Marketing Mondays: Consulting By-Products and Selling More to Your Clients

Michael Zipursky | January 2, 2012 | View Comments

Good morning Marketing Monday peoples! Welcome back.

In the creation and delivery of most products and services by-products are produced.

The majority of business owners and consultants pay little attention to these. They ignore them or don’t even know they exist.

The majority of business owners and consultants pay little attention to these. They ignore them or don’t even know they exist.

Identifying your consulting by-products and marketing them can bring a whole new stream of revenue for you and your business.

Take the consultant that gives presentations and seminars on a regular basis. She decides to compile all her notes and teachings and creates a webinar that she charges for. That’s a by-product. Taking that and creating videos or a book out of it would be another by-product. New income streams.

The web designer is busy creating websites for his clients. He finds himself creating many websites for lawyers. Rather than continuing on business as usual, he decides to launch a service of website templates designed specifically for law firms. It’s a targeted and popular offering. It generates new revenue.

What by-products are you overlooking?

 

Best Hosting Companies for Your Consulting Website

Michael Zipursky | December 29, 2011 | View Comments

Every consultant should have a website or blog. But no consultant should have to deal with the headaches that can come with hosting your website with the wrong company.

A common question we get from consultants is “where should I register my website name and how can I host my website?”

There are hundreds of companies that offer domain name registration (the name of your website, eg. www.consulting-business.com is ours) and hosting services (imagine renting a piece of property up in cyberspace where your website resides).

And while there are many companies offering these services there aren’t as many that do a really good job of it. When choosing a hosting company there are a few things you should consider:

And while there are many companies offering these services there aren’t as many that do a really good job of it.

What to Look For

Reliability – there’s no point having a website or blog if it experiences too much down time and no one can reach it.

Customer Service – this one is huge. I’ve been involved in website building projects for over a decade in one form or another yet I still (READ MORE…)

Happy Holidays 2011-12!

Michael Zipursky | December 26, 2011 | View Comments

Just a quick note today to wish you a very happy holidays!

There is no post today but we’ll be back on Thursday with another article to help you start, run and grow your consulting business.

Best wishes,
Michael & Sam

Turning One Simple Idea Into a Fortune: Book Review

Michael Zipursky | December 22, 2011 | View Comments


A few pages into Stephen Key’s new book “One Simple Idea” I knew it was going to be a good read.

In fact, the subject of the book, licensing, is one I’ve been interested in for quite some time.

As a constant student of business (I’ll be till the day I die most likely) I make it a point to learn about all kinds of businesses, approaches, strategies, methods and industries.

Licensing is a $500 Billion industry and Key is one of the best in it.

He’s licensed 20 of his own ideas to companies of all sizes and has made a very comfortable living for himself along the way.

The 10 Step Approach

In One Simple Idea Key lays out his 10 step approach to licensing… (READ MORE…)

Marketing Mondays: Differentiating Your Consulting Services

Michael Zipursky | December 19, 2011 | View Comments

I had a coaching call the other day with an experienced business owner that wanted my advice on how to position his consulting services in his market.

His challenge was that he’d chosen an extremely competitive market and he was driving straight into it.

As I asked him a few questions I started to see why he was having such trouble.

He was trying to make a name for himself by being like every other business in his market.

He was trying to make a name for himself by being like every other business in his market.

There was nothing that really made him stand out. Little that differentiated his service and offerings. In his mind, his was better. Unfortunately, that was just in his mind!

So let’s throw around another acronym today and talk about the famous…

USP

You’ve likely heard it before. It stands for Unique Selling Proposition.

It’s the statement of what value you offer that the market can’t get from anyone else.

And that value needs to be something that the market actually believes is valuable. Something they’d be willing to pay for and (READ MORE…)

Crisis Management Consulting: Interview & Book Review With Jonathan Bernstein

Michael Zipursky | December 15, 2011 | View Comments

A couple of weeks ago I received a review copy of Jonathan Bernstein’s new book, “The Managers Guide to Crisis Management.” Thanks to McGraw Hill for sending that.

Crisis management is a topic that many misunderstand or don’t understand at all. We typically assume this field offers little benefit to us, unless we are a mega corporation.

Through reading Jonathan’s book, it became clear that really isn’t the case and that Crisis Management comes in all shapes and sizes…and that it is relevant to the small business and consultant.

