Marketing Your Consulting Services.pdf - epiheirimatikotita.gr

Commitment also means that you continue to market even after the sale, even
after the work has been completed. Remember, the only time to market is all the time!
Consistency You must be consistent in delivering your plan. The reason you invested
time in Chapters Two, Three, and Four is to ensure that you knew what services
you wanted to deliver to your clients, as well knowing what niche you would
fill. If you have developed this with care and trust your assessment, you need to
use it to develop a clear message for your clients. They need to understand what
you have to offer them. Don’t confuse them by changing messages or media. Don’t
disappear for long; put your marketing message out regularly.
Consistency also requires that your materials be consistent throughout. Besides
a consistent message, maintain consistency through the colors you use and the designs
you choose. Consistency helps to send the message that you are established,
and this will raise the confidence level of your clients. Their confidence will lead
to sales, and that’s the reason you are marketing your services.
Creativity You must add your creative touch to your plan. Just as you found your
niche in the services that you provide, you must find your “creativity niche” in what
you will do to attract your clients’ attention. That creativity might be translated in
many different ways. It might be in a “wow” factor, or in the practicality, or the
beauty. What does this mean?
Your marketing must stand out from the rest. Your clients receive hundreds of
direct mail pieces each week. You are competing against hundreds of other consultants
for the same consulting dollars. You need to grab potential clients’ attention.
How do you do that?
Let’s consider the “wow,” practicality, or beauty marketing possibilities. Remember,
you are going to be consistent as well. A “wow” factor might be that you
offer a 100 percent money-back guarantee if your clients are not satisfied. Won’t
that get their attention? We made this offer right from the start. After a successful
project, one of our first clients, Bill Williams from NASA, said, “We decided that
either she was very, very good or crazy, but with a money-back guarantee, what
did we have to lose?”
A practicality twist might be that every marketing opportunity is a chance for
the recipient to benefit in some way. It might be that the memorable gifts you send
are useful items with a twist, such as staple removers that are actually desk art,
paper clips that happen to be gold, or pens that happen to light up in the night.
Your Marketing Plan: Can You Market on a Shoestring Budget? 109