Thought-provoking. I first read about the “elephant chart” in Edward Luce’s The Retreat of Western Liberalism (affiliate link), where the author explained how income inequality was a key factor in the global rise of protectionism and angry populism. Surprisingly, the middle class of rich OECD countries were the one who felt disenfranchised, left behind, and generally unloved.… Read More »
Pricing projects based on the value they deliver — instead of the time you spend on them — will allow you to increase your fees.
Description:
Adam started out as an electrical apprentice while in college pursuing an electrical engineering degree. After 20 years in construction management, he decided to make the leap to consulting, as a way to give back to the construction and contracting community. He attributes his decision to make this transition into consulting, in part, to The Consulting Success System — How to Become a Successful Consultant. Adam has now been growing Ascent Consulting for three years. He calls these years a time of accelerated growth, a greater depth of understanding and a time to hone his skills of understanding as a consultant deliver and sell value and deliver top-quality projects to his clients. On this episode of The Consulting Success Podcast you’ll learn how to effectively grow your business in your area of expertise, how to transition from fee-based to a value-based pricing, and how to recognize when it’s time to start sharing your workload with employees so that you can continue focusing on the work that you do best.
Don’t Know What You’re Doing? Start Here.
Successful consultants like Adam Cooper have been able to successfully navigate the path to consulting success by taking advantage of The Consulting Success System — How to Become a Successful Consultant, which you can learn more about here on the Consulting Success website. Adam is one of over 5,000 consultants around the world that have used our products to land more clients, earn a greater income, and streamline their consulting businesses to enjoy more time-off. Adam claims that when he started out, he didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to be doing or how he was going to do it. By taking advantage of our system and coaching program he was able to establish his path, improve his proposals, and get an advantageous head start to his consulting business. You can find the link to The Consulting Success System below, and learn more about how this system can help you take your consulting business to the next level.
Selling Yourself as a Consultant
Prior to starting Ascent Consulting, Adam worked as a project manager for several large national construction companies throughout the United States. He was responsible for managing materials, labor, subcontractors, budgets, and more, but after 20 years in the construction business, he decided that it was time to make a change. Two of the greatest challenges that he initially faced as a new consultant were learning how to sell himself to clients, and how to price his work. Pricing is often one of the greatest hurdles that consultants have to overcome. Initially you may find yourself, like Adam, pricing out your time, rather than the value that your work is bringing to your clients. You’ll want to listen to Adam’s story as he explains how he figured out the best way to make the shift from time-based to value-based pricing.
One of the first things he did to help overcome this hurdle and correctly price his work was to take advantage of the Accelerator Coaching Program that is available here on the Consulting Success website. He also read books including The Consulting Bible, that helped him learn how to sell value instead of time, and how to have sales and value-based conversations with clients upfront. Early on, Adam would have conversations with his clients based on the budget that they had, and then create an appropriately sized project from there. Now he knows that the first conversation he needs to have with his clients is what kind of value they will gain by taking on a project, and then to proceed from there to structure a deal that will deliver the value that they are seeking. Listen to our conversation to hear more about how you can make this approach work for you, too.
Trial and Error will Lead You to Six-Figure Projects
When Adam wanted to start the value-based pricing model, he didn’t know exactly how to make it work best for him. He was reading consulting books and taking consulting courses, but he still had a lot to learn. He was getting used to hearing “no,” a lot. Adam realized he had to learn how to price his work in a way that was fair to his clients, and made sense for him as the consultant.
It is also essential to develop a working relationship with your clients. Assessment projects and limited-scope projects are a great way to build their trust and confidence in the work that you can do for them. You can start out with assessment projects, which might be worth $4,000 to $6,000. Next you can offer limited-scope projects, which can be worth up to $30,000 or $40,000. These smaller projects are the ones that build a foundation of trust and greater confidence with your clients. They will see the value that your work is bringing to their company through increased sales opportunities, better employee morale, increased profitability, or well-designed marketing. The value of your contributions to their organization will be apparent in these smaller projects, and those small projects will lead to the bigger six-figure projects.
