Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants

What Clients Want

When clients evaluate consultants, they review qualifications, references, and the consultant’s case studies. But they also need answers to specific questions. Meet these questions head-on and you’ll be a step ahead of your competitors:

Can you deliver the promised results?
It’s not enough to assert your ability to deliver. You must prove it.

Who will actually do the work?
Consultants are notorious for changing the players on their teams, and clients are rightly concerned about this. Be completely forthcoming with the details of your staffing plan.

What are the risks of the project?
Some consultants downplay a discussion of risk for fear of jeopardizing the sale. Risk is always on the client’s mind, so get the subject on the table as early as possible.

How will the consultants interact with us?
Client decision makers want to know how the consultants plan to work with their people. Clarify the roles, expectations, and time commitments for the client’s team members. And clarify your working style.

Can the consultant keep fees under control?
Every client’s nightmare is a consulting project that runs amok. Whatever fee arrangement you’ve made, the client wants assurance that you will meet the project goals within the budget.

It’s best to be explicit with your responses. Even if a prospective client doesn’t articulate these questions outright, you still need to answer them. It’s what clients want.

When to Fire a Client

Consultants’ professional lives are defined by the clients we work with and the projects we tackle. As a new year approaches, it’s a great time to reflect on whether your current clients are contributing to your practice. It may be time to prune your client list.

It may seem crazy to “fire” a client, but it might be the best strategic move you can make. Few things damage the long-term vibrancy of your business more than an unproductive client relationship. Remember, sometimes the client-consultant relationship just doesn’t work. Or maybe the effort to keep a client happy isn’t worth it.

Here are five telltale signs that you might want to fire a client:

•    You’ve stopped growing professionally from the client’s projects
•    The client has disengaged from your project, leaving decisions to others in the company
•    It’s tough to get a meeting with your key client sponsor
•    Your project profit margin is eroding
•    The client nit-picks your invoices or payments are consistently late.

Disengaging from a client relationship is easier said than done, though, so expect it to take some time and courage. It’s tough to drop a paying client, but the upside can be enormous. You’ll likely replace that client with one or more projects that stretch you professionally, make positive changes in your new client’s business, and boost your profitability.

So take a look at your client list. Is there an opportunity for growth through reducing the size of that list?

What Do 400 Consultants Know about Web Marketing?

Given that so many consultants use Web sites to woo clients and market their services, it’s fair to ask how effective their Web sites are as marketing tools. And what factors make the difference between a successful Web site and a bomb?

In this month's Guerrilla Consultant, we've answered those questions.

How?

So far, more than 400 consultants have taken our Guerrilla Consulting Web Site Self-Assessment. We've gone through the survey data, which comes to us on an anonymous basis, and offer six simple steps to improve the marketing ROI of any consultant’s Web site.

If you'd like to read the results, have a look at the recent issue of The Guerrilla Consultant.

Curing the Five Dysfunctions of Teams

Few consultants can succeed in the business if they're not good at working on teams.

And consultants face a unique teamwork challenge: they often collaborate with clients and others on projects with high expectations and compressed schedules.

In the recent issue of Management Consulting News, Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, talks about project team dynamics and what can be done to help any team effort run more smoothly.

Have a look at the interview with Lencioni.