Marketing Mondays: Tips to Demonstrate Your Expertise

Michael Zipursky | April 2, 2012 | View Comments

Magical Monday! Grab your cup of coffee, glass of wine or whatever suits you best…

Social media provides many ways for business owners and consultants to ‘get out there’ and demonstrate their consulting expertise.

One powerful way to do this is through answering other people’s questions.

And doing it for free!

“What? Michael, you’ve always been against doing free work…” you say. Well, right you are my friend. In most cases I am. But as part of your total marketing strategy answering people’s questions can be well worth your time.

Social media provides many ways for business owners and consultants to ‘get out there’ and demonstrate their expertise.

Let me explain…

Have you ever heard of Gary V? That’s Gary Vay Ner Chuck! You know, the Crush It Man? Well, Gary is a marketing thought leader…and he built his Wine Library TV website (which in turn helped sell millions of dollars of wine at his family’s store) through making a name for himself by answering people’s questions and commenting. (READ MORE…)

Consultants Guide to Virtual Employees: Book Review

Michael Zipursky | March 30, 2012 | View Comments

I recently received a review copy of The Virtual Manager by Kevin Sheridan (published by Career Press).

Kevin Sheridan is the CEO of HR Solutions Inc and his bio states he’s consulted for some of the world’s top companies and speaks regularly at conferences.

Here at Business Consulting Buzz and with my other businesses we’ve been using a virtual workforce for quite some time. I’ve discussed several platforms to work with virtual teams including oDesk and Elance.

In fact, for the last 5 years or more I’ve worked with professionals around the world and have outsourced certain tasks and aspects of consulting projects where it made sense to.

This isn’t anything new to me, and has become somewhat common practice. That’s why I was surprised to find such a detailed book on working with virtual employees…not because I didn’t think one existed, but more because I had never given it any thought.

Kevin Sheridan’s book will be a very worthwhile read for some people however.

82 percent of Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For already have virtual work policies in place.

More companies are making use of virtual workforces. And it makes sense. As Sheridan explains, virtual work situations attract top talent. Not only are you able to work with the very best anywhere in the world, more professionals appreciate the opportunity to work from home. Sheridan provides data which explains that many people will accept a lower salary when they are able to work virtually.

Who Will Find the Most Value in This Book?

  • If you’re brand new to the world of outsourcing and working with virtual employees, you likely have many questions on how to make the process efficient and effective. Sheridan’s book will give you all the answers.
  • The book is full of facts, data, and case studies of how companies like LinkedIn and Cisco manage their virtual workers.
  • One of the most valuable parts of the book is the 3 part interview process Sheridan shares. Using this will help you find the right employee or contractor and avoid many of the common hiring mistakes. Very valuable indeed. (READ MORE…)

Marketing for Consultants: Strategies, Budget, ROI and More: Survey Results

Michael Zipursky | March 29, 2012 | View Comments

We recently conducted a survey on marketing for consultants where we asked our readers 3 questions:

  1. What type of marketing do you spend the most time on?
  2. Which of the above has made your business the most money?
  3. How much money do you spend on average marketing your business each year?

The responses came flooding in. My spreadsheet filled, I put on my glasses and got down to making sense of all the data.

After crunching the numbers here are the survey results. I’d love to hear what you think about them in the comments below.

We’d like to share these results with as many consultants as possible, so feel free to use the social media buttons to the left to share this on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.

What Type of Marketing Do You Spend the Most Time On?

How much time consultants spend on marketing (pie chart)
As you can see, it’s quite clear that consultants that took the survey tend to favor working on generating referrals and developing their network. These two marketing methods are known to be effective for any service professional so this doesn’t come as a surprise.

Interesting to note is that few consultants spend time on advertising their consulting business. As a consultant, I can tell you that advertising in a very targeted fashion can generate a strong ROI. Opportunity exists here. Social media and educational marketing through writing and reports also came in at 10% and 9% respectively.

Here are the same results as above but in a bar chart format.

