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.

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.

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?

The Introvert's Guide To Selling at Businesspundit

A favorite blog in my RSS reader is Businesspundit where the author has recently published a post on The Introvert's Guide To Selling.

Personal selling is quite possibly the biggest stumbling block for any consultant regardless of field or specialty. It's a necessary business task to enable us to do the work we love to do. The best piece of advice in this post has to do with attitude. Changing your attitude toward sales will help you be more successful and will make you less apprehensive to approaching people and engaging them about your services.

Because I felt I needed help in this area, I took a class on personal selling at BSU a few years ago. I can testify after I completed the class that I had a paradigm shift in the way I viewed sales and can confirm that it has changed how I do business in a positive and meaningful way.

Don’t Let Your Knowledge and Skills be Taken Advantage Of

Some recent correspondence between myself and another consultant has reminded me of times I’ve been taken advantage of in my consulting career. I’m not saying this consultant is taking advantage of me or I’m taking advantage of him at all, but it’s a situation that could potentially be exploited.

Here’s what I’m talking about: in exchange for recently promoting a service he is offering, my colleague has agreed to help me out with a marketing strategy I’ve been mulling over. Normally he would charge for this advice, but because I’m doing him a favor he’s agreed to help me out. The boundary as to how much advice he is willing to give and the boundary as to how much advice I am seeking haven’t been clearly defined. In this case, it’s OK. Knowing this consultant I think we pretty much know where our boundaries are and nothing needs to be said. We have a great deal of mutual respect for one another as professionals and I respect his time and the amount of advice he’s graciously willing to part with free of charge.

Unfortunately, there have been times I’ve not been so lucky with potential clients and other consultants. I had one instance where I met with a potential client and left the meeting believing he was very interested in doing business. I offered a proposal for my services, delivered it and never heard back from him. A consultant in town (who will remain nameless) wanted my advice on how to conduct some research on some end-users. I sent him my ideas and method for which we could work together and never heard back from him. In fact, he wouldn’t return my calls or e-mails. Another instance left me high and dry when I gave a software developer a high-level blueprint of a global navigation for his web application. Never heard from him again.

In each of these instances, was I taken advantage of? Did I give them enough information that they took the idea to another vendor, did it themselves or abandon it completely and go in a different direction? I don’t know. I’d like to think I wasn’t taken advantage of, but it’s hard not to when your hard work does not get any feedback.

In consulting, I seem to learn my lessons the hard way. If I could avoid proposals all together I would, but they seem to be somewhat of a paradox in the profession when you’re first starting out. Clients want them because they need something concrete to go by and you have to do them if you’re new in the profession because you don’t have a long roster of clients who can vouch for your work.

Despite all that, how do consultants keep from being taken advantage of? If you’ve fallen into this trap or could potentially fall prey to it, the answer is to be firm. If you charge for your knowledge and skills, say so! It’s fine to have an honest meaningful conversation with someone about what you do and what you know, but once they start moving past that boundary (which you have to establish on your own) where they’re just trying to dig for free advice stop them right there. Tell them that you’d be happy to help them with their situation, but in order for you to continue the conversation you first need to discuss your rate or project fee. The people who are serious about working with you will respect that and it’s a good filter to weed out the diggers from the true customers.

Remember, you worked hard for your knowledge and skills. You have every right to profit from it.

Guest Post: Pricing - What Do Customers Really Want?

Editor's Note: Here is the second of our guest posts this week. Richard Garber is one of the newest members of TVCNet and he offers his insight into pricing consulting services.

A few months ago at the Boise Public Library I saw an interesting book on the new books shelf by Lawrence L. Steinmetz on How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors : Winning Every Sale at Full Price, Rate, or Fee (Wiley, 2006).

Dr. Steinmetz also has discussed this topic briefly in a magazine article titled “Price equals perception” or “How to turn a ‘price’ buyer into a ‘value’ buyer”.

You probably know the phrase “Good, cheap, quick. Pick any two”. One consultant I know did very well with the combination of good and quick. He had learned to offer premium 24-hour turnaround on lab work to his aerospace and electronics clients, along with quoting for the usual five or ten day response time. Often they would pay twice as much for quick results. His lab got a regional reputation that removed their services from being considered a commodity.

Some buyer behavior reminds me of an old Woody Allen joke… Two elderly women are at a resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions."

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.

Use LinkedIn to Break from Cold Calling

So you're on LinkedIn and you're asking yourself, "Now what?"

I found a great article on how to use this web tool to break from cold calling - something I know some consultants (including me) avoid like grim death!