Here’s how Jonathan defines Crisis Management in his book…

It’s the art of avoiding trouble when you can, and reacting appropriately when you can’t.

I enjoyed the book and reached out to Jonathan for an interview. You can listen to the interview here: (READ MORE…)

Marketing Mondays: The Danger of Penny Pinching Your Marketing

Michael Zipursky | December 12, 2011 | View Comments

Two consultants left their consulting firm at the same time to open their own business.

One decided not to spend money on marketing. Rather he chose the free route. He kept very busy doing everything that he could to ‘get his name’ out there.

The other consultant decided to spend $1000 on some targeted marketing. He created his ideal list of clients. Put together a campaign to go after them and then proceeded to spend his money on reaching them.

The first consultant didn’t spend any money. He got a lot done, unfortunately, just getting things done isn’t enough. Making money and landing consulting clients is what counts.

The first consultant didn’t spend any money. He got a lot done, unfortunately, just getting things done isn’t enough. Making money and landing consulting clients is what counts.

The second consultant spent $850 on his (READ MORE…)

Demonstrating Your Consulting Expertise

Michael Zipursky | December 8, 2011 | View Comments

You’re good at what you do, right? I’ll take your word for it because I’m in a good mood and generally a nice guy…but why should anyone else?

Seriously. What makes you an expert?

Why should a business owner give you their money? Money they could otherwise take to the bank or use for a vacation or to buy a new car?

Either you’ve got the consulting skills or you don’t.

You’re an expert consultant

If you’ve got the game, bring it. Make sure you are clearly communicating it to your client. You can show them case studies, video testimonials, written testimonials, or put them in touch with a previous client. Those are all great ways to provide proof that you are an expert.

You’re on your way to become an expert consultant

If you’re not there yet, don’t fret. There are many ways you can demonstrate your expertise.

• Write a book.
• Give a presentation.
• Offer a free white paper.
• A valuable critique or assessment at no cost.
• Provide a guarantee that removes all the risk for your prospective clients.

Each one of these will help you on your way to (READ MORE…)

Marketing Mondays: Creating Your Dream List of Consulting Clients

Michael Zipursky | December 5, 2011 | View Comments

Chet Holmes in his wonderful book The Ultimate Sales Machine teaches the methods he used to grow several businesses into multi-million dollar empires.

One of the most powerful concepts he shares is that of the Dream Client list.

In our coaching program for consultants this is one of the strategies that we often talk about.

Here’s how it works:

Get out a piece of paper or open up a spreadsheet.

Create the following columns: Company Name, Contact Name, Contact Details, Location, Industry, Size, Revenue, Website URL.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to fill this sheet in just yet. The idea is to use these categories to help you decide what kind of company would be your ideal client.

The idea is to use these categories to help you decide what kind of company would be your ideal client.

Given your experience, maybe it’s software companies located in the Chicago area, with up to 50 employees doing up to $40 Million in annual sales.

Now what, you ask?

Once you’ve established your criteria it’s time to start creating your list of companies to go after and make contact with.

You can do this by using the web and (READ MORE…)

The Secret Power of Visioning for Consultants

Michael Zipursky | December 1, 2011 | View Comments

At the start of the year I took a new approach to planning that has changed my life.

I was sitting in the Japan Airlines Business Class lounge at the Tokyo/Narita airport waiting for my flight home.

At the start of the year I took a new approach to planning that has changed my life.

Looking out over the tarmac, watching planes coming and going, shooting back a few rice cracker snacks and sipping an ice cold Asahi beer…I thought it was a good time to reflect on the previous year and what I wanted to accomplish during the next 12 months.

I grabbed my bag and pulled out a new planning sheet that a friend of mine had sent me a couple of days earlier.

Getting Focused

Each year, like so many, I set out to plan my resolutions and what I want to accomplish for the coming year. This year however, I did two things that I hadn’t done before…and the results surprised me.

I used that new planning sheet and made sure to look at what I had written every day.

So there I was, sitting in the lounge filling in the sheet.

I wrote about my biggest successes, both in business and personally for the previous year. My biggest disappointments and what I wanted to accomplish going forward.

The Secret Step

When I got back home I put this sheet beside the whiteboard in my office.  This might not sound like a big deal, but having it in plain sight is crucial.

I look at it every day. I review it. It gives (READ MORE…)