Technology did not matter!? Such a statement was heresy at a company full of engineers who prided themselves on creating breakthrough technologies. Perhaps he exaggerated slightly, but he was saying something important about sales: What matters is having credibility in the customer's eyes that you can solve their real problem. His story demonstrated to the business people in the audience that he knew how to make a business succeed in tough times. They could relate. Moreover, those people do not buy computer technology for its bells and whistles, but because it can solve a business problem like improving productivity and growing sales. So why not buy from someone who really knows how to do those things?

Warm Up the Cold Call

Here's a good follow-up to topic of cold calls:

Do you get the shivers when you cold call?

I think this is a great example to illustrate what I'm trying to say when it comes to cold calls. Just calling people out of the blue that you have never had contact with can be uncomfortable, but if there is some way you can "warm up" the waters before you dive in, I think it will be less of a shock to you and the other person will be more likely to hear you out or at least consider what you are offering.

Keep in mind that cold calling is not an effort to make a sale for your services right then and there. It's an opportunity to begin building a relationship that later opens the door to the sale.

To Cold Call or Not To Cold Call

I'm intrigued how an older post, one of the originals on this blog, can still generate comments.

A post about the first TVCNet meeting, where our speakers from GlobeCom Solutions (now Valitics) discussed marketing in a new media world, made mention of cold calling. The quote was:

Most consultants I know don't have a passion for selling and marketing. They'd rather cut off right leg than to cold call someone they want to business with.

A comment by a reader said that they too hate cold calling, but it works.

When it comes to consulting, marketing and personal selling is a large part of the job. To generate business, there is no one single way. Ask a number of consultants how they generate business and the answers will vary.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of cold calling. I think about the other person on the phone. As much as I hate being called and solicited to buy something, why would I think the other person would be more open to it? I prefer to build my business through networking, referrals and creating meaningful relationships.

What do you think?

What is your method for generating business? Do you cold call potential clients? Does it work? what tips do you have grow your client base? Everybody has their own way of generating business. It will be interesting to see how many different ways consultants build their business.

The Economy Is No Excuse For Lack Of Business

A devalued dollar. Increasing prices on commodities. A dropping Dow. It's enough to make you dig a hole and crawl in it.

In the 10+ years I have lived in Boise I can remember at least two instances when people would bemoan that business was tough for them because the economy was bad. Once was during the late 90's, otherwise known as the "Dot-Bomb" era, the second was just after 9/11.

Since the start of 2008, I have begun to hear whining and complaining about "tough times ahead" and that we're headed for a recession. Some say we are already in one.

Stop! It's no excuse not to do business. Call me foolish, but I choose not to participate in recessions or economic hardship. You do what you can and try to make the most of what is available. Necessity is the mother of invention and economic challenges, such as the one we're experiencing now, force you to become creative.

Like the weather, economies come and go in cycles. We're currently in a down cycle and maybe 5 or 10 years from now we'll be in another. It makes little sense to worry when there is hardly anything you or I can do to stop it. It's about what you can do right now.

My attitude toward the current economy matches a recent podcast I heard produced by Alan Weiss.

It Is Not The Economy

Take 5 minutes to hear Alan out. If you are doubting your ability to conduct business or garner new business during economic uncertainty, I think you'll find that the fault doesn't rest on the shoulders of a sinking dollar - it's the fact that you may not be demonstrating your value to the client.

Marketing a Consulting Business: A Recap of the January TVCNet Meeting

I've had a few days to think about the most recent TVCNet meeting and here is my interpretation of the roundtable discussion we had on marketing a consulting business.

The discussion started with the attendees discussing the challenges they had marketing a consulting business in 2007 and (essentially) what they plan to do in 2008 to overcome those challenges.

The biggest challenges in the past year according to the group:

• Marketing a niche service. It's difficult to sell a niche product or service and link it to the expectations of the client. Most of the time, the client has difficulty understanding how it may benefit them. One suggestion to overcome this challenge is to develop case studies with a real world example of how your product or service will benefit the client.
• Being too general with the target market for your product or service. I believe the saying goes, "Master of all, servant to none." Eventually you want to find an ideal target market, but when you are starting out it's OK to not be so targeted with your market. This gives you and opportunity to explore, experiment and find the ideal target market where the need and your passions intersect to create a profitable situation for you and your business
• Lack of focus in your consulting business. Are you doing what you set out to do? Are you offering products or services just to get business? Consultants can feel challenged marketing their consulting business if they are doing things they originally didn't set out to do. It's better to resist the temptation to go after the quick buck, forgo the product or services that are not in the scope of your business and focus in on the things you like to do best. Follow your passions.
• Customers who drag you down. We want the business, but when paying customers don't take you up on your offers for your core services and ask you to do things out of scope, what's a consultant to do? Fire those customers. This is related to lack of focus. Refer the customers who take your focus away from the things you like to do best to people or businesses who offer the services they want. It may be painful at first, but it can be liberating!