If you are like Rob, the gentleman who commented in my previous post, this is how you would use the tool. Heck - even I could use it in this manner! Currently I am using the free version of LinkedIn. From what I understand the free version only allows you to search for people based on certain criteria. You don't get names or companies. You only get job titles and locations. Also, you are limited by the number of contacts you can make per month. To get additional features and the ability to contact more people, you'll have to pay anywhere from $20 -$200 per month.

It may be money well spent if it will help you in your business development as a consultant. The decision you have to make is what kind of ROI it will have for you. Based on some consulting fees I know, landing one client per month would pay for it tenfold.

Proactive Consultants

I regularly receive e-mails from BNET, a business website and blog, with occasional links to new articles or postings on their website. This one found its way to my inbox:

BNET Intercom » How UPS Will Save the World: Fewer Left Turns

It got me thinking - what if a consultant came to a company like UPS with such an idea? What if you had an idea that you knew was capable of saving a company a lot of money, time and other valuable resources? Would you do it?

This article was presented as a way to enhance your career by presenting radical ideas to executives as an internal move to help boost your status in a company. As external consultants, I wonder if we are proactive enough with our businesses to take such bold steps to enhance our own professional careers.

I know I'm guilty of simply targeting companies I would like to work with, introducing myself, sending them information about my company and hope they have a need that I can fill. But what if we as consultants surveyed the business landscape to identify needs before they are anticipated by our perspective clients? Would our consulting take a different turn?

Perhaps so. Some do it already, but others don't for fear that their ideas may be exploited. Consultants are entrepreneurs after all and maybe this is the kind of risk that goes along with the territory.

Getting the Subject Line Right

As a follow-up to my previous post on email usage, I found this interesting article on working with the subject lines of our messages.

E-Mail Marketing: Getting the Subject Line Right

I know many consultants use email newsletters and other forms of email marketing to get their word out. This article helps you craft the subject line to get your recipient to read on.

Develop A Marketing Calendar for Your Consulting Business

One of my favorite websites is Entrepreneur.com - the web home for Entrepreneur Magazine.

On their website they recently ran an article on how to develop a marketing calendar for your business. For independent consultants, this is especially important. Since most of us are one-man or one-woman armies, we're often forced to take on several business functions at once. Marketing is chief among them. Over the past few years, I've learned to adapt to being a one-man army by building, maintaining and relying on systems to help run my business. One such system is a marketing calendar.

A marketing calendar is simply a calender where you mark off when and how you intend to market your business. It can be broken down monthly, quarterly or any way you see fit. The goal is to keep a consistent message about your business flowing out to your current and potential customers on a regular basis. The calendar helps by keeping you on track.

The article talks about a marketing calendar as it relates to tactics such as direct mail, newsletters and e-mails to clients and potential customers. What's not mentioned are marketing tactics such as attending networking functions, posts to your blog and updates to your website. All of these are just as important as the traditional forms of marketing and should be included in your marketing calendar.

Even though we are now into February, it's not too late to develop a marketing calendar. By doing this you will develop a system that will help you operate your business as though you have a marketing army at your command.

Buzz From SPIN

I've received some good comments from a recent post on SPIN Selling. If you missed it, check it out and add your comments.

One thing I've found very interesting about marketing and sales as it applies to consultants is that everyone has their own opinions and personal preferences as to how to carry out such tasks when it comes to their own business. This is what makes it so interesting. I know some folks who can't stand cold calling (me) while I know others who actually enjoy it and find it quite lucrative. I know some who don't use the web to promote their consulting business, yet they still find clients.

This leads to an interesting question - when it comes to sales and marketing of your consulting business, what works for you and what doesn't?

SPIN To Uncover Your Client's True Needs

In the last three to four months I have increased my reading and research on marketing topics, namely sales. Sales can be deemed a dirty word by some consultants. I don't like it. Every time I think of it a vision of a used car salesman or a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman pops into my brain. No offense to anyone in those chosen professions. I just wouldn't want to be you. Face it, the bad apples in your field tarnish many good reputations.

Sales isn't one of my favorite things. As a consultant I would rather be doing the work I set out to do by serving my clients with the perspective, knowledge and expertise I have accumulated over the years. Unfortunately, I can't do that if I don't go out and market my consulting business. Once I successfully market my business and get the attention of my target audience, I must then put on my salesman hat and land the deal.

