One-to-One Marketing for Consultants – 4 Steps

Bob McCarthy | February 7, 2013 | 4 Comments

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The first in a series of five articles on one-to-one marketing.

Consultants are understandably skittish about marketing – especially overt methods of marketing.

Having to reach out and actually sell was never part of the plan.

The vast majority of consultants don’t have prospective clients knocking on their doors – and they can’t afford to wait.

As consultants, we would much rather have prospects call us and seek us out.  Our dream was to have a steady flow of serious prospects knocking on our doors with cash in hand.

Some consultants are able to realize this goal, at least in part, by building their reputations through speaking and writing.  By speaking at industry events, writing articles for industry publications and blogs, authoring books in their field and being quoted in the media, these consultants are well known within their fields and often do have prospects waiting to hire them.

But unfortunately, they are in the minority.

The vast majority of consultants don’t have prospective clients knocking on their doors – and they can’t afford to wait.

They need to go out and find new business.  They need a marketing program that generates leads and builds relationships.  They need to sell.

Does this sound like you? CONTINUE READING »

7 Ways to Increase Your Consulting Fees

Michael Zipursky | February 4, 2013 | 6 Comments

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Increasing your consulting fees is one of the quickest and easiest ways to earn more. But it needs to be done right.

The more ‘new’ value you provide to your clients with the price increase, the less objections you’ll face.

Many consultants experience paralysis around this topic. The idea of losing customers as a result of increasing prices leaves them in a deep chill and unable to move forward and take action.

To help you increase your own consulting fees, here are 7 questions to ask yourself:

1. Is the Time Right?

Every client and industry has cycles. Periods where they are likely to be more busy and stressed. Consider what is going on in your client’s business before you come out asking for an increase in your fees. This shouldn’t stop you from moving forward however…it’s just an important consideration. Entrepreneur writes that you should “choose a time when you’ll encounter the least resistance.”

2. Are You Focusing on Value?

The most critical part of raising your prices is that your clients perceive an increase in value. The more ‘new’ value you provide to your clients with the price increase, the less objections you’ll face.

For example, you can offer a new service or product that your clients will value…and it doesn’t necessarily need to take you much (if any) more time to provide it. It could be some kind of additional reporting, maintenance, or monitoring to name a few.

I read a great study on Social Triggers by economist Richard Thaler. In the study, people were asked how much money they would give a friend to buy a beer for them if they were vacationing and sitting on the beach. In the first situation, it was explained that the place the friend was going to buy the beer from was an old run-down grocery store.

You need to clearly figure out why you’re increasing your price so that you can communicate the reason with your clients.

In the second situation, people were asked how much money they would give their friend if the friend was going to a luxury resort to buy that same beer.

The study found that on average people would give their friend 71% more money when the beer was to be bought at the luxury resort.

Now consider that this was the exact same beer. It would taste the same. The only difference was the perception of value associated with each of the places. CONTINUE READING »

What’s The ROI of Social Media for Consultants

Michael Zipursky | January 28, 2013 | 8 Comments

The big question with Social Media is “is this worth my time?”

It’s an important question to ask each and every time you weigh the options and decide where to invest your energy and resources. I will answer this question for you, but we need to address a few issues first…

When you think of Social Media as the ability to have conversations with far greater impact than ever before and in a way that allows you to create and foster a community more efficiently

Some people say “Social Media is a fad.”

The definition of a ‘fad’, according to Dictionary.com, is “an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something…that is short-lived.”

Most fads come and go.

And if you’re looking to capitalize on them you need to catch them well before they hit their peak.

If you jump on board too late in the game you will still need to put in as much effort as the person who got involved months or years before you…and yet the return you can expect is often far less.

The Numbers May Not Add Up

When you take a look at the infographic below from Pagemodo, your first reaction about the ROI of Social Media may not be a positive one. Take for example, that only “20% say social marketing is producing a measurable ROI…”

And while this study showed that “64% of business owners investing in Social Media Marketing were confident it will deliver a return” on the same page it shows that only 25% of survey respondents can attribute an increase in sales to Social Media. CONTINUE READING »

How to Focus on the Opportunity, Not the Obstacle

LaRae Quy | January 14, 2013 | 2 Comments

I grew up on a cattle ranch in a remote part of Wyoming and Dad made sure I learned how to ride a horse by the time I was six-years-old. So no one was more surprised than me when Dad brought home a couple of four-wheel ATVs a few years ago and used them, instead of horses, to check on the cattle.

Even the most prepared and effective people can find themselves facing adversity and will need to find ways of turning obstacles into opportunities for growth.

The ATV looked much easier to ride than a horse when I first saw it and I was anxious to try it out! Dad took off first and I followed. The terrain on our ranch is mountainous, however, so I soon found myself sideways on a steep hill and in danger of tipping over. Suddenly, this huge motorcycle on four wheels looked more dangerous than any horse I’d ever ridden.

To go headfirst down the steep hill and over the cliff appeared even more dangerous, so I continued to inch my way down sideways—it seemed the safer router. By now, Dad had stopped his ATV and was running toward me.

“Turn your wheels straight downhill,” he shouted. “Only by facing it head-on can you get safely down the cliff,” he said. Slowly, I turned the wheels straight down the steep embankment ahead of me, and the ATV started to move forward. I made it safely to the bottom.