Some other comments made during the meeting include:

• Most marketing problems boil down to either wrong product / service or wrong market. It's trial and error and you must be patient when you start out in consulting. Most consultants don't see real success for almost 3 to 4 years after they first open their doors for business.
• If you want to leverage the media, make their job easier. Feed them ideas for stories or write articles and submit them. One consultant noticed how understaffed the local media was and took advantage of the situation and submitted quality articles for print in a local newspaper. The articles provide added exposure for his business and the field he serves.
• Use the right channel to reach your target audience. Know what mediums they use and take full advantage of them.

Marketing is a large part of any consulting business. If you are patient and observant, you can effectively promote your business and demonstrate your value to the business community.

Building Your Credibility to Market Your Consulting Business

In preparation for the next TVCNet meeting, a consultants' roundtable to discuss marketing a consulting business in 2008, I found the following blog post of interest:

Building Credibility: 11 Ways to Show You’re a Professional

Marketing a consulting business is much more than creating a logo, choosing colors, business cards and snazzy brochures. It's about presenting a professional image that will give potential clients a sense of security as they engage with you in what should be an honest, meaningful conversation about their business needs.

Clients will do business with you if they like, know and trust you. Your credibility is by far your best marketing tool. Take a look at the blog post and I think you will see that most of the tips to build your credibility do not have to make a big dent in your pocketbook.

Also, for more information on our upcoming meeting where we will be discussing best practices in marketing a consulting business, please see January 24th on the TVCNet Calendar for more details.

How Consultants Can Use Social Networking: Q&A on LinkedIn

TVCNet member, Rob Horton of Level Five Interactive, sent me this video which demonstrates the popular social networking tool LinkedIn:



You may currently be a LinkedIn user and are familiar with the tool, but if you are not you are missing out on an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise as a consultant.

A successful consultant is able to share their knowledge and expertise in a manner that will give perspective clients a "taste" of your service. Consultants do this by holding seminars, speaking in front of business groups, publishing articles and even producing their own blogs.

Watch the video demonstration and pay close attention to the Q & A feature in LinkedIn. You'll see how this feature can be very helpful to you in your consulting business.

Tips for Consultants: The Marketing Trifecta

When it comes to promoting ourselves as consultants, there are three important components to marketing.

1. Networking
   
2. An effective business card
   
3. Maintaining newly formed relationships through regular communication

Entrepreneur magazine recently published three articles on their website addressing these three components. Below are links to those articles and my thoughts on each.

(Networking) Less Networking Can Mean More
Ivan Misner, the author of the article, suggests that rather than concentrating on visibility at many networking events, we should take a moment to stop and review the relationships we have developed. Ask yourself if you are sincerely going out there to develop meaningful business relationships are are you just collecting names. Ideally, you want to establish credibility with the people you have created relationships with. You can't do that unless you concentrate on cultivating the relationships you have worked to create.

The verdict: consider going to less networking events and focus on quality, not quantity.

(An effective business card) Top 5 Business Card Blunders

I've always maintained that a consultant's business card is probably the single most important marketing piece they can possess. Forget brochures or flyers. They simply are not as effective as your business card.

The challenge is trying to convey your message in a powerful and meaningful way on a small piece of card stock. John Williams, the author of this article, provides 5 tips to help you avoid making an ineffective business card.

(Maintaining newly formed relationships through regular communication) Making It to the Inbox

E-mail is probably the quickest and most inexpensive way of keeping in contact with your current and potential clients. When using this medium, the last thing anyone wants it to be considered a spammer. Spam software on end-user's computers and ISP e-mail servers are getting increasingly strict. The author of this article, Gail Goodman, offers 6 handy tips to help make sure your message reaches your recipient's inbox and gets read.