Don’t Give Up on Value Pricing
It can be extremely discouraging for any consultant to hear the word “no,” but getting rejected once, twice, or even a dozen times, is not a valid excuse for giving up. Adam shares how he turns those rejections into learning opportunities, starting with going back to the businesses and asking them what he can do differently next time. An initial rejection from a company does not always mean that they have no interest in doing any business with you ever again. Often it simply means that something needs to be reworked so that things makes better sense for your client. You’ll want to hear how exactly he forms his questions so that he can improve his proposal and approach, to turn a rejection into another successful project.
Another essential tip to helping yourself through hearing the ‘nos,’ is to surround yourself with people who want to see you be successful. If you are truly committed to switching over to value-based pricing, you have to take the time to figure out exactly how it will work for you. Adam explains that he wasn’t willing to give up, but that he needed a support system to help him get over this steep learning curve. You’ll probably recognize at least one of the names that he mentions in the network of colleagues and friends that helped him get the success he was looking for.
Expand Your Staff to Maintain Your Free Time
As your business grows, you will have to decide how much time you want to commit yourself to getting the work done. Chances are you didn’t leave a 40-hour workload behind to take on a 60-hour workload in your consulting business. As your projects and clients increase, it may be worth it to bring on employees to help lighten your task list, and help your business grow. Just nine months into getting his business up and running, Adam decided to bring additional help on to help him with the ever-increasing work that he was facing. Ascent Consulting is now a business of three, and Adam explains the various ways that his staff help him get his work done and his clients satisfied. He also shares two ways that he knew it was time to bring in help.
First, maintain a sense of scale-ability. You have to be realistic about the vision that you have for your consulting business, and your ability to get it there yourself. Adam knew that his company would only be able to grow so big if he kept working at it alone. For him, that was when it was time to bring in additional help. If you want to take on bigger and better projects than you can handle independently, then it will be worth it to increase your staff size so that your business dreams can be realized.
Second, Adam refers to an exercise that he and I worked on together, to help him identify the most valuable activities that he could be focusing on. He refers to it as the ‘10s’ activity. If you break down all of the tasks that must be completed in your business into their dollar value, you will see that some tasks are more valuable than others. Tasks that are worth $10 or $100 are the ones that can be delegated to someone else, so that you can focus on the tasks that are worth $1,000, $10,000, or more. By freeing up your schedule to dedicate more time to the most valuable tasks, you are taking a great step toward securing your company’s greatest success. If you are trying to convince yourself that you can do everything in your business by yourself but are constantly drowning in menial tasks, you will want to be sure to listen to Adam as he details how this exercise has worked for him in finding greater success at Ascent Consulting.
Schedule Down Time for Yourself and Your Clients
Every consultant wants to get their business to the point that they can enjoy some down time, and on this episode of The Consulting Success Podcast, you’ll hear a variety of ways that Adam has made sure to take care of himself. From running and golfing to updating his website just for fun, Adam seems to have found the way to maximize his work-life balance. But he also shares great tips for turning work into pleasure by incorporating networking and relationship building into fun, starting with a monthly poker night with his clients. If that sounds like the kind of relationships that you are aiming to build with your clients, then you won’t want to miss out on his tips for scheduling time for fun. You’ll hear all about this and more on this episode of The Consulting Success Podcast with Adam Cooper.
Key Takeaways:
[:23] An introduction of Adam and how he transitioned from project manager to consulting.
[3:45] Adam’s greatest challenge, starting out, began with pricing his work.
[6:34] A breakdown of time vs. value pricing structures.
[8:02] Before you land a six-figure project, expect to hear a lot of ‘nos.’
[12:38] At what point should you bring additional help into your business?
[17:14] Betting on a work-life balance.
[19:20] How you can learn more about Ascent Consulting.