Turns out that moving toward the threat was good advice from my Dad. While in new agent’s class at the FBI Academy, our instructors continually placed us in training situations where we were confronted with obstacles. For many of us, our first reaction was to either pull back or take circuitous routes around the obstacle. But the message by our instructors was this: Only by falling into the unknown would we be able to explore it. CONTINUE READING »

10 Referral Strategies to Grow Your Consulting Business

Michael Zipursky | January 7, 2013 | 11 Comments

You will have a hard time finding a service professional, or any business owner for that matter, that believes referrals are not their best source of business.

2 Benefits of Referrals

In almost every case, referrals are the least expensive source of new clients. That is, the direct cost to acquire them is low. Especially compared to other marketing methods such as print or online advertising.

What you will quickly learn is that what might seem like a small step you take today, done continuously, repeated often, will reap big rewards.

Another clear benefit of referrals is their high closing rate. When you generate a lead from an inbound or outbound marketing channel, it can often take several months if not close to a year to win the business. This all depends on where the prospective client is in the buying cycle…and whether they’re just feeling the options out or have a serious problem they need a solution to ASAP.

A referral comes with a layer of trust built into it. You haven’t touted your own horn to generate that lead. It has come to you through a trusted source. Which means that the prospective client does not feel the need to ‘get to know you’ and ‘trust you’ to the same degree a general lead would. Ultimately, this means you close the sale more quickly.

The question then, is how do you get referrals?

I will share 10 strategies to land an on-going stream of referral business. Though before I get to that, let me be clear. None of the below strategies is of value unless you have a great product or service. If you generate referrals and try to sell a mediocre, or worse, an inadequate product or service, the effort you put into generating referrals will be all for not.

The business may come in…yet it will go away just as quickly.

With that, here are 10 of the best strategies to generate referrals:

Compounding

Wouldn’t you love to get a ton of referrals and new leads overnight?! Well, here’s how to do it…wait a second. Stop the record. Just stop! That’s a load of BS. Like most things in business, the majority of referrals come from a systematic process you put in place and keep working on. Every little thing you do adds up. To see the real power of compounding, read Darren Hardy’s book, The Compound Effect. What you will quickly learn is that what might seem like a small step you take today, done continuously, repeated often, will reap big rewards. For referrals, this can mean reaching out to new people once a week, every week. Going to an event or networking meeting on a consistent basis. There is immense power in repetition. CONTINUE READING »

Wishing You All a Happy, Healthy & Successful 2013

Sam Zipursky | January 1, 2013 | Leave a comment

From all of us here at Business Consulting Buzz we wish you a Happy New Year!

We hope 2013 will be a year of even greater success filled with health and happiness for
you and your family.

We have lots planned for 2013 and look forward to helping even more consultants
reach success in their business this year.

Together, let’s all make it a great year!

Marketing Lesson: Lunch Is On Me

Michael Zipursky | December 31, 2012 | 4 Comments

This is my final Marketing Monday post for this year. That’s right, this is the last for 2012. I hope you’ve been enjoying them. If you have, let me know in the comments below or by emailing me through our contact page. I’ll read every comment and email. That will help me to decide whether I’ll do another round of these posts in 2013 (or feel free to suggest another topic you’d like to dig into).

That’s just plain stupid.” Well dear friend. It’s not. Sometimes the simplest things can be the most powerful.

I want to make this post a special one. That’s why I’m going to share with you a strategy that has earned one of my clients hundreds of thousands of dollars (it’s not far off from a million dollars) and has netted me some nice fees along the way.

This strategy is ultra simple. It’s so simple in fact, that most people dismiss it when they hear about it – without knowing the results it generates.

First, let me be clear. This marketing strategy will cost you some money. Depending on where you live it could be anywhere from $10-$40 a week. And it will take about 1.5hrs of your time each week.

If tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars is a worthwhile return for less than $200 a month and 6 hours of your time then this is a strategy you dare dismiss.

Here’s how it works…

Make a list of your dream clients. It’s simple. In a spreadsheet have a column for Name, Website, Phone, Email.

Then fill in the information for 10-20 people to get started. You’ll add more as the weeks go on.

Next, put together an email telling the person you want to meet that you’re interested in meeting them, you like their company, you have a proposition that will be worth their time…whatever. The more you learn about that person, their hobbies, interests, common connections, etc the better your email will be. CONTINUE READING »

Happy Holidays & Top 5 Article Round Up

Michael Zipursky | December 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

Happy Holidays Readers!

As 2012 is coming to an end and we enter the holiday season, all of us here
at Business Consulting Buzz want to wish you a very happy holidays!

No matter where you are and what level you are at…we truly want to wish you a happy holidays.

2012 has been an amazing year and your support, feedback and comments
has been invaluable. Business Consulting Buzz works with consultants,
business owners and clients in over 60 countries…no matter where you are
and what level you are at…we truly want to wish you a happy holidays.

Let’s enjoy this time and get ready to make 2013 even more successful!

Here are 5 recent and popular posts from 2012:

The Fisherman And Businessman And The Power of Storytelling for Consultants

Little Known Marketing Secret for Consultants

The Most Dangerous Words in Business

Consulting Fees Positioning Play

Consulting Failures and How to Overcome Them

Cheers,
Michael and Sam

5 Ways to Propel Your Consulting Business Forward: Book Review

Michael Zipursky | December 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

What foundation are you using to market your consulting practice?

If you don’t know, you aren’t alone. Like an epidemic the number of consultants going about their daily routines without any clear path for their marketing is vast and unfortunately, likely growing.

Whitney Keyes has just written a book to help business owners and marketers create a solid foundation for all their marketing endeavours.

The book, ‘Propel: Five Ways to Amp Up Your Marketing and Accelerate Business‘ and published by Career Press, is Keyes first book yet definitely not her first foray into the marketing world. CONTINUE READING »