Value Is Subjective

If you sent me an e-mail over the last few weeks and were expecting a response, I apologize if it may seem like I was ignoring you. I finally got around to cleaning out the TVCNet inbox this morning and came across a message from a colleague, Corey Smith, VP of Innovation at Fisher's Document Systems.

In addition to a blog he maintains at Fisher's, Corey also maintains a blog with a group of other blog authors called Master the Business. Corey's message to me reminded me of his blog and he gave me an open invitation to reference anything I found on it that would be of interest to the TVCNet readers. One post of interest, "What is value?", caught my attention.

Since starting this blog I have written a lot about value and how a consultant's reputation rests on the value that he or she demonstrates to the client through the services they provide. I definitely agree with Corey that value is subjective in the minds of the client. What I may find valuable may not be valuable to you. The only thing I would disagree on (or perhaps it is something I may not be entirely clear on) is that value doesn't exist in a vacuum.

The diagram Corey provides in his post would assume that all clients (maybe in a selected industry) perceive the value of a product or service the same way. They conduct a sort of trade-off in their minds - "I'm willing to pay more if I get more benefits in return."

In consulting, I think the aim is different. It's about providing more benefit or more value for the least amount of cost, both to consultant and the client. If I'm not mistaken this approach would be more of a "Blue Ocean Strategy" approach.

I'm merely speaking from the context of the consulting profession (a service-oriented business). It may be a different ballgame in Corey's profession. I don't believe either of us are right or wrong. We certainly have different approaches and viewpoints and that's what keeps things interesting.

A Consultant’s Reputation Can Be an Asset or Achilles’ Heel

Reputation: it can be the boost a consultant needs to bring their business to the next level in terms of growth and profit or it can be the Achilles heel that puts them out of business for good.

As consultants, our personal knowledge and expertise on certain subject matter can be considered our greatest asset, but some would argue that our individual reputations are indeed our greatest asset. For the most part, our reputations (how clients perceive us) can be controlled but sometimes there are a select few in our profession that tarnish the good reputations of others and bring negativity to the work we do.

It doesn’t make sense to worry about the actions of other consultants. We can ridicule and renounce bad practice all we want, but at the end of the day all we can worry about is our own reputation.

This may seem elementary, but from time to time it’s good to brush-up and remind yourself about what’s needed to develop and maintain a good reputation for your consulting business.

• Write and write some more – all you need is something meaningful to say about what you are most passionate about (most likely what you are consulting on) and present it to your target audience. Write articles. Post them to your website or contribute to other websites. Blogging is also another way get your thoughts and ideas out to the public. Your clients need to know what’s on your mind and how you intend to add value to their businesses.
• Present your knowledge – seek out opportunities to present to business groups or organizations. Prepare brief presentations about subjects you are most passionate about and be prepared to give them at a moment’s notice. If you look, you’ll be surprised at the number of opportunities that exist.
• Develop your communications skills – both your writing and your verbal presentation skills can be sharpened with practice. Always be ready to give your “who and do what” statement – who are you, what do you do and who do you serve. In some circles it is known as the “elevator speech” (but I don’t like to call it that).
• Network, network, network – the more people that know who you are and what you do, the more you’ll increase your potential to connect with individuals you want to do business with and who need your services.
• Leverage your presence on the web – participate in forums, newsgroups and blog discussions. Do it in an honest, meaningful manner. Exploit the opportunity to provide a URL back to your website or blog. There’s nothing wrong with it – just don’t make your contributions to the discussion a sales pitch for your services. Add value. Also, contribute to guide sites like About.com, Work.com or EvanCarmichael.com and become an expert. Share what you know with the rest of the world.
• Give a little bit – if there is some way you can give a sample of your work so folks have an idea of who you are and how you can help them, do it! Volunteer your services to non-profits. It’s the best way to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise and show the business community how valuable you are.
• Follow-up and keep your word – if you say you are going to do something for someone, do it. People remember these things. Not keeping your word is probably one of the biggest reputation killers that exist in consulting.
• Finish what you started – yet another reputation killer. When you make a commitment, it is important to live up to the standards you set. Be realistic when setting goals and expectations. When it comes to this, the saying is true: “Under promise and over deliver.”
• Credentials, certifications and associations – if you are in a consulting field where education, accolades and your business affiliations are looked at in high regard, flaunt it!
• Show that you are serious about your business – present a professional image for your consulting business. If you take the time to create professional collateral, website, blog, etc., it will speak volumes to your clients. People really do judge a book by its cover.

