Marketing Your Consulting Services
by Linda Banks
Becoming a consultant can be a very rewarding experience. But – it takes gaining new sales and building a wide customer base to become successful over the long term. And this means you must be able to effectively market your services.
When it comes to marketing your services, your goal should be to show your potential customer base that you are the solution to their problem, the knowledge expert for their business and the one to turn to with questions. This article deals with how some long-term consultants successfully marketed their services.
Proof of quality
Most experts agree – the first step in successful marketing is to have documented successes of your expertise before any long-term marketing plan will work. When it comes to the first word in successful marketing, David Duda from Newcomb & Boyd states it best: “We focus our efforts on quality and quality assurance."
Many times, new consultants don’t have a client base for referrals, so new consultants can highlight their experience working for a previous employer. John Sullivant, a successful 20 year veteran in security consulting, worked 25 years for the Air Force before taking his expertise to the commercial world. He used what he learned in the Air Force as the foundation to highlight why he is the expert to use for security-related projects.
Networking
The second most successful tactic is networking. Every long-term consultant has some type of marketing plan that deals with relationships. These relationships include complementary relationships with other consultants, individual relationships with professionals and organizational relationships with businesses. George Phares, a successful consultant with more than 13 years experience states, “Consulting is a relationship business and people are going to choose your services, or not, primarily based upon the relationship that you’ve got.”
Here are some of the ways successful consultants build new relationships:
Join Organizations. Select a few organizations that involve your expertise and have a wide potential customer base. Don’t just get your name on the membership rolls – become involved and be active, but not pushy, in promoting your expertise and highlighting what customer needs you can meet.
Speak at Conventions. Public speaking is a great way to become a recognized expert. Search for conventions who have issued call-for-speaker notices where your expertise might be useful to the attendees.
The web
Be sure to maintain an informative, constantly updated website for current and potential clients to visit. Feature recently articles and/or reports and be sure to present your services in a well organized, attractive manner. You may choose to further promote your firm on the web via online directories.
Marsha Marinich, who started consulting in 1980, uses electronic communications for potential and current customers. The value of newsletters and blogs help to disseminate information and let people know that you are the knowledge experts. She calls this “Consistent and Persistent Communications," which is designed to subtly remind the potential client to call you when they have a need you can meet.
Referrals
Referrals are another marketing tool used very often by successful consultants. As a consultant, there is no harm in letting your satisfied customers know how much you appreciate their referrals. More likely than not, your own customers also use referrals to gather new business contacts, and they will be happy to cooperate with you.
Cold calling
Every single long-term, successful consultant states that cold calling doesn’t really work. It can keep you very busy and make you feel like you are doing something every day, but the fact is that the results just aren’t forthcoming.
Print advertising
Direct mail, magazines and newspapers advertisements can work, but only if you can directly target the type of customers who would use your services. If you are an IT consultant specializing in building secure networks and can place an ad in a magazine devoted to IT network security, then it might work well. Otherwise, save your time and energy for more useful advertising methods.
|
