Marketing Your Consulting Services.pdf - epiheirimatikotita.gr

formation about what you should consider before embarking on any of these
journeys.
Several of the marketing tools require you to contact people. If a long time has
passed, it may be uncomfortable to call or write. Sometimes we need a good excuse
to make the call.
NEED AN EXCUSE TO STAY IN TOUCH?
At the end of a successful project, most good-byes include assurances such as “Let’s
stay in touch” or “We’ll get together for lunch.” But time passes, everyone gets
wrapped up in other activities, and staying in touch becomes a vague memory. A
couple of months later it may even be uncomfortable to pick up the phone and
contact the individuals with whom you spent a huge amount of time. You may feel
like a pest.
The best thing to do, of course, is to prevent the passage of time from occurring.
That means you need to plan time to follow up. When that doesn’t happen,
you may feel better if you have an excuse to make the call: “I ran across this article
and thought of you” or “I need some advice and you are the best person to help.”
The worst thing that can happen—but what happens most often—is that you
come across these opportunities and you pass them by. If reports to me from my
own clients are correct, I believe that people pass up on these opportunities over
90 percent of the time. Almost every time I contact someone whom I have not seen
or heard from in some time, I get a response such as, “I was just thinking about
you” or “I was reading the newspaper last week and meant to cut out an article for
you” or “I was going to call you last month, but I got sucked into another project.”
The message? Don’t hesitate to contact the other person, either by mail, by e-mail,
by phone, or in person.
In Chapter Nine, I make a strong case for the reason to maintain relationships
and retain clients for marketing your services. But common sense should tell you
the importance of this for both personal and professional reasons. For those of you
who need an excuse to stay in touch and to maintain the relationship, I present
some practical ideas.
Giving Information
• Inform your client of an upcoming vendor fair.
• Provide free tickets to your client for an industry expo.
Tools of the Trade: What Works; What Doesn’t? 97