Wrote this blog post in 2013 (yes, when I was 10% younger). New comments in red color. Recently, I was reminded that there are three types of power in the workplace. While you might not have all 3 – you better have some. Positional, Relational, Expertise. I first heard this on a manager-tools.com podcast, but please let… Read More »
Today I want to talk with you about a mindset that is incredibly important for established consultants.
The mindset is what I call Foot on the Pedal.
It becomes very important when your consulting business is taking off, when things are going well, when you have plenty of clients and plenty of opportunities surrounding you.
The foot on the pedal mindset is essential. Here’s what it’s all about…
Let’s write it down, so foot on the pedal. Now, foot on the pedal. This is what it refers to. As your business is moving along, you’re seeing growth.
The reality is it’s probably a lot more up and down to get to this point but as it’s going … you find yourself in a good place, the typical reaction for most consultants when they get to this place is they doing opposite of foot on the pedal.
They take their foot off the pedal.
They start to coast. They say, “You know what, I don’t need to do as much marketing. I don’t need to follow up with as many people or work on my outreach or doing sales activities and things of that nature because I’ve made it.
Things are going well. I’m just going to serve my existing clients. I don’t really need to worry about getting in front of new clients and finding new opportunities,” because it’s not top priority for them anymore. Their top priority is serving their existing clients.
That makes sense. As a consultant, you always want to be serving your existing clients. That’s your number one focus.
That’s who you have responsibility to, to deliver for. That being said, you never want to take your foot off the pedal completely because if you do, then … Well, I shouldn’t say never.
You might do it for periods of time a little bit but if you do it too much, if you let your foot off the pedal for too long and you’re just coasting, then, essentially, what’s happening is you’re becoming complacent.
You’re just allowing your current success to dictate your future but that success alone that you’re having right now isn’t going to necessarily create the same level of success or greater for you in the future.
With that in mind, what you want to do is have this mindset of foot on the pedal so that before, maybe if this was the pedal, before, maybe you were pushing it down all the way to the ground.
We’ll make that pedal stand a little bit more there.
Maybe you’re pushing it all the way to the ground. You had a lot of energy that was being done on your marketing and on your sales and on your [inaudible 00:03:01] and activities but if you take your foot completely off the pedal, you come up to here, just completely off, then the car, which is your business, just kind of coasts along.
Now, you might think and you might even feel and even see for a period of time that you’re coasting kind of nicely but what can happen is all of a sudden, it can go down.
It can drop. It can drop because maybe one or more of your distinct clients decides to pause or they end the project earlier, right, there’s some change going on in their organization, or a really great prospect or multiple prospects that you had that you’re just certain would become clients decided not to move forward right now or decided to go with someone else in the marketplace.
Also, now, this momentum that you had just drops off very quickly.
The problem is that when that happens, if your foot is off the pedal for too long, your pipeline of business, you have people in the pipeline that you’re working through these different stages from initial lead to a conversation to a proposal to winning and so forth, if there are enough people in this pipeline all at given times and your foot’s off the pedal, then, this early area here, this is what we call the lead category or lead column, is very low.
There’s not much here.
There’s not much here, then, it’s going to take you longer to get your business back up to the level that it was before.
Whereas, if your foot is on the pedal, maybe not all the way to the ground as was before but if it’s even just a little bit, even if you’re applying a bit of pressure meaning that you’re still building up new leads and new opportunities in this category, then, if something drops off, you can stop it by moving more leads through and you can pick up another opportunity, and pick up another opportunity.
Essentially, what you’re doing is you’re not allowing your business to become complacent. You’re not just letting it coast along organically. You’re being intentional.
You’re always spending some effort, less … You’ll be spending less effort on your business development and less on your marketing than you were before when you are more established because you have more clients to serve and so, you have less time to work on your marketing, which is okay.
That’s normal for an independent or very small consulting firm but you never, never want to stop completely. You don’t want to take your foot off the pedal altogether because if you do, then you’re really becoming susceptible to this drop. Then, it can take you a lot longer to get things back up.