How much time do consultants spend on marketing (bar chart)

What Type of Marketing Makes Consultants the Most Money?

This is what you’ve been waiting for, right? After going through hundreds of responses below you’ll find the marketing strategies and tactics that are making consultants, the ones that took this survey, the most money.
(READ MORE…)

Marketing Mondays: Why You Can’t Succeed Alone

Michael Zipursky | March 26, 2012 | View Comments

Myth or truth: Professionals don’t need help because they are professionals?

This is common myth.

It’s understandable why people fool themselves into thinking this. If you’re such an expert in your area why would you need the help of someone else…you know it all already!

That’s just not how it works.

Here’s Eric Schmidt, Google’s former CEO on coaches:

Almost every expert in the world has a mentor or coach of some kind.

I know business consultants making millions of dollars every year that can’t talk highly enough about their own coaches!

These are coaches that have coaches!

Everyone can benefit from a support network. There is always something you can learn from others that have experience.

That’s because we all have different experiences.

Two highly skilled strategists will have slightly different skill sets, will have worked with different clients, and will have different experiences that they’ve gone through.

Sometimes you’ll sit down with your mentor or coach and talk to them about an issue you’re having. It could be about a challenging client situation, the trouble you’re having landing new clients, or dealing with a proposal you’re working on. (READ MORE…)

Realize Your Consulting Potential

Michael Zipursky | March 22, 2012 | View Comments

The other day I had a coaching call with a business owner from Texas.

He had an interesting situation. He’d been in the business world for many years.

He achieved a level of business success that most would find admirable. Now he wanted to be a consultant.

achieved a level of success that most would find admirable.

His main challenge was figuring out what area to be a consultant in.

I helped him to explore his expertise. His points of leverage. And to discover the area filled with the greatest potential of low hanging fruit.

Within 20 minutes we came up with a game plan.

20 minutes to a game plan.

Because of his consulting experience in online marketing and lead generation, the guy from Texas would be a consultant to consultants, rather than a consultant to other companies.

We crafted a powerful positioning for him and a plan of how he could enter the market.

Now the guy from Texas is well on his way to developing a system that he’ll use to generate new business leads for consultants. Once his machine is up and running he’ll have a business that will print him money. (READ MORE…)

Marketing Mondays: Become an Expert By Writing a Book

Michael Zipursky | March 19, 2012 | View Comments

Ever noticed that the most successful consultants have written a book?

This is no coincidence my friend.

Writing a book establishes your credibility and authority like no other way out there.

There are many ways to publish a book. You can go the traditional route and work with a publisher or you can self-publish (which is becoming increasingly easy to do).

Writing and publishing a book isn’t as hard as many people make it out to be.

Writing and publishing a book isn’t as hard as many people make it out to be.

Again, you need to have something to say. Ideally, you have new information that others haven’t written on before, or you have a new take on that information.

Now, here’s a quick summary on how to get the writing part of the book going:

  • Decide your topic
  • Create an outline of each chapter
    Make bullet points of what you’ll cover in each chapter
  • Collect any reference materials you want to include in each section
  • Set a writing schedule – when you’ll write each day, week, month
  • Then follow your schedule and write (READ MORE…)

5 Tricks to Making a Presentation as Exciting as 2012

Amanda DiSilvestro | March 17, 2012 | View Comments

The New Year will likely bring new and shiny marketing strategies. Companies will be feverishly creating QR codes, trying out some cool 3D web designs, and getting more involved with new social networks such as Google+. However, companies should not discount some of the more traditional tactics companies use to help grow a business. Although worrying about referrals or radio commercials is a bit less exciting that watching 2,000 people receive your tweet, there are ways your company can spice up the “boring” marketing strategies. If you’re looking for something new for the New Year, consider improving something old. One of my favorite marketing strategies: the presentation.

