Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants

Tip #17: Sweat the Small Stuff

In July 2008, Spanish cyclist, Carlos Sastre, cruised to victory in the grueling, 23-day Tour de France race. Sastre won the 2,200 mile race in 87 hours, 52 minutes, and 52 seconds. The second place finisher, Cadel Evans of Australia, rode in 58 seconds behind the leader.

It's common for athletes to win events by razor-thin margins, and we're used to hearing and reading about such dramatic finishes. But the fact that many consulting sales are also won by a hair is not so well known.

If you ask consultants how they win the most competitive sales, often they will point to the small stuff like doing that extra client interview, verifying the facts two or even three times, and anticipating every possible client question. Sure, the overall project strategy must be solid, but what often makes the difference in a win is how you manage both the big and small stuff.

So when you're in the middle of a competitive sales process, ask yourself three simple questions:

• What don't I understand about this project yet?
• What's missing from my proposal as it stands right now?
• If I was the client, what would make me buy this proposal over the others?

Your answers to these questions will help uncover big and small issues. If you want to win consistently, ignore the common advice that tells us not to sweat the small stuff. Those details could just be your own 58-second lead.

Tip #16: Be Accessible

It would be easy to conclude that being accessible to clients is a simple, universal truth in the consulting business. After all, a consultant can't be helpful without being available when a client calls.

But place a call to a consultant and test the result. Often, you receive a cryptic voicemail greeting that encourages you to leave a message and expect a return call "at my earliest possible convenience."

Granted, the consultant may return the call in a short time, but the client doesn't know what to expect, other than the consultant will return the call when it's convenient. A simple change in your voicemail greeting, indicating when you will return calls, would clear up that uncertainty.

It's not unusual for consultants to attend day-long events that make it tough to remain accessible to clients. But shy away from having an assistant or answering service tell a client that you're "out of the office all day and can't be reached." Remember, your client really doesn't care what you're doing. The caller wants to hear from you.

Rather than telling a client that you're out of the office, in a meeting, or nursing a cold at home, just tell the client when to expect a return call. Forget about the extra information--it doesn't help.

Tip #15: Resisting the RFP

It’s always tempting to respond to any Request for Proposal (RFP) you receive. After all, the project is neatly described, desired outcomes are clear, and the consultant process is objective.

Not.

Responding to an RFP that comes in over the transom can be a costly proposition that results in a nice proposal but no project. Before investing your precious resources in responding to the RFP, ask yourself a few questions:

Why Me?

Did you receive the RFP because you have an existing relationship with the client? If not, why would the client seek you out?

If the RFP is from an unknown client, your chances of winning the project are very low, although many consultants could probably point to an exception to that rule.

Some consultants are simply added to a list of “contenders” with little hope of winning the project. Don’t squander your valuable time competing in a beauty contest you have little hope of winning.

What Will It Cost?

Over the last several years, more consulting selection processes are being run by procurement managers, not the actual client buyer. Having an intermediary between you and the buyer raises the cost of RFP compliance, reduces the quality of your response, and slows the selection process—sometimes to a crawl.

There’s also no evidence suggesting that the process results in a better decision for the client.

Create an estimate of your out-of-pocket expenses, time, and the lost-opportunity costs of responding to the RFP. When you use these costs to calculate a project ROI, the results can be eye-opening. Some RFP responses result in a win, but an unprofitable project. 

If You Respond

Some RFPs are tailor-made for the recipient. If so, work with the client to make it a success by supporting the buying process as it’s been established. Comply with all of the terms of the RFP, and don’t use boilerplate for any part of it. Craft a customized response every time.

Some industries, like the public sector, rely on RFPs as a standard method of buying professional services. Others use RFPs less frequently. You may find that responding to an RFP is like fishing without bait.

Tip #14: Be Visible between Projects

When your current project for a client wraps up, don't be surprised if you're not asked to do more work. But don't give up. Clients notice how consultants behave between projects. If your firm is only visible when there's an opportunity to sell work, clients are not likely to believe you when you claim to be committed to the relationship.