This place here going back up, this whole zone is painful. This is not fun, guys, because when you’re in this zone, you’re feeling, “Wow. Oh, I have to do this all over again. I don’t want to do this.” Some people don’t even like the marketing and sales process.
As you’re establishing, growing your business, make sure that you always have your foot on the pedal, more at the beginning probably, less a little bit as things go but the more that you have your foot on the pedal, the more that you can keep this down for as long as forever.
For as long as your business is alive, you want to have your foot on the pedal because that’s what’s going to give you the opportunities. That’s going to put you in that position to be in control.
If you’re not, then when this goes down, when something happens, you’re not in control and that becomes then much, much more difficult to deal with. If you are in control, you’re able to correct, to course correct and you get things back off, back on track and growing.
The other benefit is that the more you have your foot on the pedal, the more opportunities you’re going to actually create.
As you create more of those opportunities, not only can you then really pick and choose the clients that you want to work with but you’re also able to just win more clients or win higher value projects because you can say no to the ones that aren’t a good fit for you and say yes to the ones that you feel are like, “Yeah, that’s in my zone. Those are ideal clients. It’s a high value project.”
That obviously will help you to make a lot more money and have a much stronger stable of clients and prospects for the future.
The BCG 2017 M&A report has a great subtitle here (3Mb pdf) called the Technology Takeover. BCG notes that 30% of 2016 M&A involved the acquisition of technology companies (no surprise), of which 70% were from outside the technology sector (surprise). In sum, every industry is rapidly acquiring, morphing, and becoming technology companies. BCG goes one step… Read More »
Multiply and protect your income streams by expanding your skills, expertise, and presence in the consulting world.
Description:
Dorie Clark has transformed herself from a grad school reject to an expert in her field. She is a marketing strategy consultant, professional speaker, and frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review. The New York Times described her as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives.” Dorie is the author of several popular business books — Entrepreneurial You, a guidebook about how you can make money doing what you love, Reinventing You, a book on professional reinvention, and Stand Out, how to become a recognized expert in your field. She is also a part-time professor at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Dorie is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and talented professionals get their true talents noticed, appreciated, and recognized, in today’s noisy marketplace. Dorie currently splits her time between teaching, consulting, and writing. On this episode of Consulting Success Podcast, you’ll learn how that diversification has both preserved and enhanced her career, and ways that you can use her examples to find success as you are growing your consulting business.
Diversify Your Career for Greater Success
11 years ago, Dorie Clark was focused on one job — helping companies with their marketing strategies and social media presence. Although that was a good job, over time she realized that by not being more diversified with her work, she was exposing herself to a lot of market risk. Situations may changes, budgets can be cut, and even if, as an entrepreneur, you are doing the same thing for all of your clients, it can become somewhat perilous. Dorie currently has seven different income streams — consulting, executive coaching, teaching, writing, professional speaking, online classes, and affiliate marketing. Having these multiple income streams can both leverage the work that you do, and also de-risk the work that you do.
From Theologian to Entrepreneur
Dorie has never worked in the corporate world, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know her way around some of the country’s top businesses. As a philosophy major in college, she simply learned by doing. After earning a Master’s of Theology, and subsequently getting turned down by all of the doctoral programs she applied to, Dorie had no choice but to reinvented herself. That was when her first book, Reinventing Yourself, was born. Working as a political journalist led to working on political campaigns, which failed when her candidates lost their elections. From there, Dorie worked for a nonprofit in Boston for two years, where she learned how to run a business resourcefully. That opportunity gave her the training on the job that she needed to successfully go out and start her own business, where she is thriving today. As you listen to Dorie’s story, you’ll realize that even if the road to success has several detours along the way, it can still take you right to where you are supposed to be.