Those are just some thoughts on how to build and maintain your reputation among clients and your peers.

How about you? Do you have any tips on building and maintaining a reputation to add to the list above? A good reputation is marketing money can’t buy. You’ll find that the more you foster your reputation, the easier it is to gain clients.

Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants

It seems I write too much about marketing, but if you are a consultant like me that’s what most of your job consists of. On top of being a coach, advisor, salesperson, banker, publisher and administrator, marketing is just another hat we wear as business consultants.

Marketing is part of everything we do to create a profile for ourselves and the services we offer. You are probably well aware of Jay Conrad Levinson, the author of the popular Guerrilla Marketing series of books. No doubt you have read or seen his book targeted toward consultants called Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants.

I stumbled upon a 25-page overview, or e-book, of the publication while doing some online research that I now have posted to the TVCNet Resources section. Here a few thoughts I had after reading this e-book. Perhaps these might prompt you to download and review the e-book for yourself.

• Everything you do on a regular basis markets you and your business.You can’t market a consulting business in the traditional sense.
• Your clients are not looking for you in the Yellow Pages or waiting to consume your ad in some fashion.When your potential client is in need, you must be there – at the right place and the right time.
• Clients see consulting as a commodity. Avoid becoming a commodity by using differentiating buzzwords like “quality service” or “customer service”. It means nothing to them.
• Your most potent marketing weapon is your reputation. You will be judged on many things ranging from the quality of work to how you interact with the client’s staff.
• Patience is a virtue in marketing a consulting business. You may not see results for several months.
• It’s about selling yourself – you must earn the confidence of your client before you can gain their trust.

There are many more thoughts I have on this e-book, but I thought I’d turn it over to you. What’s different about marketing a consulting business versus marketing a traditional business such as a brick-and-mortar type business?

Do it Yourself Social Media Marketing

Here's a really cool blog post on Do it Yourself Social Media Marketing.

I notice a lot of consultants, including myself, use Web 2.0 networking tools like LinkedIn or ZoomInfo. The post and associated whitepaper discusses how one doesn't necessarily get business directly by using these tools, it's really more of an indirect effort.

One of the more important things a consultant can do in their career is create visibility for themselves. These days, it's necessary to have visibility in the online world as well as within your local business community.

The post and whitepaper will show you how.

Guest Post: Could You Sell a Bagel Without The Hole? Creating a New Market Niche

Once I stopped at a bagel shop in Redondo Beach on the coast south of Los Angeles. They had a huge variety of those chewy "rolls with holes". Many types were new to me but were typical of the California urge for experimentation.

What caught my eye was that they also had bialys. A bialy is a flat, round roll, and has no hole in the middle. Traditionally it has a depression in the top center filled with both chopped onions and poppy seeds. Bialys are so flavorful they can be eaten without adding anything. (They are even better with a smear of butter or cream cheese). Bialys are so fragrant that usually they are bagged separately from bagels.

I asked for some bialys, and was shocked by the counterman’s reply of: "with or without onions?" To me his question was absurd, since a bialy without onions violated the basic definition for the tasty roll from the city of Bialystok in eastern Poland.

Later I realized that a bialy without onions also is very close to being a plain bagel - but without the hole. It brilliantly enlarges the range of rolls by adding a completely new category to the existing classifications. Could you change your marketing and enlarge your range of consulting services by creating a completely new niche - a bagel without a hole?

The old-time baseball place hitter, Willie Keeler said that: "I keep my eyes clear and I hit ‘em where they ain’t." There is a recent book by W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne called Blue Ocean Strategy (How to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant). This strategy is discussed in this document.

First, they say don’t compete in existing market space – create a new uncontested space (a blue ocean, without other ships). Second, don’t try to beat the competition – make the competition irrelevant. Third, don’t exploit existing demand – create and capture new demand. Fourth, don’t make the value versus cost tradeoff – break it instead.

Cirque du Soleil is an example of blue ocean strategy. So is Yellowtail wine, as discussed in a long magazine article by Kim & Mauborgne.

About the author
Richard Garber is a materials consultant who has twenty years experience in failure analysis – figuring out why systems, products, or components either busted or rusted. You can see a profile of his business on the TVCNet directory under the Technical Consultant listing.