Lots of businesses have slowly moved away from attending seminars and creating power point presentations. However (whether you realize it or not), your company creates presentations all the time. A podcast is a type of presentation, and so is a business proposal pitch you might make to an investor or potential advertiser. There are specific tricks to keep in mind when doing specific types of presentations, but there are a few universal rules that have slowly begun to fall through the cracks. Consider some of these tricks to help make sure your presentation is as interesting and exciting as those shiny new 2012 marketing approaches:

Lots of businesses have slowly moved away from attending seminars and creating power point presentations.

Why Presentations Aren’t a Thing of the Past

  1. Be Animated – This may seem obvious, but business leaders who aren’t trained in public speaking often come across as very monotone. The best thing you can do to make sure your presentation isn’t boring is focus on your voice. There are a lot of things to worry about when giving a presentation, but I assure you this should be high on the priority list. Practice fluctuating your voice at important moments. It’s also a good idea to use hand gestures and move around. Whether you’re right in front of someone or in front of a camera, this is sure to make a huge difference.
  2. Be Passionate – Even if you’re really bored and uninterested in your presentation, you must act passionate. The best way to do this is to actually be passionate about the topic. Look deeply into the topic and why it really matters, and try and channel that energy into your presentation. Part of seeming passionate is being animated, but there are subtle things that the audience will be up on if you’re not careful—eye rolling, mumbling, laughing as you speak, etc. If someone asks a question, answer it as if it is the most important thing that’s been said all day.
  3. Use Visuals – The New Year will be all about the infographic, and this idea of visual stimulation should definitely transfer over into your presentations. People learn in different ways, so it’s important to incorporate any sort of chart or graph to help express your point visually. You can even pass out a handout so that people can follow along at their own pace. Some people get nervous when they think they can’t write down all of the information, so it’s always good to have a sheet or an email with all the information laid out clearly. (READ MORE…)

Most Effective Marketing For Consultants

Michael Zipursky | March 15, 2012 | View Comments

Would you like to know what kind of marketing other consultants are using? And what they are finding most effective?

Take part in our 3 question survey and you can find out.

Simply answer the questions below. We’ll collect and analyze the results and will then share them with you on this blog soon.

Your answers are completely anonymous. All that we ask is that you answer the questions truthfully.

Plus, once the answers are in, we’ll write additional posts that will give you more ideas and ways for you to use the most effective marketing in your own business.

The survey has now been closed.

We will be sharing the results of this survey in an upcoming post. Stay tuned.

Marketing Mondays: The Case for Marketing as a Problem Solver

Michael Zipursky | March 12, 2012 | View Comments

Marketing doesn’t always have to be about something you do externally. It doesn’t have to be an ad campaign, direct mail, social media, and so on.

A great way to generate more business for your consulting practice is to get more out of your existing client base.

An effective way to do this is to constantly be studying your clients’ business.

The more aware you are of what challenges they face, the better prepared you’ll be to offer them new approaches and solutions to their problems.

The more aware you are of what challenges they face, the better prepared you’ll be to offer them new approaches and solutions to their problems.

Let’s say your client has a new workshop coming up. Making you can help them with the setup, registration, marketing, or follow up of it – depending on what your expertise is. (READ MORE…)

LinkedIn for Consultants: Mind Your Manners

Michael Zipursky | March 8, 2012 | View Comments

Not a day goes by that I don’t get an invitation from someone around the world to connect with them on LinkedIn.

Right now I have 39 invitations…


Of the all the connection requests I receive, I only accept maybe 10% of them.

Why, you ask? It’s not because I’m unfriendly nor is it because I don’t like to make new connections. On the contrary.

It’s because 90% of the invitations I get are non-personal. Here’s a typical one I just received…

I’d like to add you to my professional network. - Ross”

I don’t know Ross from Rocky. Who is he? Why does he want to connect? Why should I connect with him?

If Ross can’t take 30 seconds to personalize his message to me there’s no way I’m going to take even 5 seconds to look at his invitation. I’m simply going to delete or ignore it and move on with my day.

Just because YOU ARE ABLE to connect with someone through this technology doesn’t mean you should take it for granted.

You wouldn’t just walk up to someone without introducing yourself and say “Hey, let’s connect!” would you? Of course not. (READ MORE…)