Stay in contact regularly. Invite your clients to events and help them with issues as needed. Propose coauthoring an article or presenting jointly at an industry conference. Keep your firm's presence alive and continue to build relationships within the client's organization. Resist the urge to zoom off to the next opportunity.

If your previous work was well received, chances are good that clients will bring you back. It just may not be when you expect it.

Tip #13 of 25 – Enter with an Exit Strategy

Many clients’ worst nightmare is consultants who just won’t leave. Whether or not clients need the additional work, some consultants continue to unearth new opportunities to “help” clients.

That behavior gives consultants a black eye.

Recognizing that some consultants stay at a client long after they’re welcome, one consulting firm promises that, “We do not want to be disruptive to our client's business, so our projects are focused and when our job is done, we leave.”

Amen.

Next time you’re creating a proposal or beginning a project, ask yourself, “What’s our exit strategy?” Know at the outset what you must do to be sure the project wraps and the team goes home.

Being explicit about a team’s departure date will reduce a client’s anxiety. And if you stay focused on your completion date, the client will be much more likely to consider you for future projects.

Tip #12 of 25 - Solve the Right Problem

Almost forty years ago, Warren J. Wittreich wrote in the Harvard Business Review that “often a client who wishes to purchase a professional service senses that he has a problem, but is uncertain as to what the specific nature of his problem really is. The responsibility of the service firm is to identify that problem and define it in meaningful terms.” 

Twenty years later in The Secrets of Consulting, Gerry Weinberg recalls the first law of consulting taught to him by a colleague, Roger House: “In spite of what the client may tell you, there’s always a problem.”

If the first law of consulting is that there’s always a problem, the second—which is trickier—is to be sure you’re solving the right problem. Otherwise, you’re just covering symptoms with a flimsy band-aid that will surely fail—more likely sooner than later. That’s the stuff that gives consultants a bad rep.

It’s easy to get sucked into “how we’ll deal with this problem” too quickly. With competition breathing down our necks, it’s tempting to conjure up a solution before the problem is truly understood by the client and the consultant.

The result is often a misguided and a potentially failed project. Most clients are facing issues of such complexity that off-the-shelf solutions can easily be a recipe for disaster. Now more than ever, we need to be guided by Wittreich’s wisdom and remember our responsibility to identify and define client problems in a meaningful way.

Tip #11 of 25 – Win—Don’t Just Answer—Every RFP Question

The ubiquitous Request for Proposal (RFP) has landed with a thud on most consultants’ desks at some point. Unfortunately, few clients will abandon this medieval approach to selecting professional service providers.

So assuming you’re faced with an RFP, here are four quick tips to help you pull together an effective response.

Start with a Winning Strategy. Before diving into the writing process, develop your story. What’s the compelling story that knits together your understanding of what needs to be done? How will you help achieve the results, and where’s the proof that you can get the job done?

Don’t Just Answer the Question, Win It. Often the work of responding to an RFP is daunting, but the key is to focus on small victories—like winning every answer. Think hard about each response and focus on how each answer supports your story and contributes to winning the project, rather than simply answering the question

Avoid the Battle of the Boilerplate. Lots of RFPs are littered with boilerplate reusable elements. Just because you receive boilerplate from a prospective client, doesn't mean you should send yours back to them.

It’s tempting to cut and paste your own boilerplate into a proposal for something like qualifications. Rememer, your client will recognize that boilerplate from a mile away and ignore it. Resist the urge and customize every answer. Sure, use previous work as a starting point, but don’t over do it.

Create a High Value-to-Cost Ratio. Some argue that it’s nearly impossible to quantify the results of consulting projects. Use that myth to your advantage by placing a dollar value on the benefits the client can expect from engaging you. Let the client see the ratio of projected benefits to consulting fees.

Tip # 10 of 25 - The Secret to Consulting Success

Don’t worry—I’m not hawking an amateurish e-book on how to create an Internet money-making machine in your spare time. Here’s a question: What separates the top performing consultant, or firm, from the rest of the pack?