The process on the surface may seem aggressive, but it's not. In past blog posts I spoke about how the elevator speech has seen its day and that we must shift toward having meaningful conversations with our perspective clients. To support that, I learned a technique not so long ago that helped me uncover a client's true needs and speak to those needs without feeling like a pushy sales person. That technique is called SPIN. As you speak with a potential client, put the following into action to learn about their needs and how you can help:

• S - ask them questions to learn about their current situation.
  
• P - find out what problems manifest from the current situation.
• I - learn about the implications that arise from the problems. In other words, if the problem(s) is not solved, what will happen?
• N - discover the needs payoff. Most of the time that is expressed in terms of dollars and cents or increased productivity.
  

As consultants we face an uphill battle. Most of us do not have products we are marketing and selling. Products, for the most part, are tangible. Many you can see, touch, feel, smell, and taste. Our services (the specialized knowledge we possess) are not tangible and cannot be realized in the minds of our clients unless they are demonstrated. If we use the SPIN technique, coupled with honest, meaningful conversations we can uncover our client's true needs and speak to them. In the end, we are able to build a one-to-one relationship with our client and we don't have to feel as though we sell out and become the pushy sales people we are not. We become consultative salespeople.

Making Your Free Offer More Appealing

Before the year is out and I go on break for the next week, I wanted to give my final report on the Business Basecamp 2006 Tele-seminar series. In all, it was very informative with the exception of a few less than informative seminars. It really got the wheels turning in my brain about how I approach both my own consulting business and the Treasure Valley Consultants' Network organization. I've got a lot of new ideas that I want to put in to action starting in 2007 and you should see some of those very soon. Hopefully we can work on those together for our mutual benefit.

Out of the last few seminars, I discovered a nice Tipping Point for consultants who have free offers of services or consultation that are used to entice customers and convert them into paying clients. I have that on my own website, but I'll be honest and tell you that no one has taken me up on my offer. Why is that? Think about the word free. When I think of that word two things come to mind:

It must not be worth much if you are giving it away for free.

Also...

Whatever it is, it won't be much.

In other words, when we use the word free we tend to cheapen and de-value our overall service offering or our products. Coaching expert, Christian Mickelson, offered three tips in his seminar to help you convert interested parties into paying clients.

1. Give your offer a name. Don't call it "free offer", "free session", etc. For example, I'm thinking of calling my free offer "Usability Breakthrough Session". I know it's cheesed, but it's a working title.
2. List out objectives or benefits a customer would receive after completing your session.
3. Have a time limit and a deadline. For example, have customers sign up by a certain date for a 30 minute session that must be completed by another date.

Don't get me wrong, as consultants we should have the free offer. However, we should have it work for us and not against us. Think back to a previous post I did on having a succession of products and services that leads us to what we ultimately want - one-on-one coaching / consulting that can lead to higher fees.

Happy Holidays! See you in 2007.

Intelligence Report: The Reason Behind Why Consultants Are Hired

When I conduct research I tend to stumble upon interesting content unintentionally. I found a web page on How to Choose a Consultant written by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Yeah, strange place to find information on hiring a consultant, but nevertheless I thought it was very relevant to blog about. It provides insight as to how we get hired for our services.

I learned recently that the sales process depends somewhat on knowing when the customer is willing to buy or is in need of your services. If you know when they are willing to buy the process is much easier. Take a moment to read the process they recommend for choosing a consultant. Do you agree with it? I think the most interesting thing about the article is that many questions are asked before the decision is made to begin seeking out a consultant.

Providing Real Value in Your Presentations

I know I've been plugging the heck out of the Business Basecamp Tele-seminars that I've been listening in on since Monday, but I wanted to let folks know that not every seminar I've heard up to this point is worth its weight in gold.

The most recent tele-seminar I listened to was nothing more than a sales pitch for the speaker's company and his services. Everyone up to this point has been professional. Yes, they have their products and services to sell, but each speaker has offered valuable information in the call that I have been able to turn around and apply back to my business.

As consultants this gives our profession a bad reputation. It makes us look like 1800's Medicine Shows selling "cures" that are really nothing more than alcohol in little bottles.

It goes without saying, but presentations are opportunities to educate - not to give a sales pitch. I've been an active member in many professional organizations that provide opportunities for folks to give presentations. In every organization the number one rule has been to educate the audience - no sales presentations. By educating your audience you provide real value. Have at least one "nugget" of valuable information. Have something for them that they can turn around, go back to their offices and use right away.

When you provide real value in the form of education you are actually using the best sales and marketing tool possible without in-your-face tactics that turn off so many prospective clients.

Too Hot To Handle

Yesterday I finished listening to the third tele-seminar presented by Andrea Lee as part of the Business Basecamp 2006 Tele-seminar Series. Andrea spoke on developing Multiple Streams of Income as a coach or independent professional.