The Mindset that Overcomes Challenges
From getting rejected from graduate school to losing elections, Dorie has encountered plenty of detours on her road toward success. You’ll want to listen as she shares the mindset that helped her overcome these multiple setbacks — starting with her basic need to support herself. One of the critical steps that she took on this path was obtaining freelance journaling work. This work taught her how to quickly hone in on what services and skills create valuable for your customers. Dorie was able to apply this skill to her consulting work — she understands that entrepreneurs are always trying to get inside the head of their customers to figure out what it takes to get them to part with their money in a way that creates value for them. This pitstop on her road to success proved that the skills she was learning in the early years of her career would have a direct impact on her ability to win clients later on. Utilizing this mindset to turn your failures into learning opportunities can have the same impact on your career as it had on hers.
Develop Your Marketing Approach as Your Business Grows
As you are growing your business, the most important thing you have to focus on, is securing clients. At this time, your business may be over weighted with sales activity, but this effort is essential to later success. The early work that you put into sales will buy you more time later to focus on marketing. On the other hand, the time you spend on marketing may not buy you a dividend today, but the dividends will come in the next week, month or year. This is the position you want to put your business in. The more dividends you can obtain, the higher plateau your business can reach. Shifting your ratios toward marketing, and away from sales, will help you achieve a greater long-term benefit. You’ll want to be sure to hear how Dorie spends her time today. She is no longer required to chase after work, but has positioned herself toward marketing, which now brings clients knocking on her door.
High-Pressure Sales Never Pays Off
Every consultant and entrepreneur knows that focusing on sales can be somewhat — or very — uncomfortable. You have to get yourself in the right mindset to be successful at sales, but that does not mean defaulting to high-pressure sales tactics. Any business relationship that is founded on high-pressure sales is not going to last very long. Although your clients may submit to these tactics, they are going to resent them and eventually look for a way to escape their commitment to working with you. A greater way that you will find success in your sales approaches is to give your clients several options. When you are asking for business or for referrals, keep your approach low key and give your clients choices. Dorie shares some of the phrases and approaches that she uses to keep her sales tactics low key. Listen to find out how her clients respond, and you’ll be convinced that this approach will work for you too.
Launch Your Business with Cash in Hand
As someone who has successfully started her own business, Dorie recommends that you start with a minimum six month’s cash reserve. Although she was able to secure her first client after only two months, it can take time to get contracts signed and to get the work going strong. By having up to a year’s cash supply, you can buy yourself some time to get your first clients lined up, and over time you will be able to select the clients that you are willing to do business with.
Your Timeline to Success Starts with Your Network
Your network will always be one of your greatest keys to success, no matter what stage your business is in. People who know you are going to be the ones that are willing to do business with you. Even if they haven’t done a particular kind of work with you before, you will find that those that are willing to take a chance on you are the ones that have a prior connection to you. Your network will always be working for you, so it is essential that you continue to reach out to those in your network. That is always going to be a crucial element to your success.
Becoming a published author can contribute immensely to your credibility and success. Prior to writing books, Dorie’s speaking arrangements were not a viable source of income. By publishing books, she found greater credibility and proved herself as more of an expert in her field. Although having a reputable publisher did increase the legitimacy of her work, the bulk of the work required to market her books was her responsibility. Publishers will never create the success of a book for you. You have to be willing to get out there and market your book for yourself. To promote her book Reinventing You, in 2015, Dorie gave 160 podcast interviews and traveled around the country to deliver 74 speeches. That kind of dedication to marketing your book is going to guarantee an increase in its success.
Taking Care of Yourself while Taking Care of Business
Don’t compromise on the things that matter most — for Dorie that means never giving up sleep. seven or eight hours a night is essential to writing well, speaking well, and simply being in a good mood. However, there will be times when you have to double down and focus on your work. There will only be a limited amount of time when people want to hear about your newly released book, and you have to capitalize on that window of time. That may mean shifting your priorities temporarily, but when that time comes to a close, you will have to again reexamine your efforts and rededicate yourself to maintaining a healthy personal life. This kind of work-life balance has been a critical component to Dorie’s success, and you will find that implementing her advice in your life will add to your success, too.