Before jumping in with an answer, let’s start with an assumption or two. Assume that your firm already has paying clients, the talent to serve those clients, and an effective method of business development and service delivery.

Given those assumptions, I believe the great firms separate themselves from everyone else based on the passion of their people. You may think of it as “fire in the belly,” excitement, enthusiasm, or zeal for your life’s work. Whatever you call it, passion is the emotion that makes you jump out of bed in the morning, itching to get at it.

Passion drives the discipline you need to accomplish the big goals you set for your life, career, and relationships. Passion is an impatient state of mind. Nothing moves as fast as you’d like when you have a burning desire to convert your vision into reality.

But if you can harness and apply your passion with rigor and discipline, it will lead you to discovery, then mastery and, finally, to success. Without passion, you can muddle through, but greatness will allude you. If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, sooner or later that will become apparent to your colleagues and your clients.

In the 1991 movie, Thelma and Louise, Louise (Geena Davis) captures the essence of passion when she reminds her fellow fugitive, “You get what you settle for.”

Never settle. If you can’t keep your internal fire burning, you are in the wrong business.

Tip #9 of 25 - Mediocrity is the Kiss of Death

As I was paging through my email, I found an audio clip message that claimed to be "the most important audio program I'd ever listen to." I almost deleted it on the spot just on principle, but decided to give it a listen.

The question posed at the beginning of the clip/advertisement was, why is it that some consultants have all the clients they can handle, while others limp along? The short answer was great marketing.

The speaker said good marketing covers up many sins and that even mediocre consultants could have thriving practices--if they were great marketers. The speaker supported this perspective by pointing to the launch of Microsoft's early products, which included software with bugs and gaps in features. After all, the logic went, if Microsoft used marketing to recover from early product flaws, why can't you too?

Putting that dubious logic aside, the speaker probably didn't really mean to encourage you to settle for mediocrity. The point was that you don't need to be good at what you do to make money.

I'd contend that bad news--and mediocre performance is bad news--spreads like wildfire. And a great marketing program will accelerate the demise of a mediocre business, not lead to a thriving one.

Granted, great marketing will open client doors for lots of people, including lousy consultants. But once clients see what those consultants can't do, they won't go back for more--they'll find someone better. In consulting, mediocrity is the kiss of death.

Tip #8 of 25 - Get Paid What You're Worth

Want to know the fastest way to earn less than an entry-level consultant in a medium to large consulting firm?

Start your own consulting business and charge by the hour.

According to a recent study by Kennedy Information, Inc., the average salary offered to consultants from top business schools will hit $109,000 this year, and that will be accompanied by five-figure signing bonuses and annual bonuses ranging from $5,000 to $30,000. The total, first year compensation package for a newly-minted consultant could reach over $150,000.

An independent practitioner charging an hourly rate would have to work awfully hard to match that newbie's salary.

Not to be tedious, but do the math: There are 261 days in a year--once you subtract the weekends. If you take a month off for vacations, holidays, and the like, you're starting from a base of 230 billable days, give or take a few.

Research shows that firm owners will burn about 110 days a year on non-billable activities like marketing, administration, education and traveling, leaving about 120 days of billable time.

Assuming you're able to bill for 70% of those 120 days at $2,000 a day, and your overhead is a measly 20% of revenue, your annual, pre-tax earnings would be roughly $135,000. Not a bad day's pay, but you're carrying all of the business risk, and making less than an inexperienced consultant.

Most books on the subject of starting a consulting business take you through a detailed exercise on establishing your billing rate. Unless you're running a large practice with many consultants, ignore this advice.

Instead, free your practice from the tyranny and limitations of the billable hour: base your pricing on value delivered, not hours worked. Once you've broken the rate-per-hour syndrome, you'll get paid what you're worth.

Some consultants argue that it's too difficult to quantify the value of a consulting project in advance. But every project has potential, measurable benefits. To orient clients in the discussion of value, consider the drivers of consulting value in my previous post.