The one thing I found intriguing during the call was her observation on how most service-oriented businesses and consultants operate. According to Andrea, these folks tend to market just their single service. be it one-on-one consulting or coaching. In a sense, the scope of service and the price the service is offered is like forcing our clients to drink from a fire hose or tossing a hot potato right out of the oven straight into their hands. It's just too much to handle all at once. Not everyone is going to subject themselves to that.

Instead, Andrea suggests a funnel process to lead your clients to your ultimate service - your consulting or coaching offering. Set up at least four levels of offerings, perhaps having each tied to the next building one upon the other. Andrea's analogy is like an ice cream parlor.

• Sample spoons to taste (free)
• You like the sample so you buy a cone with the ice cream of choice (low price)
• You like the ice cream very much you buy a pint (moderate price)
• You like the ice cream so much you want to share it with everyone so you buy it in an ice cream cake (higher price)

In my practice, I recognize that I've got some sample spoons but I have nothing in between to lead folks to my ice cream cake. I'm hoping to change that soon with the introduction of some ideas I've been kicking around. What about you? Do you have a range of products and services that leads up to your ice cream cake? What's your strategy and how has it worked for you?

There are more tele-seminars running through next week. The next one is today at 1:00 p.m. (MST) presented by Terry Telford and Richard Butler discussing the action plan behind putting your business online. I'm looking forward to it.

Click here to join in. They're still FREE to listen in on.

Sticker Shock Over Consulting Fees

While conducting some research recently I discovered a blog called Consultant Journal. The blog, written by Andrea Coutu, had some postings about how to set consulting fees. One that caught my eye was a posting on the Sticker Shock Over Consulting Fees.

In my last post I discussed the Velvet Rope Policy as it applies to your current and potential clients. It's possible that a litmus test for your clients could very well be your consulting fees. Those that may balk at a consulting fee of $100 per hour for example, might not be a good client to retain. In other words, they probably didn't match the criteria you feel represents the type of client that energizes and motivates you to perform at your best. Those that wouldn't reject you over your fee probably know and understand the value of someone like you to their organization. They are very likely your ideal client.

As consultants we have businesses to run. Sometimes our clients forget that there are expenses we incur while running a consulting business. In the grand scheme of things, when our expenses are factored into our fees they are actually very reasonable. Nobody every questions the rates hairstylists charge. The woman who cuts my hair (what's left of it) gets $15 for what amounts to 10-15 minutes of total work. I'm sure some of her expenses are factored in like the amount she has to pay monthly for the rented space at the establishment where she practices her trade. When you figure it out, her fee almost comes out to $1 per minute. Do I question it? No, because I know when I leave I get a decent haircut.

Don't forget too that when you are a one man or one woman army running a consulting business, half of your time will be spent doing the actual work you set out to do and the other half will be spent drumming up business. You need to compensate for that.

Andrea's blog posting provides further insight into consulting fees.

Consultants Should Have a Velvet Rope Policy

Just about every consulting business should have a velvet rope policy. What is a velvet rope policy? I've become a big fan of Michael Port's book, "Book Yourself Solid". I admit I've given many plugs for his book, but what he has to say about maintaining focus in your business when it comes to reaching out to your target audience is important. In it he explains that the velvet rope policy is a filter one should create when it comes to deciding which clients to work with. We create this filter to help us choose clients that energize and motivate us. After all, we do our best work when we are energized and motivated. Much like a trendy nightclub with a guest list, a business should have a metaphorical version of this barrier.

I'm not encouraging you to be discriminative toward certain people. That would be wrong. What I am doing is encouraging you to take a good look at who you currently have as clients and who you wish to have as clients. Is there gap?

To illustrate my point, let's pretend you are an auto mechanic and your specialty is Italian sports cars. There may not be many Italian sports cars in your town so you take in other mechanic work on domestic cars like Ford's and Chevy's just to keep your business afloat. Would this energize you? Would this make you excited to go to work every morning if your passion and specialty is Italian sports cars?

The point is, if you are a mechanic and your passion is Italian sports cars, having a velvet rope policy where you only serve people with Italian sports cars will force you to focus in on this particular target market and get creative in marketing exclusively to them. Besides, just because you can work on other kinds of cars, doesn't mean you should do it. You got into business to do a specific thing and you should focus in on that if it is your true passion.

So, what is your velvet rope policy? Does your marketing target a specific audience that you want to let past that velvet rope or are you dropping that rope in favor of anybody?