Staying Focused and Productive
You may be feeling overwhelmed with the prospect of simply going out and getting new clients. When comparing yourself to the multi-faceted workload of someone like Dorie, who is teaching, writing, speaking, and more, you may be wondering if there might be more that you can be doing to gain success in your consulting business. Dorie shares several tips on how she stays focused, organized, and committed to her high levels of performance.
One of her secrets for success is Paul Graham’s essay entitled “Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule.” You’ll definitely want to read it, as it highlights the differences between a typical day of a manager and a maker. A manager’s main job is simply to check tasks off a to-do list in order to keep work moving forward. A maker, or creator of business, on the other hand is faced with the task of creating and accomplishing bigger, longer term projects. Makers need to utilize the time they spend as managers in order to get into the productive state. Maker tasks require more time and substance, and Dorie shares how dedicating certain days of her calendar to these “deeper dives” has increased her productivity and success. It may seem counterintuitive to take time away from the daily business of work, but you’ll be convinced to commit to these creative days once you hear how well it works for Dorie.
Resources from Dorie Clark
On dorieclark.com you can find a host of resources to help you with growing and developing your businesses. She has made available more than 400 free articles for entrepreneurs and professionals that are looking for ways to stand out and get noticed in this busy business world. There is also a free 42-page ‘Stand Out’ self assessment to help hone in on your breakthrough ideas, and to best spread that idea into a successful one. Be sure to take advantage of these resources on her website to help you find the greatest consulting success.
Key Takeaways:
[:12] Introduction of Dorie and why she diversifies her work.
[3:02] Dorie’s path to entrepreneurship started with rejection.
[5:33] How to keep going when you want to give up.
[8:30] Why your marketing approach needs to change as your business develops.
[11:46] Low pressure sales won’t make you uncomfortable, but they will give you success.
[13:59] Dorie’s timeline to success was sped up by tapping into her network.
[15:45] The role that authoring books has had in Dorie’s success.
[19:10] Work life balance starts with a good night’s sleep.
[22:04] Tips for staying focused and productive.
[26:42] How you can connect with Dorie Clark.
Richard Thaler, professor from University of Chicago, won the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Most people know him for writing the 2008 best-seller Nudge (affiliate link) with Cass Sunstein. Super enjoyed the book and was surprised to discover how many of our so called “decisions” are actually default choices, illusions, and… Read More »
If you don’t then you run the risk of being too diverse of going too wide, of trying to be all things to all people and really end up with a message that will resonate with none of them.
The most effective marketing is marketing that polarizes. You don’t want to and shouldn’t want to try and attract the majority of the market place.
Instead, you want to focus on a minority that you can really help and serve. That is the ideal client. Then develop your messaging around them. That’s going to resonate with them. It’s going to speak to them because it’s going to be much more specific as opposed to being general.
The other reason is if you go too wide, then you need to have different messaging. You need to have a different marketing. You need to have a different list of who you’re targeting.
So many different … You’re building on, you’re making your business a lot more complex than it needs to be. This can seem counter-intuitive to some consultants. They think to themselves, “Well, don’t I need to be wider? Then I can attract more people. I don’t want to lose any opportunities.”
The reality is that it’s the exact opposite.
The more that you focus on the ideal client the greater the results that you’ll see. The better that your marketing will actually be. The easier it will to manage your business and you’ll be able to keep things simple.
I know that this can be a real challenge but it’s well worth it to focus in, get real clarity on your ideal client, and then develop your messaging and your marketing for a very specific type of client. You’ll see your marketing and results significantly improve when you do.
It’s case interview season. Seems like students just got to school. Moving in, meeting a few people, and getting into an academic groove. Then, BBAM, time for case interviews. There is one huge upside. You may have a job offer before Thanksgiving. Nothing like having a job lined up 6 months in advance. I interviewed at… Read More »
Failure means a lesson has been learned. What are you going to do with your new knowledge?
