Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants

"Where's Your Slide Deck?"

Whether it's a proposal, training seminar, status update, or final report, consultants use slides for nearly every presentation. When you show up to present (or even before), expect the client or meeting host to ask, "Where's your slide deck?"

Unfortunately, too many speakers misuse slide decks as a glorified cheat sheet for remembering what to say next. In this month's Guerrilla Consultant, we discuss some simple rules for transforming any slide presentation from a necessary evil into a powerful way to get your point across.

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The One Service Every Consultant Should Offer

In one of our recent webcasts, a participant asked me if there is one service every consultant should offer. I didn't hesitate with my answer.

No matter how different your practice is from that of other consultants, the one service you should offer to clients is a diagnostic assessment. You might refer to your service as a strategic assessment, gap analysis, business process evaluation, or even an initial consultation.

Whatever you choose to call it, the service is a relatively short, systematic project to evaluate a specific area of client concern and offer objective advice. The emphasis is on short, systematic, and objective.

In this month's issue of The Guerrilla Consultant, I'll discuss this service offering, which can form the basis for everything you do with your clients.   

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You Should See It Coming

Some memories fade with time, but a project that goes wrong can haunt you. We tend to relive profitless sinkholes, kicking ourselves anew each time.

Even though consultants learn quickly from debacles, in many cases, it's possible to sidestep such headaches entirely by heeding the clues clients give us.

In this month's issue of The Guerrilla Consultant, we discuss those clues and why it's sometimes better to pack up and walk away from a project rather than pursue it at all costs.

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Run with the Bulls

As 2007 wraps up, many consulting firms chalked up another year of double-digit revenue growth and strong profit performance. And the demand for consulting services appears bullish as we head into 2008.

You might think that selling services in times of high demand is the easiest of the market conditions we face. Some firms will find that a "rising tide" lifts their boats. But to reap the potential rewards from a bull market, you may need to make subtle changes in how you position your services.

In this month's issue of The Guerrilla Consultant, I discuss the challenges and essential strategies for consultants to succeed in any bull market.

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The Client's View

Over the years, I've asked my clients questions similar to this: "What's your take on what makes for an effective consulting relationship?"

As you'd expect, the answers are all over the map, and there's no science to my approach. But several key points come up over and over, regardless of industry, project type, or the client's position in the organization.

In this month's issue of The Guerrilla Consultant, I wrote about the answers that I hear most often from clients. Read this month's issue.

Let me know what you think.

Rules for Rainmakers

Ask ten successful consultants how they land profitable work, and you're likely to get ten different answers. You'll find some consultants who sell with apparent ease and others who sweat every sales encounter.

You'll also find some who, in spite of their best efforts, just can't sell. What separates the rainmakers from everyone else?

In our recent issue of The Guerrilla Consultant, we discuss why client insight will always trump sales techniques when consultants try to close sales, and how rainmakers use this simple rule to land new business.

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Do You Have a Compelling Service Offer?

No matter how good you are at what you do, a compelling service offer is essential to keep those calls coming in from prospective clients. Last month, a reader wrote to me about how tough it can be to craft the right service offer.

The challenge is to make sure your service offer expresses your capabilities broadly enough to attract your entire target market, without being so general that clients can’t figure out what you really do.

Here’s an example of the lead-in to an offer that’s so broad it's meaningless: “We are committed to being the best, with effective management that uses the creativity and talents of our people to build client satisfaction through competitive prices and high-quality products and services.”

I know you don’t want to leave out any potential client interests, but you have to accept that it’s just not possible to capture every aspect of your capabilities in your service offer. Instead, search for the balance between being overly general with service descriptions and burying clients in minutiae.

That’s the topic of this month's article in The Guerrilla Consultant.

Enjoy the article, and let me know what you think.

The Ultimate Differentiator

Consultants rely on marketing communications to get the initial attention of prospective clients. If your marketing is working as it should, it helps you open a dialogue with a prospective client. Before you can close a sale, though, you must prove to the client how you are truly different from the rest.

How you create personal differentiation--the ultimate differentiator--is the subject of this month's issue of The Guerrilla Consultant.

Read the March 2007 issue of The Guerrilla Consultant.

Risky Business

"We need more time to consider our options."

That's not what a consultant wants to hear from clients in response to a proposal but, as clients ponder which consultant to hire, it's not uncommon.

You may think client waffling is a signal that you haven't done a good job of selling the value of your proposal. After all, most consulting projects come with high price tags, and value is a crucial counter-balance to cost.

But often the value of the project isn't in question. Instead, the risk involved in achieving that value is what holds up the hiring decision.

This month in the Guerrilla Consultant, we discuss the unique role that risk can play in the consultant's sales process and how you can use it to your advantage.

Read this month's Guerrilla Consultant.

When the Client Says "Yes"

When a client selects you to complete a project, you may have mixed emotions—the good news/bad news thing. The good news is that you won the work. The bad news is that now you have to deliver what you promised and make the project a success.

After you've done the high-fives, remind yourself that the eventual outcome of any project can be influenced by seemingly inconsequential actions early-on.

Make good decisions at the outset and you're set for victory. Misstep, and get ready for a long and painful ordeal.

In this month's issue of The Guerrilla Consultant, we offer a handful of tips to convert your client's "yes" into a winning project.

Enjoy the article, and let me know what you think.