Description:
JT Badiani is the founder of Focused Improvement Consulting, and his business has been built on the failures that he turned into his success. He started out as a MBA/chemical engineer with years of experience in the design field and great success in operations, but decided that his talents and passions could truly be put to use when he pursued his dream of helping companies achieve success. He has been in the consulting business for over four years, and has learned a few things along the way. You won’t want to miss JT’s take on the power of failure on this episode of the Consulting Success Podcast.
The Road to Consulting
JT Badiani works to help companies improve their bottom line through the execution of their strategy, and implementing strategies with the help of Six Sigma. He knows how to critically evaluate a program to make it more efficient and streamlined. Over the years, JT has found ways to bring his clients up to a 15X return on their investment in him as their consultant. But his road to consulting success was not a short one. He experienced tremendous growth in six years working with his sector knowledge in aerospace, engineering, and more, and even worked as the VP of a company in Toronto. He was seeking a senior leadership role with leadership, but things didn’t work out. He spent nearly 12 months looking for a company to buy, but nothing was the right fit. During this time, JT discovered small and medium sized companies that were in need of operational or execution support. Although he’s not a consultant by trade, consulting was starting to feel like the right fit.
The decision to transition into consulting is not always an easy one.
JT quickly found out that taking the leap from working for an existing company to working for yourself can be a difficult decision to make. This can be a hard decision to make for several reasons. Many consultants come into the workplace and find that, while they’re great on the theoretical side, they lack skills for implementation. JT came into consulting with the mindset of helping companies execute their strategies better, but found that people often want to take away your great ideas and implement them themselves, which means that you never get to see the fruits of your labors.
JT decided that he wanted to have a different approach to his consulting business, and now he works to be involved as much as he can from start to finish to help his clients be successful.
Overcoming the challenges of starting up a business.
Every consultant, and every entrepreneur, knows that starting up a business comes with a host of challenges. A few of these challenges can include learning all about the consulting side of sales, figuring out how to lead a service-based organization, and understanding how to sell to companies by gaining their trust quickly. In my conversation with JT, we discuss two surefire ways that you can begin to overcome the challenges that come with starting up your own consulting business.
First, get yourself known.
Networking is the key to your consulting success. As JT ventured out with his business, he reached out to his core network. He shares the ways that he was able to break into the industry, including what it takes to get up in front of people, and being willing to take risks as you are establishing yourself as an expert.
Second, surround yourself with support.
Family support can be a huge factor in the success of your consulting business. JT shared what works for him — family support meant talking through the challenges the business was facing, examining options, then making a decision and going with it.
In JT’s case, he and his wife found a rhythm to the regular conversations that was established in the startup phase of his consulting business. His wife came from an entrepreneurial background, he has an MBA, and they brought their skills and knowledge together to create a plan that worked. Surrounding yourself with people that will support your work efforts is an essential piece of the puzzle, and you’ll want to hear some of the tips that JT shares on the types of conversations that he and his wife have to make sure that they are on the same page with the business efforts.
Keeping your mindset strong when it gets hard.
Business may be good, and you might be growing quickly, but the reality of most growing consulting businesses is that there are hard days, setbacks, and proposals that you want but don’t win. How do you keep your mindset strong so you can keep growing your business?
Recognize that it’s tough, but keep looking forward.
JT shares a powerful story of four high-value proposals that he lost. Over the course of an especially difficult week, he didn’t win one proposal after another. By the time the fourth proposal came back — which he didn’t really even want — JT was feeling pretty discouraged about what he was doing, and why he was doing it. He and I had a conversation not long afterward, and he followed my advice — it is tough, you are going to have losses, but keep looking forward and reflect back on why you didn’t win your proposals.
Connect with clients for feedback.
Ask why you didn’t win the proposal, listen to their advice and then apply it. Be insightful, and restructure presentations so people can gain the insights of your value. Leverage your network so that you have the right references, trust is established with potential clients, and they feel more comfortable with what you do and how you do it.
Every entrepreneur encounters this kind of failure — today may be a bad day, but there is always a better day to come. “Rather than calling it a failure, just call it a lesson.” You will become stronger as you face these failures and turn them into lessons learned. Successful people keep taking steps forward, and continue reaping rewards from that lesson learned. That is another key to your consulting success.
Set realistic goals.
You can have success and you can plan to have 100%, but there will be weeks and months that you just won’t get to 100%. If you hit 80%, you’re doing great. If you hit 50%, then it’s time to find a way to get to 80%.
Always continue learning.
It’s essential that you self-reflect and always look both at what you’re doing right and what you can improve on.
JT calls himself a horrible golfer. He decided that he wanted to improve, so he would play a round of golf, then go home and reflect on what went right and wrong. He read up on ways to improve his game, and his scores dropped significantly. Suddenly he was doing really well.
JT has taken that mentality into his business and career — if things are getting him down, he has found ways to ground himself. Finding a piece of literature or an online video or ebook that can help remind you of the things that are most important and how you can improve. He shares several books that are listed below, and also references some of the articles from the Consulting Success website that have helped him stay focused, including how to write a proposal, and how to talk to your clients. Success will come as you continue to sharpen the craft. Don’t stay stagnant, and don’t get complacent with your work.
Growing Your Business, Even without a Network
Having a network in place brings great value to your business, but you can still make connections and land clients even without the help of a network. JT has three solid ideas to help you get started.
Understand the value that you have to offer clients.
You need to know exactly what it is that you have to offer your clients, and then you have to deliver it. If you don’t deliver, you will not get more business. The client that you’re serving right now is your number one client, so your focus needs to remain on them. If you’re chasing after more business, you are not helping your client be successful. Stay dedicated to each client as you are working with them, and the value of your work, as well as your value to your client, will both increase.
Second, you have to get yourself out there.
There are multiple ways that you can develop your network while your business is growing. If you are willing to attend conferences, participate in small groups, and deliver good content, you will get leads and and you will be successful.
Don’t worry about giving away your content.
Many consultants have been advised to develop their content and then keep it secret until a client is paying for it. You should not worry about giving it away. Clients that want to improve their businesses themselves will figure out a way to get it done themselves, and you don’t need to spend anymore time with them. By sharing a good picture of your content, you are building trust with your clients, and this will win you projects.
It’s okay to be selective about your work.
Don’t rush to accept every project that comes along. Instead, as business opportunities come, ask yourself if each client is the type of company that you want to be working with. Examine their values and see if they lineup with yours — are they trustworthy? Do they provide the opportunity for you to grow? Will they actually listen to what you have to say because they are seeking advice? Are they looking for help? And most importantly, can you deliver value?
That is the single most important question you need to ask yourself — can you deliver value to this company by taking on their project? If the answer is no, then you need to ask yourself why you are doing this.
Do a litmus test with each opportunity that comes your way — see how your values line up, and then move forward from there. After you’ve had a series of conversations and opportunities to determine if the work is a good fit, you can make your decision and move forward accordingly, and with no regrets about your decision.
JT has found that these tips are key to finding satisfaction in seeing companies be successful. He has helped his clients realize $30 to $40 million savings through projects, coaching, and events. It’s what drives him toward success, and today he’s enjoying the benefits of finding consulting success. Be sure to listen to the many insights that JT shares on how to turn today’s failures into tomorrow’s success on this episode of Consulting Success Podcast.
Key Takeaways:
[:15] Introduction
[4:10] Why the decision to transition into consulting isn’t always an easy one.
[5:09] Challenges will come when starting up your consulting business, but here’s why that’s okay.
[8:35] How can you keep your success-oriented mindset strong when things get tough.
[12:50] Two solid lessons you can learn from failure.
[15:30] How you can grow your business, even without a network.
[19:30] What drives JT toward success?
[22:13] How you can connect with JT Badiani.
